Next Chapter Meetings:

On June 11, our program will feature Annie Motto, and the Challenges Group, where students get exposure to the outdoors beyond their previous experience.

On July 9, Joan Young will join us in her capacity as Lower Michigan Trail Coordinator. Meetings are at 7:00 PM at the Barry Township Hall in Delton on the second Wednesday each month, and are open to the public.

April 12 Report:  John Robinson, D’Arcy Kelley, Neil Juhl, John Rudnicki, Christy Stewart, Tom Garnett, Jerry Pattok, Steve Chapman, Larry Pio, and potential members George and Betsy all participated in our workday on April 12 as we began puncheon installation and constructed trail at Fort Custer.

At the May 17 work session, we will be working on the center section of the Fort Custer Cemetery property at 9 am.  Meet at 8 am for breakfast at the Lakeside Cafe at 209 S. Webster Street in Augusta.  Time to start bringing your DEET. 

Work dates are also scheduled for June 21, July 19, and August 23.

June 7 is National Trails Day, and Joe Higdon and D’Arcy Kelley are leading our 2 part effort, along with some help from Chef Larry Hawkins. For part one, the public will be invited to participate in hiking at the Kellogg Forest north of Augusta, and be provided with info on NCTA. Part two will be a pot luck picnic with turkey, for members, and we are inviting as special guests the land owners, and land managers that help provide places for our trail. We are tentatively planning the hiking for 10 am until 2 pm, and the picnic at noon. Keep track of our web site for updated details.

One of our corporate sponsors is Lee’s Sports, south off the Westnedge exit of I-94, to Kilgore, then one block east. They have 3 remaining Thursday night seminars at 7 pm including tonight at no charge related to hiking and backpacking. Call 381-7700 to sign up for any session. The schedule:

• May 15: Boots and Feets

• May 22: Neil Juhl discusses North Country Trail

• May 29: Leave No Trace

National North Country Trail meeting

July 31 to August 3 in Marquette at Northern Michigan University.  (Add to your calendar.)

Kanoe the Kazoo, a celebration of the Kalamazoo River, will take place this summer. Four stretches of this expedition come near, parallel, or cross the North Country Trail. Notable dates are

• Friday June 13: Albion to Marshall

• Saturday June 14: Marshall to Historic Bridge Park in Battle Creek

• Friday June 20: Verona Dam (Battle Creek River) to Jackson Street, Battle Creek

• Saturday, June 21: Jackson Street to Fort Custer Recreation Area

The event is free to the public. Anyone can come canoe any of these or other segments if they provide their own canoe. There may be some canoe rental opportunities, for a greatly discounted price, the day of the event. Registration to canoe is required, but anyone can show up to the event, which will start at 8:30 am each day.  If anyone has any questions feel free to contact:  Kristine Boley-Morse of the USDA service center at: kristine-boley@mi.nacdnet.org, or our member Tom Funke.

June is the month we send out phone and address lists to members along with the newsletter. These lists do not go via email to minimize the potential for misuse.  This year we are also planning to send information and an application for new members, and are asking each of you to approach a friend with similar interests as yours and see if they might join the NCTA with the discounted new member coupon enclosed. Thanks to all of you for your efforts.

Joe Higdon is planning a Weekend Summer Hike later this summer, and is also looking at a Fall Color Hike, and a late fall Night Hike. More details later.

Jerry Pattok has graciously agreed to lead our promotional booth at the Hastings Summerfest in late August. He will need a lot of help. Thanks, Jerry.

Jerry Pattok has adopted the segments of trail from Chief Noonday Road, north to the last segment on Peet’s Road.  We will occasionally need more adopters, so please continue to contact Dave Cornell at onestep@mei.net, if you have an interest in adopting a section of the North Country Trail.

Ron Hutchinson has begun construction of a trailhead parking lot on the south end of his property, on Augusta Drive north of Augusta. This site was the location of an interurban rail station, and Ron has items from that era for an interpretive display, which will be an outstanding addition to our trail. We will be providing labor and materials for installation of some fencing, and construction of the interpretive display. Thanks Ron for your generous support.

Barb VanDyken and Christy Stewart have agreed to co-chair the trail interpretive project. To help start the project, they are requesting that members with knowledge of unique features or items of interest along our Chapter’s section put together a quick blurb of some sort and pass it on to them. This kind of information can be used on kiosks, and eventually in other items for trail promotion.

New Members: The following are new members of our Chapter; please join me in extending a welcome to all of them:

• Charles Clark; Albion

• Greg and Lynne Durham; Benton Harbor

• Rod Kroes; Battle Creek

Tom Garnett’s presentation on the NCT and the work of our Chapter to the local Sierra Club on April 17 was warmly received, and he and Steve Hicks also led club members hiking a segment of our trail on April 26. Thanks to both of you for doing this, and again to Brad Parsons for helping set up this opportunity.

We had a good turnout at the adopters workshop Dave Cornell led on May 10. Dave went over our goals for maintaining the trail, and presented an interim manual for adopters to use for guidance.

We had an excellent turnout of folks who sauntered with Barb VanDyken at our spring flower / bird watching hike on April 26 at the Maher bird sanctuary, and the Trout Unlimited trail just north of there into Kent Co. For us rookies who just motor by without smelling the flowers, it was quite an eye opener to see all the varieties, and the quantity of blooms. Thanks Barb for sharing your expertise.

At last night’s chapter meeting, Chuck Hayden told us about his group, the Fortune Bay Expedition hike on Chief Noonday Chapter Trail, and the technology they use for GPS, and presented us with 2 CD’s of material for our use.  Thanks, Chuck for the info and great presentation.

Newsletter Editor:  Larry Pio   nalcoman1@aol.com