Newsletter  March 2004

With beauty before me,

May I walk

With beauty behind me,

May I walk

With beauty above me,

May I walk

With beauty below me,

May I walk

With beauty all around me,

May I walk

Wandering on a trail of beauty,

Lively I walk

--Navajo Indians

One Touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

--William Shakespeare

Next Chapter Meetings 

• Meetings are at 7:00 PM at the Barry Township Hall on Orchard Street in Delton on the second Wednesday each month, and are open to the public.  Click here for a map and for directions.

• April 14:  no special program scheduled.

• May 12:   Jodie Romzek with the Michigan Dept. of Agriculture will present an interesting presentation about spring plantings and ways to add to the beauty of the North Country Trail or your backyard.

Did you know?

Only 4.7% of the entire United States is designated as wilderness areas.

April 24:  Earth Day Celebration  10am-4pm

Kalamazoo Valley Community College.  KVCC is located south of I-94 on 9th Street southwest of Kalamazoo.

May 1:  Fort Custer National Cemetery Trail,  Dedication and Hike

10 am official opening ceremony, 10:45 am guided hike

Fort Custer Cemetery located between Battle Creek and Augusta (East end of the trail, off of Armstrong Road about .8 mile from Dickman Rd.). 

May 8:  Wildflower Hike on Dolan Trail 

Lead by Barb Vandykin, at 9am

Directions: From the intersection of Sate St. and Broadway, go north 0.3 miles to State Rd. Turn left. Go 4.5 miles. Turn right onto Wood School Road, which turns into Baker. Go north 05. miles across the river.  Any questions, please feel free to contact Barb at 269 / 623-3897, or by email at jbvandyken@att.net

August 7: Summer Hike

Lead by Jerry Pattock at 9am

Chief Noonday Trailhead and hike to Peets Road.

August 5-8:  North Country Trail Association Annual Conference Marietta, Ohio.

Watch the NCTA North Star for more details.

For lo, winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

--Song of Solomon KJV

Adopters Needed

If you would like to adopt a portion of the NCT please contact Dave Cornell at: onestep@mei.net .  Adopters are needed for the Kellogg Biological Station and a new section east of Middleville in Barry County.

Volunteer Appreciation

Without volunteers where would we be today? The time, hard work and dedication of the North Country Trail volunteers is being rewarded. Want to find out how? Come and spend some time with us and leave in the latest trail attire. Yep a North Country trail T-shirt of your very own. Give us an hour, get a shirt.

Volunteer Opportunities

• March 20: Trail Care.  Meet at 8 am for breakfast at the Prairieville Inn. We will be clearing fallen trees on John Gay property off Keller Rd. Please bring your chainsaw.

• April 17: Trail Care.  Meet at 8am for breakfast at Lakeside Café. We will leave for the Ft. Custer National Cemetery trail at 9 am.

April 24:  Earth Day Celebration at 10am-4pm. 

Spend time with other chapter members sharing information about the NCT with the general public. Location:  Kalamazoo Valley Community College.  Contact Tom Garnett with any questions at 269-382-2561, or GarnettT@trinity-health.org

Two roads diverged in a wood, and II

took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

--Robert Frost

What’s been happening?

A new section of trail has been accepted. The new section is located east of Middleville off Crane Rd.  The March chapter meeting began with a tour of Katie & Christy’s. Mid-Lakes Screen-Printing, Monogramming Active Wear & Tanning Salon. They have the Chief Noonday Chapter logo and offer embroidery of the logo on any piece of clothing that you bring in for less than $10.00.

Trial work on February 28 included removal of fallen trees between 40th Street and C Avenue and M-89. Thank you Larry Hawkins, Tom Garnett and Larry Pio!

John Gorentz’s “Travels with Noonday”. At the February chapter meeting, John Gorentz gave an entertaining presentation on the documented travels of Chief Noonday and also Blackhawk, some speculations on other locations they visited, and a great deal of history of the 1800 to 1830 period in the Midwest.  John plans a book on his hobby in the future, and we will look forward to seeing it.

The winter hike was held February 21 on a section of trail we are scouting northeast of Middleville.  Charles Krammin, Verle Krammin, Tom Garnett, Tom McCarty, Eric Longman, Jack DeVette, Larry Pio, Jerry Pattok, and Bob Jones were all involved in scouting the trail.  Special thanks to Charles and Verle Krammin for cutting the trail with snowshoes several times prior to the hike, to ease our way.  Also thanks to Mark Bishop and Christine Hanaburgh of the State Game Areas, for setting up this trail.

Without wildlife

Where would we learn about ourselves?

Without nature

How could we survive?

Without wilderness

Where would we be?

--Cindy Bradburn

New Members

Beth Gibson – Portage

Alice Holwerda – Kalamazoo 

Please join me in extending a welcome to all of them!

Support our Supporters

See Mid-Lakes Mini Storage southwest of Delton for your storage needs. Mid-Lakes provides us with storage for our Chief Noonday Tool Trailer.

Share and Tell

Do you have a trail story, a section of trail that is your favorite, a bit of trail wisdom? Share your knowledge, and wit with our readers. Send your thoughts, short stories, or pearls to Linda Warren at: linblessed54@aol.com.

Honor the sacred. Honor the Earth— our mother. Honor the Elders. Honor all with whom we share the earth. Four-legged, two legged, winged ones, swimmers, crawlers, pant and rock people. Walk in balance and beauty.

 –Anonymous Native American Elder

A HUGE thank you to Larry Pio for all of his help and support as I become the new editor of the newsletter.  I couldn’t have put this together without his help and encouragement. Larry THANK YOU! 

Thanks also goes to Linda Warren, who is our new newsletter editor.  Way to go, Linda!  THANKS!

Newsletter Editor: linda warren

linblessed54@aol.com

Trecs Inc.

Lee’s Sporting Goods

Prairieville Family Inn

Sharp Park Campground

Sandhill Marketing

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