3rd Quarter Newsletter 2007
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CHAPTER MEETINGS
Meetings are at 7:00 PM at the
Barry
Township Hall on Orchard Street in Delton the second Wednesday of each month,
and are open to the public.
Meetings through the third quarter of 2007 are July 11,
August 8 (which is a potluck dinner at a
special time of 5:30 PM -- see below) and September
12.
REMINDER: For the latest information,
especially toward the end of the quarter, please visit
our
Web site for updates -- especially the
Trail Log and the
Events Calendar.
NCTA
welcomes new Executive Director: Bruce Matthews.
Welcome to Bruce and his family. Please
see the Current News item 5/30/07 on the right column of
the NCTA web
site for full press release including Bruce’s
extensive background.
Linda Warren resigns as CND Newsletter Editor:
After serving three years as our newsletter
editor, Linda Warren is taking a well-deserved
break and has resigned as editor. Linda, thanks for all
your service.
UPCOMING SCHEDULED
EVENTS
July 7:
7-7-7 Volksmarch Hike in Middleville on the
Paul Henry Thornapple Trail – 3 or 6 miles.
The Volksmarch is a noncompetitive 10K hike. A 5K
hike is also available. Volksmarch is offered in
cooperation with the American Volkssport Association.
The hike begins in downtown Middleville at the gazebo
behind the Village Hall at 100 E Main when you arrive at
your leisure between 8:00 AM and 11:00 AM. The
local organizers are the Middleville Official Volkssport
Event Site (MOVES). See their
brochure for more information.
Jean Lamoreaux is asking for volunteers. If you
are available, please e-mail her or call her at
269-795-3627. Or just show up and help before your
hike begins.
The Chief Noonday
Chapter welcomes anyone to join us
for any of our hikes or work day events.
Kanoe the Kazoo Scheduled all Summer 2007:
July 13 is the next scheduled float down
the Kalamazoo River with Kanoe the Kazoo 2007. See
their
Web site to register and see the whole program, or
see their
program brochure. The full schedule:
July 13: Long Lake; Yankee Springs Recreation Area
July 14: Kalamazoo River; Marshall to Ceresco Dam
July 15: Kalamazoo River, Helmer Road to Augusta
July 28: Kalamazoo River, Augusta to Galesburg
August 4: Kalamazoo River, Ceresco to Bridge Park
August 18: Goguac Lake, Battle Creek
September 22: Rice Creek
July 14
Swan Creek Trail Hike: Charles
Krammin will be leading our hike of about 4 miles on
the South Loop of the Swan Creek Trail in the Allegan
State Game Area. Those wishing to carpool from Hastings,
or from Exit 61 on US-131, can
e-mail Charles or call him at 269-945-2569.
The group will gather at 9:00 AM for breakfast at the
Village Inn Restaurant on the west side of Allegan
at 1520 Lincoln Road (which is also known as M89 and
M40). We will leave at 10:00 AM, traveling north
about a half mile to Monroe Road, then traveling west
about 5 miles, to just past 44th street, to the
trailhead where Swan Creek crosses under the road.
A
map of the Allegan State Game Area is available from
the DNR Web site.
July 21
Workday at Sackett Segment north of Augusta.
We will be doing some general mowing and trail
maintenance on the Sackett Property on the north side of
EF Avenue, north of Augusta from the
Shell Station at 9 AM. We will be meeting for
breakfast at the Lakeside Café at 209 S. Webster at 8
AM.
August
2 – 5 NCTA Annual Conference: The 2007
NCTA Annual Conference will be held in Bemidji,
Minnesota on August 2 – 5.
August
8 POTLUCK DINNER at 5:30 PM: Back by
popular demand, our potluck dinner and meeting will be
held at the picnic shelter behind the Barry Township
Hall on Orchard Street in Delton at 5:30 PM
on August 8. Please bring a dish to pass, plates,
forks, etc., and your own family friendly-beverage.
Bring your kids and a friend. We don’t have
assigned courses, but I have heard rumors of heirloom
tomatoes and sweet corn already being contemplated by
some, and perhaps some pulled pork. In conjunction
with the sweet corn course, a backpacking stove water
heating contest is planned. Rules are still being
contemplated, but bring your favorite stove and fuel,
and we will have a “steam-off”. Larry Hawkins
has proposed a primitive category and will enter his
wood-burning stove.
August
11 Hike at Saugatuck Dunes State Park – about
5 miles. Charles Krammin will be leading our
hike on August 11 at the Saugatuck Dunes State Park on
Lake Michigan. The group will assemble at 10 AM at
the Burger King at Exit 41 off of I-196 (the Saugatuck
exit onto Blue Star Highway). We will then travel
north one mile on 64th Street to 138th Avenue, and then
left one mile to the
Felt
Mansion township park. Those wishing to
carpool from Hastings, or from Exit 61 on US-131, can
e-mail Charlie or call him at
269-945-2569, and he will advise on timing. A
map of Saugatuck Dunes State Park is available
on-line.
August
18 Work Day at John Gay Property north of Prairieville:
We will be doing general trail maintenance, along with a
little benching, and working on some gating ideas to
assure landowner intent is
honored. We will start at 9 AM at the Keller
Road entrance of this segment, 0.3 miles east of
Norris Road. Keller Road is about 4 miles north of
Prairieville. A breakfast location has not yet
been determined. Check the
Chief Noonday Events Calendar later.
August
24 and 25 Hastings Summerfest Booth:
Once again Jerry Pattok has graciously agreed to
lead our booth effort at the Hastings Summerfest
celebration. He is looking for volunteers to man
the booth on both August 24 and 25, and to put the booth
together on August 23. Please
contact Jerry if you can help. The shifts are
usually 3 hours, between the hours of 9 AM to 6 PM.
This project has been a great way to tell the Barry
County community about our trail, and we appreciate all
the efforts of Jerry and his crew.
August
(the last week thereof) Upper Peninsula Work Week:
The Hiawatha Shore to Shore Chapter in the Upper
Peninsula is a small Chapter with a long section of
trail that needs some TLC. Bill Menke
(Regional Trail Coordinator) and Clare Cain
(Director of Trail Management) are planning a weeklong
work project in the Upper Peninsula for the last week in
August to provide support. You are invited.
Work will be on the trail west of Tahquamenon Falls.
Food and camping will be provided. If you are
interested,
contact
Larry Hawkins or e-mail
Clare or call her at 616-897-5987 for more
information.
September 3: Volksmarch event scheduled in Middleville.
September 8 Hike McDonald Lake to Norris Road
– about 5 miles. Each year we schedule a hike
after Summerfest, so the folks we meet at Summerfest
will have a chance to experience our trail. This
year we are hiking between McDonald Lake and Norris Road
on September 8. We will meet at the Big Boy
Restaurant at 1105 W. State Street in Hastings, at 8
AM for breakfast. We will then gather on the west
side of the Norris Road (also known as Yankee Springs
Road north of here) trail crossing, about 0.4 miles
south of Gun Lake Road at 9:15 AM. We will leave
some cars here, and drive to the Hickory Point Road
trail crossing near McDonald Lake, which is 0.2 miles
south of Chief Noonday Road (aka M-179). Hickory
Point Road is a little over 2 miles west of Yankee
Springs Road. Our hike will begin at the McDonald
Lake trailhead.
September 22 Work Day Scheduled. We
have this date set aside for a work day, but plans have
not been finalized. Check the
Chief Noonday Events Calendar later.
REPORTING IN
Report
Your Volunteer Hours! PLEASE
report your volunteer hours on a quarterly basis, either
by mail, or by filling out the form on the
NCTA web site. These hours are reported to
Congress, and are used to help determine budget numbers
for our trail.
.
A HIKE A MONTH and the HIKE
COMMITTEE: As you can see, the Hike
Committee has gotten off to a fast start.
Joe Higdon and
Charles Krammin have volunteered as 2 of the 5
people we think we need to serve on our Hike Committee
to sustain this effort. If you are interested in
helping, please contact them, or
Larry Hawkins (269-945-5398).
Report
on April 28 Work Day with Baw Beese Chapter:
Larry Hawkins, Mick Hawkins, Jeff
Fleming, Ron Sootsman, Steve Hicks,
and Larry Pio met up with Clare Cain and
the Chief Baw Beese crew to do a little trail
reroute, some benching, and some mowing and lopping.
A
full report of our day is available on our Web site.
Report
on May 5 Canoe the Thornapple & Hike (Middleville).
Perhaps this picture best tells the story of
the Hawkins Brothers’ trip down the Thornapple River on
May 5. However, for another version you should
check out
Larry’s report on our web site. As you can see
by the title of this link ("Volksswim", a new category
has been proposed to the Volkssport folks, river
walking. Thanks to Jean Lamoreaux for the
use of this photo, and to Charles Krammin for
setting up the canoeing event, and also the Volksmarch
committee.
Lost: NCTA baseball cap, water bottle, and hiking
staff.
Damaged: Wallets, currency, cell phones, pager,
camera.
Picture: Priceless.
Report
on June 2 National Trail’s Day Hike: We
had a nice group for our Trial’s Day Hike led by Joe
Higdon. A
full report can be seen in the Trail Log on
our Web site.
Report
on the June 16 Work Day: Larry
Hawkins, Mick Hawkins, Ron Sootsman,
Jeff Fleming, and George Lee worked on
blazing between Marshall and Homer. We have
reconfigured the trail corridor to follow the Kalamazoo
River from Marshall to Albion, and then south to Homer,
so the old blazes needed to be erased and new ones added
in the new corridor. A full description is
available in the
Trail Log.
Web
Page Update – Mick Hawkins has added
new instructions for joining the Yahoo news group.
Getting your name into the group allows us to notify you
when plans change. Mick has also added a ballot
for the NCTA Board elections, to be postmarked no
later than July 16. Did I mention Larry
Hawkins is running for an at-large seat on the
board?
Receive
the Chief Noonday Chapter newsletter via email.
Contact
Larry Pio. Please share your newsletter
with a friend, and tell someone about Chief Noonday
and the NCT.
An
Introductory Rate for Your Friends:
It’s nice to have the power of the press. I have
generously added my name to the Sponsored By:
space, however you can cross that out and use yours.
The cost of a membership provides some support for our
local trail projects. More importantly our
membership numbers show Congress there is support for
the trail, and influences the projects they fund.
►
Please visit the
Trail Log regularly on the CNC Web Page for
pictures, commentary on events, and special notices. ◄
