May 3:  Workday Scheduled:  We have scheduled May 3 as a workday, but plans have not been finalized as to location.  Check our web site, or call Larry Hawkins (see above) for further information.

June 7:  Hike at the Cerulean Warbler Festival, Barry State Game Area, Barry County:  We are changing our scheduled hike to participate in the Cerulean Warbler Festival hikes in the Barry State Game area. Participants will meet at the Festival Site, which we believe is the State Park on Gun Lake. We understand the Holly Trolley will be available to ferry folks around.  Check our web site for more information.

June 21:  Workday – Blazing Day:  On June 21 we will be refreshing our blazes on sections of roadwalk. More details later.

It's not that I don’t enjoy our group hikes, with the chance to hike with friends and to meet new friends, but occasionally I really enjoy the solitude of hiking alone.  Hiking alone gives you a chance to encounter more wildlife and to contemplate many things.  As the adopter for the Fort Custer National Cemetery section of the North Country National ScenicTrail, I am able to blend my enjoyment of a solitary hike and my service to the trail, in a beautifully diverse section of our trail.

Beaver lodge in section 3 of the Trail at Fort Custer National Cemetery.

The trail section is located on the eastern edge of Kalamazoo County, just east of Augusta, on the north side of M-96 (Dickman Road), as you head toward Battle Creek.  The east end of this section is on Armstrong Road, about 0.7 miles north of Dickman Road.  The west end of this section is just north of M-96 on Fort Custer Drive.  It is situated on the National Cemetery property but on the far reaches of the property, away from the cemetery areas.  This trail segment is about 2.6 miles long.

I tend to view this segment in 4 sections, because those are the increments I use when doing my trail maintenance.  From Armstrong Road, our first kiosk, with a register book, is located 30 yards from the roadway.  Take a moment to read comments from other hikers and add your own.

The first section winds through a peaceful pine forest for about 10 minutes.  The changeover to hardwood forest is pretty dramatic at that point, as the trail begins to run along the edge of the woods overlooking an open field, where deer can often be seen.  In this area are a few trenches we speculate were used at some point for military training.  This section continues for another 5 minutes reaching a two-track used by cemetery personnel.

Racoon wetting his whistle in section 3.

The second section is also hardwoods and seems to be a little younger forest.  It is about a 12-minute hike through this section.  The section ends at the maintenance building driveway off of Fort Custer Drive.  This driveway is closed after hours and on weekends, and there is no parking here at any rate, except on the roadway.

The third section begins at the maintenance building driveway and drops into a little lower section of the trail.  The first 12 minutes wind through a hardwood section of trail.  In the next 5 minutes, we see one of the more interesting sections of the trail, built on man-made dikes crossing a large section of marsh.  We don’t know the history of these dikes, but speculate once again the possibility of use for military training.

The fourth section rises up off the dikes and follows an overlook view of the marsh, which can be seen a lot more easily when the leaves are down (again we have all hardwoods).  Seemingly, in the middle of nowhere, our NCNST kiosk appears on the western edge of the cemetery property.  The trail continues on State of Michigan property, crosses a stream, and continues to the end of our segment on Fort Custer Drive. The stream we cross runs from the Fort Custer Recreation Area across Dickman Road and then on to the Kalamazoo River.

Every year our trail group discusses the beaver situation at Fort Custer.  They are prolific dam builders, and they currently have a large dam on the south side of Dickman Road, apparently flooding a huge area of the Recreation Area.  Two of their lodges are visible as we do our marsh crossing, and trees are being chewed down on an ongoing basis.

If you visit our section of trail, please remember it is on hallowed ground and conduct yourselves in a manner respectful of our veterans resting here.  Bicycles, motorized vehicles, pets, and horses are not allowed and in fact would jeopardize our privilege in siting our trail on this property.  Hiking is allowed only during daylight hours.

All parking here is along the roadway.  Since normally a no-trespassing policy is enforced on the Cemetery property, a call to the Veteran’s Hospital Police to let them know you will be hiking is a good idea. Their phone: 269-223-5365.

Mick Hawkins has included detailed reports, with pictures, at the Trail Log page on our Web site on some of our recent activities.  In the last quarter he has included:

●  A report on our member Tom Funke (left) who has been named Director of Conservation with the Michigan Audubon Society.

●  Reports on our three hikes in the 1st Quarter.

●  Reports on our three work days in the 1st Quarter, with thanks to Steve Hicks, his son-in-law Randy, Larry Hawkins, Jim Heaton, Ron Sootsman, Mick Hawkins, Larry Pio, Jerry Pattok, Terry Meden, and Tom Warren for their efforts on the work days.

●  A call for a member to attend the Barry County Parks and Recreation Board meetings on our behalf.

●  An article on our efforts in Calhoun county, led by Tom Garnett.

●  A note on the survey request from the NCTA, with a link to the survey, if you have not yet taken the survey.

An Introductory Rate for Your Friends:   If you are already a member of the North Country Trail Association, you have a good opportunity for introducing the North Country Trail to your friends. There is a special reduced rate for the first year of a membership when you sponsor a new member.  The form to use is included in the on-paper edition of this Newsletter. 

Membership dues help support our local trail projects.  More importantly our membership numbers show Congress that there is support for the trail, and this positively influences the projects they fund.