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1st Quarter Newsletter 2009
(Larry
Pio, Editor)
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here
to view the .PDF version. If you need
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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 First Quarter of 2009 are January 14,
February 11, and March 11.
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.
Upcoming Events
January 17 — Hike at Saugatuck
Dunes State Park, Allegan County:
This
hike has the potential to be very memorable, with ice
buildup on Lake Michigan among the gorgeous views.
It also has the potential to be in the teeth of a big
wind. We are going to review our weather potential
at the January 14th meeting to determine if this hike
goes forward. Hikers interested in this hike
should contact Mick Hawkins at
webmaster.ncta-cnd@comcast.net or Larry Hawkins
at
hawkeyemd@cablespeed.com (or 269-945-5398) so we can
get some idea of interest in participation before the
January 14 meeting. If we determine the hike will
indeed happen, we will post hike start location and
pre-hike breakfast location on the
Events Calendar, and let all the “pre-registrants”
know by phone if needed.
January 24 — Work Day to be
determined: This work day will be very
much flexible depending on weather. We have a
variety of tasks on our list, and the entire first
quarter will be in flux as we judge which tasks are
do-able. Keep an eye on our
Events Calendar for updates.
February 14 — Valentines Day
Hike at Ott Preserve, Battle Creek:
The February 14 hike at the Ott Preserve in Battle Creek
will begin at 9:30 AM at the entrance at the end of
Arlington Road. We will meet for breakfast at 8:30
AM, just up the road at the McDonald's on 1160 East
Michigan Avenue. We may also do some trail
scouting in conjunction with this hike. Bring your
Valentine. — To get to the Ott Preserve area, you can
take I-94 to the I-194 penetrator, and follow the
Columbia Avenue exit east until you get onto Michigan
Avenue, and then continue east to the McDonald's.
Arlington Road is about 0.2 miles farther east from the
McDonalds, and you will be turning left (north).
February 28 — Work Day
Scheduled: Again, work location and
schedule to be determined.
March 14 — Hike NCT Norris Road
to Hall Lake, Barry County: The
March 14 hike will begin at 9:30 AM at our trailhead on
Norris Road 0.4 miles south of Gun Lake Road. We
will park our cars at the Hall Lake parking lot, 1.4
miles west of Yankee Springs Road (which turns into
Norris Road), and then car
pool to the beginning of the hike. We will meet for
breakfast at the Hastings Big Boy, at 1105 W.
State Street in Hastings at 8:00 AM.
From the Big Boy, head west to the junction of M37 and M43
west of Hastings, then
1. go west on M43 0.3 miles to M179 (Chief Noonday
Road).
2. Follow M179 for 1.3 miles.
3. Bear left onto Gun Lake Road.
4. Go 5.9 miles to the stop sign at Yankee Springs Road.
5. Go 1.4 miles on Gun Lake Road to the Hall Lake
parking area.
March 21
— Work Day
Scheduled: Again, work location and
schedule to be determined.
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The Chief Noonday
Chapter welcomes anyone to join us for
any of our meetings, hikes, or workday
events. For more
information, please contact Larry
Hawkins at hawkeyemd@cablespeed.com,
or 269-945-5398 or see web site for
other contacts. |
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Chief Noonday
Hike Schedule in 2009
 Our
Hiking Committee of Joe Higdon and Charles
Krammin has been busy setting up this lineup of
hikes for 2009. To help your
planning:
• April 2009: Baker Sanctuary near
Marshall, MI
• May 2009: Fort Custer National
Cemetery
• June 2009: Update: Albion River
Trail & Whitehouse Nature Center, Calhoun County
• July 2009: Moonlight hike at Otis
Sanctuary, perhaps with telescopes, Barry County
• August 2009: Lowell State Game Area
• September 2009: Peets Road to M-179, a
follow-up to Summerfest, Barry County
• October 2009: Fall Color Hike in Lost
Nations State Game Area
• November 7, 2009: Pierce Cedar Creek
Trails, Barry County
• December 5, 2009: Portage Bicentennial
Park Trail, Portage
NCTA Annual Conference
Valley City, North Dakota
July 30 – August 2, 2009
 Web Site Trail Log Reports
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:
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A report on NCTA Volunteer Awards recognizing
Ron Sootsman, Steve Hicks, Mick Hawkins,
Jeff Fleming, and Steve Chapman for
achieving milestones in volunteer hours worked.
•
A report on the October 11 workday at Kimball
Pines, with the upgraded bridge installation. Ron
Sootsman, his son Joe Sootsman, Larry
Hawkins, Mick Hawkins, Steve Hicks and
Mike Wilkey were our crew.
•
Details of our October 18 “moonlight” hike,
attended by 17 hikers. We had a great night for
it, with clear skies and no wind. Unfortunately
the moon did not appear until we were on our way home.
Still a great night.
 •
A report of our “double dipper” November 8 hike
followed by a workday at Fort Custer National
Cemetery. We had 11 hikers for the Portage
Bicentennial Park hike. Then Steve Hicks,
Ron Sootsman, Jeff Fleming, Larry Pio,
Mike Wilkey, Mick Hawkins, and Larry
Hawkins went to Fort Custer to put the small bridge,
which had washed off of one bank in the October
flooding, back on the bank. When we arrived we
found a tree had fallen on it. Job #2 was clearing
the trail of about 15 trees felled by beavers in just a
small area. Mick and Jeff then went
on to do more work at Kimball Pines, after the Fort
Custer work was completed.
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A note on Joan Young’s new blog featuring
news items about the North Country National Scenic
Trail, which can be found at this link:
http://www.northcountrytrailnews.blogspot.com/
More News
 Our Chapter Hike on December 6 in the
Allegan State Game Area was not well attended due to
blizzard conditions. Our intrepid hike leaders
Charles Krammin and Joe Higdon were the only
ones to make it, and we probably won't hear the end of
that for a while.
The Nov. 13 SMART Conference in Middleville, also
promoted by the Thornapple Trail Association, was
attended by Ron and Linda Sootsman, and
Mick Hawkins. Presentations were reported to
be of a very high quality.
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, which can be
accessed here. Or you can report them to
Larry Hawkins, and he can submit a group report to
headquarters.
SEGMENT SPOTLIGHT: Ott
Biological Preserve, Battle Creek
 One of the jewels of our Chief Noonday
Chapter is our trail through the Harvey N. Ott
Biological Preserve in Emmett Township just east of
Battle Creek. This 300 acre greenspace dates back
to 1911, was established in 1926 as the Battle Creek
College Biological Preserve, and when Battle Creek
College closed, it was obtained by Albion College and
named the Ott Preserve. In 1977 Calhoun County
purchased the Ott Preserve with help from a DNR grant to
become a nature preserve. It is the largest public
park in Calhoun County.
In the fall of 2001, the NCTA, with
National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Funding,
helicoptered a bridge into the Ott Preserve to allow
crossing the stream between the two lakes.
Occasionally with help from local beavers, this stream
looks more like a lake. A long boardwalk provided
by the Calhoun County Road Commission reaches the bridge
even during high water incidences.
For more information:
http://www.calhouncrc.net/departments/parks_ott.htm
This segment of trail is 1.75 miles
long, and there are other trails within the Preserve.
Parking is available at both ends of the trail.
The northwest parking lot is on Jameson
Street. To reach Jameson, take Emmett Street to
Raymond Street, turn south on Raymond to Jameson, and
follow Jameson east to the parking lot (right hand side
on the end of the road).
The south parking lot is on the north end of Arlington
Avenue, which is accessible from Michigan Avenue, one of
the main thoroughfares on the east side of Battle Creek.
Our February 14 hike will explore the Ott Preserve.
Chief
Noonday Member 2009 Hiker Challenge
While not officially endorsed by the
CND leadership, I am throwing out the gauntlet to see
who in our Chapter can hike the most miles on the North
Country Trail in 2009. We will publish the top ten
hikers each quarter, as information is provided.
At the end of the year, the hiker with the most miles
might get his name on the Chief Noonday Hiker Challenge
Cup.
The rules are pretty simple so far:
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You must be a member of the Chief Noonday
Chapter at some time during the year
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Only North Country Trail miles can be
counted
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Any segment can only be counted once during
the year. (For example, adopters can only count their
segment one time. Sorry.)
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Report your segment mileage, and segment ID,
to me in person, or via email to
nalcoman1@aol.com with the subject CND Hiker
Challenge mileage, or by mail to: 2409 Woody Noll;
Portage, MI 49002
As a bonus, if you hike more than 200 miles on the North
Country Trail, lifetime total, you will be listed on the
NCTA web site as a “Hiker of Note”.
The question: Do we have 10 hikers who can out-hike
Charles Krammin?
Chief Noonday's Newsletter
Receive the Chief Noonday Chapter
newsletter via email. Contact Larry Pio at
nalcoman1@aol.com.
Please share your newsletter with a friend, and
tell someone about Chief Noonday and the NCT.
There are several ways to do it:
•
you can send the link to this page [
http://www.northcountrytrail.org/cnd/newsletter.htm
] by e-mail.
•
you can click on the link for the PDF copy at
the top of this page and e-mail the PDF file to
somebody, or
•
print out copies of the PDF version on your
home printer and share them.
As an added bonus, if you are in touch
with your "inner historian," archive resources
are available on our Web site:
•
Most of the chapter newsletters going back to 2000
are available by clicking on the link of your choice at
the bottom of the current Web newsletter (see below).
•
There is a wealth of information available in our
Paths Once Wandered and
Photos pages.
•
You can even search our Web site for specific
topics. See our
search page for instructions.
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Thank you to those businesses that support our
chapter:
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Lee’s Adventure Sports
311 W. Kilgore
Portage, MI 49002
www.leesports.com
(269) 381-7700
Sandhill Marketing Communications
1715 Glendale Blvd.
Kalamazoo
(269) 382-2561
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Yankee Springs Outdoor Center
Long Lake and Chief Noonday Outdoor Centers
(269) 795-3856
Provides use of lodge for scheduled Chapter winter hikes
Mid-Lakes Mini Storage
11235 S. Wall Lake Rd., Delton
(269) 623-5005
Provides
storage for the Chief Noonday Tool Crib.
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Katie & Christy’s. Midlakes
Screen-Printing,
Monogramming Active Wear ~ Tanning Salon ~ Lake Rentals,
Delton, MI.
Can
add Chief Noonday logo to your clothing.
http://www.mid-lakes.net/
http://www.michiganlakerentals.net/
For sample of their product line
click here.
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Joining the North Country Trail
Association:
Interested in joining the
North Country Trail Association? The easiest way
is to go to the
national Web site and do it online. Memberships
start at $10 for students, and are $46 for a regular
membership. Your support is appreciated.
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.
Web sites:
The web site for the North Country Trail Association
is:
http://www.northcountrytrail.org/index.htm .
The web site for the Chief Noonday Chapter is:
http://www.northcountrytrail.org/cnd/index.htm
Newsletter
available on-line!
You can view the .pdf file
for the Newsletter in the Adobe Acrobat Reader by
clicking on the link above under the title of this page, and you can
even save it on your
hard drive. Or you can receive the .pdf file by
e-mail if you e-mail Larry Pio at
nalcoman1@aol.com.
North Country Trail Association
Chief Noonday Newsletter
2409 Woody Noll
Portage, MI 49002
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To see our previous newsletters, click on the desired
newsletter to read it. Then, hit the 'back' button on your web
browser to return to this page. Note: For future dated newsletters,
you will receive a 'not found' for the newsletter.
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