HIKING THE DEEP LAKE TRAIL:  Never ones to hike on an empty stomach, some of us gathered at the
Hastings Big Boy for breakfast.  It’s like they save the big table for us on Saturdays!  Larry and Mick Hawkins, Ron Sootsman and John Rudnicki all had very healthy breakfasts before heading out to Yankee Springs Recreation Area.

Marsha Mellen, Jerry Pattok and his granddaughter, and (new for us) Josephine Miller from Comstock Park joined us at the trailhead at Deep Lake Camp ground.

Unfortunately, both of our  hikemeisters were unavailable to lead us this month, Joe Higdon being laid low by a bug earlier in the week and Charlie Krammin still sporting his hard plastic cervical collar from his neck surgery.  We look forward to having them both back with us soon.

It was a beautiful morning but a bit brisker than earlier in the week when Ron Sootsman and Art Stone had hiked the Kalamazoo County and south Barry County sections of the Trail on Art’s retirement project of hiking the Michigan North Country National Scenic Trail.

We quickly found that those balmy temperatures in the forties and fifties combined with the plowing of the trail for the Gun Lake WinterFest Snow Stomp had turned sections of the Deep Lake Trail into skating paths.  I was reminded of the Dutch skating for miles on the rivers and canals of Holland.  Fortunately, none of the adults took any spills.  Grandpa Jerry pointed out to his hiking companion that she didn’t have so far to fall as the rest of us.

Throughout the hike we were serenaded by the sandhill cranes bugling on Deep Lake, and as we came back into the campground along the lake shore we were able to observe the flock of cranes strutting (skating) on the ice across the lake. At one point, Josephine thought she could count ten cranes.

We had a great hike.  We missed those of you who were unable to join us and hope to see you next month when we do the Audubon Hike at the Otis and Warner Sanctuaries on April 19th.  You can find the details on the Events Calendar on our Chapter Web site.

Larry Hawkins

Message for Barry County members:   Chief Noonday Chapter along with the North Country National Scenic Trail is an unofficial but very concerned stakeholder with the Barry County Parks and Recreation Board.

It is important for the chapter to have a member representative attend the board's monthly meetings and report back to the chapter, so that we can keep up on and contribute to the board's deliberations and decisions as they affect the North Country Trail.

Charlie Krammin has been serving in this capacity in recent months, and we are grateful to him for this contribution on behalf of the North Country Trail.  Charlie now wishes to step down and pass the torch to another chapter member.

We would need someone to attend the board meetings, which are held on the third Thursday of the month at 6:30 PM, and then report back, preferably in person, to the chapter, which meets on the second Wednesday of each month in Delton.  The location of the board meetings is the Community Room of the Barry County Courts and Law Building, 206 West Court Street, Hastings.

If you reside in Barry County and have questions about this or would be interested in serving as Chief Noonday Chapter's representative at the Barry County Parks and Recreation Board meetings, please contact chapter president Larry Hawkins by e-mail or (269) 945-5398.

Update (June 2008):  Tom Warner, a new member of Chief Noonday Chapter, has volunteered to serve in this capacity.  Thanks, Tom!
 

Developments in Calhoun County:  Tom Garnett, along with Ron Sootsman, has been spearheading an effort to breathe life back into a Master Plan to develop a pathway along the Kalamazoo River connecting Battle Creek's Linear Pathway with Marshall's Riverwalk and eventually continuing on to Albion and Homer.  Tom is chairing the Calhoun County Trails Alliance comprised of various stakeholders in the project. 

There has been significant progress this month.  On March 5, Tom made a presentation to the Calhoun County Board of Parks Trustees, which then unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Master Plan.  On March 20, Tom made a further presentation to the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners, meeting this month in Battle Creek.  The commissioners then voted unanimously for a resolution supporting the project.

The Master Plan Phase 1 media presentation is available for your perusal.
 

Treating trail erosion -- before and after.

Workday in the Ott Biological Preserve:  Well, the trail gods didn’t grace us with good weather today, but, as always, we were blessed with great volunteers.  After a gourmet breakfast at the McDonald’s on East Michigan, we gathered at the Jameson Street parking lot for the Ott Biological Preserve to start the workday.

Ron Sootsman, with his faithful swamper John Rudnicki, (right) headed off into the brush to begin cleaning up the deadfall from the winter storms, and we soon heard the roar of the chain saw off in the distance mingling with the cries of the sandhill cranes and the Canada geese. 

Steve Hicks, Mick Hawkins and Larry Hawkins went to work on the washed out trail down from the parking lot.

Dr. Hawkins pauses to answer a page while John Rudnicki, Jim Heaton and Steve Hicks do re-benching.

Marcia Mellen had generously supplied us with short sections of railroad ties which proved invaluable to the project. 

We built stepped erosion barriers with the ties up the steepest part of the grade from the lot and then buried several 4x4 erosion barriers on the milder grade at the top.  We may wish to go back one day with about four more pieces of railroad tie to really finish it off, but we were quite pleased with the results when we were done.

Larry tamps with a McLeod tool in the foreground while Jeff and John work further back.

We pulled up stakes, and Steve hauled the trailer back to the Arlington Avenue parking lot.  We hauled out the McLeods and Pulaskis and headed down the trail where we met Jeff Fleming and Jim Heaton. 

We surveyed the damage to the boardwalk rails that had resulted from a major blowdown.  The County had cut up the trees, but the railings were still in need of repair.  We assume the County will be taking care of that. 

The beaver dams are still in good shape, but, as John Rudnicki had reported at the Chapter meeting, it appeared that the beavers themselves were gone.

Besides working on the re-benching, Jeff picked up several bags of trash along the trail and at the trailhead.

The trail up the hill from the boardwalk north of the bridge was the site of the remainder of the morning’s work.  The trail had been built some time around 2000-2001 and was showing the ravages of time. 

We went to work, benched it out, and dressed it up, and it is now a really good looking stretch of trail. 

Tool clean-up at the bridge.

 

 

We finished up about 1:00 PM.  Steve and John headed out to scout next month’s project in Kimball Pines, and the rest of us broke for home.

Special thanks to Marcia Mellen for the railroad ties – as well as to Jeff Fleming who went the “extra mile” to clean up a lot of trash along the trail and at the Arlington Avenue trailhead.

Larry Hawkins   
 

Hiking with Audubon:  For our April 19th hike Tom Funke, resident manager for the Aububon Society’s Otis and Warner Sanctuaries (as well as a long-time member of Chief Noonday) met us for breakfast.  Charlie and Verle Krammin, Jeff and Mary Fleming, Jerry Pattok and his granddaughter, and Larry Hawkins filled out the early morning group. 

It was a draw as to who had the wildest stories, Tom or Charlie.  We convoyed out to the Otis Sanctuary where we were joined by Marcia Mellen and Sheila (maybe one of these day's we'll learn Sheila's last name!).

Not being birder, I won’t try to list all of the birds that Tom pointed out to us, but there were lots of them. 

Larry Hawkins   

Trail Adopters convene:  A number of Chief Noonday Chapter’s faithful Trail Adopters were on hand for their yearly meeting at Kellogg Forest with the program originator and on-going provider of impetus and inspiration, Dave Cornell.

Dave Cornell mixes it up with Susan Bond  before the work surface turned blue.

Dave wears a number of important hats these days, among them President of the Board of Directors of the North Country Trail Association.

On hand for the meeting were adopters Jim Martin, Mary Fleming (who shares their trail section adoption with her husband Jeff), Steve Hicks, Ron Sootsman, John Rudnicki, Susan Bond, Joe Higdon, and Larry Pio.

From left, John Rudnicki, Susan Bond, Jim Martin, Larry Hawkins, Ron Sootsman, Mary Fleming, and Steve Hicks (forefront) look over proposed trail rerouting through Kellogg Biological Station.

As promised, Dave brought delectable muffins made from his grandmother’s recipe, and they were delicious (the Webmaster could feel his blood glucose levels mounting...).

We met in the pavilion area and stood around munching miffins and gabbing while Dave mixed up blue blazing paint — and made a mess.  But fortunately he made it mostly on a big sheet of corrugated cardboard he’d prudently brought along, so no embarrassing evidence was left behind.

Ron Sootsman provided the interested group with background on an exciting proposed new routing through the W. K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary and Kellogg Biological Station area.  A new routing has been flagged and awaits approval or further revision from a number of individuals at the sanctuary and farm program who have an interest or stake in the results.

Dave Cornell shared wisdom and experience as well as supplies to the assembled adopters.

The revision proposals are an outcome of a recent meeting between the Kellogg people and the chapter, and will take advantage of some fascinating new program and operational developments in the works at KBS.

Besides providing supplies and printed materials, Dave provided some instruction to the group including care and nurturing of property owners. Blazing paint and other supplies were made available to the adopters as needed.

Per his usual MO, Dave (right) avoided (or tried to avoid) appearing in the annual adopters photo himself — this time by borrowing the Webmaster’s Nikon and taking the picture himself. (Which is how the Webmaster happened to show up in it this time.)  Except Dave may not have taken into account the magic that can be wrought with photo editing....

Rounding out the adopter group but not present for today's picture were George Lee, Wayne Marvin, Jerry Pattok, Roxanne Potter, Marcia Mellen, Tom Funke, Josh Richie, Jeff Fleming, Greg and Lynne Durham, and Terry Meden. 

Our Trail Adopters deserve a big salute for their faithful work in providing an on-going frequent presence on the Trail to ensure that it measures up to high standards in conservation as well as providing a great hiking experience for all who use it.
 

Trail Adopter needed:  John Morgan has moved to Florida, and Wayne Marvin, who teamed with John to adopt the Trail section in the Middleville State Game Area from Crane Road to Johnson Road, needs to pass the baton as well.  We salute and thank John and Wayne for their service on the Trail.

This section of trail is a little over three miles long including about 725 feet of road walk and two trailheads on Robertson Rd.  There are a total of four trailheads with kiosks in this section. 

It is a very nice mostly forest trail on varied terrain with a few more open areas toward the Crane Road end. 

If you would be interested in adopting this section, please contact Dave Cornell.
 

NCTA's Annual Awards:   The secret behind the success that is the North Country National Scenic Trail is the hard work of the North Country Trail Association's many volunteers. 

They don't work for pay or other rewards but because they care about the Trail, about hiking, about the environment, about carrying forward the work of countless other volunteers who have gone before them.

But recognition is much appreciated icing on the cake.  Please take the time to nominate one of your fellow volunteers for an NCTA annual award.  It is so important that we recognize and celebrate the folks who give so much to the development and maintenance of the Trail.

You can submit a nomination on the NCTA's website by clicking here.
 

Gabbing with the photographer while the owner of the historic vehicle carefully dusts off his prize possession.

Photo op:   Four Chief Noonday Chapter stalwarts were on hand to represent the North Country Trail Association and have their pictures taken on May 29th with a vintage vehicle.

The picture was for the 2009 Calendar to be published on behalf of the Friends of the Hastings Public Library. 

The theme for the calendar was to be historic vehicles along with individuals and groups noted for a variety of service in the community.

Photographer for the occasion was Rose Hendershot of Photographic Memory.

The vintage vehicle was a Ford pick-up dating from the early 60's (1963, if the Webmaster remembers rightly -- no sure thing!).

Mick Hawkins, Charles Krammin, Dave Cornell, and Jerry Pattok hold tools of the (Trail) trade along side a vintage Ford pickup from the 60's.  (Photo taken by Rose Hendershot of Photographic Memory)

We'll refrain from mentioning who identified the pickup as a 1947 model....

The chapter members who appeared in the picture were Dave Cornell, founder of Chief Noonday Chapter and currently president of the Board of Directors of the North Country Trail Association, Charles Krammin, also one of the original members of the chapter, Jerry Pattok, and Mick Hawkins.

Representative tools of the trail-building trade appearing in the picture consisted of a Pulaski, a combination axe and mattock used in forest fire fighting and adapted for trail building, an ancient one-person cross-cut saw reputedly inherited from Lynn Waldron, a McLeod tool, a heavy duty combination hoe and rake also used in forest fire fighting, and Dave Cornell's "staff of office."

We ended up gracing the November page of the 2009 Calendar.