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Except as otherwise noted, all contents of this
Web site are Copyright
© Chief
Noonday
Chapter,
the North Country Trail Association.
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December 10, 2011 |
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Images from the Fall:
"Fall" in the autumnal sense.
The Webmaster has finally gotten around to rummaging through
his predictably sizeable collection of pictures taken during
Chief Noonday's activities from September through November
2011.
Interesting programs at our Chapter meetings, a hike In
November, awards from the NPS, valiant workdays — they're
all here.
Enjoy the pictures! |
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August 29, 2011 |
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Events of August:
We haven't taken the summer off in Chief Noonday Chapter.
August saw us enjoying a bounteous repast at our Annual
Potluck Picnic in Delton, celebrating the Trail with NCTA
members from all across the Northern Tier States, and
starting downed tree clearing at Kimball Pines.
See the item in the
Trail Log.
Click here
for the pictures. |
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May
29, 2011 |
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Storm on the Trail:
A powerful storm featuring straight line winds 75-100 miles
per hour hit the Battle Creek area during Memorial Day
weekend. Square in the
center of the swath which the storm cut through Emmett
Township east of Battle Creek was Kimball Pines County
Park through which the North Country National Scenic
Trail passes. The Trail is now buried under
hundreds of trees including the tall stately pines for which
the park had been famous.
See the item in the Trail Log.
Click here
for the pictures — and take a moment of silence. |
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April
30, 2011 |
The April File: In April 2011, Chief Noonday
Chapter made the best of Michigan's version of Spring.
We ventured off the North Country National Scenic Trail for
our monthly hike and walked around Sessions Lake in
the Ionia State Recreation Area.
And we completed
counter-erosion measures we'd initiated last fall at
Fort Custer near Armstrong Road when we had
re-routed a portion of the Trail. This time
took a further step in the project by putting in a
puncheon. Later we will probably re-position
the kiosk.
Click here
for the pictures. |
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Certified Sawyers:
Five Chief Noonday members and one Chief Baw Beese
member received training toward NPS certification
(or, in one case, renewed certification) as
chain-sawyers the weekend of March 26-27.
The two-day program
consisted of classroom work at Kellogg Forest
and field instruction and practice in the Barry
State Game Area under a special Use Permit
issued by the DNRE.
Click here
for the pictures. See also the
Trail Log item. |
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Sprucing up the Ott
Biological Preserve:
Twelve able-bodied members of Chief Noonday Chapter
and three new friends spent 5½ hours of a beautiful
Saturday replacing a bunch of broken rails and posts
along two boardwalks over wetlands.
That was after they hand-carried a hefty supply of
lumber and hardware for a mile from the
trailhead to the work site.
But it was worth it. The results were
something to be proud of. Neighbors and users
of the Preserve should be impressed.
Click here
for the pictures. See also the
Trail Log item. |
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Log Box Building Bee:
We spent part of a mighty cold Michigan winter
Saturday in Steve Hicks' cozy heated workshop
at Saddlebag Lake doing trail work. Sort of.
We built nine cedar trail log boxes based on
a model developed, we believe, for the Finger Lakes
Trail in New York State.
We ended up with ten boxes, counting a
prototype built earlier by Steve based on
plans and specs drawn up by Jeff Fleming.
Jeff had gone out on the trail and collected the
data from a box that had already been up for years
at W. K. Kellogg Experimental Forest.
According to the plan, these boxes would be mounted
on trail kiosks in Chief Noonday's NCNST section
during a February 19th workday.
Click here
for the pictures. See also the
Trail Log item. |
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Catching Up:
In recent months the Webmaster has learned the hard
way that there is truth in a (remanufactured) adage,
"The busier I be, the behinder I get."
Here is a catch-up gallery featuring pictures taken
at several Trail-related events in late summer: the
NCTA 2010 National Conference at Ashland, a
workday in Lake County, a hike on the North
Country Trail across the Straits of Mackinac
called Bring on the Bridge! II, and
rainy-day trail-building near Middleville.
Enjoy!
Click here
for the pictures. |
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On July 29th the
Webmaster got a chance to visit the area of this
week's major oil spill in Calhoun County.
He saw firsthand how the spill impacted waterways in
both Calhoun and Kalamazoo Counties. And per
his usual MO he took scads of pictures.
The North Country
Trail runs directly alongside or crosses the
Kalamazoo River in several places. It is
now closed in those places until further notice.
Click here for
some more pictures. See also the next panel
below and our
updated map of the impacted area. |
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We've been used to
hearing about oil spills for the past 100
days. But this one in Calhoun County
hits too close to home.
On Sunday or Monday,
July 25-26, a pipeline south of Marshall
spilled into a nearby stream. And by midweek
the impact was felt all along the Kalamazoo River
almost to Galesburg in Kalamazoo County.
The North Country
National Scenic Trail, which runs along the
Kalamazoo River in several places, was directly
impacted.
Click here for
pictures. Thanks to Tom Garnett for
supplying these. See also our
Trail Log and
our
map of the impacted area. |
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Kellogg Biological
Station
was again the scene of a busy morning of work put
out by a singularly dedicated group of people.
And a tractor.
We planned to lower two kiosks to make the display
boards more accessible to all, to stain the wooden
stairway that leads up to the Trail from the parking
loop by the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, and ... maybe
... erect a new third kiosk in the north portion of
the re-route.
And, believe it or
not, we got all that done! We could even have
stained the kiosks ... if we'd had the stain with
us.
Click here for
pictures. |
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A Partnership That
Works!
We had an unusual
workday at Kellogg Biological Station.
For one thing, we had
our breakfast table set up literally on the North
Country National Scenic Trail itself. For
another, with KBS staff we celebrated completing a
stretch of trail which showcases KBS's work in dairy
farming, and at the same time made virtually the
entire NCNST in Kalamazoo County off-road. And
we had one of the biggest groups of workers we've
ever had for a chapter workday. It was a great
day!
Click here for
pictures. |
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Eight stalwart Chief
Noonday members made their way to Valley City, North
Dakota, and had a ball at this year's North
Country Trail Association National Conference.
Despite the travel
distance entailed for many, this year's conference
was one of the best attended ever.
There were plenty of
hikes to go on, workshops to attend, people to share
stories and insights with, fun things to do.
Click here for some of the 800+ pictures
we took! |
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National Trails Day: We built bridges of a
different nature from our usual when we engaged in
an energetic service project in Calhoun County's
Historic Bridge Park.
The paved North
Country National Scenic Trail through the park
doesn't require a lot of attention. Instead nine Chief Noonday members joined four
historic bridge buffs for a busy park clean-up and
mowing project around the various park bridges and
features. It was a good demonstration of
what can be accomplished by dedicated volunteers in
support of the NCNST and county and local park
programs.
It took us all morning, but we were proud of what we
accomplished.
Pictures are here. |
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We greeted November with
a busy double-header — a hike in Portage, and
a workday in Ft. Custer which proved
considerably more complicated than we could have
anticipated. We seemed to come up against a
conspiracy between Mother Nature and the beavers!
Click
here for the pictures. |
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We built a bridge in
Kimball Pines on this warm, mosquito-y October
day. We're not sure whether the creek it now
crosses has a name, but this was definitely a
"bridge to somewhere", facilitating the walk through
the wetlands of this beautiful county park.
Now we'll see what the beavers think up by way of
retaliation....
Click
here for the pictures. |
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We don't seem to have
this "winter hike" thing quite worked out
yet. Yes, that's Joe Higdon wading --
barefoot -- in January. We hiked on Battle
Creek's Linear Park pathway, parts of which were
under water from a somewhat flooded Battle Creek
River. Joe decided to take the direct
approach rather than detour with the rest of us
wimps. The day was nippy when we started out,
but before long it was more like walking on a brisk
spring day.
Pictures are
here. |
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We had gorgeous weather
and a fine turnout of eager workers for our final
workday of 2007 and our last day on the Trail
through the John Gay property until spring.
We actually didn't quite
have enough tools for everybody!
We re-benched and
rebuilt about 300 feet of trail.
Pictures are
here. |
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We did something a
little different for our Fall Color Hike this
year. For one thing, we ventured out of Chief
Noonday's usual territory and into Hillsdale County
where we hiked on the North Country National Scenic
Trail in the Lost Nation State Game Area.
For another thing, we
shared our hike with the Chief Baw Beese Chapter,
which tends to that section of the NCNST.
Not to mention that one
of our hikers was probably one of the youngest ever
to participate in one of our chapter hikes.
Pictures are
here. |
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Chief Noonday Chapter
was ably represented by Ron and Linda
Sootsman and Tom and Maggie Momenee
(& Blaze) at a special work project in the
Upper Peninsula hosted by NCTA Director of Trail
Management, Clare Cain, and Great Lakes
Regional Trail Coordinator Bill Menke.
They camped and spent
three days putting in bridges, benching and
refurbishing the Trail.
Pictures are
here. |
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A skeleton crew,
dominated by representation from Clan Hawkins
and the U. S. Coast Guard, worked on the
trail through the John Gay property this
month, re-benching and widening the trail through a
hilly section.
There is still enough work remaining in the section
for another workday in the fall.
Click
here for the
photographic evidence. |
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A small group of us, under the
expert leadership of Charles Krammin,
recently enjoyed a pleasant Saturday morning trail
hike into the dunes of Saugatuck Dunes State Park
and onto the shore of Lake Michigan. It
was worth the rather long drive from our more normal
tramping grounds.
Here are pictures. |
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It was kind of a long drive this
year, but eight of us from Chief Noonday managed to
complete the trek to Bemidji, Minnesota, the land of
Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, to enjoy the
annual National Conference of the North
Country Trail Association.
And it was well
worth the effort.
We're already looking forward
to next year in Cazenovia, New York.
Here are pictures. |
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On our sunny, crisp but nippy
workday we installed two trail kiosks on the
NCNST Battle Creek Linear Park pathway.
The kiosks utilized a new light weight modular
design engineered and single-handedly constructed by
Chief Noonday member Josh Ritchie.
That, coupled with a good turnout of zealous
workers, got the job done in plenty of time for
lunch.
Here are pictures. |
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Our Fall Color Hike from
the Augusta trailhead through Kellogg Forest, led by
Joe Higdon, didn't exactly occur during the
peak times for autumn colors in our region.
It's not easy to plan things like that in Michigan.
But it was a beautiful day and a great hike
nonetheless.
Here are pictures. |
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NCTA's National Conference
in Pennsylvania proved to be a great opportunity for
eight members of Chief Noonday Chapter. We
hobnobbed with other enthusiastic supporters of the
Trail hailing from all seven of the states through
which the NCNST passes -- not to mention hiking in
marvelous weather on the NCNST and other trails in the
beautiful setting of the Alleghenies. We even
built some great trail.
Here are pictures. |
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Fourteen intrepid souls
turned out for a pair of Summer Hikes
sponsored by the Chief Noonday Chapter despite
predictions of temperatures reaching into the 90's
by noon.
The hikes, hosted by
hikemaster Jerry Pattok, took us a bit
"off-trail" and through the Michigan Audubon
Society's Ronald H. Warner and Robert &
Mildred Otis Sanctuaries.
Even if it was a bit warm, it
was a great day for hiking in these beautiful
settings.
Here are some
pictures. |
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"Bi-location" was the name of the game this
beautiful weekend for
Chief Noonday Chapter, with a Workday in
Barry County and Bridge Day at Historic
Bridge Park in Battle Creek. So while a trail
crew of nine stained trailhead kiosks in the
northern portion of the Chapter's coverage area,
other members provided a presence at Bridge Day with
a display of Chief Noonday's trailer and a
literature table and fielded questions from
interested visitors.
Here's the
photo evidence. |
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LaVerne BeBeau
passed away at home on June
7 after a
long illness.
LaVerne's profession was
education and his passion was teaching, with a special
interest in history. He was a skilled researcher, as
well as a self-taught naturalist, who put his talents to
good use for the benefit of the Trail and the Chief Noonday
Chapter. We have a special page of
reflections on LaVerne's
life and his contributions
to Chief Noonday Chapter
and the NCNST. LaVerne
will be missed. |
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Spring Wildflower Hike:
A good turnout of hikers enjoyed a highly informative walk
through Yankee Springs under the impressively knowledgeable
tutelage of Barb VanDyken, hikemaster, and Cal Lamoreaux.
(Click
here to
see some pictures.)
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Kiosks-R-Us: We had busy
workdays on April 22 and May 13. At Charles Krammin's
farm we built three new kiosks under Charlie's capable
direction. Then on May 13th, utilizing sort of a "Rube
Goldberg" but very workable device created by Charlie out of
recycled farm equipment, we installed two of the new kiosks
at Irving and at Kimball Pines. (Photos by the
Webmaster and Ron Sootsman)
(Click
here to
see some pictures.)
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We arguably picked the coldest day of the
season for our annual Winter Hike, this year a part
of the Gun Lake Area WinterFest. Thirteen
people in two groups took part in the 5.2 mile hike from the
M-179 trailhead to the Long Lake Outdoor Center. And
in spite of the cold, it was a good day and a great hike. Joe Higdon
(in the light colored parka) was hike master.
(Click
here to
see some pictures.)
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The North Country National
Scenic Trail in Barry County's
Prairieville is a road walk connector trail on Norris Road through town.
As you hike it, be sure to take a short side trip into the
Prairieville Cemetery on the north side of the town,
visit the Doster family plot near the northeast corner of
the cemetery, and meet Ben, who's been guarding his
mistress's grave for more than 100 years.
(Click
here to
read this poignant story and see pictures.) |
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Bud
Leonard gave a well-received presentation at the February 8th
chapter meeting in Delton. He drew on a whole lot of years'
direct personal experience in the region, talking about Native
American activities in the Wall Lake area. (Click
here to see the pictures.) |
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Thanks to a fine turnout of able-bodied workers,
not to mention great weather, the installation of a new temporary footbridge
at the Ft. Custer Recreation Area was essentially completed in one workday.
(Click here to see the pictures.
And click
here to see a "before" picture of how you would have to
cross the creek without the bridge.)
(Photos provided by Maggie Momenee and the Webmaster) |
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Click here for
more pictures from prior to 2006.
(Please note: if you
have any trail photos to share, please send them to the
webmaster)
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Last modified:
Saturday, December 10, 2011
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