FINGER LAKES TRAIL CONFERENCE

TOM REIMERS recalls the North Country Trail Association when it was little more than a good idea! The Finger Lakes Trail had been conceived in 1961 by Wallace D. Wood, almost 20 years before the North Country Trail was authorized by Congress. Tom was involved in the FLTC when the North Country Trail Association asked for representatives from what would become known as Affiliates- independent groups managing long segments of trail which are concurrent with the NCT. As a member of that early board Tom remembers what seemed to be an overwhelming task. "We had no idea how we would accomplish development of a 3,200-mile-long trail," he sighed. Within a few years, Tom was elected vice-president of the NCTA, and then president. He served in this capacity for three years, and feels it to be his most valuable contribution to the North Country Trail .He was able to increase communication with local management authorities. This helped make them more aware of the national status of the trail which was being pieced together and built. Tom also saw the NCTA grow from a cub organization to a new level of professionalism under his guidance. He has held many positions: Cayuga Trails Club president, FLTC president, editor of the FLT News, webrnaster for the FLT web site, member of the FLTC Board of Managers, and board member of the Finger Lakes Land Trust. He is currently Trails Chairman of the Cayuga Trails Club, and its newsletter editor. The FLTC will present the Wallace D. Wood Distinguished Service Award to Tom Reimers in April of this year. You will wonder where all this fits into one life, since Tom is also a professor at the Comell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Does it sound like he never leaves a desk? Wrong. Tom's interest in trails began in 1975 when a friend took him backpacking in Colorado. It was "cold, wet, raining and snowing all weekend", said Tom. "Most people would have been miserable and would never have wanted to do that again, but I fell in love with the adventure and discovered the magic of being out there." That overwhelming task of creating thousands of miles of trail is being accomplished thanks to the efforts of folks like Tom Reimers.

AMERICAN YOUTH HOSTEL

MARK EKLER describes himself as a "fair-weather hiker," There's room on the trail for us all. He is president of the Shenango Outing Club and has volunteered on Keystone Trails Association regular work weekends. During the week he is a custodian at an elementary school, where he stepped down from a supervisory position in order to create more time in his life for being outdoors. He especially likes wildflowers and birdwatching. "You get in touch with yourself" outdoors, he commented. McConnel's Mill State Park was an area familiar to him, and when the corridor for the North Country Trail was located through the park, Mark got excited about making it become a reality. He described himself as "driven" to do this project, leading work crews whenever he was free. Having heard good things about the layout of the trail there, I asked Mark where he learned trail design. "The best trails are established by hikers, not politicians," he chuckled in response. Having hiked a lot, he had mentally noted the good and bad points of trails he had seen. "Then I fit those ideas into the topography of the area." This is a rather amazing response! Mark simply internalized from his experience a great many of the principles now outlined in the Trail Design, Construction and Maintenance Handbook produced by the National Park Service. The handbook promises, "a well designed trail is a low maintenance trail," so Mark has given the NCT a double dividend. Without knowing that he was responding to Tom's account of the early board's sense of being overwhelmed, Mark said he wanted to create "a good finished project- every inch." He put 550 hours into this 6.2 mile segment of trail. And that's how the overwhelming task will be accomplished: inch by inch

NORTHWEST OHIO RAILS TO TRAILS ASSOCIATION

PATTI GEHRING protested that other volunteers should be featured as well as herself. Not surprisingly, this is an attitude common to many great volunteers who share a spirit of service. With a promise to cover them in future issues she allowed me to interview her. NORTA has recently become an NCTA Affiliate, adding 6.1 miles of certified pathway to the North Country Trail. Patti is a long-time biker, and has been involved in other Rails-to-Trails efforts. She grew up riding rail-trails in Wisconsin, and is now a medical technologist for a hospital lab in the Toledo area. Naturally she was attracted to the Northwestern Ohio Rails-to-Trails Association, and went to paint signs one afternoon in 1992. We know what happens next in tales like this! Before long she was treasurer, and the major record-keeper for the group. When they asked her to become treasurer she exclaimed, "Are you kidding? I'm not an accountant by any means!" But she owned a computer, which was considered an over-riding qualification for the job. From straightforward requirements such as check-writing, the task has grown as the trail grew. Easements, land ownership and non-profit status all require record-keeping skills. This ability to be conscious of the need for organization is what she considers her strength. She also enjoys hands-on work such as decking bridges and creating vehicular barriers. Patti is one-third of an informal group calling themselves the "Trail Trio." They respond to trail needs which require immediate attention. Since none of the "Trio" has children they find themselves more available to meet such on-the-spot requests. She likes rail-trails particularly because "they connect places," and she enjoys the quiet, rural experience they provide. The trail is "in the rough, now," Patti explained, referring to the cinder-ballast treadway which needs work in some places yet. "But it is rewarding to know that in the near future many people will enjoy the trail, and come to share my enthusiasm."

CHIEF NOONDAY CHAPTER

GRAND TRAVERSE HIKERS CHAPTER

BRIAN COX discovered the North Country Trail through the local hiking club. He loves to backpack, snowshoe, and ski. These activities give him an opportunity to take himself "out of the comfort zone." He also considers trails to be places where you can have positive family experiences. He wants to help create something for his kids to enjoy both now and when they are grown. Like some of our other featured volunteers the skills from the workplace spill over into trail activities. Brian is a fiber optics engineer with Ameritech, also working with electronic publishing. So it was just natural for him to develop a web site for the Grand Traverse Hikers. He says he's used to "computer quirks." Since he is impressed with how much information can be obtained in a short time on the internet he wanted to make info available to club members in a timely manner. Brian leads two popular club trips each summer, to North and South Manitou Islands in Lake Michigan. He also says that it has been a lot of fun to be involved in the Adopt-a-Trail program. He has learned how much effort it takes to maintain a trail. He says he used to take clear pathways for granted, but he now watches for damage or other needs along the trail. Official capacities include editor of the club newsletter and member of the planning committee for club meetings. Grand Traverse Hikers presented him with their President's Club Award for dedication and service in 1997. Brian, like many of the rest of the featured volunteers in this issue, emphasized that his efforts are focused locally. He expressed his belief that this is a good way to serve the National Trail- more evidence of how completion of a long trail can be achieved in small increments. Another TC club member summed it up this way, "If you look in a dictionary for the word volunteer, you will find a picture of Brian Cox."

HERITAGE CHAPTER

HEADWATERS CHAPTER

This past summer two friends and I hiked through the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota. So when I began talking with volunteer AL MITTEN I thanked him for working to maintain that trail. Al couldn't figure out what the big deal was. "I get confused when people thank me for something I like to do," he said. Al has been hiking all his life. I didn't ask his age, but let's just say he's been in the woods for more years than a lot of us! He told me that he was out checking on a beaver dam the day before we talked. He says he can't remember just when he heard about the North Country Trail. But eight or nine years ago he decided to hike its length through the Chippewa NF (63 miles), and had his wife take him out to the east end soon after that. He's since seen most of those miles more than once. After the big windstorm of 1995 in which acres of trees were twisted and felled, Al spent 2 days a week, or more, working on the clean-up project. He was responsible for clearing 3.5 miles of trail after this terrible damage. Al says he's a retired CPA, "sort of." Seems like there are always a few people who need some work done, and who count on Al to help them out. Another of his trail projects is a map he's created of a fairly direct, walkable route, on public land, from the Wisconsin border to the east side of the Chippewa NF. Although planning is going forward on the "Arrowhead Route" (we'll tell you more in the June issue of North Star), Al's directions offer an unofficial but alternative path for those who do not mind sharing the space with off-road vehicles. His motivation for working on trails is simple, "People were born to be in the woods," he maintains. Many of us would probably agree.