FINGER LAKES TRAIL CONFERENCE
"I just got back from a full day of trail work; pulling out those raspberries is a lot of fun," said MARY DOMANSKI, a semi-retired teacher. Well, actually she told me to fill in the blank, but what other phrase could she have had in mind? Actually, Mary spends more of her time dealing with giants of trail issues that would cause some of us to cower. Her specialty is landowner relationships. The Finger Lakes Trail just celebrated its 40th Anniversary and many of the records of early hand-shake agreements were lost or never recorded. When Mary served as President of the FLTC she knew that such information need to be collected and follow-up work done. She began trying to chase down the existing records, and spent a year hearing such comments as "I gave the box to someone," or "So-and-so knew all that, but they died in ‘92!" Undaunted, Mary took the seven names she had, and has now compiled records of 94 landowners along the FLT. "I wanted to create a record system that I could pass on to anyone, and that they could understand too," Mary told me. She has met them all face to face. She sends them Christmas Cards and invites them to special events such as National Trails Day. Some NCT folks stand in awe of the FLTC's success at keeping trail on private property. I think we now know one of the key people to thank for that. Mary began hiking as a pre-schooler on the trails at Watkins Glen, NY. When her family moved to Pennsylvania she began tramping along the Little Lehigh River. Girl Scouts expanded her hiking horizons, and as a leader who just wanted to hike she said, "All right, girls, you're going to get the hiking badge!" Moving back to NY as an adult she discovered the Conservation Trail (CT) and joined the Foothills Trail Club. The CT, FLT and NCT are concurrent for 55 miles, and so began her relationship with the North Country folks, joining us first at the 1995 Watson Homestead Conference. We're out of space to tell you everything else that Mary does for trails. She vows "a passion for wanting to keep a ribbon of wild space for others to enjoy," and hopes that others, instead of feeling daunted by private land, will follow her example of contacting people and getting involved. She hasn't lost that desire to hike in her pile of paperwork either. She's FLT End-to-ender #83. She organizes events and has created hiking incentive awards. Oh yes, and still goes out and pulls those thorns to keep our trail clear.
WEST MICHIGAN CHAPTER
It's hard to decide if PAUL HAAN's specialties are the big issues or the little naggers. He's the Communications Manager for the largest NCTA chapter when he's not busy with his day job as a Project Coordinator who works with a number of agencies on the problem of lead poisoning in children. While Paul was in college he saw the Rogue River Recreation Area on a map and started taking hikes there to relax. He quickly discovered the NCT, and saw that this area needed maintenance, and a significant amount of trail planning and re-routing. Thus he began attending WMI meetings, and Dave Sheldon quickly snagged him to take over the chapter newsletter. Paul brings lots of communication skills to the trail community. He has set up a web based hiking group called Great Lakes Hikes. The site features trail descriptions, and opportunities for hikers to connect to each other. He also manages the West Michigan Chapter web site. "I drive a desk all week," Paul lamented. It's great to get outside on the weekends. Then I can get connected to the REAL world and to other people who enjoy that world. "At work I need to stay powered up, but in the woods I can decompress," he reflected. Paul grew up in the Catskills of New York, and when he moved to the Midwest he had to change from the hiking mentality of scaling peaks to one of looking around you to see what is there. But he's enjoyed the new system, finding the homes of barred owls, porcupines and blue racers while on hikes. Paul, by coincidence he claims, now is section supervisor for the Rogue River area. He pointed out that there are a half-million people within 20 minutes of that piece of trail and he would like to provide an outstanding hiking experience for them. He's currently working on getting the trail off some old two-tracks and closer to the river, and has dreams of continuing the trail across some private land. Paul has hiked the Appalachian Trail too; "I'd go again in a heartbeat," he exclaimed. He added that although there are lots of hikers on that trail, you can choose to make your hike a social one or you can preserve your private experience. Paul has also hiked the Long Trail, participated in American Hiking Society's Volunteer Vacations, proving that he just has trails in his blood. "Paul does a ton of work for the NCT," said another volunteer. Just this spring I ran into Paul at the EMS Club Days sale. He was promoting the NCT with display boards, a ready smile, and the enthusiasm of a happy hiker. Go Paul!
STAR OF THE NORTH CHAPTER
HARLAN LILLJEQUIST's nominator told me that Harlan is a perfect "Heart and Sole person. He's very unassuming, but he always shows up!" I can personally vouch for that. While on a hike in Minnesota, Harlan agreed to meet my friends and me to lead us from the Chippewa National Forest into the Paul Bunyan State Forest, through a section where there was no trail as yet. There he was at 7 a.m., sauntering into our campsite with a smile. "Oh, I slept in my car down at the trailhead," he shyly confessed. "I didn't want to be late and have you worry that I wouldn't show up." And this is the perfect segue to Harlan's first love which is bushwhacking. He likes to start walking over an area that he is not familiar with and then get to know all about it. And he has spent a lot of time doing just that in Minnesota, working over the years with Rod McRae (Lifetime Achievement Award 2002) to develop trail through Paul Bunyan. He also helped to build one backpacker campsite in the Chippewa. During the week Harlan can sell you hardware at the local store, but whenever possible he's off whacking the bushes. And that might mean bushwhacking, or doing trail maintenance. He's also an avid hiker, coming to the sport, unusually, as an adult. He first began hiking in 1974 after reading about the Appalachian Trail in Reader's Digest. Without any hesitation he set out in his quiet way to also hike the AT. He completed that in two summers, and in 1976 began working his way down the Pacific Crest Trail. Yes, "down:" he decided to hike north to south, against the general flow. He has only 200 miles to go before that National Trail will also be in his trophy case. Harlan first joined the NCTA in 1985 at the Conference in Ashland, Wisconsin. He's one of the people who has had the honor of meeting Peter Wolfe (hiked the entire NCT), who was still alive at that time. He's also a willing volunteer to help staff displays about the NCT when asked. Harlan attends quite a few Trail Conferences, but you won't find him making a big noise tooting his own horn. However, if you see him this summer in Marquette, ask him about his most recent hike. He might just pull out a packet of great pictures and quietly tell you some tales from the trail.