Pennsylvania- Watts Mill Shelter

(photo by Dave Brewer)

from the North Star, by Dave Brewer

Four miles from the Pennsylvania and Ohio border, landowners Dennis and Cathy Garrett helped us build a backpackers' shelter on their land, by working with us and donating materials. Chapter President, Lee Fairbanks, planned and directed the crews, procured materials, and did as much pre-construction off site as possible. An NCTA Field Grant provided the funding to make the project possible.

In total, sixteen Wampum Chapter members and friends along with thirteen AmeriCorps volunteers contributed their cheerful labor over two days in May to haul in the material and build the shelter.

This segment is on NCTA map PA-03

See Wampum Chapter of the NCTA

Annual Community Fall Hike - Wampum, PA

The Gateway Commerce Center Reroute is officially opened (photos by Bob Cody and G. Warren Smith)

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submitted by Bob Cody

The Wampum Chapter of the NCTA October hike began with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to celebrate a recently rerouted section of the NCT near Wampum, PA on land owned by the Gateway Commerce Center, Inc. The reroute offers hikers several scenic views of the Beaver River Valley. With fall foliage in full color hikers were able to see the valley at its best.

At least 60 people attended the ribbon cutting. Chapter President Lee Fairbanks introduced Wampum Borough Mayor Jeff Steffler, Borough Councilman James Ferrante, and representatives form Gateway Commerce Center, Inc. Co-Owner Mr. Dan Bruce, Vice President and Chief of Operations Officer Mr. Tom Roth and Office Manager Ms. Deborah Sudano who cut the ribbon to officially open the Gateway Commerce Center, Inc. Reroute.

Once the ribbon was cut, 39 hikers took off into the woods following Hike Leader Bob Cody who is also Wampum’s Co Trail Work Coordinator. The trail traversed land owned by Gateway Commerce Center, Inc., Mines and Meadows, Inc., the PA Game Commission- SGL #148 and the Edwards Family. John Edwards served as Sweep and faithfully maintains his family’s section of the NCT.

Wampum’s Gail Blakeley organized the event. Gail has always organized our hikes and, as usual, everything ran smoothly. There were drawings for two NCT T-shirts. Snacks and hot beverages were served before the hike and at the 3-½ mile stop. Car shuttles were available at the 1 ½, 3 ½ and 4 ½ mile stops. JoEllen Sokoloski, Joyce Abels and Tom Snarey staffed the registration and refreshments tables and placed directional signs, balloons and ribbons where needed. Ron Justi was in charge of parking and helped shuttle hikers to their cars. Terry Jones permitted us to use his property for registration and parking.

scenic view of Chewton, PA (photos by Bob Cody and G. Warren Smith)

Special thanks go out to Wampum Police Officer Terry Bush who did an excellent job of directing traffic and protecting hikers on the road walk portion of the hike. And, we thank Wampum Borough Council for their help and cooperation.

Good fellowship and fine weather made for a great day on the NCT!

Plans for next year’s hike are already underway and will include a newly opened 2-mile section of the NCT in the Darlington, PA area.

See Wampum Chapter of the NCTA

Wampum Says Thank You with Big Cleanup Day

some of the tires pulled from the woods (photo by Wampum Chapter)

submitted by Dave Brewer, co-trail work coordinator, Wampum Chapter

Removed from the woods over the course of the morning of March 28th were over 180 discarded tires, two couches, numerous other pieces of furniture including two television sets, hundreds of feet of canvass hose, a bathroom sink, and sixty garbage bags of assorted small trash items. It was one of the dirtiest trail work sessions that Chapter has ever conducted, with all of the volunteers becoming intimately familiar with what "tire mud" smells and looks like as it covers clothing, hands, and faces. But, as a result, the infamous "mosquitoes of Watt's Mill" will find a lot fewer breeding places this spring and summer.

As permission is granted for new sections of the North Country Trail to be built across public and private land and construction begins, illegal trash dumps are sometimes encountered. The Wampum Pennsylvania Chapter found itself looking at piles of garbage and dozens of discarded tires as it added three-tenths of a mile of new hiking trail through the woods at PA Gamelands 285 and the Dennis and Cathy Garrett property at Watt's Mill last summer and fall. To pay back for the gift of being able to take the trail off of a road walk and into the woods, the Chapter decided to do something about all of that trash littering the landscape.

a volunteer carries tires from the woods (photo by Wampum Chapter)

Saturday morning, sixteen volunteers from the Chapter, the Independence Conservancy, Pittsburghcares.org, and the local community spent four hours cleaning up that section of new trail, the hillside between it and Watt's Mill Road, and along the banks of the North Fork of Little Beaver Creek. Trash bags, work gloves, and safety equipment were provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation free of charge as the clean up was registered as a Great American Clean Up of PA event. PennDot is also picking up the trash that was retrieved from the woods and piled neatly along the road, and will haul it away free of charge.

At noon, after the troops were retrieved from the woods and hands and faces were cleaned somewhat, a light lunch was provided for all. The morning was capped off by a local resident stopping and thanking the group for all the hard work done to get the area cleaned up. A rewarding finish!

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See more pictures from the work day