Ed Chappel Boardwalk Completed Through Sterling Marsh

John Cooley (left) and Ed Chappel (right) (photo by jhy)

by JHY with additional info from an article by Howard Meyereson

More than a half-mile of raised boardwalk is now complete through Sterling Marsh west of Baldwin, Michigan. This is the culmination of a three-year project by the Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA. The man who has spearheaded the effort is Ed Chappel of Irons, the Trail Work Coordinator for the chapter. Ed is 77 years young, and battling Parkinson's Disease, but this has only served to focus his efforts even more.

Volunteers from the Spirit of the Woods, Home Depot, the Baldwin Rotary Club, the American Hiking Society, an NCTA Volunteer Adventure crew, Manistee National Forest staff, and other people have put in thousands of hours to complete the 2,697 feet of boardwalk. The length is not continuous, but consists of thirteen segments spread over 1.5 miles of trail. With just a little additional work on treadway between the segments, and an improved access south from Jenkns road, the entire section will be wheelchair accessible.

On July 23, 2011, at a chapter meeting, another two-year project was brought to fulfillment. John Cooley, chapter member began planning on the sly to dedicate the boardwalk to Ed Chappel. He researched prices for plaques, obtained permission for the project from the Forest Service, and collected donations from chapter members and friends. No chapter funds were used to purchase the plaque.

Ed Chappel boardwalk dedication plaque (photo by jhy)

The plaque reads, "In recognition of his vision and unfailing dedication to maintenance and improvement of the Spirit of the Woods section of the North Country Trail, this portion of the trail will henceforth be known as the Ed Chappel Boardwalk."

The miles of trail between Jenks Road and 96th Street, at the southern edge of Lake County, have been some of the most unpleasant off-road hiking in Michigan for years. The ground has always been soggy, and in spring and fall, the trail was often knee-deep in water. Hikers typically avoided the section, although it offers some high quality bird and wildlife watching opportunities. Now, the worst part of hiking there might be the need for a little extra bug repellent.

Section maintainers, John Cooley and Vickie Kelley are also volunteers with the annual frog census, and they canvas Sterling Marsh for identification of the amphibians. Now they can do so without waders.

The Forest Service hopes to create a new access point at Jenks Road so that the boardwalk would be able to be reached by level trail by wheelchairs. Near the center of the longest section is a deck with seating where the dedication plaque is mounted.

The official dedication will be this coming Saturday, September 24. For more information, contact Ed Chappel

This segment is on NCTA map MI-05

See Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA
See Man helps transform North Country Trail from 'swamp walk' into impressive path by Howard Meyerson

A Blaze of Glory on the Link Trail

from the Link Trail Journal by Hugh Yemen

I assumed that this work hike would involve trail-clearing so I loaded my trunk with axes and machetes. I left Oneida at 8:30, driving west through Clockville and south on Nelson Road. Other than the guy in the Saturn who passed me and the car ahead on a double line, it was a gorgeous, crisp, sunny morning. The valley was filling with more yellows and reds than I've seen around Oneida in years.

Just before 9:00 I pulled into the designated meeting spot: the parking area at the southwest tip of Cazenovia Lake. Then I found out that Kathy Eisele had sent me an e-mail telling me that all we'd be doing was marking trail. It turned out that Yahoo had put her message in my spam folder, so here I was with a trunk full of blades instead of the one thing I needed: a hammer. Thankfully Kathy had at least one extra... more

Note that part of the Link Trail is concurrent with the North Country Trail. Although painted blazes are the standard for the NCT, nail-ups are an allowed alternative.

Wisconsin - Gold Mine to Wren Falls

Chapter President Michael Stafford drives home some nails during the September 20 weekend

from the Wisconsin North Country Trail News, edited and submitted by Gaylord Yost

What a great way to finish off the trail season for 2008. Great Lakes Trail Coordinator Bill Menke made the final inspection of the newly constructed NCT segment between the Gold Mine and Wren Falls during October. Only a few minor glitches will need to be touched up yet but the heavy work is done and the new segment can be easily hiked.

Work will continue on this segment, however, as the Chapter is responsible for constructing three bridges and several more boardwalks such as the one pictured to the left. These structures are needed to bring the trail to the high standard customary for National Scenic Trails.

Volunteers worked on two weekends during September and October to construct the 96’ boardwalk. Much of the preliminary work was done in September when volunteers with the Chequamegon Chapter, combined with Heritage volunteers, cut up the lumber and moved it to the boardwalk site. The crew also leveled the support beams in September.

The Chapter rented a pickup truck and was able to move all of the lumber for the boardwalk and a portion of the lumber for two of the bridges needed into the woods. Construction of the two bridges will begin probably in May 2009 when the weather permits.

Volunteer Dale Yerkes from Milwaukee puts some of the finishing touches on the completed boardwalk

Chequamegon Chapter members taking part during the September weekend included Bob Norlin (Iron River), Tana Turonie (Mellen), Mike Ryan (Mellen), John Beghun (Iron River), Mikie Kuhman (Cable), and Marty Swank (Ashland). All are members of the Chequamegon Chapter except Bob Norlin who is actually a member of the Brule-St. Croix Chapter but is also the Chequamegon Chapter's Trail Adoption Coordinator. Michael Stafford and Gaylord Yost represented the Heritage Chapter at the joint weekend.

Work on the boardwalk ended in September with nailing the framework together. In October, the deck was laid down and screwed to the frame. We are grateful for the nice turnout of Chequamegon Chapter members and help from other non-members.

Building Connector Trail from Highbanks

from the Wandering Knight. You can see many more adventures, both on and off the NCT at Ken's blog.

I spent last weekend with a group of other people in the western part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan building a new side trail off of the North Country Trail. 17 people worked for a handful of hours constructing the half-mile trail from the Highbanks Lake Campground to the NCT on what was probably a nearly ideal day to do such work.

Making a Difference: Building New Trail from Ken Knight on Vimeo.

2008 Season Wraps Up for Hodenpyl Reroute

from Arlen Matson

Here's the final edition of the Trail Crew Newsletter with snow flurries in the air. On Tuesday, October 14, ten of us completed the last big work session by installing the kiosk at the exit of Northern Exposure Campground. This now becomes the official Trailhead for the reroute. We also mowed the parking area.

Other tasks done that day were the removal of nubbins along the 2nd bridge section of the trail, removal of the NCT shield sign posts at the M-115 roadside park, installation of one at the M-115 crossing towards Glengary, installation of 2 carsonites at Fannie's private campground, more signage at M-37 and No.14 Rd. We also installed carsonites on the NCT just west of Glengary.

Later on Tuesday and Wednesday of Oct. 21 & 22, two of us installed a Trail Head sign at the new trailhead. It was good to see that the campground's Bob had already graded the area for parking. This whole area looks real good with the sign, ample room for parking, the kiosk with data, and a view of the bridge immediately east.

We also installed the other NCT shield sign at the M-115 crossing going to Glengary. More carsonites were put up in this section near the new bench and the planked crossing of a brook. We even put up some "no horses" signs. Then with the boat, we headed down to the tent site west of Fletcher Creek & placed the remaining carsonite tent marker.

On the 3rd day we scouted for a second backpacker's tent area and came up with the potential for two of them immediately west and south of the entrance to the NECG entry hut. Six sites we flagged. Their placement is yet to be decided. Come next spring, these will be cleared, labeled with posts and a mini-info station installed.

The two of us were my sister's husband, Bug Van Pelt from Cadillac and myself, His wife had heart surgery and a pacemaker put in all during the month of August. They dearly love to camp and were not able to this summer due to health conditions, but we got together at NECG and camped in sunny weather for 3 days.

Well, friends, all of the flowers disappeared the last few weeks of our trail work, but were replaced with an array of multiple orange and red leaves applauding all of your hard work from May into October. Take a friend and go back, this time in leisure and enjoy walking the path that is totally covered with leaves.

Yours, leaning on his staff,

"The Pathfinder"