Buckeye Trail Celebrates 50th Anniversary This Year

based on a news release in the Columbus Dispatch, "Buckeye Trail cuts circular path through amazing diversity of Ohio"< by Steve Stephens, April 26, 2009

No matter where you go in Ohio you are likely to run into the Buckeye Trail's blue blazes.

The longest single-state loop trail in the US, the Buckeye Trail is 1440 miles long. The NCT is concurrent with it for about 800 of those miles. "The trail follows dedicated gravel or dirt hiking paths, old canal towpaths or railroad rights of way, county roads and even a few city sidewalks. It cuts through vast forests, skirts industrial land and farm fields, passes museums and historical sites, descends into beautiful, steep valleys and traverses seemingly unending plains."

Gary Williams, board member of the Buckeye Trail Association, explained that there is very little public land in Ohio. But where the trail follows roads, the route is chosen to find roads that are very little used. "Sometimes, you can hike on these roads all day and never see a car, " Williams commented.

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the trail, and in addition to the many hikes that are planned, there will be a special celebration June 12-14 at Camp McPherson near Danville.

About 100 people have hiked the entire loop. One weekend a month there is a hike that works at the continuous loop, so that dedicated participants can complete the entire trail, given enough time.

To kick off the 50th anniversary of the trail, the Buckeye Trail Association will hold a special celebration May 16 at the Grandma Gatewood trail section in Hocking Hills. in the Hocking Hills. "Grandma" Emma Gatewood, at age 67, in 1955, became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail.

Gatewood became one of the primary supporters of the Buckeye Trail project and reportedly donated the money to buy the first few pails of blue blaze paint, used on the trail through the Old Man's Cave area. The May 16 adventure will begin at 10 a.m. with a ribbon-cutting and a 6-mile round-trip commemorative hike.

See Buckeye Trail Association

Looking for Guest Bloggers

While I am hiking not much is going to happen on this blog. I will only have internet access a couple of times, and I go to the woods to get away from all the technology.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who would like to be given access as a guest blogger to at least do a few posts between May 5 and May 28.

Contact Joan Young
See Young Announces Plans to Finish NCT in 2010

Buckeye Work Party to Continue Towpath Recovery

working on the Miami-Erie towpath trail in 2003 (photo by JHY)

submitted by Rick Adamson, BTA Trail Coordinator

The Buckeye Trail / North Country Trail towpath section east of Defiance, Ohio, will be the site of another multi-day work session, May 5-9.

Several years ago the Ohio DNR decided to take advantage of the fact that they still owned the right-of-way for the 150-year-old Miami-Erie Canal. In a number of places where the route had not been overcome by trees or plowed under by farmers the BT/NCT was already using this pathway. But the DNR determined that there were another 47 miles of off-road trail that could be added to the system, and they decided to act on this.

So for several years, the Buckeye Trail has been hosting work crews to recover these miles of towpath which are often completely overgrown. For this work party, camping will be at Mary Jane Thurston State Park. There are fire rings and flush toilets.

Work will begin at 8 am each morning and conclude at 3 pm most days and noon on Saturday, the final day. Participants need to provide their own food and water.

There are all levels of work and trail building abilities needed. If you are interested in weed which will leave you with a sense of real accomplishment, contact Rick and sign up to help.

Contact Rick Adamson

See Buckeye Trail Association

Program to Highlight the Border Trail

where the BRT and SHT join (photo by JHY)

from Ed Solstad

John Garbe, Sara Gille, and Ed Solstad will be presenting a slide program on the Border Route this Tuesday, April 28th at 7:30pm at the MN Rovers weekly meeting at Macalester College, Olin-Rice Science Hall, Room 350. Macalester College is located at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Snelling Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota.

There will be slides from the initial construction in the 70's, slides showing many of the great vistas, slides from the Ham Lake fire, and of course, slides form maintenance trips.

Minnesotans - Support the Arrowhead

New York Times Reports About NCT

The New York Times ran a great article about the North Country Trail on April 24. Reporter Stephen Regenold traveled to Wisconsin last summer, sampled the NCT, and wrote a story about his experiences.

The article includes photos of Brownstone Falls at Copper Falls State Park, and a section of wooded pathway (no specific location identified).

Regenold had interviewed Andrew Skurka who thru-hiked the NCT in 2004 as part of his Sea-to-Sea route hike, and decided to find out more about the trail for himself. He says of the NCT, "Laced through more than 100 state parks and state forests, 10 national forests and areas managed by the National Park Service, the trail brings millions of day hikers each year into some of the finest natural places that New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota have to offer."

Last summer, he encountered Peter and Lynne Nason in the Brule River State Forest in Wisconsin. They were out for a work day on their section of trail, clippers and bug spray in hand. Regenold was impressed with the Nason's enthusiasm and friendliness, offering tips on the best sections to hike.

He continued through the Chequamegon National Forest. "For the next day we would see not another soul on the trail, hiking the winding track, following blue blazes marked on trees, and brushing branches out of the way for mile upon quiet mile. Frogs burped and gurgled in tiny ponds. Wind brushed in treetops, a swishing like water of leaf against leaf."

See Northern Exposure: Hiking the North Country Trail, in The New York Times

Trail Work in Eastern Ohio

lock remains on the Sandy Beaver Canal in Beaver Creek State Park (photo by JHY)

based on community news in the East Liverpool Review, with additional information

The Great Trail - Sandy Beaver Canal chapter of the North Country Trail Association has scheduled a work day for at 9 a.m. Saturday at Beaver Creek State Park. The meeting place is the primitive campground on Leslie Road at the park's main section.

The chapter is to begin working on adding a new section of the North Country Trail west of the state park. This is very good news, as there is currently a road walk from the Park all the way to Lisbon.

Volunteers are welcome, as well as youths wishing to perform community service. Tools will be provided, but dress appropriately and bring your own food and drinks.

For more information, contact Brad Bosley
or Andrew Bashaw

Finally! NCT Trail Guide - DIY Wiki Style

from the North Country Trail Association

At long last... there is going to be a guide to the North Country Trail! And it will be built by the people who are out working on it and using it week after week.

Although several people have seriously considered doing a guide, the only effort that came close to covering the entire trail was make by Wes Boyd (editor of the North Star NCTA magazine at the time). He came really close to finishing, and finally made the entire work available for free. It is now seriously outdated, and has been taken off the web site.

But something even better has arrived! Using the same software as Wikipedia, the framework for a user-built guide has been added to the new NCTA web site. Anyone can log in and add or alter entries. To date there is only a small amount of information entered. But that will probably change rather quickly. The site was only publicly released today.

The guidelines are:

• Respect authors' and publishers' rights and do not add any content from existing guidebooks, websites or other sources that may be copyrighted.
• Please do not use it as a forum to push an agenda regarding allowed uses and activities on the NCT.
• Be respectful, but by all means push the content (and other contributors) to high standards of accuracy and creativity.

If you work on a section of trail, start entering what you know. If you have recently hiked a section of trail, start entering what you know. Most important... start entering what you know! In no time, we'll have a constantly up-to-date trail guide!

See NCTA Wiki Trail Guide

Nimblewill Nomad Reaches Paul Bunyan

Nimblewill Nomad reaches Paul Bunyan State Forest

based on a news article at Detroit Lakes Online, "Nimblewill Nomad on hike along North Country National Scenic Trail," by Jean Ruzicka, April 20, 2009

M.J. Eberhard, Nimblewill Nomad, left Lake Sakakwea on March 23. He's now survived two blizzards and frostbitten cheeks, "But it didn’t hurt my looks," the wizened hiker joked.

He had to bail out of impassible trail and walk the North Dakota roads, but he plans to return after he reaches Lake Champlain in New York, to hike those trail miles. In North Dakota, he was supported by Gordon Smith with a van, but now he is backpacking, carrying his own gear and tenting at night.

On Wednesday, he made a stop in Walker, Minnesota, where an Itasca Moraine chapter volunteer provided him with a shower and met him for lunch at the Outdoorsman restaurant. "I had a double dose luncheon," Nimblewill Nomad reported. He ordered a second full lunch special to the astonishment of the waitress.

Nimblewill's journal has him arriving at Grand Rapids, Minnesota on April 17. From there he will turn north on roads to reach Ely and the Kekekabic Trail.

Nimblewill Nomad's NCT Journal

Enhanced Driver's Licenses

Michigan Sample enhanced driver's license (from Michigan Secretary of State)

compiled from several sources

Michigan has just announced that they will offer an Enhanced Driver's License (EDL), joining New York which has been offering a similar license for several months. These licenses will allow residents of those states to enter Canada and return, by land or water, without a passport. Beginning June 1, 2009, it will no longer be sufficient to present a regular driver's license and a birth certificate.

For people who regularly travel from Michigan to New York this is great news, since the fastest way to make this trip is through Ontario, Canada. People who wish to travel quickly from one end of the North Country Trail to the other will also find going through Canada convenient. It can also be a nice option to follow the north shore of Lake Superior from northern Minnesota to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The Enhanced Licenses cost about half of what is required for a passport, with no waiting period. The Michigan Secretary of State says, "When travelers approach an American border station in a vehicle, they simply hold up their EDL. Technology in the card allows it to be scanned from a distance. By the time travelers reach the station, security personnel will usually only need to make a quick visual check. No personal information is transmitted during this process." The licenses comply with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).

In Michigan, one must obtain an EDL at a SOS Super!Center. These can be found by following the link at the end of the article.

The ACLU has taken a stand against the cards because they contain an RFID, a radio frequency identification chip. They say that this can be read by anyone within about 30 feet. Authorities say that the chip contains nothing but a random number so that encrypting it is superfluous. The ACLU counters that anyone with that number could also break into a database and obtain sensitive information about a person. Companies are already selling protective sleeves that claim to block the ability to read the cards remotely.

For anyone who travels through Canada frequently, the card may be a reasonably priced alternative to obtaining a passport.

See Michigan Enhanced Driver's License
See New York Enhanced Driver's License
See ACLU of Michigan Opposes Enhanced Driver's License

SHT/NCT Part of TrekNorth Education

based on a news article from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Ultrafit: An outside education," April 13, 2009

TrekNorth is a public charter school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but students participate in an Outdoor Adventure Program that takes them from Alaska to the Appalachian Trail... and the North Country Trail. Backpacking on the Superior Hiking Trail section in northern Minnesota is one of the standard components of the program.

The completion of a high adventure is a requirement for graduation from the school. In the Black Hills of South Dakota, a TrekNorth junior realized, "I could do this for the rest of my life." He is now headed for a career as a geologist and a third-year student at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan.

Dan McKeon is the school's executive director, and the instigator of Outdoor Adventures. He has taken students to the Needles of South Dakota, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and more. He believes that students build traits on the trips that are impossible to gain in a classroom. "Students learn on trips that they are tougher than they realized, and can do more than they ever thought possible."

One former student commented, "TrekNorth changed my life, and it's so good to see it getting the recognition it deserves. More schools like this across the country would be a boon to future generations."