Call of the North. Itasca Moraine Chapter completes the new Lake 21 loop trail working with Americorps-NCCC crew by Bruce Johnson

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1 Fall / Winter2013 Call of the North Volunteer Contacts for Minn. & North Dakota: Sheyenne River Valley Ch. Pres. Bobby Koepplin Valley City, ND (701) , srv@northcountrytrail.org Dakota Prairie Ch. President Gail Rogne Kindred, ND (701) , dpc@northcountrytrail.org Star of the North Ch. President Kim Fishburn Plymouth, MN (612) , stn@northcountrytrail.org Laurentian Lakes Ch. President Ray Vlasak Ponsford, MN (218) , llc@northcountrytrail.org Itasca Moraine Ch. President Bruce Johnson Park Rapids, MN (218) , itm@northcountrytrail.org Arrowhead Ch. President Doug Baker Grand Rapids, MN (218) , arw@northcountrytrail.org Local NCTA Board Members: Tom Moberg Board Pres. (701) , tfmoberg@gmail.com Doug Thomas Board 1st V.P. (612) , dthomas7000@gmail.com Brian Pavek (763) , pavekb@comcast.net Ed Gruchalla (701) , egruch@aol.com Call of the North Editor Stacy Davis-Detroit Lakes, MN thruhikergirl@yahoo.com Inside this issue Odds & Ends 2 LLC Chapter update 2 MN Guidebook update 3 NCT in Maplewood St. Park 3 STN & SRV Ch. updates 4 DPC Chapter update Calendar 6 Editor s Note 6 Itasca Moraine Chapter completes the new Lake 21 loop trail working with Americorps-NCCC crew by Bruce Johnson With the help of the visiting AmeriCorps Team the loop trail around Lake 21 was completed this October. All involved got a complete trail building experience. On the first day of work the trail to be built was flagged. Trail layout is done to exact standards with slope and gradient being considered. DNR Forestry personnel, who accompanied us, approved the proposed route and gave the go-ahead to start work. For those who have bushwhacked through underbrush you will appreciate the degree of difficulty this entails. For many on the team, from around the USA, this was a new experience. Then, the route was cleared of downed trees, and a 4 foot-wide by 8 foot-high corridor was cut with a DR Brush Mower and loppers. The next step was swamping or removal of the cut brush from the rock and root free turned dirt that is packed down for hassle free hiking. Four different times individual runners or a small group of hikers stopped and thanked us for our efforts. They assured us that our work was appreciated and the trail would be used. This is instant gratification for the work in progress. Not very often do trail users meet trail builders. Continued on p.3 The Oak 4 team at work Minnesota s own Luke Strider Jordan completes his 4,600 mile North Country Trail thru-hike by Matthew Davis On Monday, October 14th, Luke Strider Jordan reached Crown Point State Historic Site in NY with the bridge over Lake Champlain and Vermont s Green Mountains in the background. This moment was the culmination of his 7-month quest to become just the fourth person to thru-hike the North Country National Scenic Trail. Strider didn t stop there; however, as he became the first NCT thru-hiker to continue into Vermont and hike the proposed NCT extension. Luke hiked an additional 75 miles to reach Maine Junction, the spot where the Appalachian Trail leaves the northsouth running Long Trail and heads east toward New Hampshire and Maine. This was the original destination for the North Country Trail and it may soon become the eastern terminus. Congratulations Luke on your awesome accomplishment! Learn more about his hike by visiting his website at or attending his upcoming program at the Outdoor Adventure Expo on Sunday, November 24th at 11am. Share your favorite hikes with fb.com/nctinmn or fb.com/nctinnd

2 PAGE 2 CALL OF THE NORTH SUMMER 2013 Odds & Ends The NCTA still has copies of the new NCT Guidebook authored by Ron Strickland and published by the University of Michigan Press for sale. The book features 5 hikes in both North Dakota and Minnesota among its 40 profiled hikes. The North Dakota hikes include: Lake Sakakawea, Lonetree Wildlife Management Area, Lake Ashtabula, Sheyenne State Forest (ND s only waterfall!), and the Sheyenne National Grassland. The Minnesota hikes include: Itasca State Park, Shingobee Recreation Area, Paul Bunyan State Forest, and two in the Chippewa National Forest. Pick up your copy today by visiting the NCTA s Trail Shop online or by calling the NCTA at HIKE-NCT. Report of the Laurentian Lakes (LLC) Chapter By Karen Stenberg, Chapter Communications Coordinator The trail building construction season of 2013 focused mainly on the 1895 feet along the shores of Tamarac Lake where a causeway (a turnpike without ditches) was built so as not to disturb any on-site cultural resources. This project passed through a glaciated area and was difficult for many reasons. Curbs were built through some rough terrain to hold in the dirt and gravel mix through out the entire length. All beams and dirt (140 yds) were brought in by wheel barrels and hand carried which made this one of the most labor intensive as well as expensive sections our chapter has been involved with. It was with great satisfaction that the last load of dirt was carried in on July 17th! A reroute was finished near the Anchor - Matson road on the northern part of our trail and several boardwalks were also completed. A campsite on private land just east of the 400th Avenue trailhead was brushed out and readied for completion. Trail adopters have started to install routed signs identifying features along the trail. Fall hikes included the Hiking Fest event in Itasca and a hike in Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge. Attendance at these hikes has generally been around 20 or more always with a few new faces. We will continue the themed hikes in 2014 and are optimistic that our chapter s trail segment will be finished through the Hubbel Pond Wildlife Management Area and completely finished to State Hwy 34. North Country Trail Association Trail Towns in Minnesota? Talks are under way with the City of Walker and the City of Frazee to become the first Trail Towns in Minnesota. Learn more about this relatively new NCTA program at

3 SUMMER 2013 CALL OF THE NORTH PAGE 3 An update on the Guide to the North Country Trail in Minnesota By Susan C. Hauser and Linda Johnson, Co-Editors The manuscript for the Guide to the North Country National Scenic Trail in Minnesota has been sent to the editor at the Big Earth Publishing, Trails Books & Prairie Oak Press imprint ( Big Earth plans a release date in Spring The guide covers the NCT from Fort Abercrombie, ND to Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth. It has 33 custom maps, more than 30 photographs, descriptions of the trail, and mile-by-mile descriptions for the miles from the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge through the Chippewa National Forest near Remer. The two primary goals of the guide are to provide accurate information to hikers so they can enjoy the trail safely and with ease, and to bring word of the trail to those who do not know about it. A chapter on Maplewood and Itasca State Parks alerts park visitors to the proximity of the trail. A chapter on seasons, vegetation, animals and geology provides knowledge and encourages understanding of the trail s habitat. A story by Anne Dunn expresses a Native American perspective on the forest. An Appendix on Loop Trails (easy on, easy off) encourages those who are unfamiliar with the trail to sample it. Other appendixes offer detailed information on camping, services towns, winter use and recommended reading. The Itasca Moraine and Laurentian Lakes Chapters will soon be participating in a campaign to market the guide. If you have ideas for programs to promote the guide or know of places where the book should be made available, please contact Matt at (701) or via at davis@northcountrytrail.org. The editorial team, Matt Davis, Susan Carol Hauser, Bruce M. Johnson, Linda D. Johnson and Ray Vlasak, thanks the more than 50 volunteers who contributed to the guide. The team also thanks Map Illustrator Todd Tman McMahon for his map-making (see sample below), his knowledge of the trail, and his patience with the rest of us! In deed, many hands make light work, and in this case also make quality work full of essential details and heartfelt insights. Lake 21, continued from page 1 The completed trail forms a 3.1 mile figure eight loop trail around Lake 21 and Nelson Lake (see sample MN Guidebook map by Todd McMahon, above right). There are several scenic overlooks as the trail meanders through the mixed deciduous forest along the pristine lakes. Both Gulch ITM Chapter volunteers and the Americorps-NCCC s Oak 4 Team pose by part of the finished trail the Lake Campground and the day use area are managed by Lake Bemidji State Park. For directions and more information, contact the DNR at (218) or visit state_forests/facilities/cmp00037/ index.html. The NCTA welcomes people to check out this new family-friendly hiking destination! The NCT will soon be marked through Maplewood State Park near Pelican Rapids Through work on the MN guidebook project, it became clear that the time was right to officially develop the NCT through Maplewood State Park. It is the one large block of public land between Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge and the North Dakota border. The trail s route will be ~3 miles in length and features two backcountry campsites, rugged hills, great views, and beautiful maple forests. It will be signed next spring and officially unveiled next year on National Trails Day (June 7th).

4 PAGE 4 CALL OF THE NORTH SUMMER 2013 Get to know your fellow members: Kim Fishburn, new President of the Star of the North (STN) Chapter Since many of you don't know me I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce myself. I'm originally from Iowa but joined the Air Force shortly after graduation from High School. I spent a short period in South Dakota before being sent to California. It was there that I first started backpacking. My first hike was with a friend in Yosemite, and after that I was off on my own. I managed to hike all over the state, and hiked about 2/3rds of Yosemite's trails, and chased of some of Yosemite's best bears. After retiring from the Air Force, I completed college before making my way to Minneapolis when I realized it was a great bicycle town, and close to the north woods. I had gone canoeing in the Boundary Waters after graduating from High School, meeting Dorothy Molter, The Root Beer Lady. I thought it would be nice to be able to go back, however, on my first trip back it just didn't feel like it had that wilderness feel with all the people. I started hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail, and found out about the new trail construction taking place on weekends. After one weekend doing volunteer work I was hooked. I returned again the next year, and again the next year. I ended up helping complete the last 50 miles of the trail to connect the two ends, and maintained the Bean & Bear Lake section several years. If you saw me on a hike I probably had a saw and loppers along. I've hiked most of the Superior Hiking Trail twice with the exception of the Duluth Section, which I really want to hike. The past few years I've been doing SHT presentations at the local outdoor stores (as well as Yosemite), and tried to get people interested in doing volunteer work on the SHT, as well as the North Country Trail. If anyone has any interest in a hike in the Sierras (or New Zealand where I hiked the Able Tasman Track) I'd be happy to help you plan. I'm a moderator on a group about the John Muir Trail. There are a lot of hikes that can be accomplished using public transportation to get around the Sierras. Recently, I started bugging Matt Davis about opportunities to do weekend trail construction now that the SHT is mostly complete. I guess I bugged him enough that he thought I might be a good candidate for President of the Star of the North Chapter. I've got a lot to learn, and I'm always ready to listen. One thing about the Star of the North Chapter is that its hard to do day hikes on our section of trail since its so far away. I found out that Ed Solstad had already set up the Twin Cities Hiking Meetup group that includes a lot of members from MN Rovers. Rather than start something new I decided to join it, and I encourage everyone else to join. I plan on leading some hikes, and would love to find someone that knows about the history along the Mississippi River that might lead hikes. I'm looking forward to doing weekend trail work, and sitting around the campfire with others, and meeting others on the trail. The Sheyenne River Valley Chapter has been busy. Here are some of our recent accomplishments: We continued our work on securing private landowner easements from the Sheyenne State Forest to Lake Ashtabula Built and signed approximately 4 miles of new trail which included several stiles, re-routed approximately one half mile of existing trail, and made signage, benching and rock removal improvements on approximately 1.5 miles of trail. Installed a 24 foot Boardwalk for better accessibility to the only registered waterfall in North Dakota on the NCT in the Sheyenne State Forest. This was the fourth and final boardwalk and it accompanied three small re-routes to avoid low, wet segments that were continually being destroyed by horse traffic. Special events in addition to our monthly event calendar included a Doosan/Bobcat Wellness Hike to Waterfall. A huge number of employees and their families attended. Here are some things we ve got in the works for Jerry Warner, an active SRV Member and Engineering Tech at Bobcat in Gwinner has a pending request for seasonal use of a walk behind Bobcat machine for the North Dakota NCT Trail builders to use. Report of the Sheyenne River Valley (SRV) Chapter By Bobby Koepplin, Chapter President Also, currently working with the ND Parks & Recreation Department on potential leveraging of Heritage Funds for future NCT development in North Dakota.

5 SUMMER 2013 CALL OF THE NORTH PAGE 5 Dakota Prairie Chapter Update By Gail Rogne, Chapter President The newly reactivated and renamed Dakota Prairie Chapter has been becoming increasingly active in the past year. Besides getting a new Charter and By-laws approved, we have had several outings and trail building events. We went on a snowshoe hike on the new trails at the Ekre Preserve last winter after celebrating the opening of the trails last fall. Then in June, we were led on the new 4 mile Oak Loop Trail by Bryan Stotts, District Ranger for the Sheyenne National Grasslands, who talked about the history of the surrounding area and showed us where the Dakota Prairie Chapter section of the NCT trail is expected to connect with the new Oak Loop Trail. This was our most well attended hike as there were over 25 people enjoying nature and beautiful scenery. We have had two hikes along the railroad right of way portion of the NCT between Colfax and Walcott. We have also enjoyed two urban strolls in the Fargo/Moorhead area before our monthly meetings in Fargo. Thus, for the past six months, we have had at least one activity each month and hope to continue this including meeting every month. We were very pleased with the increase in our membership with the new member e-rate offered this summer--we were told we had the highest percentage increase of all the NCT chapters. We are planning a special social event for our members for the holidays. We look forward to an exciting and productive year with a growing group of outdoor enthusiasts. Trail Development Activities of the Dakota Prairie Chapter in 2013 By Tom Moberg, Ch. V.P. The trail territory of the new Dakota Prairie Chapter lies between the border of North Dakota at the Red River and the town of Lisbon in the Sheyenne River valley. As the crow flies, that distance is about 50 miles. If the crow is carrying a backpack and walking, the distance is quite a bit more. Because there is so little public land in North Dakota, finding places to put real hiking trails is a huge challenge. Up until recently, the only existing segment of the North Country National Scenic Trail in our area was about 28 miles in the Sheyenne National Grasslands that was built by the Forest Service. The rest of the route in southeast North Dakota had always been long, boring road walks on tar roads, often without shoulders. Like our friends and colleagues in the Sheyenne River Valley Chapter, members of the DP Chapter have been working to find both off-road trail possibilities and better on-road options on quiet country roads. We now have an 80 mile draft route laid out in our area that initially includes about 42 miles of off-road trail (including 29 miles in the SNG), 33 miles of gravel roads, and less than 5 miles of hard-surface roads. The route passes through the small towns of Abercromie, Colfax, Walcott, and Lisbon, and includes several new primitive campsites. As time goes on, we think it will be possible to replace many of the road walks with new sections of off-road trail. It will be great to offer a better route to people who want to hike across this part of North Dakota The Chapter is working with the North Dakota State Historical Society to establish the eastern terminus of the NCNST in North Dakota at the Fort Abercrombie State Historic Site, the Gateway to the Dakotas. To quote the Fort website: Fort Abercrombie was the first permanent United States military fort established in what was to become North Dakota. It was also the only post in the area to be besieged by Dakota (Sioux) warriors for more than six weeks during the Dakota conflict of The fort guarded the oxcart trails of the later fur trade era, military supply wagon trains, stagecoach routes, and steamboat traffic on the Red River. It also was a supply base for two major gold-seeking expeditions across Dakota into Montana. Fort Abercrombie served as a hub for several major transportation routes through the northern plains. One of our route design principles is to closely follow the old Fort Abercrombie Fort Ransom military road, so it seems right both practically and symbolically for hikers on the NCNST to cross the Red River at Fort Abercrombie. The onset of winter is shutting down this trail building season. But in spite of a wet spring, Chapter members, Boy Scouts, and other volunteers were able to continue tread smoothing in the RRV&W railroad corridor, install signage in many locations, build several substantial boardwalks, mow the off-road trail sections multiple times, and continue developing relationships with landowners. Over the winter, we intend to pursue some grant opportunities, continue scouting possible off-road routes, try to obtain several trail easements, and make plans for work days and trail events next summer.

6 2014 activities schedule November 22-24: Outdoor Adventure Expo Minneapolis, MN January 11: Winter Trails Day DPC Chapter event at Buffalo River State Park Glyndon, MN LLC Chapter event at Maplelag Resort Callaway, MN ITM Chapter & Chippewa National Forest event at Shingobee Walker, MN February 8: LLC Chapter snowshoe hike in Greenwater Lake SNA Ponsford, MN March 8: LLC Chapter snowshoe hike at Itasca State Park Park Rapids, MN March 22: ITM Chapter Spring Equinox snowshoe hike TBD April 26: LLC Chapter spring hike in Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Rochert, MN May 2-4: SHTA s Annual Meeting at Wolf Ridge Finland, MN May 17: LLC Chapter nature hike in Tamarac NWR Rochert, MN May 17: ITM Chapter Wildflower hike TBD June 7: National Trails Day ARW Chapter Guided Hike Grand Rapids, MN LLC Chapter hike in Tamarac NWR and dinner Rochert, MN ITM Chapter hike TBD NCT Grand Opening at Maplewood State Park Pelican Rapids, MN SHTA Guided Hike TBD June 20: ITM Chapter Mid-week Resort Hike TBD June 22-28: Volunteer Vacation on the NCT in the Chippewa National Forest Remer, MN July 13-19: Volunteer Vacation on the NCT in the Sheyenne National Grassland Kindred, ND July 26: LLC Chapter history hike Frazee, MN August 1: ITM Chapter Mid-week Resort Hike TBD August 21-23: NCTA Minnesota Hiking Celebration at Spirit Mountain Duluth, MN September 21: ITM Chapter Fall is All hike TBD September 27: 1st Annual North Country National Scenic Trail Day DPC Chapter s section hike/bike from Abercrombie to Lisbon, ND Leaf Days guided hike at Maplewood State Park (and 9/28, 10/4, and 10/5) ITM Chapter Fall Autumnal Equinox & Color Hike TBD LLC Chapter s Fall Color hike Ponsford, MN October 5: 8th Annual North Country Hiking Fest & 14th Annual Hike for Hope Itasca St. Park October 18: LLC Chapter Fall Hike in Tamarac NWR Rochert, MN Chapter and Affiliate Group Abbreviations: ARW = Arrowhead Chapter BRTA = Border Route Trail Assoc. DPC = Dakota Prairie Chapter ITM = Itasca Moraine Chapter KTC = Kekekabic Trail Club LLC = Laurentian Lakes Chapter SHTA = Superior Hiking Trail Assoc. SRV = Sheyenne River Valley Ch. STN = Star of the North Chapter Get connected with the NCTA via social media meetup.com/red-river-valley-outdoors/ Fargo-Moorhead area meetup.com/hikenctinmn/ Laurentian Lakes Chapter area meetup.com/chip-nct-hikers/ Itasca Moraine & Star of the North areas meetup.com/arrowhead-nct-hikers/ Arrowhead Chapter area facebook.com/nctinmn NCTA in Minnesota Facebook site facebook.com/arrowheadreroute Arrowhead Re-route Facebook site facebook.com/nctinnd NCTA in North Dakota Facebook site Trail partner contacts: hike@shta.org volunteer@shta.org info@kek.org info@borderroutetrail.org ~~~ facebook.com/suphike facebook.com//groups/ borderroutetrail/ Editor s Note by Stacy Davis As I read through this season s newsletter, it was exciting to learn about what is going on in North Dakota in addition to what continues to happen in Minnesota. Hopefully, this change to the newsletter will help reach even more people with all the happenings and volunteer opportunities on the North Country Trail in our region. Welcome, to all of our new readers! Happy (and bug free!) Winter Hiking! (Photo at right: our daughter Clara and family friend Rachel enjoy the NCT during a Tree Trek this summer)