The Year to Date — Trail happenings in January:

January 33:  Winter hike at Middleville:  OK, technically it was February 2.  Groundhog Day.  And after breakfast at The Big Easy, nine hardy souls stepped out for Chief Noonday's second winter hike of the season, walking about four miles in about six inches of snow on the Paul Henry Thornapple Trail/North Country National Scenic Trail.  They started at the Irving Trailhead, where this picture was taken by Jean Lamoreaux, and walked about four chilly Hiker Challenge miles along the Thornapple River and into the Trail Town of Middleville, and eight continued on to Crane Road.  Jean's camera lens did not need cleaning — that's snow coming down as the picture was taken.       Hiking were Mark Adams, Ron Sootsman, Karen, Charles Krammin, Jackie and Fred Wilson, Cal Lamoreaux, Patt Bartig, and Patt's son Bruce. (The Webmaster apologizes to Karen for not having her full name.)  The highest temp on the Trail today was 20° at 10:45 AM, and the wind chill was around 10°.

Shoe Year's Day 2013 at Yankee Springs:  For Chief Noonday's first winter hike of the season on New Year's Day, we teamed up with the DNR management and staff to host the second annual Shoe Year's Day event at the Yankee Springs Recreation Area.  We'd thought last year's program was a success with a total attendance of around 70 — so we were amazed when over 130 people showed up for this year's program.       The hike started at the YSRA Winter Sports Area on Gun Lake Road west of Hall Lake, followed the North Country National Scenic Trail to the west Norris Road Trailhead, and then returned to the Winter Sports Area — a total distance of about four miles.  DNR staff provided refreshments at both the WSA and the Norris Rd TH and awarded hiking staff medallions to those who completed the hike.  Ron Sootsman gave a presentation and guided tour on the history of Yankee Bill Lewis's hotel site and stagecoach stop and the old Yankee Bill's spring at the Norris Road trailhead.      YSRA's DNR Park Manager, Andru Jevicks, and Park Supervisor, Joseph Jandernoa, were assisted by several other DNR staffers.  Chief Noonday members included Ron Sootsman, Charles Krammin, Marcia Mellen, Steve Hicks, Gerald Phillips, Cal and Jean Lamoreaux, Jane Norton, Mary Armitage, Eric Longman, and Bobbi Jo Gamache who brought a group up from Portage and helped spread the word to other hiking groups.      Regrettably the Webmaster was only able to take a few pictures at the beginning, including this one — before his camera froze up.

Calhoun County Trailway Alliance receives grant:  In January the CCTA and the Community Foundation Alliance of Calhoun County received a second grant of $100,000 from Enbridge Energy.  This was a matching grant and marked the single largest corporate grant the CCTA had received to date.  Over 20 different contributors helped the CCTA meet the match.  The CFACC serves as the fiscal agent for the CCTA.  From left: Larry Rizor, CCTA President; Ron Sootsman, CCTA Treasurer;  John Sobojinski, Enbridge; and Karen Yankie, CFACC President.  Ron Sootsman is also VP/Administration for Chief Noonday Chapter, a partner of the CCTA.  (Photo by Marissa Nielsen)

Wildflowers on the North Country Trail:  At the January chapter meeting, Chief Noonday's unofficial naturalist-in-residence, Cal Lamoreaux (in the teal shirt, right) treated the chapter to an informative exploration of the wildflowers and flora to be found along the NCNST in Chief Noonday Country.  The presentation consisted of Cal's captioned images and impressive commentary.      We were also impressed with Audrey VanStrien's tote bag, which was covered with pins and badges from many places she had visited and trails she had hiked.

Mick Hawkins   
Webmaster, Chief Noonday Chapter   

2012 National Conference of the NCTA:  On Friday evening NCTA Executive Director Bruce Matthews opens post-dinner activities introducing what has become an annual event within the annual Conference — v the singing of what has become sort of the NCTA's national anthem, the North County National Scenic Trail Ballad written by Charlie MaGuire and introduced to the NCTA membership at the 2007 National Conference at Bemidji.

CND caps a big year:   This has been an exceptional year for Chief Noonday Chapter.  There were two big events on CND's calendar that were unique in its history:
●   We celebrated the 15th Anniversary of our founding as a chapter in the North Country Trail Association, when we set out on our mission of building, developing, maintaining and promoting the North Country National Scenic Trail in the south central and western counties of the State of Michigan.  And,
●   We took on the challenge of hosting the 2012 National Conference of the NCTA — and we pulled it off!

Planning and preparing for a national conference is a long process.  For us it began with discussion at the April 2010 chapter meeting.  Search for a site began in May 2010.  The Chapter voted to take on the mission at the June 2010 chapter meeting.  Plan B for the site, the Yarrow Golf & Conference Resort in Kalamazoo County near Augusta, solidified in October 2010.  And we were off and running.

Numerous people, including several who were brand new members of the Chapter, stepped forward to take up the challenge of serving on the various Conference committees, under the initial leadership of Dave Cornell, who was soon joined by a co-chairman, Eric Longman. 

Together this intrepid crew did the planning, made the contacts, did all the legwork, talked to all the people, recruited help, solicited financial support, obtained and prepared materials and souvenirs, arranged transportation, and tended to the gazillion details of preparation (including a lot of Trail work during an exceptionally hot summer) that ultimately led to a great and very successful Conference.

A picture caption in our gallery of pictures from the Conference lists all the people involved in the Conference work whom the Webmaster knows about.  There may be others as well that he didn't know about.

A magnificent North Country Trail Quilt was created by Chief Noonday members and their friends, to be auctioned off at the Conference.  Displaying the quilt are (from left) Mary Fleming, Linda Wilkey, and Josie and Steve Hicks.  (See the gallery picture caption for more details.)

Conference activities included (but were not limited to) workshops and discussions led by NCTA and NPS national staff as well as National Board President Larry Hawkins.

There were hikes on our urban and park Trail segments in Calhoun County, the entire Trail through Kalamazoo County, most of the off-road Trail in Barry County, and a long segment in Kent County.  There was a side hike and tour at Saugatuck hosted by Charles and Verle Krammin.  There were tours in Lowell, KBS, Marshall and Albion. 

According to reports from HQ at Lowell, there were 136 paid registrations for the Conference.  Add to that the staff, family and guests — which brings the total of those attending part or all of the Conference to more than 150.  The Webmaster counted around 70 registrations from Michigan.  There were a total of 506 sign-ups for the various hikes, workshops and tours.  Numerous people, with Chief Noonday members and friends well represented among them, received national awards from the National Park Service and the NCTA.

Despite having taken Greek for five years in high school and college, the Webmaster couldn't make much of the final financial report.  Suffice it to say that after all the fees and donations were collected and bills were paid, there was $3,848 left over, which was divided equally between NCTA and Chief Noonday Chapter.  

Be sure to check out our picture galleries of Chief Noonday's CND national award recipients and of Conference events.

Congratulations and thanks to all the Chief Noonday Chapter members and friends who helped to produce this highly successful event!

Next year it's Pennsylvania's turn.

Mick Hawkins   
Webmaster, Chief Noonday Chapter  
 

Interurban connections:   The North Country Trail may not be part of the National Historic Trail system, but it doesn't lack its own historical highlights.

The Gull Lake Junction station in the interurban railway system was located at what is now the North Country National Scenic Trail trailhead on Augusta Drive.  Click on the picture to see a larger version.

One site of historical interest is the Augusta Drive trailhead on the Ron and Grace Hutchinson property on the edge of Augusta.  That spot a hundred years ago was what you might call a bit of a transportation hub.

Augusta the village got its start back in the early 1830s when a visionary and enterprising physician, Dr. Salmon King, arrived with his family, staked a claim, built a log cabin (and later an inn), and established his medical practice. 

He sold his holdings to another enterprising group who formed the Augusta Company in 1836.  They platted the village and re-channeled Augusta Creek into a new millrace, one of the longest and most successful  in Michigan. 

The first mill, a sawmill, started operation in 1837, and processed timber that was hauled, dragged or floated into town, producing the railroad ties and the lumber which led to construction of more mills, more industry, more trades, more stores and businesses, and the homes of the growing population of families employed by and utilizing all these enterprises.  

"Downtown": The interurban station in the village was located on what is now Michigan Avenue in Augusta but at the time this picture was still referred to as Augusta Drive.  Click on the picture to see a larger version.

The history of transportation and Augusta is an interesting topic in itself.  No doubt the very first avenue of transport was the Kalamazoo River.  Augusta Creek flowing into the Kalamazoo River would have triggered visions of water power and future mills and industries before Dr. King arrived, which was exactly what ensued. 

The first road was a dirt road that ran through town between the county line and the somewhat older Galesburg (initially known as "Morton") to the west on the same general southwest-northeast axis as the river.  That road was called "Augusta Drive" for its entire length —  and is still labeled as such on older maps (and the Google on-line map).

The primary upgrade from "hoofing" it on such roads would have been horse riding or using horse-drawn carts.  But not everybody owned a horse.  One option would be for people to rent a horse (and a cart, if desired) from a local livery in Augusta.

In 1845 the railroad arrived — and afforded yet another option — the Michigan Central Railroad, which connected Augusta and its businesses and industries with the markets in the rest of the State to the east and eventually to the west.  Augusta was off and running.

Augusta first became an incorporated village in 1869, less than a decade behind Galesburg, which had incorporated as a village in 1861.

As a firefighter in a previous life, I couldn't help be struck by the following story recounted in an article in the Kalamazoo Gazette (August 20, 2010):

On the night of June 28, 1893, a devastating fire leveled an entire block of the village. Possibly started in a bakery oven, the inferno destroyed a drug store, meat market, furniture store and grocery, along with the just-completed Finley’s Hotel at the corner of Fayette and Webster near the Michigan Central tracks. By the time a hand-pumper fire rig arrived by train from Battle Creek, the fire was substantially out. Almost all of the horses boarded at the William Giddings livery stable were lost.

In 1900, at the turn of the 20th century, railway access at Augusta was enhanced when the Michigan Traction Company began running an electric interurban railway for passengers between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo through Augusta. 

The track ran along the northwest side of Augusta Drive — right across the front of what is now the Augusta Drive trailhead of the North Country National Scenic Trail.

And another interurban division connecting Battle Creek with Gull Lake and Richland via what would later become Camp Custer ran right through the present trailhead. 

The two tracks intersected right in front of the present trailhead, forming a junction.  Station buildings were built there.  And people coming from Battle Creek or Kalamazoo could get off at the station and catch the Gull Lake Division car to ride on up to the depot at Bay View, Gull Lake.  One could make connections at Gull Lake and continue on the interurban up to Grand Rapids.

One report I read said that Michigan Central ran over 90 trains a day through Augusta in the 1920's, between freight and passenger trains.  Another source said that the interurban came through Augusta in one direction or the other every 45 minutes.  But this also was the era that saw great growth in the automobile and trucking industries, with consequent improvement of roads and ultimately profound evolutions in the way people traveled. 

The era of Augusta and the interurbans ended in 1929.  Access to Augusta gradually became problematic as highways and an interstate were built away from it to the south and Camp (later Fort) Custer monopolized the area south of the River from Battle Creek to Galesburg.  The lack of easy access inevitably impacted commerce and industry, quite significantly changing the character of the town and the pace of life there. 

Nowadays probably the vast majority of Augusta residents still gainfully employed actually work elsewhere, mainly in Battle Creek or Kalamazoo, I suspect, and return to Augusta at the end of the daily grind to enjoy the relative peace and quiet which this pleasant town affords.  Maybe it's too bad the old interurban is no longer around.  The commuters' fares would probably be a fraction of what they're spending on gas!

Mick Hawkins   
Webmaster, Chief Noonday Chapter  

(Sources for this Trail Log item included Mill Town: The History of Augusta, Michigan, Kalamazoo Gazette, 8/20/2010; How Dear to Our Hearts: Augusta, Michigan - 1976; Michigan Place Names, by Walter Romig, LHD, 1986.  Thanks to Larry Pio for gathering much of the background material from Ron Hutchinson and the Kalamazoo Public Library.)
 

A higher profile for the Trail at the border:   The northern border of Chief Noonday Chapter country, that is.

Until recently, the North Country National Scenic Trail became a bit vague once you reached the northern boundary of the Middleville State Game Area south of Parmalee Road in Barry County on your way north.

The team makes fast work of raising the kiosk and settling it into its new site at the Maher Audubon Sanctuary on 108th Street.  That's the North Country Trail passing behind them — for the time being.

We still have some real work to do in that area, but we've had some interesting developments lately where the Trail follows the border between Barry and Kent Counties along 108th Street. 

Going North the Trail joins 108th Street from the Harris Creek Rd roadwalk connector trail and heads east over a mile-long stretch of straight but hilly off-road trail along the edge of the Middleville State Game Area. 

The Trail then crosses Solomon Rd/Coldwater Avenue and continues east as a roadwalk along 108th Street, a dirt road, until it turns north on Baker Avenue and heads up into Kent County. 

(To confuse things a bit, the road that is Baker Avenue going north at this point is Wood School Rd going south in Barry County. See our map mash-up of the "border" section.)

Sound boring?   Well, maybe so up till now, but things are changing. 

Completing some structural details on the back.

As it happens, for the last 2,500 feet on 108th Street before the Trail turns north, it goes right by the Maher Audubon Sanctuary, which is owned by the Grand Rapids Audubon Club. 

Chief Noonday president Larry Pio has been working with the GRAC to bring the two organizations into a new partnering relationship, and we see his work bearing fruit already.

On our May 19th workday we took down the trailhead kiosk from the old abandoned Mullen Rd trailhead, loaded it onto Jeff Fleming's trailer, hauled it north for 20.8 miles, and gave it new life putting it up at the entrance of the footpath leading into the Maher Sanctuary from 108th Street. 

We posted preliminary informational materials on the kiosk including a map of the NCNST in that area between Baker Avenue and Parmalee Rd and a map of the trails and creeks within the sanctuary itself.

The kiosk was measured for Plexiglas panes, which will be installed later, and a coat of stain was applied.  (See a later picture of the finished product on the Facebook page.)

The plan is to have informational materials relating to the North Country National Scenic Trail on the side of the kiosk facing the road and information on Audubon and the Maher Sanctuary on the side facing ... the Sanctuary.

And that's just the beginning.  The GR Audubon Club and the Chapter leaders are exploring the possibility of re-routing the North Country Trail off 108th Street and through the Sanctuary to come out on Wood School Road to the east, where it would turn north and continue as a roadwalk connector trail up into Kent County, which is the Western Michigan Chapter's bailiwick. 

After the kiosk was up, Larry Pio, Larry Hawkins, and Ron Sootsman checked out and flagged a couple possible routes leading out to Wood School Road from the Sanctuary's loop trail, for later study and shared decision by the two organizations.

In addition to the Larrys and Ron, today's work team was rounded out by Jeff Fleming, Bob Sulaski, Mary Rebert, and Yrs Truly.

Mick Hawkins   
Webmaster, Chief Noonday Chapter  
 

The Merry Month of May — ver. 2.0

Middleville becomes CND's first Trail Town:  (Above) Village Council President Charles Pullen and Andrea Ketchmark, NCTA Director of Trail Development, sign a Memo of Understanding between the Village and NCTA as Larry Hawkins, NCTA National Board President, looks on.      (Right below) Village trustee Phil VanNoord voiced strong support of the Trail Town relationship that Middleville and the North Country Trail Association have established.  Phil is also a CND member and Trail Adopter for the Middleville State Game Area section of the Trail.      Middleville is believed to be the first NCTA Trail Town in Michigan.      (Left below) Sara Schaefer, the DNR's Wildlife Biologist for the Barry State Game Area, delivers her report on Middleville's Mill Pond which is adjacent to the Paul Henry Thornapple Trail/NCNST.  Especially interesting to many of us was her primer on mute and trumpeter swans which are vying for ascendency at the pond.

Pre-Conference hike in Kent County:  On May 5 we hiked a section of the North Country National Scenic Trail through the Fallasburg County Park and the Lowell State Game Area which will be showcased at the National Conference in August.  Great trail, but the hike, billed as about 5 miles, came out closer to 7 miles, which will trigger plan revisions for the Conference hike.     (Near right) The Trail along a ridge with a view of the Flat River calls for careful footing, because that's a pretty steep downgrade on the right!     (Far right & below) We were impressed with the map boards and road crossing signage that the Western Michigan Chapter had erected along the Trail.  We may flatter them by imitation.      (Below)  Robert Sulaski, Charles Krammin, Mary Rebert, and Eunice Jennings approach a road crossing at Flat River Drive on this very scenic stretch of the NCNST in the State Game Area.     Click here for a map mash-up showing the track of our hike.

Mick Hawkins   
Webmaster, Chief Noonday Chapter