Our Stories
North Country Trail attendance at Canoecopia a big success!
The North Country Trail booth at Canoecopia was a big success. Canoecopia is the world’s largest outdoor exhibition with over 22,000 people in attendance. Volunteers from 4 NCTA Chapters helped out at the booth. On Friday night Gaylord Yost (Heritage) and Mikie Kuhman (Chequamegon) worked the booth. The Saturday and Sunday crews consisted of Phil Nimps (Star of the North) Dan “the Griz” Wilshire (Heritage), Mike Schultz (Heritage), Bill Menke (NCTA Regional Coordinator) and Jill Nowlen (At Large). Todd McMahon (At Large) organized the booth and worked it all three days.
We had a steady flow of people visiting the booth all weekend, with Saturday being the busiest day. Many people who visited the booth said that they have hiked the trail. Other people said that they have heard of the trail but never have hiked it. And several people said that they never heard of the trail. Of the people who have hiked the trail, the furthest east section hiked was the canal towpaths in Ohio and the furthest west segment mentioned was the Sheyenne Grasslands of North Dakota.
Meanwhile, the NCT related class “Backpacking through the Boundary Waters” tied for the most highly attended class of Canoecopia. Todd McMahon (aka Tman) taught the class using photos from his 2009 and 2010 hikes of the Kekekabic Trail and Border Route Trail. The response for the class was very positive. A very detailed handout for the class can be seen on Tman’s website.
Dean Gettinger of the National Park Service Office provided the large display backdrop for the booth. Materials for the booth were provided by all three Wisconsin Chapters, National Park Service, North Country Trail Association, and the Superior Hiking Trail Association. The most popular item at the booth was the National Park Service Map of the North Country Trail. In fact, Bill Menke made a run back to the NPS Office to get some more. The Superior Hiking Trail Brochure was also popular because we ran out of the 300 copies we had at the booth. Thank you to everyone who helped make this booth possible!
