took me six different trips to lay out each section of the
trail, searching for the best possible path. Then I’d bring a
volunteer crew out here and we’d carve the trail corridor
with bush axes, swing blades, and machetes.”
For four years, Allen served as the FTA’s volunteer
section leader for this 30-mile trail segment. “It would
take us 10 weeks to give this whole stretch of trail its
annual maintenance,” he remembers. “We could cover
about three miles in an eight-hour day, including
pulling a heavy-duty lawnmower along the trail. I
think maybe I drove some of my volunteers away,
working them so hard!” While their efforts seemed
isolated at first, Allen and his team knew that other
FTA volunteers were laboring on their own sections
of the trail.
“Over the years, the Trail Association’s contributions
of sweat equity have been remarkable, and provided the
necessary match for federal funding,” says Kent Wimmer,
the FTA’s Florida National Scenic Trail liaison with the
U.S. Forest Service. “This past year alone, volunteers
contributed almost 70,000 hours along the trail, worth
$1.3 million.”
NORTH COUNTRY NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL
At nearly 4,600 miles, the North Country Scenic Trail is
the longest of the eight national scenic trails. Authorized
in 1980, this hiking trail begins in New York’s Adirondack
Mountains, threads hardwood forests in Pennsylvania,
parallels historic canals in Ohio, crosses farmland in
Michigan, and traces the shores of three great lakes
before heading through the Wisconsin and Minnesota
woods to the rolling grasslands of North Dakota. More
than 2,200 miles of the trail are complete, with more
miles added each year. (On some sections, hikers use
other trails or roads.) While most hikers tackle a local
section of the trail, four intrepid walkers have traversed
it end to end. TPL has been active protecting land along
the trail, particularly in the upper Midwest, in the last
few years preserving land on several northern Wisconsin
lakes near the trail. In northern Michigan, TPL helped
acquire 775 trailside acres along the National Wild and
Scenic Black River. And last fall, TPL protected 2,000
acres in Michigan’s Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness,
which abuts a 10-mile section of the trail. More information on maps, guides, and trail segments in each state
can be found on the website of the North Country Trail
Association, www.northcountrytrail.org.
OTTAWANATIONALFOREST/USFS
