By Joyce Appel
On October 30 to November 1, guys and gals met from the North Country Trail (NCT), Keystone Trails Association (KTA), and the Butler Outdoor Club (BOC) to do trailwork on the North Country National Scenic Trail in McConnells Mill State Park. Some of us stayed at Bear Run Campground Cabins and some locals met us at the worksite each day.
Friday evening many of us went to Moraine State Park where there was a potluck dinner and history presentation of the NCT Davis Hollow Cabin that is over 200 years old. It sits along the trail for hikers or anyone who wants to stay there for a night, weekend or longer. The presentation was done by relatives of the original Davis family. It was tear jerking to hear the stories and watch the pictures. We have a jewel of a place that we found for the NCT and are proud to preserve it for future generations to enjoy. Over 70 people, including the trailcrew, showed up to hear about this precious historic cabin and enjoy the potluck dinner.
On Saturday, we had 32 people working on the trailcrew. In spite of rain Friday night and making it chilly and muddy in places, we got an unbelieveable amount of work done. I was ecstatic! Work ranged from rockwork, steps, switchbacks, sidehill and fixing water drainage. Even hikers that came through made comments about the noticeable wonderful work and couldn't believe the change. We even had left over food from the NCT Cabin dinner for lunch.
Saturday night we all went off to the wonderful North Country Brewing, named after the trail. They make their own beer, rootbeer, and the food is excellent. Yum! Yum! I couldn't wait to surprise Joe with a walking stick that had the NCT emblem on it. I had bid on it at the last NCT National Conference and was so worried that I would not be the high bidder...but I was!!!! We are so proud to have Joe Healey' s last KTA Trailcrew Leadership here on our trail. How awesome! Then there was the cake...I had it decorated with a woodsy scene and trail going through the woods with letters NCT on the trail. Then I made a standup hiker/worker carrying a daypack and put " NCT" on the pack. I put a pulaski in his hand and name "Joe" on the shirt. And good cake too. Yum! Yum! Not to mention the homemade beer!
On Sunday about 20 people worked on the trail. It was a much nicer day, and a lot of work was accomplished again. Thank you KTA Crew for coming and thank you NCT and BOC members who joined the crew. And a big big big thank you to Joe Healey for this weekend and for his past 10 years of volunteer service as trailcrew leader for KTA.
For more images, visit the Photo Gallery.
Read an article on the trail care weekend from the Butler Eagle here.