Close to 50 backpackers and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) enthusiasts spent an afternoon on March 4 at the Camp Sacajawea Retreat Center, tucked into the trails and woods of Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Apple Valley, Minnesota.
Veteran trail advocates captivated the audience with presentations on the National Scenic North Country Trail, the Kekekabic Trail, the Border Route Trail, the Powwow Trail, and an educational slide show, “What Happens on a Trail Clearing Trip.” Hikers learned about current trail conditions and closures, plans for volunteer clearing trips, and were encouraged to get out and hike some of the more than 200 miles of BWCAW trails.
Matt Davis, regional trail coordinator for the Minnesota and North Dakota Chapter of the North Country Trail Association, gave the keynote address. The North Country Trail (NCT) crosses seven states from North Dakota to New York. Backpackers come to Minnesota to hike long sections of the premier wilderness hiking along the 4,500-mile footpath: the Border Route Trail and the Kekekabic Trail. The Kekekabic Trail was an abandoned firefighter footpath connecting the Gunflint Trail and Lake One in the 1980s when visionary Martin Kubik, founder of the Kekekabic Trail Club, organized volunteers to clear it in 1990. Now, more than a quarter century later, the “Kek” is a foundation for routing the National Scenic NCT through the BWCAW.
Davis described how severe 2016 summer storms left some sections of long distance trails in the Boundary Waters impassable. The U.S. Forest Service is taking steps to clear a number of stricken trails in 2017 with crews from other states, and volunteers from the hiking organizations, in collaboration with the Forest Service, are organizing volunteers now for spring trips to clear the damaged trails.
“It was fantastic to see so much interest in the hiking trails of the Boundary Waters from a diverse group,” Davis enthused after the kickoff event. “Many BWCAW trails desperately need more trail clearing volunteers to help keep this vital unofficial link in the North Country National Scenic Trail open. Hopefully Congress will do its job this year and pass the legislation that would officially take the NCT up the North Shore and through the Boundary Waters as they are very fitting locations for a National Scenic Trail. Thanks to the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee for pulling together such a great program.”
Rebecca Powell, BWAC member, was presented with the 2016 BWAC Volunteer of the Year at the event for many contributions for the past 15 years as club treasurer and trail volunteer.
Keeping the trails open can be challenging. For example, the Powwow Trail has more than 6,000 tree falls on the 30-mile trail, an undesirable but lasting legacy of the Pagami Creek Fire of 2011. Backpackers hope that the recently passed National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act, HR 845 will lead to greater cooperation between the Forest Service and volunteer groups that want to help.
Leave a Reply