It Has Been Warming Up A Bit

Good Morning Fellow NCTr's:

Sure has been unseasonably chilly! However, the weather isn't keeping the two NCT thru hikers from making their way towards us. They are in New York right now, approaching the Finger Lakes region, working their way westward day-by-day. Did a little figuring, and based on their current rate of travel, I anticipate that we'll be seeing them in five or six weeks from now unless we get a heat wave and all the snow melts away (thinking that that's not gonna happen though). You can check out how the thru hike is going so far at this sight http://www.theinitiativesite.com/journal/

Also, received an email from Venture Outdoors this week with their upcoming schedule of activities. The cold weather isn't slowing them down - full steam ahead with their winter events! Check it out here if you'd like
https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:29238.6941489052/rid:a7f9f6ae657d4303804ad907c10275e7

Have a great week!
Dave Brewer

Economic Benefits of Trail Based Tourism Program

To the Friends of the Ohio River Trail:

The Ohio River Trail Council presents “ Economic Benefits of Trail Based Tourism”. On behalf of the ORTC, I hope that you can join us for this upcoming event. Your attendance is appreciated. Ms. Amy Camp is the Trail Town Manager for The Trail Town Program®, a project of The Progress Fund developed in conjunction with the Allegheny Trail Alliance to realize the economic potential of the Great Allegheny Passage. Discover the economic benefits of nature and trail based tourism as part of a larger, coordinated approach to regional economic development.

This event is available at no cost and no registration is required. Please feel free to distribute this email or the attachment to your friends and local businesses. You may print and post this flyer.

Save this date: Tuesday March 1, 2011 @ 6:00 pm Room 9103

Community College of Beaver County
One Campus Drive
Monaca, Pa 15061

For additional information please contact Dr. Vincent Troia

troiaeye@verizon.net; 724.728.2625; www.ohiorivertrail.org


Thank you.

Dr. Vincent Troia


DR. VINCENT TROIA | Chief Executive Chairmen & CEO and Co-founder

OHIO RIVER TRAIL COUNCIL

The Troia Building | 1100 Pennsylvania Av | Monaca, Pa 15061

Phone: 724.728.2625 | Fax: 724.775.9876 | Mobile: 724.462.3183

Website: www.ohiorivertrail.org

"Joining communities through fitness, recreation, heritage and transportation networks."

January 9th Hike at Cemex

Good Evening Fellow NCTr's:

An excellent (even if somewhat chilly) day for a five mile recon/trailwork hike at Cemex. Thanks to Tom Scardina, and Lee and Eleanor Fairbanks for taking the walk with me from Snake Run Road down the the railroad tracks near River Road and back, doing combat with the multifloral and drooping grapevines along the way. We even got a couple of licks in on the poison ivy (thought it could disguise itself by shedding its leaves but we didn't fall for that old winter-time ploy).

Some pics from today start here http://picasaweb.google.com/105725471641034380528/WampumChapter2011#5560336286244345234

We've walked all of our off-road trail over the past five weeks and we're in good shape for the long-distance hiker coming through sometime in the next month or so. You can follow his journal here http://www.theinitiativesite.com/journal/

Thanks for all you do for the NCT!
Dave Brewer

Short Notice Hike At Gateway 12/31/10

Good Afternoon Fellow NCTr's:

Short notice for sure, but just came out the other side of the Christmas week(s) working in retail - woke up this afternoon and saw that the weather forecast for tomorrow is looking too darn good to pass up the opportunity to take a hike. If you'd like to join me I'll be taking a recon/blowdown and branch litter clearing walk from the Route 18 trailhead in Wampum up through Gateway, Mines and Meadows, and Gamelands 148 tomorrow morning (Friday, 12/31) starting at 9:00 A.M. This walk -out and back - usually takes two to three hours, depending upon work or scenery encountered. Come earlier to Jata's for breakfast if you'd like.

Dave Brewer

COLD Trailwork At Cemex

It was a beautiful and sunny, but COLD morning to be out on the North Country Trail today, but things warmed up with the walk, work, and conversation* as your trail crew made their way along almost a mile and a half of our pathway at Cemex. That section of trail is now in great shape - thanks to those guys for coming out with me for my much-needed escape to the woods! Winter sure did come on hard and fast this year!

Denny Duda, Bob Cody, Doug Turner, Lee and Eleanor Fairbanks, and I started off from the eastern Snake Run Road trailhead and headed east towards Sankey Hill, clearing the branch litter, cutting back multifloral rose, taking out a couple of small blowdown trees, and dragging down one potential widow-maker - finishing up with an exploration of the area around the haunted house.

I thought that it was especially neat that during our walk we were able to put into exact words an old trailwork axiom, being, "If you are walking along, and you are hit in the head by something, that something should probably be pruned, lopped, or sawed out of the way." Love it!

Some photos from today start here.

Thanks for all you do for the trail and have a Merry Christmas!!

Dave

* Topics of conversation today included, but were not limited to: Firetrucks, Santa Claus, gold mining, wine, other hiking trails, our website, precision tree removal options, kids coming home for Christmas, the unfortunate ease of removing fingers with power tools, roadwalk blazing, frozen beer, Marcellus shale and gas wells, finding old abandoned stuff in the woods, how much deer and other animals like to walk on the trail, arson, herbal remedies, coal mining, Google maps, the desire to build new trail in Lawrence County next year, limburger cheese and the dire effects it has on your digestive system, the marketing potential of a printed newsletter, and the danger of falling into a 20' deep well and not being found. Something for everyone!

Walking the Chainsaw - Saturday, December 18

Good Afternoon Fellow NCTr's:

Well, the weather certainly took a turn for the worse the last couple of days, but the brief periods of sunshine we're getting this afternoon are encouraging. My chainsaw has become stir-crazy from being stuck inside the last week or so, so I thought I'd take it for a walk this Saturday morning, December the 18th, out on the trail at Cemex.

The plan is to leave from Jata's in Wampum at 9:00 AM and travel to the Snake Run Road (East) trailhead to spend a couple of hours checking for blowdowns, kicking off the branch litter, taking a look at the condition of the trail along that stretch, and generally enjoying this winter wonderland. Come earlier to Jata's for breakfast if you'd like.

Hope you can make it out on Saturday morning - it's going to be a bit chilly so dress appropriately and remember to bring water to drink.

Dave Brewer

Painting the Trail Town

This blog post isn't about the North Country Trail, but about our trail town of Wampum, PA. Gail Blakely and JoEllen Sokoloski have attended some meetings about the town's "Streetscape Program" which is in the planning stages, and Andrew Bashaw has been putting some emphasis on the NCTA's "Trail Town" program. There's already been some activity in regards to the appearance of the downtown, I think unrelated to either of these things, but a seperate, positive part of the overall picture.

An investigative reporter I'll never be, but this fall when Bob Cody pointed out the paintings that have been done on some of the buildings there I did ask a few questions and got some tidbits of information about what was going on. A painter was hired to do some work on the outside of some buildings. If you haven't been to Wampum lately, you can check out these photos here showing some of the work that's been done. I'm sure some of you have ". . . the rest of the story."

"Erin the Painter" http://www.flickr.com/groups/erinthepainter/pool/with/3651746347/ does some interesting work - some paintings in Wampum and some others in Mahoningtown, near New Castle.

Check it out at these links, or take a drive out to see them in person. Good stuff!