THE HUNGRY BEAVER

January 1997        50 cents per copy         Volume 8, Number One

IN THIS ISSUE . . . .

Deadline for the HB Feb. issue is Wed., Jan. 15
Send articles to:
(1) E-mail: sandra_brezinski@metrixcomm.com
OR
(2) Sandra Brezinski, HB Editor
c/o Kekekabic Trail Club
1627 Co. Rd. B., Suite B
Roseville, MN 55113
A KTC membership makes a good gift

1997 CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES
January 14, 5:30 p.m.	EMS Roseville, Volunteer Night (mailing out 1997 trip brochures and posters).
January 14, 5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m	EMS Roseville, Trail Committee Meeting.
January 14, 7:00 p.m.	EMS Roseville, presentation on Wilderness Health followed by the KTC monthly meeting.
January 27	Duluth, KTC/Forest Service meeting.
February 11, 7:00 p.m.	EMS Roseville, presentation on Food Preparation followed by the KTC monthly meeting.
February 12	U of MN, St. Paul Campus, presentation on Restoration of Historic Trails in the BWCAW by Martin Kubik.
February 19, 7:00 p.m.	REI Bloomington, presentation on the Pow Wow Trail by David Frame.
February 21-23, weekend	Beartrack Outfitters, KTC Board of Directors Winter Retreat.
February 25, 7:00 p.m.	EMS Burnsville, presentation on the Pow Wow Trail/ First Aid by Sharon Koolmo.
February 27, 7:00 p.m.	REI Roseville, presentation on the Kekekabic Trail by John Koffski.
March 4, 7:00 p.m.	Hoigaard's St. Louis Park, presentation on the Pow Wow Trail/Hypothermia by Dennis Brezina and Bruce Wheelright.
March 6, 7:00 p.m.	Gander Mountain Maple Grove, presentation on the Pow Wow Trail/Clothing and Footwear by Dennis Brezina and David Frame.
March 11, 7:00 p.m.	EMS Roseville, presentation on Canoe Safety followed by the KTC monthly meeting.
March 13, 7:00 p.m.	Midwest Mountaineering Minneapolis, presentation on the Pow Wow Trail/First Aid by Mike Walsh and Bruce Wheelright.
March 13	Rochester, MN, presentation on Clearing Backpacking Trails in the BWCAW by Ken Brown.
March 20, 7:00 p.m.	EMS Roseville, presentation on the Kekekabic Trail/ Performance Clothing by Martin Kubik and EMS.
April 8, 7:00 p.m.	EMS Roseville, presentation on `97 Trail Clearing Plan followed by KTC monthly meeting.
April 8, 6:00-9:00 p.m.	REI Roseville, training for trail clearing volunteers.
April 16, 6:00-9:00 p.m.	REI Roseville, training for trail clearing volunteers.
April 18-20, weekend	Sommors Canoe Base Ely, trail clearing crew leader training.
April 25-27, weekend	Kekekabic and Pow Wow Trails scouting trips.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

ANNUAL CLUB MEMBERSHIP:

KTC - 195 MEMBERS STRONG!

JUST FOR THE KEK OF IT!

Trail Committee Continues Planning for Spring Trips

Planning for the `97 spring trips continued in November and December. Twoseparate meetings were held to discuss volunteer training, brochure design,crew leader candidates, and a system for answering telephone inquiries.

The trip brochure is in the final review process. The committee agreed onthe slogan "Just for the Kek of it" for this year's trail clearing effort.The brochures and posters will be available by mid-January.

Annette Toews has agreed to use her skills to create a volunteer manual.The manual will be used by volunteer trainers to prepare our volunteers forthe spring trips. Annette will contact a number of club members who haveexperience with a variety of training topics. She will use their input indeveloping a manual.

Volunteer training is the most important part of the planning process. Thetraining provides the volunteers with vital wilderness and tool safety information. It also gives volunteers an idea of what to expect on a typical clearing trip. Unfortunately, we have only a single two-hour

session to convey all the important information. The committee developed the following list of training topics to present at the training sessions: Work and tool safety, group dynamics, clothing and equipment, physical conditioning, packing pack, no trace camping, and trail standards.

In addition, other topics of interest will be presented in detail at the monthly membership meetings at EMS. These presentations are designed to provide members with a more detailed analysis of a particular topic. The following topics were selected.

• January: Wilderness Health
• February: Food Preparation
• March: Canoe Safety
• April: `97 Trail Clearing Plan

The contact number for trip inquiries will be 800-HIKE. The person in charge of answering the 800 number will answer general questions and mail out trip information. If the question relates to a specific trip, the phone coordinator will pass the call on to the trip coordinator.

The next trail committee meeting is scheduled for January 14, 5: 30-7 PM at

EMS. Agenda:

1. Volunteer Training
2. Review Trip Leader List
3. Lodging Contacts
4. Clearing Strategy

The trail committee now consists of the following people: Pat Duerr, Mike Walsh, Jim Luadtke, John Koffski, Derrick Passe, Martin Kubik, Dennis Brezina

If you wish to assist or join the trail committee please contact Pat Duerr at 484-0538.

VOLUNTEER NIGHT: JANUARY 14

SEEKING SAME

M/F S/M Age Open. First Time Ad - Seeking individuals for unique satisfying experience.

Now that I have your attention...the KTC is looking for volunteers on January 14 at 5:30 p.m. The purpose of volunteer night is to mail out trip brochures and posters to various sporting stores, resorts, state parks, colleges, etc.

Please call Cristy Faltinosky at 699-8493 (H) or 343-0510 (W) if interested in helping out.

Presidents Corner

No matter how great or small your contribution, you can help your club on January 14 at the KTC office.

Prior to writing this article, I was snowshoeing the Snail Lake Park Reserve. I think this is the best snow we have had in a couple of years. And although my thoughts, and yours, are on similar winter activities, my eyes are focused on spring.

Our trail committee is hard at work planning the 1997 spring trips. It is nice to see the new faces in the trail committee: Pat Duerr, Derrick Passe, and Bruce Wheelright. They bring our club fresh ideas and perspectives on trip planning and organization. A seasoned veteran like John Koffski is an essential part of the planning discussions. And in the wings is Martin Kubik, busy planning the advertising and recruitment strategies. Assisting him is club member Joe Hendershot from Vomela Graphics who is generating a recruitment poster for our spring trips. And Cristy Faltinosky, who is organizing our volunteer night this month for the purpose of mailing out our trip brochures and posters.

I thank our volunteers, new and old, for their contributions to the KTC. Without new faces in our organization, our growth would be limited, and our mission would suffer as a result of this. At this time, I would like everyone to welcome new board members Ray Bernard, Carol Baumgartner, Pat Duerr, and Sandy Brezinski. We also need to thank our outgoing board members Folke Arbin, Bill Kellerman, Dennis Brezina, and Martin Kubik for the leadership they have given the KTC.

So whether you snowshoe, ski, or sleep in snow caves, keep an awareness of our mission: our trail clearing trips. Whether you are thinking about leading a work crew, or have some thoughts on volunteering for some of the administrative tasks involved in our trips, please contact me. Volunteer opportunities are plenty, and the rewards are..."keeping the trails alive."

To contact Mike Walsh: (D) 612-631-3110 (E) 612-483-3926 or Email: mwalsh1@earthlink.net

June 1996 - Hiking the Kekekabic Trail

(The following is the first of a two-part article submitted by Gary Graham, who, with several members of his son's boy scout troop, hiked the Kek last June. Due to the length of the article, the second part covering the last 3 days of the trip will be published in next month's newsletter.)

I would say that this story started back in the early 1980s. I have been going to the Gunflint Trail since that time and had always seen the trailhead marker for the Kekekabic Trail. I had often wondered where the trail led until I asked around and found out that it led to Ely. As it turned out, the local boy scout troop, of which I am a member, was looking for a high adventure trip and I told them about the Kekekabic Trail. Several of the boys and the adults had hiked the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan which has a similar terrain and they decided this would be a good trail for a high adventure backpacking trip. Our next step was to contact the Kekekabic Trail Club and talk with Bruce Anderson. Bruce was very helpful in providing us with the information that was needed to plan our adventure. We selected 2 scouts and 2 adults to coordinate the trip planning and obtain the permits and transportation needs, etc. This process started in September 1995. We planned to hike the Kek the last week of June. Our party size turned out to be 4 scouts and 4 adults and just happened to be father-son combinations. As most of you probably know, getting your vehicles 150 miles around to the other side proves to be quite a challenge. We decided to have Tuscarora Outfitters on the Gunflint Trail outfit us with food and transportation back to Ely. After 9 months of planning and going over maps and equipment lists, etc., June finally arrived and we were off to the northwoods.

Sunday, June 23, 1996 - Monday, June 24, 1996

We arrived in Ely on Sunday and planned to hike from Ely to the Gunflint starting on Monday and arriving on late Friday afternoon. The temperature was 47 degrees at 2:00 in the afternoon. Perfect backpacking weather. The names of the individuals in the group were Ken Sovers and son Kyle, Steve Volk and son Craig, Gary Bentrim and son Ryan, and me and my son Philip. We set up camp at the trailhead near Ely and Ken and I left to deliver the vehicles to the Gunflint side and pick up the food from Tuscarora. It was our plan to have the other six persons hike to the Parent lake campsite and Ken and I would bring in the food and meet them the next evening. This proved to be quite a challenge for Ken and me. We had underestimated the weight of five days of food for 8 persons. Needless to say, by the time Ken and I arrived at Parent Lake, we had conquered our first challenge of many to come for all of us.

Tuesday, June 25, 1996

We got a late start today. I guess the long trip from Iowa and the first day had gotten the best of us. It rained most of the day and the mosquitoes were making their presence known. We had expected this to be the case, but fortunately the blackflies were gone. Our plan was to hike to Medas Lake. Today was pretty uneventful although I think that everyone enjoyed the hike. We camped at Medas Lake and tried our luck at fishing with no success.

Wednesday, June 26, 1996

We got an early start today. The weather had become very hot and humid. It was our plan to make the campsite at Agamok Lake today. It was so hot that we made very little time without taking a break and resting. We were going through water quite rapidly and had to stop at midday to purify more for everyone and this slowed us up for an hour or more. The mosquitoes were incredible. We had to wear head nets constantly. One of the problems we had not considered was 95 degree heat and humidity in mid-June. We had expected cool evenings and mild days. This was not to be the case the rest of our hike. We made it as far as Strup Lake by late afternoon and everyone set up camp and all the boys went swimming. Today had been a real killer as far as the heat was concerned. We had hoped to get a lot farther but it was just not possible. It was beginning to become apparent that we were not going to make it out by Friday if the heat continued. It had also become very unpleasant to try to sleep since it was so hot.

Thursday, June 27, 1996

We were up early and had some breakfast and planned to make up for lost time today. There was only one problem in that the heat was once again incredible. Shortly after we started out on the trail, Steve became quite ill from the heat and we stopped to take a long break. We had Steve drink lots of fluids and we took turns fanning him to try to get his body temperature back to where it should be. I think this was when we all knew that we were in some serious circumstances which would require teamwork from everyone if we were to make it safely to the trailhead. Steve at first had thought that Ishould go to the ranger cabin at Kekekabic but after he had rested and cooled back down, it was decided that we would continue and take plenty of breaks and that anyone feeling ill was to speak up and we would stop as needed. Once again we set our sights on making the campsite at Agamok. We made it as far as Harness Lake and decided that it was best for all concerned that we stop and camp. When we checked the fire ring to

build our fire, we found a tag left by the trail clearing crews. The rest of the afternoon was spent purifying water and resting and trying to regain the strength that the heat had zapped from us. After today it was quite apparent that we were lucky we were well prepared and had some first aid and hiking experience as it was needed and would be needed the rest of the way.

To be continued next month...

Game Trails

. . . . National Trails Day is coming... and USFS and KTC will celebrate at Eagle Mountain. Rumor has it that the USFS will unveil a new trailhead sign similar to the ones at the Kekekabic Trail and the Pow Wow. KTC adopted the Eagle Mountain Trail in 1995. No word yet on the rest of the trail.

. . . . KTC member John Luadtke and a friend left on December 28 for a six day snowshoe trip on the Kekekabic Trail. John has snowshoed parts of the Kek before, but this was his first trip across the entire trail in the winter. Look for John and hear about his chilling experience at the January KTC membership meeting.

. . . . Last month you saw the calendar of KTC presentations at Twin Cities camping stores. KTC has added two more shows: Martin Kubik will present "Restoration of Historic Trails in the BWCAW" on February 12 at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul Campus. Ken Brown will present "Clearing Backpacking Trails in the BWCAW" on March 13 in Rochester, Minnesota.

. . . . The Membership Committee met on October 30. We reviewed our handling of inquiries about the club and discussed ideas on how to attract new members to the KTC in 1997.

. . . . Kek Trail Guide is one step closer to publication. Martin Kubik submitted the manuscript to another publisher for consideration. This publisher is closer to the outdoor market and expressed much willingness to work with the club. Currently we are working on an agreement with the publisher. Watch the next HB for the release of a print date.

Forest Service Meeting

Representatives from the KTC will be meeting with the Forest Service on January 27th in Duluth. Club members making the "Venture North" will be Mike Walsh, Dennis Brezina, Bruce Anderson, John Koffski, and Pat Duerr. The purpose of this meeting is to build on the partnership between the KTC and USFS.

The following issues will be discussed at this meeting:

1. People getting lost on the trails, and how do we work together on this issue.
2. Relocation/addition of campsites on the Kekekabic and Pow Wow Trails.
3. Volunteer recognition and club materials posted at the trailhead signs.
4. Educating youth groups through KTC sponsored trips.
5. Training of our crew leaders and participants. How can we develop a long term strategic plan together?
6. Historic Trails of the BWCAW.

Minnesota Wilderness Trails Alliance Trail Clearing Trips

In order to increase your trail clearing options, the following trips are being offered by our partners in the Minnesota Wilderness Trails Alliance.

MINNESOTA ROVERS

Contact Ralph Pribble @ 612-644-9598

16-18 May 1997 * Border Route Trail

31 May - 1 June 1997 * Border Route Trail

MINNESOTA PARKS & TRAILS COUNCIL

Contact John Leinen @ 612-436-1795

2-4 May 1997 * Sioux Hustler Trail

8-12 May 1997 * Sioux Hustler Trail

A detailed brochure with registration form will be available in January.

Board of Director's Winter Retreat

The KTC Board of Director's Winter Retreat is scheduled for February 21-23 at Beartrack Outfitters. The purpose of this retreat is for the board members to outline the plans and strategies of the KTC for 1997. Please feel free to contact Mike Walsh, or any other board member, if you have any thoughts or issues we should address at our winter retreat.

1997 Leadership Training

Leadership training for crew leaders (or potential crew leaders) is scheduled for April 18-20 at Sommors Canoe Base in Ely. Cost will be approximately $50 per person, and will include food and lodging. Mike Walsh, KTC President, and Mike Manlove from the US Forest Service, are coordinating this effort. Space is limited to about 40 participants, so make your RSVPs soon!

Some of the topics covered at this training session will be wilderness trail standards, group dynamics, and food planning and preparation.

Stay tuned to the February HB for more details and registration information. For more details on the Leadership Training, or to reserve your place, contact Mike Walsh: (d) 612-631-3110 ext. 37, (e) 612-483-3926, (email) mwalsh1@earthlink.net

Letters From Readers

The following is a letter Martin Kubik received from a Hungry Beaver reader. We always welcome such letters and will publish them whenever possible. Anyone who has comments about the club, newsletter, etc., please send them to the editor at one of the addresses listed on page 5 of the HB. We appreciate your input!

Dear Martin:

Just thought I would let you know that we think a penalty fee for not canceling or picking up a permit is a terrific idea. Perhaps people would think twice about reserving numerous permits with no intention of using them all. We have had many people send permits here, never cancel and never show up. Maybe there would be more permits available for people who really want to use them. I just read the Hungry Beaver where you mentioned this and also that we have a new Forest Supervisor. We hadn't heard this until we got your interesting newsletter-keep up the good work!!!

Dana Austin

Rockwood Lodge & Outfitters

email: rockwood@boreal.org

Volunteer Spotlight

79 people signed up at Winterfest `96. Tom Crampton has organized the KTC booth at Midwest Mountaineering for several years. Martin Kubik showed slides on what it's like to be on a KTC trail clearing trip. Thanks to all the volunteers who worked at the KTC booth: Rosemary Baatz, Carol Baumgartner, Sandy Brezinski, Ken Brown, Jan Clymer, Stan Chrym, Pat Duerr, Dave Ecklund, Ed Hastreiter, LeAnn Hensche, Jim Jorstad, Chuck Knutson, Sharon Koolmo, John Nelson, John Rieck, Mike Walsh, and Bruce Wheelright.

Susan Davies has been answering the 800 number since September. The number of calls is light but we expect an increase in inquiries after we mail the 1997 trip brochures in January. Ed Hastreiter donated the cost of the 800 number voice mail box to the KTC.

Joe Hendershot, Martin Kubik, and Mike Walsh have produced the 1997 KTC trips brochure and poster entitled "Why? Just for the KEK of it." which incidentally is our 1997 trail clearing trips slogan.

Carol Baumgartner single-handedly corrected the KTC address on more than a thousand membership brochures (with the old post office box address). We will use them until we print the new brochures in 1997.

Fundraising-By now you have received a KTC fundraising request from Ed Hastreiter and Martin Kubik. Your club needs your help to cover the cost of the new membership brochure, slide projector, and to update the KTC booth. We also wish for a digital camera to improve trip and event coverage in the Hungry Beaver. But more than anything else, we need a fundraising coordinator for the Kek Trail Club.

From the USFS

In Memoriam

Tom Johnson died in a snowmobiling accident on December 7, 1996. Tom organized the crew leader training at Ely in 1995 and also coordinated the tools for the KTC crews outfitting from Ely. Tom will be missed by his co-workers and KTC volunteers.

For more information about the Kekekabic Trail Club