Vice Mayor Vitor Antune, Earl Raymond and Carlos Neto de Carvalho

10-13 – September – International Appalachian Trail delegate Earl Raymond inspects Naturtejo Geopark.

Responsible from the Maine chapter in USA Earl Raymond came to visit the project to introduce the International Appalachian Trial in Portugal, on the way to the IAT Annual Meeting in Scotland. Together with Carlos Neto de Carvalho he visited parts of the Moradal Mountain, from Picoto do Moradal to Cabeco Mosqueriro, where Moradal-Pangea Trail will be implemented starting in October. They also had a meeting with the vice-mayor Vitor Antunes to clarify the importance of this project for the sustainable development of Oleiros. Besides, Carlos guided Earl Raymon in Idanha-a-Nova to visit the Cultural Centre, Idanha-a-velha Roman city and Monsanto’ Boulders Trail. At Proenca-a-Nova they visited the Living Science Centre dedicated to forest and the new excavations to a Pre-historic tomb under the frame of the archeological summer camp. Finally they joined the group of participating students, municipal technicians and archaeologists in the traditional village of Figueira to enjoy the evening.

Julie King and Ed Talone celebrating in Portland with Maine Chapter IAT Board members

On Friday, November 1, 2013 the Maine IAT Chapter hosted a small welcome party for Julie King and Ed Talone at Sebago Brewing Company in Portland, Maine. Julie and Ed have been hiking in Maine and Canada’s Maritime provinces since May, 4, 2013, when they started at the northeast corner of Baxter State Park in Maine, USA. Their hike included sections of the IAT, many rail trails and local and regional trails. During their hike they hiked in Maine, USA and New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. In total they hiked 2576 miles and, by Ed’s count, crossed 1723 bridges.

Some of their side trips included; Quebec’s Magdalene Islands, Nova Scotia’s Cabot Trail and an extensive hike in in the Labrador area of Newfoundland and Labrador. During their hike Julie did a spectacular job maintaining a SHUTTERFLY web site and you can see all the great pictures of the places they visited and read about their hiking at edjuliehikingadventures@sfly.com

Maine Chapter President, Don Hudson officially welcomed Julie and Ed and thanked them for all the wonderful efforts they made to promote the IAT and acquaint people along their way with the IAT. Poul Jorgensen, NB Trails Coordinator also attended the event. He transported Julie and Ed from his home province to Portland to attend the event and catch up on other IAT activities, like the AGM in Scotland.

Ed Talone with Maine Chapter Secretary, Seth Levy

Dick Anderson urged everyone to visit their SHUTTERFLY site and see all the spectacular countryside that they traveled through and all the wonderful people they met along the way, who made their hike a special experience for them. At the event Julie and Ed thanked everyone for the great support they received, both in the planning of the hike and along the route they traveled.

Ed is one of a very small number of people in the United States to have hiked more that 50,000 miles and Julie has hiked extensively in the British Isles, Australia and the United States. It was a pleasure indeed for me, and the group that attended the event, to share a few moments with two exceptional hikers, have a bite to eat with them, thank them for their great contribution to the IAT and bid them farewell.

Dick Anderson

Maine IAT Chapter Board members, Dick Anderson and Earl Raymond, attended a very special event on Friday, November, 15, 2013, the one hundredth birthday of Ed Werler!

Ed Werler, on watch at Deasey Moutain fire cab, 1947

Ed was the fire watchman on Deasey Mountain from 1947 to 1950. He and his wife, Mary Jane, moved from Connecticut to Stacyville, in 1947. While serving as the watchman, Ed and Mary Jane lived in a cabin (now in great disrepair) on the trail to the summit, had a small garden, and carried their supplies up from the East Branch of the Penobscot River. Now owned by Elliotsville Plantation Inc., the lookout is on the International Appalachian Trail and EPI has supported Maine Chapter IAT volunteers in repairing and maintaining it.

The lookout is also on Maine Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Associations’ (www.firelookout.org) register of historic lookouts.

Recently, a group IAT volunteers, geology students from the University of Maine in Farmington, repainted the lookout. Dick and Earl gave Ed a picture of the newly-painted lookout cab at the birthday party and also gave him an insulator from the phone line that used to go to the top of the mountain.

Dick Anderson presenting photo to Ed Werler

Dick Anderson presenting insulator to Ed Werler

Ed loved the picture and thanked Dick and Earl profusely. Ed has written a book, “The Call of Katahdin” about his life on Deasey and working as a ranger at Baxter State Park and for the Maine State Park system. The book is available from Amazon.

Earl and Dick had a great time at the party and promised Ed that IAT volunteers would take good care of his old lookout.

Dick Anderson

Ed Talone and Julie King have made it to Labrador!

Take a look at their beautiful photos and their latest log book entry via the link below.

Also, read the article on Ed & Julie in the Northern Pen

On September 27, 2013 long-distance hiker Cotton Joe Norman from North Carolina became the first walker to complete the recently launched IAT Ireland, from Slieve League to Larne. From there he crosses the Irish Sea to IAT Scotland, where he plans to walk from the Mull of Galloway to Cape Wrath.

Cotton Joe to be first to walk from Mull of Galloway to Cape Wrath NewsClip

On October 1, 2013 just days after completing IAT Ireland, Appalachian long-distance hiker Cotton Joe Norman crossed the Irish Sea and set off from the most southerly point in Scotland, on his way to Cape Wrath. Joe began his trek on the Mull of Galloway Trail with Tom Stevenson of the Rotary Club of Stranraer, before joining Ayr Rotarian Jimmy Begg on the Ayrshire Coastal Path.

Listen to interview with reporter from BBC Scotland

Lunksoos Work Trip Report – October

Wednesday, October 16th:

The beavers are gone from the trail in Easton and the water level has gone down considerably, but to make it even better, Kirk dug out the previous area he had dug out of the dam before and also dug out another area further north. It currently looks very good to us; hope the beavers have made a new home elsewhere!Kirk and I dismantled and removed the Wright Farm privy. We couldn’t salvage much of it, since it was nailed, not screwed, and Kirk is planning to take the pieces to the landfill tomorrow. I picked up a small amount of broken glass, but the site was really clean; we filled in the slight privy hole, and the site is basically back to how it was before. Kirk says he’ll build the next privy if you want him to (or at least help).

Thursday, October 17th:

Kirk, Don, Walter, Herb and I pulled the rope from the Wassataquoik Stream crossing and Kirk found a much shallower (and less steep bank) crossing slightly further south, by following the trail past the old boat. We easily cleared and flagged it and decided that we’re going to make it the “official” crossing and see what it’s like in the spring without a rope, although Don may decide to get some climbing rope for the crossing, since the current rope was in the water all summer, according to Susan. We also checked out both the Katahdin and Wassataquoik leantos – Don, Herb, and Kirk fixed the back of the Wassataquoik leanto roof and I cleaned around the fire pits, both picnic tables were moved to the leanto area (Katahdin inside and Wassataquoik slanted up on the front beam). A future work session should include painting the Wassataquoik picnic table, which really needs it.Earl and Susan tried to scout out a trail from the Big Sebois campsite to the old road, but didn’t have any success – too wet, I believe.

Friday, October 18th:

Kirk and Cheryl St. Peter , Bill Duffy (and Trip) and Earl Raymond were taken upstream by Mark Adams of Lunksoos Camp in his 20 foot Scott canoe with a 9.9 hp outboard to the approximate location of the Ed Werler’s Bark Landing.

Cheryl and Kirk canoeing down the Wass

Earl Raymond paddling on the Wass

Trip traveling up the Wassataquoik in Mark Adams powered canoe

The team (dropped off with two canoes) made a very short bushwhack to the Old Telos Tote Road which they followed south approximately 0.2 miles to the old Fire Warden’s Trail.

Earl Raymond, Cheryl and Kirk St. Peter on the Old Telos Tote Rd

Between the Tote Road and the Fire Wardens cabin this trail was very wet and muddy with a stream frequently running down its center. There were also several blowdowns on the lower section which the team did not clear. Once above the Fire Warden’s cabin, Kirk and Bill cleared several blowdowns with Kirk’s chainsaw including one where Kirk’s saw got pretty stuck and was removed only after a careful engineering analysis by the team and by Kirk, Earl and Trip jumping up and down on top of the tree – pretty lucky it came out!

The crew relaxing on the “blowdown from hell”

Bill put up some additional tags between the Fire Warden’s Cabin up and the summit, and did some lopping as well, but overall this section of the trail is in fairly good shape. The one exception is a short-muddy stretch about ¾ of the way to the summit where some sort of bog-bridge or large stone would be helpful. The crew left Kirk’s chainsaw, a gallon of paint, a scraper, 4 brushes and plastic tubs in the fire lookout cab. It rained most of the day, except on the canoe trip back.

NOTE: If the summit of Deasey and the fire lookout cab is accessed via this route in the future, it is suggested the work crew take the old MCC trail (cut in 2006) which leaves the Fire Warden’s trail about 2000 feet from its junction with the Old Telos Tote Road. The trail heads southwest and climbs towards the “Nose of Deasey” where it meets the IAT in a nice stand of old hemlock. The IAT can then be followed north, over the Nose of Deasey, past the East Brach Lookout, and on the Fire Warden’s cabin. While this adds about ½ mile to the hike to the summit, it has the advantage of being dry and gets more boots on the ground on a section of the IAT that is fairly remote and hard to maintain.

Don and Herb did some work on the high water trail, which Don stated he’s sorely tempted to abandon. He’ll have to elaborate on that.

Saturday, October 19th:

Kirk and four of Julia’s able-bodied and very nice students climbed Deasey the same way we did on Friday; Julia and her two sweet girls (Moriah and Bridget (sp?)) and I followed. The guys had scraped most of the cab by the time we got there, but we all took turns painting, except Kirk and Josh, who had taken the chainsaw and headed towards Lunksoos to clear some more blowdowns. The cab got painted (just barely) before we ran out of paint and headed back, again lopping some, but the trail was really in good shape.

Scraping the old paint on the Deasey fire lookout

Julia Daly and crew with the newly painted Deasy fire lookout

Bill Duffy and Will Richard drove Kirk’s truck to the top of the Wassataquoik Ford access trail and, with loppers and IAT tags, followed the trail to the new ford location across the Wassataquoik Stream. Bill added a few tags to the new ford trail and removed those at the old ford location to make the new route clear. After crossing the Wassataquoik, Bill and Will follow the trail southeast along the river, doing some minor cleaning and a slight re-route of the second small ford across the backwater stream that enters the Wass about ½ mile downstream from the main ford. Bill noted (with dismay!) the excessive number of tags placed along this section of the trail.

Too Many Tags!

Bill and Will continued up the trail towards Earl’s Erratic, doing some minor clearing and adding arrows or flagging to a few of the trail/tote road intersections. Bill noted that beyond Earl’s Erratic, there are very few IAT tags on the trail and quickly used up the tags he was carrying to mark a few confusing zig-zags in the trail. While Will worked on cutting back some ingrowth of spruce and fir along the trail after Earl’s Erratic, Bill continued on across Owen’s Brook and up the intersection of the IAT with the old MCC trail. This section is in good shape, though tags are needed in several locations to make the route clear. On the return hike, Bill removed over a dozen superfluous tags from the river section of the trail and will be giving a lecture on proper ITA tag placement at the next Annual Meeting!Don and Herb again did some work on the high water trail with Earl and Nancy.

The Maine Chapter of the International Appalachian Trail gathered on August 31, 2013 at Brian Boru, an Irish Pub in Portland, Maine at 9:00 am to welcome Northern Ireland’s Ulster Way as its newest member and celebrate the completion of the IAT across the emerald isle, from Slieve League in the Republic to the ferry terminal at Larne.

At precisely the same hour, 2:00 pm GMT, Magne Haugseng and Paul Wylezol made it official at a special ceremony during the Bluegrass Music Festival at the Ulster American Folk Museum in Omagh, Northern Ireland. Participants included Northern Ireland Environment Minister, Mark H. Durcan, Irish Republic Member of Parliament, Joe McHugh, and Vice Chair Sorcha McAnespy of Omagh District Council. IAT representatives included IAT Europe Vice Chair and event organizer, Magne Haugseng, IAT Chairperson, Paul Wylezol, and IAT Ireland Coordinator for Donegal, Inga Bock. Also at hand was AT/IAT long distance hiker Cotton Joe Norman who on September 1 will begin his thru-hike of the IAT Ireland and Scotland.

Senator George Mitchell congratulated the people of Northern Ireland in a letter that was read in Omagh, emphasizing especially that simple activities like walking have a way of bringing people together no matter their background or nationality. “This is a great day for walking in Ireland and Northern Ireland.” “I congratulate the International Appalachian Trail on its many accomplishments linking the many countries that have remnants of the Appalachian Mountains.” ~Senator George Mitchell

Congressman Joseph Brennan, who announced the creation of the IAT at a news conference on Earth Day, April 22, 1993, also added words of congratulations for this remarkable effort to bring people together in a common project that rings the North Atlantic along the ancient Appalachian Mountains. “The IAT is an outstanding example of citizens of North America and Europe working together to create a walking pathway that celebrates the old Appalachian Mountains and the many cultures linked together by those mountains.”. ~Congressman Joseph Brennan

The assembled group gave a special thanks to the crew at Brian Boru, Dan Steele, Whitney Reynolds and Chris Garvey who opened their pub at an early hour in order that the Maine Chapter could hold a simultaneous celebration.

Northern Ireland becomes the 20th chapter to join the IAT. They will be followed by Portugal in September. A group is coming together in Morocco, and we look forward to the day when the IAT will have its official end on east side of the North Atlantic in the town of Taroudant, Morocco.

The Adirondack Mountains represent an outlying section of the Canadian Shield and are not part of the Appalachian Mountains, but Schlimmer’s extensive experience and familiarity with the Adirondacks make his book a great addition to hiking literature.

Schlimmer is a keen observer of his surroundings and this is evident in his writing.

Blue Line to Blue Line, is a very detailed description of a hike across one of America’s great parks and mountain ranges, a place to go on your next hike. The book will provide all the information needed to enjoy an inspiring walk in some really special mountains. There is also an excellent discussion of light-weight backpacking and an interesting opinion on giardiasis and the need for water purification.

The book can be purchased from Schlimmer’s web site, http://www.transadk.com, or directly from him at, transadk@gmail.com.

Dick Anderson, Founder, International Appalachian Trail

Former Maine Governor, Joe Brennan with Dick Anderson

Dick Anderson recently got a chance to bring his old friend, and former Maine Governor, Joe Brennan, up to date on the progress of the International Appalachian Trail (IAT).

Brennan was the public proposer of the IAT at a Portland press conference on Earth Day, 1994. He was assisted on that day by Don Hudson and Dick, who both participated in the news conference.

The former governor was very impressed by the way his idea of “thinking beyond borders” has been widely accepted. He congratulated Dick and Don, and the many volunteers in the 20 countries through which the IAT now passes, for the great work done to implement the original vision proposed in 1994.