Ice Age Trail Alliance
Chippewa Moraine Chapter
Ice Age Trail Dispatch
July 2015
Potluck Supper and Chapter Meeting, Monday, July 20
It’s mid-summer and our tradition is to gather for our July chapter meeting at the Obey Interpretive Center near New Auburn and enjoy a potluck supper followed by a short meeting. The potluck begins promptly at 6, so please be there on time! Bring along a dish to pass along with your utensils, plates, and a beverage. We’ll enjoy the patio outdoors with a view overlooking the prairie on the Obey Center’s ice walled lake plain and the wooded South Shattuck Lake below. It’s always a delightful evening to catch up with trail friends and learn about the summer adventures as well as catch up on trail activities in progress and planned. No reservation necessary, just come!
Special United Methodist Work Day, Saturday, July 25
We are hosting a special workday on Saturday, July 25, as part of the area Methodist Churches Circuit 7 Work Day. Our friends at Holcombe Methodist Church are hosting the crews this year and have selected the Ice Age Trail as one of their work areas. Jerry Sazama and Tony Schuster have been working with Jim Beede to plan 3 separate work projects for the crews to work on, ranging from bridge carpentry to trail sign installation. They will arrive at the Obey Interpretive Center at 9 AM and will work till 4:30 or so.
We hope to refurbish one bridge and build boardwalk extensions to another bridge, along with upgrading installing some signage. The contributions of these crews will be invaluable toward our list of projects for this summer and we are deeply appreciative of their eagerness to join with us and make them happen.
Because their volunteers are not familiar with our procedures and methods, your help will be greatly appreciated as well, both to work along side the other volunteers and to guide them. For this project to succeed, it needs to be a joint effort of their crews and our volunteers, working together.
Please plan to meet at the Obey Interpretive Center at the Chippewa Moraine at 9:00 AM. Dress appropriately for the weather, plan to experience mosquitos. Sturdy shoes, long pants and shirt, and work gloves are the order of the day. Bring water and lunch and snack.
Please let us know if you plan to attend, so we can have adequate tools and plan our logistics, making your time well spent. Just send an email to chapter@iatchippewa.org. Also indicate how long you can stay.
Ice Age Trail University, July 22-26
It’s time for summer school at Ice Age Trail University. This year the U will be held at the Gibraltar Rock area near Lodi, with classrooms outdoors and at local town halls. A wide variety of workshops are offered, including tread building, stonework, camp chef, ecological management, working with youth, and chapter leader skills. You can pick one or several, depending on your schedule and interests. Check the full information and register online. Note that some classes have filled and others may fill quickly. Meals and camping are provided. If you have wanted to get the best training available in these areas, this is a golden opportunity to grab! At the chapter level, we need people with all these skills to get our work done, so please consider attending one or several classes this month.
Coming Up
Looking ahead to August, please add these dates to your calendars:
Sunday, Aug 2: Sunday Hike; Meet at the Obey Center at 1 PM
Saturday, Aug 15: Trail Improvement Day