Happy Holiday's from the UP Soldans

We have some tales to tell about our family doings for 2007, and always look forward to hearing about yours too.

In January we said good-bye to Steve, who had accepted a 2 ½ month internship with his friend Andy Baltensperger to conduct pine marten research on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska. The plan was to live-trap the critters and radio collar them, and on some days to camp in the Alaska wilderness. Sounds simple but as the guys learned, there were many obstacles to overcome. Near the end of the allotted time, the first of (hopefully) many marten was caught, tagged, and released. This project is a multi-year one, so the lessons learned this first year should serve Andy well with future assistants.

In February, my Mom and I took another winter get-away trip to Mexico. This time we booked a hotel on Isla Mujeres (Island of Women) for the whole time. The weather was rainy much of the week, which our hosts swore was very unusual. We rented a golf-cart and rode to the far end of the island where we saw the eastern-most edge of Mexico, and the site of the female statues the first white explorers found which gave the island its name. On the way back we got pretty soaked when the sky opened up. All in all it did us both a lot of good to walk, swim, and talk in the sun (and rain) for a while. If you'd like to view a photo slideshow of the trip, just email me (tjsold@up.net) and I'll send you instructions.

In March I drove to Chicago to meet Steve's plane from Alaska. Since he had a red-eye flight that was to arrive early in the morning, I spent the night in a hotel near O'Hare. Before leaving, I programmed the location of the hotel and the parking lot for O'Hare into my GPS. I got a little mixed up in Chicago, so turned on the GPS and told it to take me to the hotel. Without its help, I might still be driving in circles down there. In the morning I told it to take me to the airport which it also did without a hitch. I waited for Steve in the baggage area, and he was right on time. I had anticipated a long visit on our 7-hour drive back home, but he was tired from the flight, and slept a great deal of the way. He was home for a short time, and then loaded up his car and headed for the east coast for another 10-month job with Woodlot Alternatives. This year he wound up for much of the time in Hull, Massachusetts, which is a nice little resort community on the ocean.

On April 14 Alice and I participated in our first ever Crane Count. The idea of this national project is to get a count of the number of sandhill cranes that are seen and heard on one day during several early morning hours. We chose a field just up the hill from our home where we often hear and see the birds. We got up before dawn and dressed as warm as possible for the 20° weather. We drove up the hill and sat quietly. We watched and listened. We heard and saw a lot of things, but only heard one far away crane. It is important to learn where the birds are and aren't, so we helped with the later.

In mid April I finally got some training in how to run my chainsaw. The US Forest Service offers training for a limited number of people each year, and three of us from the North Country Trail Association drove to Watersmeet, Michigan for the two day session. It was very informative and hands-on. We all agreed we learned a lot from the session.

In late April the hiking community had some bad luck. The Forest Service performed a controlled burn on the Baraga Plains, and all appeared to proceed as planned during the Saturday burn. By Sunday April 29^th all the personnel had pulled back from the site except for one team. Some hot spots flared up when the wind increased, and this proved to be too much for the resources available. Hundreds of acres of trees were destroyed right along the North Country Trail. Unfortunately the Oren Krumm Shelter, which we had all worked so hard on several years ago was reduced to a pile of ashes. The loss of the building was bad enough, but the log books inside the structure were also destroyed, and will never be replaced. Fortunately the local community stepped up to the plate and funds were raised to purchase materials for a new shelter.

I was asked by our friends Rolf and Candy Peterson to assist with their Isle Royale Earthwatch program. So in early June I boarded the Ranger III at the Houghton dock for the island to participate with an expert leader and a fine group of people in order to learn the ropes. The program involves groups of 6 people hiking off-trail for a week looking for moose bones. If the correct bones are found, they are strapped on packs and carried back to the research cabin for labeling and storage. After my session as a participant in June, I returned in early August to lead a group. I'm happy to say we found our share of bones, had a great time, and no one got lost or injured.

Throughout the beginning of the summer, volunteers from the North Country Trail Association worked together to design, collect materials for and fabricate as much as possible for the new Oren Krumm shelter. We had hoped to have a work day in June to assemble the 9x12 building. For one reason or another the date was postponed until July and scheduled for the weekend Alice and I had planned to visit Steve in Massachusetts. We assisted in hauling and stockpiling all the materials at the trailhead, and then headed home to prepare for our trip. We had recently bought a new car, a Pontiac Vibe, and this trip was to be its first long one. While we were gone, lots of volunteer help under the able direction of Ray Krumm and Doug Welker did an excellent job of building the shelter.

We drove through the UP, across the bridge, into Canada and on to a bed and breakfast we had reserved near Hamilton, Ontario. We had an eventful supper at the restaurant down the road. Just as we were finishing our meal, our waitress came up and said a fire had broken out in the back hallway, and they were asking everyone to leave the building. They wouldn't even let us pay for our meal. We stood on the sidewalk for a bit and watched the fire department arrive and go inside. We were both tired, though, so we walked back to our place and sacked out.

Next morning we headed east again and made landfall at the B&B in Hull where we were to spend 4 nights. Our hostess was a charming woman, but the star of the visit was Steve, who we were both very lonesome for. We had an excellent time, including an all day trip to Concord where we hiked around Walden Pond and visited the cabin site where Henry David Thoreau spent his time in the woods.

The MTU academic year started in late August and Alice hit the ground running. Besides her normal schedule she served on the committee to recommend a new chair for the department. This involved numerous early mornings and late nights with the candidates, as well as extra committee meetings to make the best choice possible for the department. She is also involved with searching for replacements for four faculty members who have announced intentions to retire.

I was lonesome for the Grand Canyon, so applied for and got a permit for an October hike. That was the easy part. I dusted off my pack, inserted the 50# sack of sand, and hiked up and down the road for miles almost every day. Many of the hikes were with my neighbor and good friend Bob Dohrenwend and his dog Rusty. By the middle of October I was in good shape for the hike, but also was experiencing a flare-up of a hernia. I visited my doctor the week before I was to leave, and he gave me the green light, so I continued to train and pack for the journey. I've written a web page of my trip again, which is available at: http://www.fa.mtu.edu/~tjsold/gc07/canyon2007.html

After I returned from my hike, I made arrangements to have a hernia operation on November 12. Luckily my Dad was able to come up and stay with me while I was recuperating. After a few days I was fine and able to do most things for myself, although I never failed to whine when I needed to do something I didn't want to do. The whining worked for a short while, and I milked it as long as possible.

And that brings us nearly to the end of 2007. Best wishes and happy holidays to all of you.

The Soldan Family

17559 Cemetery Rd

Pelkie, MI 49958

Maragaret Sottile

4330 Millpond Dr NE

Rockford, MI 49341