Dohmen, Eller 5/1/2017 Waldron's Warriors: Foot soldiers for Acadia hiking trails Acadia National Park on My Mind Musings about the Maine National Park Waldron's Warriors: Foot soldiers for Acadia hiking trails On weekdays, Tim Henderson is a computer repairman. Come the weekend, he's a Waldron's Warrior, part of an army of volunteers battling vandalism of Acadia hiking trails, and teaching people about the park's unique stone trail markers known as Bates cairns. Officially, Ellen Dohmen chairs the Bar Harbor appeals board and serves on the advisory board of Healthy Acadia. Unofficially, she's the doyenne of Waldron's Warriors, having trained Henderson of Castine, Dave Hollenbeck of Mount Desert, and a cadre of other caretakers of cairns along Acadia hiking trails. During peak season, James Linnane works at a Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce information booth. Off-peak, he climbs tough trails like Sargent East Cliffs, fixing cairns as he goes. As a Waldron's Warrior, Tim Henderson helps to educate About 20 strong this year, the crew of volunteers is the brainchild of Charlie people about Bates cairns, and fixes damage to the stone Jacobi, park natural resource specialist, who's been working to stop the trail markers by vandals. (Photo courtesy of Tim vandalism of Bates cairns, and random rock stacking that violates Leave No Henderson) Trace principles. "It's an ongoing battle," said Jacobi, who first came up with the phrase Waldron's Warriors in 2004, invoking the spirit of Waldron Bates, the Bar Harbor pathmaker who designed the cairns in the early 1900s, to recruit volunteers. "Warriors needed." But at times it seems like a losing battle, especially with increased visitation this Centennial year. And it's not just Acadia that's facing vandalism of historic and natural resources. A few weeks ago, Death Valley National Park's iconic Racetrack was defaced by a vehicle that drove across the playa, creating tire tracks that may take years to disappear. The only thing is to soldier on, and that's what Waldron's Warriors do. A vandal smashed and destroyed the lintel, or horizontal platform, of this Bates cairn, on the Cadillac South Ridge Trail. (Photo by Tim Henderson) Profiles in caring for cairns: Volunteers of Acadia hiking trails Trained on the finer architectural points of the Bates cairn, Waldron's Warriors fan out across Acadia hiking trails at least once every three weeks, but sometimes as often as twice a week, looking for cairns to fix or rebuild, and random rock piles to take down. The cairns are built on two base columns of between 2 and 4 rocks, with a lintel stone, or platform, across the two columns and a pointer rock on top. The cairns help orient hikers and steer them in the right direction, while protecting the environment by keeping people on the trail. Warriors spend hours at a time out in the field, usually during the shoulder seasons, but also in the summer, when the Friends of 5/1/2017 Waldron's Warriors: Foot soldiers for Acadia hiking trails He started his route that day by going up the Goat Trail and down the volunteers to inspect and repair the cairns because it's "a Norumbega Trail. Then he cut over to the Hadlock Brook Trail and climbed to the perfect way" to be outdoors. top of Sargent. Along the way he found "imposter cairns," where people randomly stacked a bunch of rocks, as well as cairns where other people added additional rocks, or removed the top pointer stones. Out there for hours, he hadn't had lunch yet by the time we ran into him in the early afternoon. But he gave freely of his time, stopping for a photo by a Bates cairn, and answering questions about the best place to get a view of the natural rock formation known as the Amphitheater and why he volunteers. "It's a perfect way to be outside," said Hollenbeck, a retired AT&T manager who'd moved to Mount Desert from New Jersey. James Linnane - A chamber of commerce employee as well as a Friends of Acadia volunteer crew leader, Linnane became a Waldron's Warrior about five years ago. When he first found out about the group, Linnane thought it was a no-brainer. "What a deal - you get to volunteer, and you get to hike." Picking some of the steeper trails to be responsible for, Linnane has in the past done Sargent East Cliffs and Maple Spring trails. "That kind of hiking, [ like." The other benefit of the tougher trails: Fewer people hike them, and there's less messing around with the Bates cairns. "Waldron's Warriors are just people who love to hike. They're really not looking for glory or badges," Linnane said. James Linnane, left, joins other participants in the virtual 100-mile Acadia Centennial Tim Henderson - Among the damage Henderson has seen on the trails of Trek on the sand bar to Bar Island. (Photo Cadillac, his assigned territory: A courtesy of Kristy Sharp) lintel, or horizontal platform across the base stones, that's been smashed and split in half; a messed-up cairn right next to a sign that tries to educate people about leaving the cairns alone; and random tall stacks of stones. The person who destroyed the Bates cairn right next to the "It's maliciously done," said Henderson, owner of PC-fitness Computer Services of Castine. "Those are the things that really tick me off." sign at the top of Gorge Path either couldn't read, or didn't care. (Photo by Tim Henderson) A serious hiker, having just finished climbing all 67 New England mountains that are 4,000 feet and higher, and a fan of Acadia hiking trails since he was a kid growing up in Stonington, Henderson knows how critical cairns are in pointing the way. "People don't always hike in good weather," he said. "Those cairns are like little beacons that are so important." A weekend Waldron's Warrior for a year now, Henderson drives 1 hour 15 minutes from Castine to do his part in maintaining the Bates cairns, about once every couple of weeks. He sometimes does the trail work with his wife, Jennifer, with whom he also writes a blog, www.HikingMaineiacs.com. Cadillac South Ridge, one of his trails, is one of the most used, and also one of This is not rock art, but rock graffiti, in the eyes of the most vandalized. Waldron's Warriors. (Photo by Tim Henderson) "I could go down the trail, summit to Eagles Crag, turn around, and have to do it again. We're talking within minutes. All the fake cairns - thev just grow and 10/1/2016 XFINITY Connect XFINITY Connect eppster2@comcast.net + Font Size - Re: Waldron's Warriors: Acadia On My Mind From : Ellen Dohmen Sat, Oct 01, 2016 02:26 PM Subject : Re: Waldron's Warriors: Acadia On My Mind To : Ronald Epp I did see it and thank you for noticing!! The writer called me and interviewed me on the phone for about an hour. It was a very sweet piece. Glad you are having such wonderful success with your book! You certainly merit the recognition!! If you have time before Oct.30th, we'll still be here. Then we go to NYC for my surgery (on Election Day, believe it or not) and will be back hopefully some date in December - as soon as the surgeon says I can fly. If we don't see you before we leave, we will certainly look forward to seeing you when we get back. Best Ellen On Oct 1, 2016, at 2:18 PM, Ronald Epp wrote: Hi Ellen, There is a new entry on the "Acadia on my Mind" blog that refers to you. You may have already seen it, but "Waldon's Warrior's" is the second blog article at: acadiaonmymind.com. Again, I want to thank you for your most generous hospitality in late August. I'm just back from a third book tour, this one was nine days through PA and NY and I need some rest before yet another trip to Maine to speak at the Maine Historical Society on the 26th. In the hope that you are enjoying Creating Acadia National Park. Ron Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. 532 Sassafras Dr. Lebanon, PA 17042 717-272-0801 eppster2@comcast.net https://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/printmessage?id=390745&tz=America/New_York&xim= 1/1 7/31/2017 XFINITY Connect Inbox Old Farm neighborhood William Dohmen 7/27/2017 10:39 AM To duym.ericka.b@gmail.com Copy Ronald Epp Greetings Ericka, Ron Epp lent us a copy of your wonderfully detailed report on the site history and landscape conditions of our Old Farm neighborhood, and has thoughtfully provided us with your e-mail address. We were particularly interested in the descriptions of the Bear Brook Hill area, since we live at the top of Dorr Lane (which we named-it seemed a shame to us that no road on his former property-or indeed, anywhere in Bar Harbor-bore his name). We had assumed, apparently incorrectly, that we had built our house at the top of Bear Brook Hill, our assumption based on viewing some of Raymond Stroud's old maps. So it is interesting to see a photo of Bear Brook Hill on page 69 of your report (first edition-Ror says a second edition has appeared), and would be interested to learn its whereabouts relative to our house. Also, you may be interested in visiting our property and learning more about the current neighborhood; if so, you're most welcome. I wonder if you'd spoken with some of the longer-time residents here, particularly Bonnie Gilfillan and Bill Eisele? Also, you mention Dorr's caretaker, Mclsaac; have you spoken with M.J. Mclsaac about the neighborhood history? M.J. sold his house here a couple of years ago, but still lives on MDI and works in Bar Harbor. When El and I moved in, M.J. gave us an historical tour of the area, with many anecdotes he had learned from his grandfather. Thanks for your work and publication on Old Farm-very interesting to learn the history of our land! All the best, Bill Dohmen 288-5774 11/11/2017 XFINITY Connect Inbox Re: Are you on MDI? William Dohmen 10/16/2017 8:00 PM To Ronald Epp Hi Ron, We're sorry to be missing you this fall, but let us know when you're next in town, and maybe we can arrange a dinner evening whenever. Sorry to hear that you're suffering GI issues-definitely a pain in the ass (or thereabouts). Glad you enjoyed doing a presentation at Jamaica Pond, and also that you're doing some senior-college type teaching in Hartford. It's good practice for our Acadia Senior College. Good luck with settling on a residence in CT! All best, Bill On Oct 15, 2017, at 9:06 AM, Ronald Epp wrote: Hi Bill Good to hear from you two. My plans to visit MDI this week changed due to recurring GI issues that couldn't be ignored. As I may have mentioned I have been house hunting here in CT for the last four months and am on the verge of making another offer--so I do not want to stray too far. No, I am not acquainted with the Poteets. Last Sunday I gave a talk at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, which you will recall was where Dorr spent the first decade of his life on the shore of Jamaica Pond. It was a thrill ! Please do keep in touch. I've arranged to give two lectures here in December to residents of retirement communities as lectures within the Presidents' College at the University of Hartford. I do relish the senior college model. Affectionately, Ron Epp Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone Original message From: William Dohmen Date: 2017/10/14 11:51 AM (GMT-05:00) To: Ronald Epp Subject: Are you on MDI? Greetings Ron, We recall that you were planning to be here on MDI this month, so if that's the case, would you be interested in our getting together for dinner someplace before October ends? This coming week is fairly busy for us, but the two subsequent weeks are mostly open. We thought we might include Dan & Nancy Poteet-do you know them? Dan's very involved with the senior college (as I am) and with the Maine College of the Arts; Nancy is on the board at the Jesup. Anyway, if you're here and can suggest a few possible dates, we'll see which may be good for the Poteet's,