Walkin’ Jim Stoltz “Forever Wild” Concert

Forever Wild

A multi-media wilderness celebration

Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, from Helena Montana, is a long trail walker, poet, author, photographer and folk singer.  His Forever Wild program celebrates wilderness and wild places in song and photography.

When: Saturday, September 26 7 pm

Where: Parker High School

Tickets: $15 adults ($20 w/Rock Trail Coalition membership)  $10 students/senior  $30 family
Buy tickets at:  Michael’s Cycles, Mocha Moments, Book World, Rock County Parks, EdgerBean and at the door.

All funds raised support Rock Trail Coalition’s development of the Janesville/Beloit Peace Trail

To hear samples of his music, and read more about his travels, visit http://walkinjim.com.

Rock Trail Coalition – Meeting Schedule Update

August 20 — cancelled due to Summer. Everyone is busy hiking, biking, running, canoeing and enjoying the outdoors - just as you should be.

September 26 – Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, Montana folk singer and long trail hiker (27,000 miles of wilderness walking) will present his Forever Wild multimedia wilderness program. 7 p.m. Parker High School Janesville.

October 15 — Slide show of Acadia Nat’l Park, Maine

December 3 — Skip Drew – A Tale of Two Mountains.

Trail Volunteers Rebuild “Hiker’s Bridge”

Three years ago Rock Trail Coalition members built the Hiker’s Bridge over Markham Creek in the Rock River Parkway. The 2008 floods destroyed the bridge and left the remains high and dry on the river bank.  This year Trail Coalition members and friends rebuilt the bridge.  The bridge was completed and reopened bigger and better than ever last Saturday, August 1. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in this great project.

Markham Creek Bridge

Rock Trail Coalition Work Party

What: Trail Spring Cleaning
When:  Saturday, April 11 and Wednesday April 15; 9:00 a.m. both days
Where: Meet at Eau Claire Road
To reach this area, take Afton Road (County D) south from Rockport Road to Eau Claire Rd. Meet at the bridge at 9:00 a.m.

There are lots of trees down or partially down that need to be cleared away, so we can continue clearing the trail south to Beloit. While the trees are being cut up, other volunteers can clear the brush away.

Please bring loppers if you have them. Work gloves and boots are highly recommended.

Questions? Contact Dean at 289-5672

Rock Trail Coalition Meeting Schedule 2009

All meetings are Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. at the JOB Center, 1900 Center Avenue, Janesville.

February 19 — Brigit Brown, DNR Trails Coordinator

April 16 — Representatives from the Janesville Velo Club

June 18 — Outing: Tour of  Shackelford’s Fair Meadows Prairie

August 20 — Slide show of Acadia Nat’l Park, Maine

October 15 — Skip Drew – A Tale of Two Mountains.

December 3 — Long Distance Hiker speaker – either Ice Age or Appalachian Trail

This is a tentative list of speakers and topics. We’ll update this post as details become finalized.

RTC Receives Grant

We applied for, and received, a grant from the Natural Resources Foundation. We’ll apply the $300 toward hand tools and herbicide that we use to maintain the Rock River Parkway and other trail projects in Rock County.

Update on the Hiker’s Bridge along the Rock River Parkway

The hiker’s bridge over Markham Creek was severely damaged during last summer’s flooding.

We had a very productive workday on March 14. Volunteers removed all the decking from the bridge.

New concrete footings will be used, along with rock fill for erosion control along the embankments on both sides of the creek. We’ll schedule a workday to replace the decking once the footings are in place and the poles are re-set.

Four-Wheelin’ Fun on the Trail

RTC purchased a used ATV last year–to help us with big projects and workdays. Well, that’s true, it has been a big help, but you’ll also notice that Dean and Jerry are grinning ear to ear while “working” with the ATV.

Seriously though, for anyone who’s been enjoying the clear path down the Rock River Parkway (from Tripp Rd. to the Fisher Creek landing) will appreciate all the hard work the guys have done this winter. Since December 2, Dean and Jerry have used the ATV to plow 79 miles worth of trail on this section of the Parkway. It’s only a 6-mile stretch, but depending on the amount of snowfall, they usually have to make multiple passes to clear the trail.

Some folks probably assumed it was the city crews doing the plowing, as they do in Palmer Park (although they did recently push back some snow piles that had grown too big for the ATV to handle—thanks!), but it’s been our very own president and trail maintenance coordinator.

Here’s to Dean and Jerry, and all the hard core hikers and dog walkers out there who are making the most our city’s great resources.

Searching for $

Now you can raise money for Rock Trail Coalition every time you conduct an online search. Sound too easy to be true?

Here’s how it works. Go to GoodSearch.com, and you’ll see Rock Trail Coalition as your designated charity (only if you link directly from here). If you go to GoodSearch later, you’ll have to type Rock Trail Coalition into the text box and click “verify.”

Instead of linking from here for every search, you have the option of adding GoodSearch to your toolbar in Internet Explorer or Firefox. You can even set GoodSearch as your homepage.

Once you’ve designated RTC as your charity (that’s the only way we get the donations from GoodSearch), simply type your query into their search bar as you do in Google, etc. The search results are provided by Yahoo, so you’ll get the same results you’re used to seeing.

Every time you use GoodSearch as your search engine (instead of Google, MSN, Yahoo etc), they’ll donate a penny to RTC. It may not sound like much, but think about how many times a day you search for something online. And collectively, all of our pennies will add up. They only require that all searches are legit.

All proceeds  will be used for trail development and maintenance. Thanks for your support!

Welcome to the RTC Blog

This is for RTC members and anyone who enjoys the diversity of Rock County’s green spaces.

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