Bullthistle Hiking Club is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The club offers guided hikes throughout the year in and around the Chenango County area. More information is available on club’s website at www.bullthistlehiking.org. (Submitted photo)

By Peg Fuller

Ed Sidote started the Bullthistle Hiking Club (BHC) in 2004. The club, based out of Norwich, NY, is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year.

The BHC promotes hiking and appreciation for nature as well as maintaining many miles of hiking trails in Chenango County. The club meets monthly on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM. The meetings are currently held in Norwich at the Chenango Arts Council building. Presentations on various outdoor topics are held at many of the meetings. The club also offers guided hikes throughout the year in and around the Chenango County area. Everyone is welcome to hike with the club as well as attend the monthly meetings. The best way to keep in touch with the club is follow us on Facebook or join the email group (Google email group: Bullthistle Hikers). Annual membership dues are $10 a calendar year for each adult. Youth under the age of 18 enjoy free membership with their parent’s paid membership. The club’s website is www.bullthistlehiking.org.

As part of the 20th Anniversary celebration, the Bullthistle Hiking Club will be having its annual hike and hotdog cookout in honor of Ed Sidote on Saturday, August 10th. Three different hikes will be offered, from 2.2 miles to 8.9 miles with starting times ranging from 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM. The hikes and the cookout will be in Pharsalia Woods State Forest. For complete details, email bullthistler@gmail.com or call Peg Fuller, BHC President, at 315-653-7345. People can attend a hike and not the cookout or attend the cookout and not a hike. Those attending the cookout are asked to bring a side dish or dessert to share.

Another celebration of the BHC’s 20th Anniversary will be held October 6, 2024 at Fred’s Inn, Norwich, NY. Anyone wishing to attend should contact the club for details. Pre-registration will be required along with a monetary charge. There will be an awards ceremony and many memories of the past 20 years shared.

Why are we honoring Ed Sidote? Ed was instrumental in building the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) through Chenango County. He approached landowners and obtained permission for the trail to cross their private property, he helped build the trail, and he was a constant proponent endorsing the FLT and hiking. His name is well known in Chenango County, and not just for hiking, but he is also known throughout the state because of all his work with the Finger Lakes Trail Conference (FLTC), building trails and helping hikers. He was the End-to-End coordinator for years and many who completed that amazing feat, were met by Ed at the end and given well deserved acknowledgment and their official End to End number. We hope people that hike the FLT remember individuals like Ed every time they hike the trail. As new trail maintainers, trail builders, and daily ambassadors of the trail emerge, they will be successful if they remember what Ed did for hiking and follow in his footsteps.

In 1990, at the age of 73, Ed Sidote “Mr. FLT” became the third person to hike the entire Finger Lakes Trail. He completed the trek with his friend Rufus Perkins who was given End-to-End number four. Even though they completed the trail together, the men raced to the end to see who finished first. Ed won. Three years later, in 1993, Ed was awarded the Finger Lakes Trail Conference’s Wally Wood Distinguished Service Award, and in 2004 he was the first recipient of the FLTC’s prestigious Howard Beye Lifetime Achievement Award. Ed’s contributions to the FLT were considerable and he left a lasting legacy with the FLTC.

In addition to serving as President of the FLTC’s Board of Managers, Ed left an indelible mark as the organization’s first End-to-End (E2E) Coordinator. An End-to-Ender is someone who has hiked the entire main trail of the FLT, which is about 585 miles. According to FLTC-lore, when a hiker finished the FLT, even if it was 2:00 AM, Ed would be there in the middle of the woods to give them their badge. Ed was also a “Trail Angel” for many hikers - giving rides in his famous Suburban - and was the creator of the FLTC’s first Trail Angel list, which allows hikers to find people to assist them with rides to trailheads.

Ed was committed to the FLT hiking community and to supporting the Finger Lakes Trail Conference. To celebrate his 90th birthday (and the FLTC’s 45th in 2008), Ed asked family, friends, and supporters of the FLTC to celebrate with a gift of $1,250 to the Finger Lakes Trail Conference. The donations could be paid all at once or over time, and all contributions would be directed to the Sidote Stewardship Fund, which is dedicated to trail protection projects. These gifts and the generous donors who made them established the FLT Forever Society, which now has 82 members and has generated over $100,000 in donations. Go to www.fingerlakestrail.org for more information on the Forever Society started by Ed Sidote.

A portion of trail in Chenango County is named and dedicated to Ed, and a stone bench on the trail in the Pharsalia Woods State Forest is engraved in his honor: “Ed Sidote: Mr. FLT.” The Bullthistle Hiking Club is happy to host the Ed Sidote Hike and remember his words “Happy Hiking.”

- Information from the Bullthistle Hiking Club