Officers

President: Sue Wentworth – Northumberland, NH

Sue grew up in southern New Hampshire and started hiking in the early 1970s when she met her husband, Gary. They moved to the North Country in February 2011 and love it there. Sue met a North Country local soon after relocating and found out how to join TCTA. She and Gary and their dog, Bonnie, enjoy trail work very much and are currently the adopters of the Trio Trail and Pond Brook Falls trail. In addition to being a board member, Sue is also the CT Trails Coordinator.

Vice President: Sophie Desbiens – Littleton, NH

Sophie grew up in Montreal and moved to New England nearly 25 years ago. She fell in love with hiking while attempting Mt. Monadnock in grad school and has kept at it ever since. Sophie completed a thru-hike of the Cohos Trail in 2020 and has hiked in many US states and abroad. She also volunteers with TCTA and White Mountain National Forest. Professionally, Sophie is an independent consultant to biotech companies. She and her partner Justin moved to Littleton, NH in 2022 to be closer to the mountains and trails they love.

Treasurer: Becky Dean – Chocorua, NH

Becky grew up in Maine and used to come to the White Mountains to hike and go winter camping, and ski Tuckerman Ravine. She and her partner, John, moved to Chocorua in 2021, where they are busy restoring their old house and barns and reclaiming the logging roads on their property for year round hikes with their two dogs. Becky is the (incoming) TCTA Treasurer, and is also training with the NH Coverts Program to be a volunteer in wildlife conservation, forest stewardship and effective outreach.

Secretary: Stephanie Glidden, Whitefield, NH

While I have yet to hike the length of the trail, I have spent many days on sections. Most of 2020-2021 was spent with my friend hiking- our version of social distancing during the pandemic. She introduced me to the Cohos trail association when she became a board member. I had the opportunity to join in bog bridge repairs for a day, which was so rewarding! I was born and raised right here in the north country. My dad has always been an avid outdoorsman and I am sure that is where I acquired my love for outdoors. My husband and I have two grown daughters that we enjoyed taking hiking on Sundays when they were young. I enjoy running, hiking and basically anything outside. Currently I am the administrative assistant to the superintendent of our local school district, the treasurer for the district, the school board secretary as well as the booster club treasurer. From 2001-2013 I was the Town Clerk of Whitefield NH, the planning board secretary, as well as a member of the Town Clerks Association executive board.

Board Members

Founder/Chairman: Kim Robert Nilsen – Spofford, NH

Kim Nilsen is the founder of The Cohos Trail Association and initial designer of the 170-mile foot trail. Nilsen is retired from a varied career that included developing a bio-dynamic farm and orchard, starting up a natural fruit juice company, marketing natural foods products, and working as a journalist in Coos County, NH for nearly a decade. In 2015, he was the recipient of the coveted Granite State Legacy Award for his volunteer work developing the Cohos Trail.

Nilsen Spends many hours throughout the year promoting the trail, penning the Cohos Trekker newsletter, administering the Friends of the Cohos Trail Facebook page, cultivating donors, raising money, and assisting the officers when needed. He is the author of The Cohos Trail guidebook, the 50 Hikes North of the White Mountains guide, a lengthy novel entitled The Yellowstone Traps, and works of nonfiction, as well. Not one to rest in retirement, he continues to build trail infrastructure, restore degraded and abandoned trails, and do trail maintenance work all year long on various properties including in NH’s largest park, Pisgah State Park, in the Monadnock Region.

Yvan Guay – Jefferson, NH

Yvan works for the NH Department of Transportation, specializing in highway bridge construction and repair, and is assigned to the northern regions of the state. He maintains the Percy Loop Camp on the Cohos Trail and the Percy Loop Trail. Over the last decade, he has helped the association build the Baldhead Lean-to atop remote Baldhead Mountain, built the Panorama Lean-to in Dixville, and helped in the early restoration process of Kamp Kirk in the Nash Stream Forest.

John Higgins – Raymond, NH

John grew up in the early 70’s and spent summers exploring Nash Stream with his Dad. A young rock hound, John, explored the Percy Peaks, Bald Mountain, Victor’s Head, Rodger’s Ledge, Green’s Ledge, the Pilot Range, and more. His passion is trails, whether snowmobiling or hiking. John is the current trail adopter of Rowell’s Link Trail, Bald Mountain Notch Trail and South Pond Link. He can often be seen hiking the trails from his camp in Stark, perhaps with a can of Moxie in hand.

Tom Adams – Springvale, ME

Tom was born and raised in Berlin, NH, and learned to enjoy the North Woods with his Dad, friends, and neighbors. Leaving New England to find work, he later returned to live in Southern NH/Maine. Tom and his wife have raised three kids in Springvale, ME, taking them back to his parents’ house in Berlin to enjoy the outdoors whenever possible. Now with grandchildren, he is doing the same with them. His two oldest granddaughters, Annalee and Misty Rose, showed an interest in wanting to do overnight hiking, which took them to Unknown Pond, a place as a kid he seldom saw people. Amazed at how crowded the area was he sought the more remote northern sections of the Cohos Trail, looking for a trail that they could experience a variety of trail conditions from the popular Presidential Range to the quiet northern forest. Now working with the Cohos Trail, he wants the girls to understand that these trails don’t just happen, they need to be built and cared for. Tom started going north and helping on projects, bringing the girls whenever there was work suitable for their age and size. Tom is the trail adopter for Gadwah Notch Trail and helps take care of regular maintenance at the Baldhead Shelter.

Rick Covill – Grantham, NH

Rick lives in Grantham, NH and also owns a camp in the north country. At one time he worked in the north country in Groveton, and has worked in the utility industry most of his life. He is a strong supporter of the Cohos Trail.

Kevin Lacasse – Merrimack, NH

Born and raised in Nashua, NH as the son of two Quebecers, Kevin grew up speaking French, and now lives in Merrimack with his wife and three kids. Kevin started out working in Audi and BMW shops before leaving the automotive industry to join the carpenters union. His family owns land in Groveton and a camp in Pittsburg. Kevin enjoys anything outdoorsy, Snowmobiles, ATV’s, Hunting, Fishing, Hiking, Snowshoeing, etc. You can find him up in the north country almost every weekend, and he hikes Pittsburg’s Deer Mountain about 4 times a year. Kevin also maintains the Deer Mountain Trail.

After attending various work weekends and hosting a few volunteers at his cabin for the Tillotson shelter project, Kevin decided to get more involved with the Cohos Trail by joining the board of directors in 2019. He hopes to help the association secure permissions and materials to restore the Deer Mountain Fire Tower trail, and the tower itself, to its former glory as an attraction for Cohos Trail hikers and locals alike.

Tara Giles – Lancaster, NH

Tara moved to Lancaster from N.J. with her father and brother in 1988. At 12 years old, coming from Atlantic City, to Lancaster was quite the culture shock! However, she adjusted fast and is so thankful everyday to have grown up there. In high school Tara ran cross-country and track, where part of the training routine was to climb a mountain every Sunday. It worked, as the team won several state championships. She still runs just about every day! Tara studied journalism and communications at Keene State and spent a semester abroad in York, England, where she had an amazing time.

Tara has two children, Ethan and Payton who both attend U.N.H. She lives in Whitefield where she recently bought a house. Tara loves snowboarding and has taught at both Cannon and Bretton Woods over the years. She’s a history fanatic and loves digging through the old archives at the newspaper where she works. Apart from that, her favorite place to be is outside in all seasons.

Willow Nilsen – Norwich, VT

Willow currently lives in Norwich, VT but was born in Littleton, NH. Willow is the daughter of Kim Nilsen, founder of the Cohos Trail. Willow works as the Associate Director for Dartmouth College’s Outdoor Programs Office which is the parent organization for the Dartmouth Outing Club. In her role as Associate Director, she oversees all programs offered by the office including a seasonal trail crew and two Alpine Stewards who do research and trail maintenance atop 4,802ft Mt. Moosilauke.

Willow is a passionate outdoors person and spends her free time in northern New Hampshire hiking and backpacking in all four seasons. Willow completed a solo thru-hike of the Cohos Trail in 2019.

James “Mitch” Mitchell – Lancaster, NH

James “Mitch” Mitchell resident of Lancaster, NH. Former Trails and Shelters Chairperson of Brattleboro Section-Green Mountain Club where he is a current member and volunteer since 2002. Former member of the board of directors at the GMC. Current trail adopter for section of the Kilkenny Ridge Trail from Bunnell Notch to Mount Cabot cabin. Enjoys hiking during all four seasons. Mitch is employed as an insurance claims professional.

Aaron Goff – Cambridge, MA

For the past 30 years Aaron has hiked and explored thousands of miles of forests, mostly in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, but also in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. He has been hiking the Cohos Trail since its very beginning and has found it to contain all of the qualities of a perfect hiking trail: quiet, lonely, beautiful and challenging.

Aaron has been involved with the Cohos Trail’s building and maintenance for several years. As Kim’s mandolin playing sideman, he is always happy to provide part of the music entertainment for tired volunteers on trail work days.

Professionally he has held extensive careers as a Draftsman, a Graphic Designer/Web Developer, and a Master Carpenter/Cabinet Maker. Currently he is enrolled as a student at the University of Maine to acquire an education in Land Surveying. He plans to use this knowledge to make the Cohos Trail a better place for the wandering soul.

Emeritus Board Members

Chad Pepau

Nancy Spaulding

Ken Vallery