Wet leaves on the trail can send a cyclist sliding, and nuts and twigs can trip up a skater and cause injury. The Friends try to keep these accidents from happening through its trail blowing program. Clearing 50 miles of trail littered with leaves, twigs, and walnuts is a huge cleanup job. To tackle it, FLMSP purchased two Toro pull-behind blowers and recruited two crews of volunteers (North and South) to hook them up to their vehicle and drive the trail. It’s a long trip: 50 miles total for each crew, because they must drive up one side of the trail and down the other. It’s time-consuming, too; typically, it takes 5 to 7 hours to cover 25 miles of trail during heavy leaf season.
Blowers go out once a week for 5 or 6 weeks in the fall, and on an as-needed basis the rest of the year. Because volunteers use their own vehicles to tow the blowers, they are reimbursed for mileage and gas purchases. A big Thank You to these dedicated volunteers who help make the trail safer and more enjoyable for us all.
