After a winter break, The Trail Crew started back in April and since then we’ve had 19 work parties (every Sunday 9:30-11:30 AM); 248 Volunteers have showed up and collectively contributed 529 hours to help The Giant.
Here’s what the Trail Crew has accomplished:
- Removed 27 blow downs from the trails
- Removed 218 lb. litter from the park, (that’s a lot of coffee cups and empty water bottles, etc.)
- Patrolled, brushed back and trimmed most of The Giant’s 32 miles of trails, some sections several times over
- Re-blazed the Red Diamond, Red Hex, Red Triangle, Red Circle and parts of Horse and Ski Trails
- Helped maintain the Butterfly Garden in support of the Environmental Stewardship Committee
- Repaired the Nature Trail
- Removed Graffiti from Upper and Lower Quarry, Chin, Head, Tower Path, Nature Trail Parking and Picnic area
- Installed and maintained waterbars for erosion control along the Blue Trail, Violet Trail, Red Square and Red Circle Trails.
- Conducted several River and Pond Clean Ups
- Road Clean Ups along Whitney Ave, Tuttle Ave., Hartford Turnpike and Mt. Carmel Ave.
- Parking Lot construction along Tuttle Road at the Red Circle Trailhead
- Bridge Repair and Bog Bridge Repair throughout the Park
- Invasive Removal in support of the Environmental Stewardship Committee
- Red Circle Repair, minor re-routing, installing trail sidelogs and trail treadway repair
- Trailhead Clearing
We will continue to remove blow downs, litter, graffiti and other issues as we find them. We plan on completing reblazing of all the Red Trails, the Ski Trails and Horse Trails this year as well as further minor trail reroutes to improve user safety, reduce erosion and help land restoration.
Join us!
This article was written by SGPA Board Member and Trail Crew Manager, Mike Miller, and was originally published in Issue 128 (Fall 2022) of SGPA’s seasonal newsletter, Giant News. To learn more about the Trail Crew, click HERE.
Header photo taken by Julie Hulten.