Crow’s Nest: More Creek Trail Improvements

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager.

I don’t normally do major projects on weekends—I don’t want power tools or mowers to interfere with people’s enjoyment of nature on the days of the week when so many people visit. But the weather was so nice, and the alternative, housework—so I decided to work on some problem areas on the Creek Trail. Another muddy area I had improved in past years with straw and gravel, and the rainy weather over the last year and a half has created a few new ones. We can’t span them all with boardwalks—though we do have a couple more of those in the works. But here’s the great thing about doing a quiet project on a weekend on a popular trail:

I met so many visitors whom I might not have, otherwise. I basked in the glow of their complements about the preserve (it helps, I suppose, that I was getting them out of the mud). It means so much to us who work to make the preserve an enjoyable place to visit that people actually do visit, and enjoy themselves.

The straw is down along with some wood chips (we have plenty of those), and stamped into the mud it firms up the surface. This week volunteers will spread some gravel there to make the walking surface more durable, better able to hold up to future storms and floods.

The Creek Trail is our main trail for the northern half of the preserve; it leads to the Chief’s Grove, the Tiny Library, farm fields, meadows, woods and savanna, and on to connect with trails in Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site and French Creek State Park. It’s an essential trail that we’re pleased to see improved for you, the visitor. Enjoy!