About those trails (Crow’s Nest):

I hate to have to be apologetic about anything at the preserve, but here goes: our trails are still really wet. Many we cannot mow because there is standing water on them; others that I mowed I wished I hadn’t. Our lawnmower is an extremely capable machine so I didn’t get stuck, but I did leave ruts in a few places that were too soft to drive upon.

And the culvert replacement project is on hold until French Creek goes down some more. The pumps needed to draw down the construction area cannot keep up with the flow of the creek, elevated from the recent heavy rains. So the creek trail is still closed.

Not only did we receive all of that heavy rain directly falling on the preserve, but since we are located in a valley, we are also receiving a portion of the rain that fell a couple weeks ago on the surrounding hills in surface and subsurface flows.

We hope things will dry out before they freeze for the winter. In the meantime you can hike here, just wear waterproof boots!