A week of sunny skies and warm temperatures has done plenty to help dry out the trails at Clinton State Park in Lawrence. In fact, enough drying took place that the park re-opened the trails for public use by midweek.
The warm trend is slated to continue Saturday with partly cloudy skies and 80-degree temperatures in the forecast. That’s good news for those interested in the trail repair efforts set to get under way after the trails were badly damaged on April 18 during the Free State Trail Runs, an event presented by the Kansas City Trail Nerds on Clinton Lake’s North Shore Trail System.
Lands End at Clinton State Park on April 25, 2015.
A thunderstorm during the event turned the dry trails into a muddy mess, and in the nearly two weeks since the event some parts of the trail system have struggled to drain and water has pooled in the holes left by runners’ footprints.
The repair effort is scheduled to begin in earnest on Saturday. Two trail-building courses will be taught, one at 9 a.m. and another at 11 a.m., at the Corps of Engineers Visitor Center Office, 872 N. 1042 Rd. Neil Taylor and Mike Goodwin of the Kansas Trails Council will teach the two-hour sessions, which will include about 90 minutes in the classroom and 30 minutes on the trail.
A more detailed look at the plan can be found here:
Interest in the training courses was extensive, and sign-ups came quickly once they were announced. Trail-runners interested in the course have encountered a dead end today, however, as the Trail Nerds’ official Facebook page has been inaccessible for most of the day.
The page’s inaccessibility is a bit of an ironic twist. In the aftermath of the Free State Trail Races, numerous page members were kicked out of the group. Some were booted for combative dialogue regarding the damage done to the trails at Clinton State Park, while others were blackballed for posting information about how to get involved with trail building, and even more were removed for “liking” posts that discussed trail repair. A handful were allowed back in eventually, but most have remained stricken. Now, on the eve of the first trail-building courses, the entire group is offline.
Although the Facebook page is down, the link to sign up for the trail-building courses is still active. Registration is free, and can be done at the following link:
Chris Wristen 