Many folks are familiar with the Katy Trail. It's used a lot and maintained by the State Department of Natural Resources.
But there are trails around the state that aren't used all that much and maintained infrequently, if at all.
Every fall the Missouri Sierra Club coordinates a week-long effort where volunteers spend a day or more to help maintain a trail off the beaten path.
Late last fall it was the Brushy Creek Trail in Shannon County deep in the heart of the Ozarks that got some special treatment.
Early on a Saturday morning 15 or so people picked the tools they would use to help clear an overgrown portion of the 15 mile long trail. After that they broke up into smaller groups before heading out to different sections of the trail. "I'm not sure how long that stretch is, maybe 3/8 to half a mile," said Neal Humke who was working with five other volunteers. He had the only chain saw in his group and used it to clear bigger trees that had fallen across the trail. "DNR has jurisdiction over this trail but of course they can't do it alone," he said. "No one agency can."
Rick Hyer of Troy was also in the group and said, "the section here is so bad it's almost like we're putting a new trail in, there is nothing there." It's his fifth year of volunteering to do trail maintenance with the Sierra Club. He was working closely with first-timer Brigid O'Malley of St. Louis who was using a hand tool to clear brush. "I mean, this is my kind of Saturday," she said. "Look at these colors and like the smell, everything is good. Good for the spirit, I think."
The Katy Trail this is not. It's a primitive trail and hard at times to figure out just where the trail is. That's why Suzanne Smith's contribution to the trail maintenance was so important. She was hammering new trail markers into trees so people could find their way. "This old one was falling apart," Smith said. "Looks like squirrels chewed on the edges. These are the Brushy Creek Trail markers, the blue rectangles."
The chapter director of the Missouri Sierra Club John Hickey was clearing trail but also thinking about the bigger picture. He said, "we want to make sure that Missourians have a chance to experience nature because that direct experience is what we think makes people want to be involved in the larger public policy issues whether it's air pollution, water pollution, etc."
At the end of week-long project volunteers left the 15 mile long trail in good shape. And St. Louis resident Justin Hines said he had a good time doing it. "It seems like it has been about a decade since we had some decent foot traffic and attention out here. So it's kind of good to uncover some of the lost gems, you know?"