"Cutting trail" in most places in our country involves laborious digging with Pulaskis and other tools, but in Florida it means running the DR All Terrain Mower through the thick underbrush. In this photo, Billy, one of the officers of the trail club, makes the second of four passes along the new trail corridor. Then other volunteers clip back encroaching foliage, chop out roots and tree stumps which could trip hikers or re-grow, and blaze trees with the Florida Trail's orange painted rectangle to mark the trail. Of course, since Florida has a lengthy growing season, trail volunteers must frequently mow the Florida Trail to keep the trail from returning to a wild state, so constant maintenance in required.
Here is a view of the new trail snaking through the dense undergrowth. We rerouted three sections of trail which had either been prone to flooding or followed old logging roads, for a total of about 2 miles of new trail. At one point, we met two through-hikers (Bamboo Bob and Corncob), and it is always rewarding to see that your hard work is being used and appreciated by hikers.
This 32 foot long bridge is 11 feet above the gully bottom and eliminates a detour around the ravine. The construction crew finished this project so quickly that the hosts had to find additional projects for us, including constructing a picnic table and three rest benches for hikers and installing them in locations affording nice views of the Suwannee River. We also constructed two fence lines to keep ATVs out of prohibited areas.
Here is the entire crew, both AHS and FTA volunteers:
standing: Lynn, Chuck, Jim, Alton (our FTA host), Max, Bob, Fred, Billy, Larry, and Jack
seated (l to r): Charlie, Katie, Eileen, Paula, Linda, and Joe (our AHS crew leader)