Volunteers make Moraine State Park more accessible for hikers
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Moraine State Park already has 10 trails of varying difficulty that allow hikers access to the woods via 29 miles of carved path. A trail currently in the works at the park will be “all access” when completed, and aims to give people of all abilities a path through the woods on the north shore of the park.
On Wednesday, Nov. 19, volunteers with the Butler Outdoor Club helped widen the path that will eventually become the trail, using shears, hand axes and chainsaws to clear the forest.
David Murray, president of Moraine Preservation Fund, which spearheaded the project, said it could be a year before the trail is complete. But the park plans to use it as a hub for group visits and pair it with the soon-to-be-completed learning pavilion, which is also located at McDanel’s Launch on the north shore.
“The park established a loop, it’s one mile in length,” Murray said. “This will be used for school field trips, they can come into the woods and just start walking outdoors.”
While the trail is planned to be covered by a surface — probably gravel, according to Murray — it first has to be cleared, which has not been a problem for the members of the Butler Outdoor Club. Tom Vayansky, president of the Butler Outdoor Club, said many of the group’s members were happy to help create a new trail, as a way to repay the park for its free access and to give themselves a new place to explore.
“Dave and Brian laid out the ribbons and we’re out here widening the trail,” Vayansky said. “We have about 24 people helping today.”
The soon-to-be trail was well on its way to becoming a trail by the time the 24 volunteers were done with their work on Nov. 19. The trail has to be 10 feet wide throughout, and the volunteers made quick work of cutting the brush and forest marked in the woods.
The Butler Outdoor Club normally organizes group hikes, bike rides, kayak excursions and even backpacking and camping trips to other states. Official members of the club pay dues and attend meetings, but anyone can attend an outing with the club, or help in its volunteer efforts like the one Nov. 19.
For many of the people working that day, cutting their way through the woods was as enjoyable as any other activity they would participate in at Moraine State Park. Vayansky said the club collaborates with the Moraine Preservation Fund often, and in total works on an average of up to 12 volunteer projects per year.
Don Horn, a member of the Butler Outdoor Club, commented that if he was not working on forming the new trail, there is a good chance he would be at the park traversing another trail.
“We’re always out here anyhow,” Horn said. “We use these trails a lot, so it’s a way for us to pay for the trails.”
Mandy Kendall, a member of the Butler Outdoor Club, said that working on a new trail is a rare opportunity to learn how to perform trail maintenance, and get a glimpse at the ins and outs of
“This has been a great opportunity to start learning trail work,” Kendall said. “I feel like I have made more of a connection with it.”
Some volunteers said they are happy to have a part in creating a piece of the park that other people can enjoy. Valerie Mueller said she has also worked on the Butler Freeport Community Trail, where keeping the path clear has not only been therapeutic for her, but the people who use it for fun and exercise.
“I think trail work is wonderful for getting out energy,” Mueller said. “If the trail is clear, it’s easier to navigate and enjoy.”
With the temperature dropping and the plants in Moraine State Park losing their leaves for the winter, some of the volunteers on Nov. 19 simply used the volunteer opportunity to get outside one last time.
“I joined the club so I could do it,” Steve White, a member of the Butler Outdoor Club, said of seeking outdoor opportunities.
Murray said the work performed on the new trail on Nov. 19 would probably be the last of its maintenance for a while. Moraine State Park administrators still have to go through some procedures to begin any larger construction on the project.
“The next step is surfacing,” Murray said. “It’s going to be all gravel and we’ll get signage.”
Murray also commented that the new trail, which does not yet have a name, may not meet all the requirements to be officially ADA-accessible, but it will closely follow those standards to accommodate people with certain mobility issues. He said the park has several areas already that are suitable to people with certain mobility issues.
“The Sunken Garden Trail is ideally an all-access trail, but it has some slopes and we have not gone through all the hoops to call it an ADA trail,” Murray said. “We asked (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) how we could make an all-access trail, and that is what we are trying to do with this.”
Murray also said other work on the coming trail, including surfacing the route and placing signs, will be done by professionals rather than volunteers. However, the volunteers present Nov. 19 said the widening work was the least they could do to help out a park that hosts many of the Butler Outdoor Club’s events.
Horn said he thinks volunteers and frequent users of state parks and trails are mainly responsible for keeping them clean.
“We use the trails so we have to maintain them,” Horn said. “When I’m walking I help take stuff off the trail and that’s only going to happen with volunteers. There just isn’t enough park rangers to do everything.”
