It Was Walk Your Dog Day on the RecPath

It was a brisk, clear Saturday when we met at Wesley Drive today to begin the Spring Clean Up along the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path.  We warmed up though as we started working.  Apparently everyone else thought it was a great morning to get out too, and we had dozens of people passing us thanking us for our work; mountain bikers, strollers, joggers, but also a lot of dogs out walking their owners.  We had big dogs, small dogs, medium dogs, long dogs, you name it.  Including this puppy in the sweater:

She just didn't want to get her picture taken.  But her and her owner were having a good time out walking the RecPath.

We were working on the section from Huntington Woods going north toward the powerlines and Great Ledge.  We had 3 High School students getting in their community service hours.  Some of the tasks that we were doing were cutting back the brush on both sides of the RecPath so that when is starts to grow it won't encroach on the Path.

Terrance had Anthony, Luke, and Jimmy start off with brush cutting.

Jimmy, Anthony and Luke were cutting back the Sweet Pepperbush, Tulip saplings, briars and other assorted brush at Wesley Drive. It won't be long before everything starts leafing out and growing out into the Path.

Val and Rich were raking and leaf-blowing the Path ahead of the cutting crew.  Bill & Jim also took off with leaf blowers ahead and behind the work crews clearing off leaves from the side of the trail.  The leaves and brush had reduced our 8'to 10' wide path to about 5'.

 Val had the muscle job of lifting wet leaves fro the runoff ditches bordering the rec path.

Some of the Joggers thanked the cutting crew as they ran by, as did all the other Path users.  The cutting crew turned into the leaf raking and ditch clearing crew after a while.

A series of small culverts and drains under the path had to be cleared so they will drain properly and not erode the RecPath.  Maintenance is never as much fun as building a new trail but it has to be done.

Luke, Anthony, and Jimmy are working at Basil Brook when these residents came by.

Just two of many neighbors and friends out enjoying the open spaces.

The Shelton Highways and Bridges Department had recently rolled the new processed stone surface that was put down over the winter.   Thanks to the City crews for fitting that in before pothole season starts up.  The walking surface was really improved and we got a lot of favorable comments from all the RecPath users.

And thanks to all the volunteers who came out to help today including Val, Anthony, Luke, Jimmy, Bill, Jim, Rich and Terry.  Many hands makes light work.  See you on the Trails.