Volunteers will help clear Trail of Tears hiking paths

Hikers determined to get back into Trail of Tears State Park have organized an emergency cleanup for Saturday.

The goal is to reopen 14.5 miles of hiking and equestrian trails.

The park was closed indefinitely after February's ice storms did such severe damage that many roads and trails became impassable.

Eric Redinger, assistant director of outdoor adventure for Southeast Missouri State University's recreation services department, is a hiker and one of the organizers of Saturday's work detail.

The trails, he said, "are considered kind of a hazard area because of all the hanging branches and limbs. This might not be a good time to bring small children."

Volunteers must bring their own water, work gloves and any hand tools they can use proficiently, such as saws or machetes.

An estimated 93 of the fallen trees will require a chain saw to remove, according to Denise Dowling, Trail of Tears' interpretive resource coordinator, but because the park is a designated wild area, mechanical equipment can't be used without a special permit from the Missouri's Department of Natural Resources. She said she is working on getting a permit but will not have one for Saturday's event.

Plenty of other storm debris is small enough to be cut with hand tools or simply carried off the trail, where it will be allowed to decompose.

After meeting at the park's visitors center to sign waivers and log the number of hours worked, some crews will be dispatched to Peewah Trail, a 10-mile stretch that winds through the park's remote Indian Creek Wild Area.

Depending on how many volunteers arrive to help, work crews will be assigned to tackle the rugged two-mile loop called Sheppard Point Trail, the two-mile path near Lake Boutin, Lake Trail or the flatter terrain of the half-mile Nature Trail.

Redinger said the rebuilding plan started when he learned February's ice storms had closed the park. He'd planned on leading a hike for Southeast students and staff on Sheppard Point Trail.

"It's a pretty rigorous trail and no horses are allowed because of all the climbing and elevations, but it's an overlook trail of the Mississippi River," he said. He also leads hikes at the Grand Canyon periodically and sends people going on those trips to train on Sheppard Point Trail.

Having worked with the Ozark Trail Association's trail building programs, Redinger said he decided to use what he'd learned locally.

He said work will proceed "unless it's pouring down" rain.

Three Southeast groups have already committed to Saturday's project: the Recreation Services Department, Recreation Enhancement Club and Trail of Tears Sierra Club.

"I've got about six people confirmed," said Adam Gohn, the Sierra Club's outings chairman. Gohn, 24, is the group's youngest member. The Southeast junior is studying philosophy and outdoor recreation. He said the Trail of Tears chapter is open to anyone in Southeast Missouri.

Dowling said she hopes to see a minimum of 15 to 20 people help reconstruct the trails Saturday. But more would be better.

"We don't have any limitations on whose doing this," Redinger said. "We want as many hands as possible. It makes a lot lighter work."

For details, call the park offices at 573-290-5268. For Sierra Club information, e-mail Gohn at aegohn1s@semo.edu.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127