We had a BIG group that came out last week! About 20 volunteers finished reclaiming the section of the Quarry Trail that we were trying to close. 

They also finished cutting the corridor for the reroute and are over half way done with bench cutting the new singletrack. 

I am amazed at how much gets done and the quality of the work that these dedicated individuals complete every week!  Thanks everyone for the great work!  

Also a big thanks to Roger, Matt D, and Aaron, who all stepped up as Crew Leaders.

Everyone is itching to get the trails open, (except for old man weather). Thanks to all the volunteers that showed up for our "emergency" trail work day on Saturday! Because of everyones hard work, the entire trail system is now clear of debris, leaves and downed trees. By getting the leaves and debris cleaned off the trail, they should dry out quicker even if we get more rain. Be sure to keep an eye on the website for an official opening hopefully in the next few days.

The Power of 1000 Rakes!
Special thanks to Aaron who went out early and had the first shot at trying out HPT's new leaf blower. He cleared the entire south side (about 4 miles of trails) with only him and his trusty partner "Gale"! Also a BIG thank-you to Holmen Saw & Tool for their generous sponsorship of HPT. If you're in need of a new lawn mower, trimmer, chainsaw or anything else powered be sure to stop in at Holmen Saw & Tool, or give them a call.

We had a strong crew of people that finished up the hand work portion relatively quickly. Some of them even had a chance to give the trail a trial ride before they headed out. These guys have worked hard all year to get this done and we were amazed at how quickly they put the trail in place. Awesome work!

Click on the image to see a slide show of some of the days activities.

The work crew also consisted of Tom and Lance testing out some new equipment for us in developing trails. A huge thanks to these guys for tracking down these pieces and operating them. It was great to have their expertise to see what we need to get for next season and how it can be used. We also had a nice lunch that Aaron set up for us. He went out of his way to get the food and start the grills before he had to leave for a wedding.

What does this all mean???
We have connected the trail system in a few ways. Run, hike, or bike, You can now add more to your fun. This connection puts us at our goal for the season and it sets us up for next year. The blue trail is the new Quarry Trail. The Green is the existing trail around the prairie, and the black trail to the left is the start of the TNT trail. This makes reaching the trail system faster and easier without having to use the road as much.

If you haven't had a chance to see this trail the weather is still really good to get out and enjoy the area.

We have had a great race event for the first year of putting something of this caliber on at HPT. We have had some fun time trials and grill outs at the trail where our crew of hard workers can kick back and enjoy some of their efforts. And believe it or not the trail work itself is sort of enjoyable.

At least if you are into that kind of hard work.

Here is one of the sections of the trail that we closed in order to re-route around it. Eventually making a better turn that will hold up over time and be safer as the trail system expands. The nice thing is they made it so this trail doesn't even look like it was there anymore. It is one of the harder things to do out there because of the effort to break it up and make it look like the surrounding woods. Nice work!

Moving forward we are pushing ahead on reaching the turn around at the quarry by fall. There have been a good number of people that have put in a lot of hours to date on making a nice entry level trail to connect HPT.

This is our first portion of this major undertaking and it is great to see so many people continuing to come out and make it happen.