Yesterday we crossed the finish line. Today we mowed and string trimmed the remainder of the trail.
Tomorrow morning the final step will take place as the trail is blown clean from end to end, marking the completion of the Tower Trail recovery.
This journey unfolded in distinct phases.
First came the assessment. Volunteers climbed over, under, and through trees and storm debris to locate, flag, and count every tree blocking the trail. By the end of that effort, 1,822 downed trees had been identified across the 3.5-mile trail.
Next came the saw teams. Over weeks of work, volunteers cut and cleared those 1,822 trees, reopening the corridor and making the trail passable once again.
With the trees removed, volunteers returned to clear vegetation and open the corridor wide enough for mowing and foliage maintenance equipment to access the trail.
Then came the recent blitz. What began as 244 identified rootball and tread repair projects eventually grew to more than 300 projects as additional damage was uncovered. By tomorrow, volunteers will have logged approximately 500 hours across 33 work parties in 69 days, rebuilding tread, removing rootballs, repairing drainage, restoring trail features, and reclaiming 3.5 miles of trail.
Today marked the completion of the mowing and string trimming. Tomorrow the trail will be blown clean from end to end. With that final step complete, we hope to have some exciting news to share.
This project represents far more than the restoration of a single trail. Tower Trail was the last remaining closed trail at FATS following Hurricane Helene. Completing this work marks the conclusion of a year-and-a-half recovery effort that saw volunteers reclaim all six trails within the FATS trail system. We didn’t begin cleanup on the USFS trails until December, when the USFS granted us access to begin work.
Thousands of volunteer hours, thousands of trees cleared, and hundreds of individual projects later, the finish line is finally behind us.
To every volunteer who picked up a chainsaw, hookeroon, Pulaski, McLeod, shovel, come-along, rake, string trimmer, mower, leaf blower, or loppers, thank you. This accomplishment belongs to all of you.
The photos below capture the entire journey, from the first assessments through tree clearing, corridor restoration, rootball and tread repairs, and finally the last days of finishing work that will return the Tower Trail to the trail community.
It’s been an amazing journey for our trail community, but we did it.
