Comcast Cares Day Thursday, April 21, 2011
 
April 12, 2011 
 
Before I get into the news I want to remind you that the regular monthly meeting of the Friends of the White Pine Trail will be this Wednesday (April 13th) at the Cedar Springs City offices at 7:00 pm. I hope to see you there!

Spring appears to have arrived! Sunday the temperature certainly made it feel like summer! You can expect to see greatly increased activity on the trail as the thermometer rises!

We have been getting a lot of comments on the condition of the trail after the winter - especially on the newly paved section between Cadillac and LeRoy. Several people have looked over that section and let me know there’s a lot of gravel that has been deposited on the trail from the winter snowmobile grooming operation. The trail will be swept very soon! Please be patient as only a few days ago there was still ice and snow on the trail in that section.

The trail from the 5/3rd ballpark to Russell Rd has been cleaned of winter debris. I did a light cleaning of the trail from Russell Rd to Sand Lake using our tractor with the power broom. I had received lots of complaints of debris on the trail in that area so I wanted to give it some immediate attention. The snowmobile folks are having that area cleaned by contractors so it should be completely cleared very soon!

Sunday morning, while I was on the tractor sweeping the trail near Sand Lake, a woman stopped me and wanted to know who the boss was. I told her that I was the chairman of the Friends of the White Pine trail organization. She then proceeded to chew me out for being on the trail - imagine that! The woman told me I should not be doing work on Sunday morning when so many people are on the trail. I told her that I had started at 6 am, likely while most people are still asleep. She told me that I should do it some other time. I explained to her that I was a volunteer and that I volunteer my time on my schedule. I also explained to her that she must be one those people that think the trail gets magically maintained possibly by good gremlins that come out at 12:01 a.m. and do all the work by 12:02 a.m. She gave me a halfhearted apology and left - I suspect she will be badmouthing me for some time.

The truth is it takes a lot of volunteer time to do the maintenance on our great trail. I would hope that all of our volunteers get a healthy serving of the greatest wages a volunteer can receive – appreciation! If you see someone working on the trail please simply say “Thank you for your help”! They work when they can, and do the best that they can, because of their love of the trail.

Speaking of volunteers the Comcast people along with our members will be on the trail next week doing some major work. We will get a lot of work done with their fantastic help! Expect to see lots of people working on the trail the afternoon of April 21st. The Comcast people are always amazed at how appreciative trail users are during the work days. Please go out of your way to give a big “THANK YOU COMCAST” if you pass them on the trail. They will be working from North Park Street in Comstock Park up to the Rockford area. Thanks Comcast!

In the LeRoy area expect to see equipment on the trail south of town very soon. Contractors will be adding approximately one more mile of paving which will clean up and improve the surface through the LeRoy tunnel. Please respect any trail closures during the construction!

The next phase of work to repair and stabilize the damage from last Memorial Day’s wash-out between Belmont and Rockford should be happening soon. This will cause some disruption in the trail for a few days - PLEASE, PLEASE respect the workers and any trail closures during the work!

I have included an interesting article below from one of our members!

I hope to see you on the trail!