John Burroughs Nature Sanctuary seeks volunteer trail-builders in Esopus

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO BUILD NEW TRAILS AT SLABSIDES

It’s time to put away your snow shovels, grab your work boots and gloves and head over to the John Burroughs Nature Sanctuary at Slabsides in Esopus. Be part of the corps of volunteers building new trails at our National Historic Landmark. We promise you good clean exercise (with bits of earth) warm camaraderie, new skills and a gratifying feeling of accomplishment. This is a chance to get out in the woods to a little-known area that offers a pristine hemlock forest, valley floor of ferns, dramatic cliffs, waterfalls and abundant animals and birds. The new trails will open the woods to hikers, but you can be among the first to explore it building the trails.

We are laying two new trails that form a loop into the woods in the rugged southern portion of the Nature Sanctuary, starting at Slabsides below the eastern cliff wall and bending around to the Pond to the west. The Highlands Trail will include a twelve-foot ladder over the ridge of a cliff.

There is a lot of trail work activities to choose from.

Come join us and leave a legacy. Your contribution will be tangible and lasting for many to enjoy for years to come. Email Joan Burroughs to sign up and pick a task and a time. jjjburroughs@yahoo.com.

http://research.amnh.org/burroughs/trail_work/trail_announce_2011.html

Directions
Slabsides is located in West Park, New York, on the Hudson River eighty miles north of New York City, and ten miles south of Kingston. From Route 9-W at West Park, turn west onto Floyd Ackert Road (between Marcel’s restaurant and the Post Office), cross the railroad tracks, and follow the Floyd Ackert Road about 1/2 mile to the foot of Burroughs Drive. Park here and walk up the hill to Slabsides.

For more information call Pat at 845-658-8563.