Wednesday, October 4, 2006

New Hailey trail open for business

Mayor credits volunteer workers

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By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

Hailey Mayor Susan McBryant, center, with help from Amelia Fugater, left, Annelise Hyde, Aiden Durdle and Kenny Lodgdon Poggi cut a ceremonial ribbon on Friday to officially open the 2.5-mile Toe of the Hill Trail, just east of Hailey, to recreational users. Photo by David N. Seelig

It's official.

Placing scissors to ribbon last Friday, Hailey Mayor Susan McBryant opened the Toe of the Hill Trail on the city's eastern boundary to a crowd of excited recreationists eager to get out and plod in the dirt.

"This is the fun part about being mayor," McBryant said during a quick speech before the ribbon cutting.

This summer, volunteer crews completed work on the new non-motorized trail, which stretches for approximately 2.5 miles from the Hailey Community Campus to the Woodside Elementary School and links a number of connector trails extending west to the Wood River Trails system.

The Toe of the Hill Trail cuts a circuitous path along the eastern hills adjacent to the city—hence the name.

Near the trail, rehabilitation work has also been done to stabilize and reseed several motor-vehicle-induced scars located on nearby hillsides. In time, native grasses and sagebrush should soften the vertical ruts and create a more pleasing view of the hills.

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The creation of the Toe of the Hill Trail is largely due to the 200 hours volunteers spent doing backbreaking work on it, McBryant said.

"It was sweat and tears," she said. "It's just hard labor. That's an awful lot for people to do."

Looking back, McBryant recalled the meeting when the Hailey City Council—of which she was a member at the time—authorized the creation of the city's Parks and Lands Board.

"That was probably one of the best nights I had on the City Council," she said.

McBryant noted that the Hailey Parks and Lands Board was instrumental in the city's coming into ownership of several parcels of hillside land the Toe of the Hill Trail cuts across.

"We now own the hillsides," she said.

At the celebration's end, McBryant handed out award certificates to the volunteers who this past summer spent many of their Saturdays tending the trail. Those recognized were Dave McBryant, Steve and Becki Keefer, Tom Hellen and Carol Brown.