Warmer days stymie weekend trail activities
Muddy conditions, concern for plant life prompt area closures.
Warmer temperatures may draw more people outdoors this weekend, but those wanting to hike, mountain bike or ride horses may find their favorite trails closed due to muddy conditions and a concern for plant life.
Glen Helen in Yellow Springs closed Friday as some narrow trails have been widened by as much as 4 feet in recent days due to people avoiding mud, said Nick Boutis, executive director of the Glen Helen Association.
“That’s how you gradually go from a trail that’s one-personwide to one you could drive a truck down,” he said.
Five Rivers MetroParks’ Mountain Bike Area, also known as MoMBA, and the equestrian trails at Carriage Hill and Possum Creek MetroParks are also currently closed due to similar conditions, said Michael Osborne, regional manager with Five Rivers MetroParks and chairman of the Strategic Trails Initiative.
“This is a challenging time of the year,” Osborne said. “We’ve all got cabin fever. We all want to get outside. And right now the trails are extremely soft and fragile because of the snowmelt.”
Boutis said it’s not every year that frozen ground, rising temperatures and a melting snowpack create conditions that stymie hikers and stress the environment.
“The weather stars have aligned in a way that just makes it not good for the health of the preserve for us to have open access this weekend,” he said.
Dayton temperatures are predicted to reach the mid50s today and top 60 degrees Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. The warmup comes after the region was covered with at least 1 inch of snow for more than three weeks, the longest stretch since 1985. The last 50-degree day in Dayton was Dec. 9, according to National Weather Service records.
Glen Helen closed at the start of the pandemic but since reopening as seen an unprecedented number of visitors, Boutis said. A nice weekend can bring out more than 1,000 hikers to the preserve’s nearly 15 miles of trails.
“People innocently and well-meaningly will step outside of the mud in the center of the path,” he said. “Over the course of a few hundred thousand footsteps over a weekend, it has an outsized impact on the trail system of our preserve.”
Osborne said nature is better served if hikers always stay on trails, but it’s particularly important as temperatures warm into spring.
“The trail is put in a specific spot to not negatively impact the surrounding areas,” he said. “If people wander off trail, especially this time of year … you may be trampling areas that might have spring ephemerals, spring flowers. Even though you may not see them, they’re actively working beneath the soil starting to get ready to come up.”
Going off trail may also disrupt the nesting and breeding habitat of creatures like salamanders that begin stirring with warmer temperatures, Osborne said.
Many of Five Rivers MetroParks’ trails have multiple trail heads so its difficult to close trails entirely, Osborne said. While most hiking paths will be accessible this weekend along with the equestrian area at Sugarcreek MetroPark, he urges finding alternatives this weekend.
“We recommend that you don’t use them, but it’s very hard to put a closure on them,” he said.
Both Boutis and Osborne said a safer place for people to stretch their legs this weekend is on one of the region’s paved multi-use trails. Covering more than 340 miles, the system is the largest interconnected paved network in the country.
The officials said options like Cox Arboretum MetroPark, with packed trails, and Cedar Bog State Nature Preserve and Siebenthaler Fen, which have boardwalks, won’t present outdoor enthusiasts with mud this weekend.
As of Friday afternoon, Greene County Parks & Trails had not closed any paths, including 6 miles of trails at the Narrows Reserve in Beavercreek, said Hanna Lamb, Greene County Parks & Trails spokeswoman.
“We are urging park-goers to use trails cautiously and to report any major issues,” she said. “We do encourage each park user to use their discretion when hiking or using the trails.”
The Raptor Center at Glen Helen will remain open during normal winter hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Glen Helen land stewardship staff will determine when trails can reopen and make that announcement at www.glenhelen.org and on Glen Helen’s Facebook page. Five Rivers MetroParks closures can be viewed on the alerts page at www.metroparks. org/alerts.
The public’s consideration this weekend for life at the fragile edge of trails will help keep habitat intact for the region’s flora and fauna to thrive this spring, Osborne said.
“You don’t want to love something to death,” he said.