When the COVID-19 pandemic started, a lot of people found themselves doing various activities outdoors, notably hiking and going on various nature trails.

Dale’s Ridge Trail in Lewisburg was no exception to that. The 2.3-mile trail loop off Route 192 West saw a lot of use since 2020, and with that much usage sees a lot of foot traffic.

Data gathered by SEDA-COG noted that the trail itself averages about 1,000 uses per month. And for Chad North, the operations manager at the Merrill W. Linn Land and Waterways Conservancy, that was great data to see.

But with that much usage, one thing became evident, the series of switchbacks at Dale’s Ridge Trail would need repaired due to so many people using the trail.

“We only ever had a ballpark inkling,” North said, noting the number denotes how many uses the trail had, not individual people. “We don’t know how many people, but we have an idea of how many uses it sees almost down to the day.”

In order to help fix that series of switchbacks on the trail, North and the Linn Conservancy is hosting a volunteer day on Saturday, April 13 to help repair it and work on it.

Those who wish to register to help with the volunteer efforts on Saturday, April 13 can do so by registering online at linnconservancy.org. The event will run 8:30 a.m. through noon with a lunch to follow.

“This is our first time actually doing a true volunteer event during the national volunteer day or week. What we’re able to do, we’re doing some major renovations to the trail itself this year in part due to grant funding through the American Rescue Plan Act,” North said.

The Linn Conservancy also received money from Union County to do some trail repairs as well due to the high usage from the pandemic.

North noted that between Dale’s Ridge Trail, the West Milton State Park and Watsontown’s trail, Dale’s Ridge had the most usage of the tree tested by SEDA-COG via its trail demand report.

“So to help us save costs in doing the switchback part of the trail, the consultant we’re working with is helping us with volunteers to try and rebuild the trail, particularly the switchback area.”

The testing to see how much usage the trail received was set up in July 2022 at the three selected trail networks noted with counter boxes screwed onto wooden posts or trees.

The data was collected at the three trails from July 31, 2022 through July 22, 2023. Over the course of 357 days, Dale’s Ridge saw 13,927 uses and averaged almost 40 uses per day.

The trail is along the creek at water level and climbs up between 80 and 100 feet via switchbacks, which are bends in the path to help climb to a higher elevation. Dale’s Ridge features just one series of switchbacks, which goes back and forth between four or five times. It was originally built in 1989-90 and has been repaired over the years, but North noted this is the first time they will really be able to renovate and improve them for climbing and help prevent erosion and other trail issues.

“We had an unprecedented number of people hike the trail during the pandemic,” North said.

North and the Linn Conservancy are working with landscape architect Brian Auman for the repairs of the switchback.

“He’s very environmentally focused and has done this before,” North said. “So we’re going to elongate the switchback, lower the slope so they’re easier to climb, but do things to help improve erosion resistance.”

North noted that the overall goal with the trail is simply to improve people’s experience in nature.

“Improving the trail and switchbacks helps not just get more people outside who might not be used to hiking aside from rails or state parks, but we want them to enjoy their experience safely and have everything they need to kind of connect with nature,” North said. “Recreation leads to conservation. The more people get outside, the more they connect to their environment and conserve it.”