Late last fall, during routine Trail maintenance, Rusty Cain of Ohio State Parks noticed that the river bank had eroded within less than a foot of the asphalt trail at the Ft. Ancient path off the trail --- about 3.5 miles north of Morrow, very near mile marker 24.5.

 

Further investigation revealed that the large culvert headwall had collapsed due to river erosion (much like the disaster we averted at Corwin).  Once the headwall had fallen, the ground slumped off behind the culvert threatening the trail itself. 

 

Rusty quickly organized and mobilized 2 Park staff and 4 Southern Equipment crew members and patched the headwall and shored up the trail. This crew of 6 worked 4 full days to complete the work. Material costs exceeded $1,000.

 

Alan Ferguson, Little Miami State Park manager, has told me that "We were probably within weeks, if not days, of pavement failure had the emergency repairs not been made. We hope this temporary fix lasts for many years.  We'll continue to monitor it closely."

 

If you travel this stretch of the Trail, you'll easily notice the work that's been done.

 

As a side note, Rusty Cain's dedication to this Trail goes back many years --- Rusty was on the crew that removed the original railroad ties and rails in preparation for the Trail.

 

We owe a debit of gratitude to Rusty Cain, the other Park personnel, and the Southern Equipment crew for their vigilance and hard work on our behalf --- in a time of State budget woes and the resulting personnel cutbacks.