Labor of Love: My first trail maintenance work party with the Florida Trail Association

I finally got around last Saturday to joining my local Florida Trail Association chapter for a trail maintenance work party, one of the most popular activities the FTA chapters host. If you’re looking for a great way to get acquainted with some of the most beautiful sections of trail in Florida and the people who maintain them, I recommend signing up for a work party with your local FTA chapter.

The Florida Trail Association is the statewide organization of volunteers who promote and maintain the Florida Trail, the 1,500-mile backpacking trail running from the Everglades to the western tip of the Florida Panhandle. Most of the nineteen FTA chapters spread throughout the state are charged with maintaining sections of the Florida Trail running through their districts. Although much of the Florida Trail runs through state forests and national forests maintained by rangers, the work of trimming paths on the FT, cutting fallen trees, and rerouting paths around new obstacles largely falls to volunteers. (FTA chapters also host other fun activities like group hikes and camping trips and even speaking engagements and book-signings (including one by yours truly).)

Because most thru hikers take on sections of the FT in late fall and early spring when the weather is most pleasant, most FTA work parties occur between late September and early January.  They typically last an entire morning, often on weekdays when trails are less busy, but many are held on Saturdays. For example, my Central Florida chapter typically hosts five work parties a month from October through January (depending upon weather), of which four occur mid-week and one each month is held on a Saturday.

My experience Saturday should give you an idea of what you’re likely to do. Our group focused on a section of the Florida Trail and adjacent White Trial in the Little Big Econ State Forest near Chuluota and met near the trailhead for the White Trail off Snow Hill Road. When our 25 volunteers arrived, we were given hard hats and split into groups of three to tackle different trail sections, with one group beginning where we met and two others being driven to other trailheads in pick-up trucks.  My specific group drove out to the leg of the Florida Trail that heads west off the multi-use Flagler Trail just north of the bridge over the Econlockhatchee River.

Each group has an experienced leader who operates a large lawnmower, who sets out from a given trailhead and mows any grasses and weeds covering the primary path. Most other volunteers follow the mower with loppers and cut any branches, palmettos, or other plants crowding the trail, then discard their trimmings beyond the side of the trail. As the painter, I followed behind the loppers and repainted blazes on trees used by hikers to find the trail. Some teams also have certified sawyers who use chainsaws to cut apart any trees that have fallen across the trail.

My specific group covered about a 1.6-mile stretch of trail and took about 2 hours of none-too-strenuous work to complete our section. We all arrived at 8:45, and when factoring in the time for instruction and driving to trailheads, I left to return home around 12:30, although many people left sooner.

Some work parties will focus on more specific tasks like building bridges and boardwalks, which can require a bit more time and heavy work, including staging and transporting building materials. These are always hosted by experienced group leaders who often design and prepare the structures to be installed, and you’ll know before you go if such work is on the agenda.

The Central Florida chapter of the FTA maintains a page on their website listing their schedule for trail maintenance, which has a link where you can sign up for email updates.  They also announce individual work parties on Meetup and in their monthly newsletters. If you go, you’ll want to wear durable shoes and pants and perhaps bring work gloves and sunglasses or other eye-coverings. This was certainly a pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning.