ERTS State Park Update
Nov 18 2019

Since the powers that be came to their senses and decided to remove the old railroad ties from the coming in June 2020, Elk River Trail System (ERTS), we've been wondering, what's the long skinny park going to look like. Monday afternoon Nov 18th, we took a run down the ERTS for about 2.5 miles.

In neat piles, spaced out down the trail, are the free RR ties ready for the taking. Many of em are pretty rotten lookin but, if you sort thru, there are plenty of solid ones at the ready for your next retaining wall or even upright fence posts.

With the ties removed , the ballast smoothed out, and in places, regrind already applied, getting to the stacks of ties is easy. Turning around might be another issue if your truck is not a four wheel drive vehicle. Turning around a truck and trailer, that might take a teamster!

Here's the old bridge over Turkey Creek. So far, it looks like, the trail is hikeable or bikeable from Duck to Groves Creek, about 4.5 miles.

The contractor made these nice looking hiking trail additions and placed them in front of Nottingham Store.

Take a close look at that bench. The seating and backrest parts were made out of the old rails. The details are great.

Bet that rascal weighs in around 800 pounds!

Here's the remodeled Groves Creek brdige complete with side rails and floor. As of Nov 18th, the rails and old ties are out for over 5 miles or down to the end of the world curve on Route 4. Brush cutting is complete for an additional 2 more miles. If weather holds, seems like, the trails will be complete down to Ivydale by Dec 1st. As for having the rails out by Christmas, ain't going to happen. But, progress can be seen daily.
AW