Alaska State Parks officials in Haines are hoping residents will turn out to celebrate National Public Lands Day by helping extend improvements along Battery Point Trail on Saturday.
Volunteers should show up at 9 a.m. at the trailhead at the end of Beach Road Extension. Participants under age 18 are required to have signed parental or guardian permission.
Parks technician Jon Gellings said the work party aims to put out as much as 10 yards of gravel on rebuilt sections of the trail. Work will include shoveling, scooping, raking gravel and rolling wheelbarrows. Volunteers should wear work gloves and boots and bring extra wheelbarrows, he said.
Work also will include putting up trail markers, Gellings said. He said he expects work on the trail to be completed next year. “It seems like it’s totally doable, unless there’s a funding problem, if we have the same number of people (as this year),” he said.
Parks employees, volunteers and workers from Southeast Alaska Guidance Association and Alaska Conservation Corps have spent time on the project this year, he said.
The 1.2-mile trail that empties onto a Chilkoot Inlet beach is a favorite with residents and tour companies, including for its proximity to town. Heavy use in recent years has degraded the trail, creating muddy and rooted sections.
About 600 feet of trail was built up with gravel this summer, using about 20 yards of material. More information on National Public Lands Day can be found at publiclandsday.org.