Hi all, we hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable summer considering everything going on. We in the Trail Society have been working on our fall hiking schedule to be released soon. In an effort to give back to the forest, the Trail Society is planning our 4th annual trash blast work day at Garden of the Gods on National Public Lands Day. National Public Lands Day is held annually on the on the fourth Saturday in September and is the largest single-day volunteer event for public lands. Join us and the Friends of the Shawnee National Forest at Garden of the Gods main parking lot at on Saturday September 23, 2023 at 9:30 AM to celebrate National Public Lands Day by helping to clean up the trash in area before the fall tourist season.

Depending on the number of volunteers that register, we plan on having several groups picking up in various areas. These would include below the observation trail, another group picking up along the observation trail and around the parking lots and a third group picking up at the backpackers parking lot and on the Indian Point Trail. If you are planning on volunteering please plan on bring your own gloves, water, trash pickup tools and snacks needed for the event. This trash blast will involve bushwhacking around the base of the observation area and in the woods below parking the parking lots.

It is requested that volunteers call or email Bill Gilmour (270-331-1553 or william.gilmour@frontier.com) to register your participation. Please leave a message if I don’t answer.

For more information including directions, please see the Shawnee National Forest Service’s page on the event at the following link:

National Environmental Education Foundation

Lets make this as successful as last years event as shown in the pages photo.