As I headed out the door to do some trail running in the national park behind my house, I was surprised to make it only a few hundred meters before I was stopped dead in my tracks. The dead part was a tree that had fallen over the trail over a month ago and had yet to be removed. No problem. I went back home, got a hand saw, cut up the tree and cleared the trail. Now run!
A few hundred meters on, I was stopped again. Another tree down! I went home again, got the saw, cut up the tree and cleared the trail. Each tree removal took about 30 minutes. Now run!
But the rest of the trail was in no better condition. More trees and branches were strewn over the path, some of the debris more recent than the others. Some branches had even already been hacked in two by passersby to make the trail more passable. Yet other sections of the trail were completely overgrown with weeds.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.