Florida Trail Association replacing two bridges in Little Big Econ State Forest
Rather than burning bridges, the Florida Trail Association is dedicated to rebuilding them, especially after Hurricane Ian washed away two important pieces of trail infrastructure in Little Big Econ State Forest.
The weekend after the storm blew through Central Florida, volunteers kayaked through the flooded forest on the Econlockhatchee River, making a pass over the Flagler Trail Bridge while it was completely underwater. The rising waters also lifted two tired trail bridges off their sills.
Nearly eight months after the storm, the volunteer trail maintenance organization has the materials and approval to fix the bridges. After the storm, the Florida Forest Service re-routed part of the orange-blazed Florida Trail and the White Trail, which come together to form the popular Kolokee Loop.
Amid these bridge outages and trail closures, hikers have been forced onto horse trails and away from the river during this past wintertime hiking season.
In February, volunteers used canoes on the Econlockhatchee River to haul out pieces of the destroyed bridge, which sat at marker LE 41 on the Florida Trail. This past Wednesday, a team of 17 FTA volunteers hiked to the bridge location while two canoes each carried a 225-pound piece of lumber, which were installed as sills for the new bridge to sit on.
The 32-foot truss bridge is set to be constructed at the trail site on June 3, barring severe weather. The Florida Trail Association is looking for a team of 30-40 volunteers to help assist in carrying out lumber to the build site, a little more than half a mile down the trail from vehicle access.
“We’re ready to build this bridge tomorrow, we just need the people to do it,” said Jerry Rogers, the FTA Central Florida Chapter’s trails coordinator. “The materials are all cut up and numbered.”
Volunteers will rig a pulley system between trees to lift two 1,000-pound truss pieces into place once they’re fastened. The new bridge, which sits on the orange-blazed Florida Trail right next to the Econ River, should be usable after the first weekend of June.
Construction of the new 28-foot bridge on the White Trail will follow, likely later this month.
To learn more and participate in trail maintenance, visit floridatrail.org, facebook.com/groups/CentralFlorida.FloridaTrail or meetup.com. To learn more about hiking and outdoor recreation in Little Big Econ State Forest, visit fdacs.gov.
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