Alligator Hill took a direct hit from winds clocked at near 100 mph during the epic August 2nd storm. During the storm, massive, centuries-old trees were toppled like pickup sticks. Some piles reached 30-feet high, leaving some Lakeshore officials wondering if the popular hiking and cross-country ski path might ever reopen. Check out this great profile of one unique member of the chainsaw-wielding cleanup crew who worked 10-hour days, six days per week, to get the trail back open.
During the August 2nd storm, high winds level the forest at Alligator Hill. If you were on the ground after the August 2nd storm, it’s hard to really imagine just how impossible the cleanup of Alligator Hill must have seemed to the crews given the assignment. Picture an impenetrable wall of treetops, a tangled jungle of massive timber that stretched for hundreds of yards in every direction.
Traverse magazine writer, Emily Bingham, caught up with one of the amazing members of the cleanup crew who worked for months to reopen the trail. The profile of Mindy Carter, who describes the exhaustion and daily toil of using a chainsaw to “tunnel through” timber stacked 30-feet high, appears in the February 2016 issue, on newsstands right now and also available at shopmynorth.com. Bingham’s Q&A offers some pretty cool details from someone who was actually there. If you can’t wait to pick up a copy, check out the online version of the story clicking here.