As many of you know, I have been building a fitness trail in my community that was left to rot for nearly 20 years. It is now completed with the exception of the signs. We have all the signs for the trail but we still need to acquire the materials to install them. This trail has 18 different fitness stations. It is 1.5 miles long. The trail starts out with a 1/2 mile warm up followed by a 1/2 mile of fitness stations and then back for a 1/2 mile cool down.

I spent 2 years working on the trail. The first year I gathered permissions from the county and township to begin the project. Then I surveyed the community to see if they would actually use a fitness trail. And yes they were excited about it. After a year of fund raising I managed to acquire enough money to get started. Sadly covid hit and things got really slow, though I am pleased to announce the trail build was successfully completed despite.

This area has a big Native American History. So we contacted the local tribes and they sponsored the making of all the signs. This was a HUGE donation because the signs cost a fortune and would have taken forever to raise the need money for them. I presented them with the idea to make the signs bilingual consisting of english and whenever possible their native language. They loved the idea.

Fitness was not the only aspect of the trail we focused on though. We built the trail as a multipurpose multi-use trail. In summer it can be used for hiking, biking, fitness work outs, and nature hike. We designed signs to be placed next to various plants and animal habitats that explained a few tidbits of information about what you are seeing in both languages. In winter the trail can be used for snowshoeing, skiing, fitness, and nature hike. Throughout the year the trail can also be used for events like a Halloween Haunted Trail event which I am actually currently setting up. As well it can be used for other holiday events too. I hope to establish an annual spring time Sawyer Fitness Run to raise funds for keeping the trail maintained and to help fund future community projects.

This week myself and a friend were able to install the first official and main trailhead sign. I personally spent roughly $500 of my own money to get this sign installed in hopes it would draw attention and possibly more donors. The trail is completely usable but still needs the rest of the signs installed. I have never done brick work before so my friends and I talked to some masons and watched a few YouTube videos then began work. I think for never having done masonry before, the sign came out great. The rest of the signs wont be this elaborate. I intend to set the other signs on posts where needed. This sign was important because it lets everyone know where the trail is.

I’ve had dozens of volunteers help out with this project so far. It really became a community effort and a focus of community pride. I have created all kinds of annual events and projects for K.I. Sawyer, our community, all of which are big hits, but this fitness trail I believe is the best yet.

There are a few rules about the trail such as:

  1. no camping
  2. no fires
  3. pack it in, pack it out
  4. no motorized vehicles
  5. keep dogs on leash
  6. respect others & trail

If you by any chance you would like to support this project of mine or any others going on now or in the future then please contact me at fixedbydoc.com/contact

Thanks for stopping by!