HAMBURG, N.Y. — An estimated 40,000 people from all over the world take a hike to see the Eternal Flame at Chestnut Ridge Park. That’s a lot of foot traffic. It has led to a lot of erosion, not to mention emergency calls for help.
Over the past several weeks, work has been underway to alleviate those issues and make the trail more accessible.
In the woods of Chestnut Ridge Park, there's a sighting of a mysterious animal and sounds unfamiliar to Mother Nature. It’s all part of work that's underway to revamp the beloved Eternal Flame Trail.
“This is the first phase of a project we've been working on for a few years now,” said Michael Corbin, treasurer of the Chestnut Ridge Conservancy.
Preservation and safety are the top priority for the roughly $150,000 project.
“We have to strike a balance between those two objectives,” Corbin said. “And that's what the experts, the trail contractor, is doing.”
For the purposes of this story, Corbin is our tour guide. He explains the 135 steps that are being placed not only help trail lovers, but the plant life along the way.
“You stomp through here, see all the exposed roots,” Corbin showed. “Now these are nice, these make nice steps, but that's not preservation.”
The 180-pound steps, moved by muscle, are filled in with dirt, which was removed to create this new path along the creek bed.
“That's the most dangerous part of the stream,” Corbin said. “Bed hike was right in here because there's a lot of slippery rock. So we built this as an alternate.”
At the end, there is a staircase that takes you steps closer to nature’s beauty. You’ll notice fine details like a tree stump that has been etched out. Logs are placed where they’d like you to stay out as well.
“This was it was an obstacle,” Corbin showed off now cut down trees in the creek bed. “You had to kind of step over, logs and natural debris.”
This is just phase one. Next year, phase two will start. That will take a look at the start of the trail, possibly putting in a boardwalk and rails — adding definition as folks head into the woods.
“People kind of scatter all around and that that that that hurts our preservation efforts,” Corbin said.
Eternal may be in its name, but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that this trail became super popular. With that in mind, it took a couple of years to fundraise and figure out detours, and get that message out to you. With that, some reminders if you plan on checking it out.
“Remember that the whole thing is not you know, it's not a dedicated path the whole way. You still have to navigate the creek bed, so you should continue to wear safe footwear, be prepared and just be ready to get your feet a little wet sometimes.”
But as it’s said, "It’s not the destination, it’s the journey." One could argue with an ending like this, exceptions can be made.
“It’s very unique and it’s natural,” Corbin said.
There are a number of other projects in the works. Chestnut Ridge Conservancy is looking at how it can restore the 100 Steps down to the riverbed at MacKinnon and Martin Lodges, located in Chestnut Ridge Park as well.
As for the county parks department, future plans include work at the amphitheater at Emery Park in South Wales. More details on that project will be announced in the future.