I got out and walked from the shelter house to deer creek today, it was in pretty good shape overall. Threw off debris as I walked but really only 6 or so somewhat large branches to remove, threw off a lot of little stuff too but I'm sure that I missed some. When we go ahead and blow the trail most of the little stuff will go with the leaves. I probably need to make another pass with some loppers, not a lot to trim but a few areas for sure. I will need to do some deberming in areas as well. There was one tree top down covering part of the trail but it was dead and hollowed out and with the help of gravity it is now removed. There is one tree that got twisted and is down (off the trail) but 3 or 4 feet is sticking up near the edge of the trail, I will probably need to get that removed so nobody hooks a bar end on it, also the low hanging branch on Patti's Point seems much lower now so I will need to remove it also.
I did run into a couple guys from Excelsior Springs hiking on the trail today, they started at the boat ramp and hiked up to lot 17 and were on the return trip. They seemed to really be enjoying the trail and I believe they were camping as well. I told them they need to get up to Crowder some time and try those trails, they said they had heard about Crowder as well. I asked them if they rode bikes too and one of them does, maybe they will come back and maybe bring some more friends!