Volunteers Clear The Path For Moapa

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

A crew of about a half dozen hard workers met at the southern end of Henrie Road in Moapa early on Saturday morning with an ambitious goal: to clean the rocks and dried mud from the 1.3 mile asphalt bike trail along Henrie Road from Patriots Ave. to Isola Ave.

The work party was organized by Moapa Town Advisory Board member Cally Wade. Wade said that she just wanted to address a concern that she had heard from members of her community.

“A lot of people in town have complained about the rocks and dirt strewn all along this path,” Wade said in an interview with The Progress. “With all the flooding and wind damage that has gone on in the valley, it has actually been a time when Moapa hasn’t gotten hit as hard. And the County Public Works crews have been busy and haven’t got around to sweep our trail for a while. So we decided to just go to work and get the job done today.”

Wade put out a call to the community on social media inviting any and all local residents to come help. But upon arriving a little before 7 am on Saturday, Wade found that only her four children and a neighbor, Barbara Parker, had arrived to assist – all of whom Wade had brought with her.

“That’s fine, we are going to do it anyway as planned,” Wade said. “It is only a mile and a half after all.”
The small crew spread out along the path with brooms and square-point shovels and went to work. They moved methodically up the trail in the morning heat, sweeping rocks away and scraping layers of hardened mud from the path. They left nothing but clear, clean asphalt behind them.

Asked how this work rated in its overall difficulty, young Karianne Wade responded, “It isn’t really that hard.”

Compared to cleaning out chicken coops, caring for livestock and many other chores her family is used to do at home, sweeping up rocks off the street was actually pretty easy, she said.

At about 8:45, the little crew had arrived at the corner of Henrie and Isola, where the trail ends. They turned a moment to look back over a completely clean trail.

Wade acknowledged that this improved condition wouldn’t last long. A lot of the rocks on the trail come from ATV traffic through the area and from vehicles coming in and out of driveways along Henrie Rd. None of that can really be helped, she admitted

“By tonight there will probably be rocks all over it again,” Wade said. “I know that we can’t keep it clean all the time. But at least we know that we have done some good today and made a difference for a while.”