Tuesday, October 26, 2010 2:18 pm

Katie Sadler, CCWHA Auxiliary Board Member, is shown picking up trash during the October 2010 ‘Clean the Trails Ride’.

The fall of the year brings beautiful colors and wonderful weather to the hills of Cannon County.  Cannon County Walking Horse Association property is the location of many visitors during this time of year due to the wonderful colors and scenery Mother Nature blesses us with around October each year.  Like anyone having company, a little clean up and tidying up is necessary.  

Each year before the leaves begin to fall, CCWHA organizes a trail ride with the purpose to pick up trash and clean up the trails.  The only charge for this trail ride is bring an empty trash bag and return it to the camp ground full after the day’s ride.  Brent Richardson, Board Member, stated “we like keeping our own trails clean, but we also keep up this tradition to keep the property of our neighbors clean as well”.  

“It really is an honor to have so many visitors to the mountain this time of year and nice to share our great treasure with other riders who enjoy the turning of the leaves”, stated Anna Nichols.  Anna, husband Tim, and their family always make an extra effort to assist with this project.

“The CCWH Jr Aux plays a large role in campground clean up” states Board Member Ralph Givens, “so I feel like we as adults need to do a little better and help the kids with this project”.  

Robbie Richardson drove around to various pick up points to collect the trash bags as riders hauled them out of the trails.  By the end of the day, Robbie had collected a pick-up truck load to dispose of properly.  Robbie stated, “a lot of what we collect is small pieces of trash that is accidently dropped or blows away while riders have lunch and snack, but when all collected into one location it adds up to several bags of trash”.  “We enjoy having visitors and like Anna stated, we just like to keep things neat for everyone”, stated Robbie.  

As stated by Dwayne ‘Bones’ Cawthon, “we know the perfect answer would be for everyone to bring their trash back in to camp but this doesn’t always happen, so we are doing the next best thing by having planned clean up days.  The Jr Aux does a great job in helping year round with campground clean up and collecting of cans, but when it comes to keeping close to 300 acres clean, we all need to pitch in and help”.

If you have not taken time to see the colors in the trees on the campground, it is worth the drive!