This is a wonderful story about the Parkway, big trees that fall, a helpful neighbor and wise public leadership, a good thing all around!
Parkway resident clears the way for trail users
By Ramon Coronado - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, August 9, 2007
For months, a mysterious sign on a downed oak tree along a popular dirt trail in the American River Parkway has stirred up speculation.
"Thank You, Lyle Hoag, for Providing This Path Through the Majestic Fallen Oak," the wooden sign reads.
The tree is enormous. It's like a dinosaur frozen in time that intimidates all that surrounds it. The sign is affixed midway on the trunk that is 8 feet from the ground, forming a natural archway.
The trunk, which at its base is 4 feet wide, is held up by huge limbs acting as powerful arms pushing up the mass of the tree to form a tunnel.
"It's a piece of artwork," said Amy DuBois, a regular user of the dirt trail that meanders through the fallen oak that lies between Bannister Park and Sacramento Bar near the Carmichael and Fair Oaks boundary.
The sign is a tribute to the 75-year-old man who took it upon himself to clear a carefully pruned path through the downed tree.
The sign also may be against county ordinance.
"The county has a tight policy of not allowing people to memorialize things, places or people on park property," said Dave Lydick, director of the American River Parkway.
"The sign may be 2 feet on public property. It might be 2 feet on private property.
It's a close call," Lydick said.
When the tree was growing, it was near the edge of private property, but when it fell last winter, most of it ended up on parkland.
"I got the feeling that everybody was saying it was somebody else's job," said Eric Parks, who, with his wife, DuBois, recently walked along the dirt trail.
After the tree fell, it sat blocking the dirt trail for months. The half-mile dirt path, which is officially a horse trail, is used by hikers, joggers, dog owners and cyclists. The worn path is shaded by a canopy of tall oaks.
It is also an alternate route for older park users who like to avoid speeding bicyclists on the paved trail that runs parallel to the dirt path. From the Bannister Park side, there is a 45-degree slope on the bike trail that gives bikers extra speed.
Trail users who had to walk around the tree wore a path in the private property of nearby residents, including Lyle Hoag.
"I went down there, and I said to myself: I can cut this limb here. I can cut that limb there. Then out came this marvelous arch," said Hoag, who lives next door to a neighbor whose property is near the fallen tree.
He even ramped up dirt on both sides of a large limb that had partially buried itself from the force of the fall so that people wouldn't trip. Someone else came along with a chain saw and cut slices out of the branch after the dirt wore away from the sides.
Hoag said he didn't think twice about helping out. Having lived next to the American River Parkway for the past 33 years, he and his wife, Elizabeth, have helped out many times before.
The Hoags, who have been married 56 years, are members of the "weed warriors," volunteers who monitor and remove invasive plants along the river.
"We use the path nearly every day, and helping out was doing our part," Hoag said.
Armed with nothing more than a hand saw, the retired director of the San Juan Water District and former consultant to the State Water Resources Board, artistically cut a tunnel through the tangled limbs, some of them a foot thick.
"I remember he was out there more than one day," said Elizabeth Hoag. "I was impressed. I think it was a fine thing for him to do.
"I thought it was a nice thing to recognize what he did," she said of the sign she had made up and attached to the tree.
"The beautiful tree is gone, but now we have this nice tunnel to walk through."
Lydick said for now he is going to consider the spot on the tree where the sign is to be private property. A survey could pin-point the boundary lines, but the $8,000 to $9,000 cost isn't worth it, he said.
"We are just going to leave it alone," Lydick said of the sign.
