A LITTLE HISTORY
Briefly, the Trail Guards evolved from the State of Minnesota "Clean The River" program. The City of Paynesville, MN participated in this during the late 80's and early 90's, and when Tom Koshiol was "tricked" (by former mayor Dick Moreland!) into taking over, he proposed to the city to begin a trail system along the North Fork of the Crow River, which runs along the north edge of town in Paynesville. The city owns a beautiful 12 acre parcel of that river bottom area, and that was to be the trail head.
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In the spring of 1992, volunteers began clearing trails, and a stairway and footbridge were constructed with funds solicited from local service organizations. Kids seemed naturally drawn to the area, and to the ongoing activities, so Tom decided to put them to work. They asked to be trail guides, and guide folks along the new trails. Tom said they really needed trail "guards" to guard the new trails from vandals and troublemakers.
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The Trail Guards was really born then and there. A local business (Tom's employer, Voss Plumbing and Heating) offered to provide T-shirts, and soon a growing number of kids began to meet at the new "Crow River Nature Park" to work under Tom's direction.
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Click here to learn more about the park!
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WHAT WE DO
Now, after many years, we are a non-profit, incorporated, private youth group with hundreds of young participants throughout our history.
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About 50 kids are involved annually, 30 or so on a pretty regular basis. We sponsor incredible outings each year at no cost to participating youths, including whitewater rafting; wilderness camping/canoeing Boundary Waters Canoe Area trips; local outings to canoe, fish, and rock climb; a canoe/kayak trip through the Everglades; and overnight bicycle trips. We also sponsor one youth annually on an international bicycle tour, and perform our yearly "My Room" project--a complete bedroom makeover for a deserving young Trail Guard--over the winter months.
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Trail Guards meets every Saturday morning at the Crow River Nature Park (200 Burr St., Paynesville) from early May to the end of October to maintain the park and spend the morning outdoors with friends. We meet at 9am, break for a fresh fruit snack and activity at 10am, sit together for a hot homemade lunch at 11:30am, and end at noon. The kids are required to leave the park when we're done. It's a public park, but we require everyone to leave at that time for safety and liability reasons. It is between the kids and their parents/guardians if they return later.
We also conduct a variety of supervised outings throughout the year, including bike-packing trips, whitewater rafting, canoeing on Lake Koronis, BWCA trips, our Fall Fishing Day, wall climbing at Prairie Woods ELC, and more. Some outings have an age requirement, but many are open to everyone.
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We begin our activities in early May (depending on the spring-runoff river level), but don't accept new members until school lets out for the summer - usually in early June. Our age range for Trail Guard membership is 8 to 19.
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We always recommend that parents/guardians who aren't familiar with us come to the park to check things out for themselves. We have four paid adults who keep things moving safely and sanely, and who serve food as needed.
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We do require a membership form with a liability and media release to be filled out and signed by a parent/guardian. We can mail or email a membership form on request. There is no obligation, no attendance requirement, and no cost for membership or for most of our outings.
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Call anytime for more information (320-250-0464).