Cripple Gate (March 2nd 2011):--- St. Martin Trails hiking club held a cleanup hike of the history Moho trail on Sunday February 27th 2011 and invited the Gendarmerie Sports and social club to join them in the effort. The group of about 40 persons collected a total 12 – 30 litter trash bags of glass, plastic and paper trash as they made their way to the carved stones at the Moho.
The group continued their hike up to Paradise peak and down through Colombier. The bags were retrieved later and disposed of.
'It's important for us not only to keep the trails open and passable by hiking them regularly, it is equally important for us to keep the trails clean. You would be amazed at the amount of liter that can be found in the most unusual places'. Said Juste Manuel the Club's president.
The hiking club started as a small group of 8 back in 2002 and has now grown to 70 members, with even tourists joining in on their vacations to enjoy a different view of the island. The group hikes every sunday morning exploring trails on both sides of the island. Several off-island hikes are organized per year to neighboring islands, a Saba hike is set for June as well as Anguilla and St Barths later this year.
This is the second time the Gendarmerie has hiked with the group and plans are already made to invite the Teritorial police, Firemen and customs officers to join the club on hikes. More clean up hikes will also be organized.
A special thank you is extended to the Gendarmerie's Sport and Social club for joining in the clean up effort and to Rouxel Travaux for supplying the T-shirts for this hike.
Visit www.stmartintrails.com and sxm trails on Facebook for hiking schedule and more information about the club.
