November 3, 2025

A trio of dedicated volunteers has worked over the past two years to create a series of soft trails in Arbor Lake Park. They have just finished a trail segment west of Windsor Manor, completing a perimeter trail entirely around the park, and they plan to work on a trail in Summer St. Park while maintaining existing trails. Volunteers to help are always welcome.

The trio of Tim Ellsworth, Pete Brownell, and Andi Alexander is finishing up its second year of working most Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on creating or maintaining soft trails in Arbor Lake Park. The trails are unpaved and created by eliminating grass, weeds, bushes, branches, and tree roots from a continuous path and then maintaining the path to be clear of encroaching vegetation.

The soft trails can be used year-round by walkers and bikers, including in the winter months, and are welcoming to mountain bikes as well as pedestrians. Ellsworth, who is president of Imagine Grinnell, says Arbor Lake Park now has about two miles of trails, including the 0.8-mile segment just added behind Windsor Manor.

The new segment connects the parking lots at the ends of Marvin and Washington Ave., both on the east edge of Arbor Lake Park, and bikers or walkers can get on the trail from either parking lot and follow the trail entirely around the large park.

Ellsworth notes that the new segment passes through a portion of the park not often visited. The trail-builders removed branches probably damaged by the 2020 derecho and discarded trash and debris. They did not remove a discarded boiler, partly sunk into the ground, and painted it pink instead.

Where it could be smoothed, avoiding a white boiler and larger vegetation to result in a shady, mostly straight path. After about 90 percent of the route was smoothed, several inches of crushed trail building aggregate covered the trail to solidify a longer-term foundation.

Ellsworth adds that the 2025 soft trail work will include more routes through Arbor Lake Park and possibly a connection to Summer St. Park. Bikers would pass through soggy areas with short bridges if necessary, or routes around them. Summer St. Park’s northern and western trails could be connected to Arbor Lake trails in the future.

Imagine Grinnell has recently received a grant to update the city’s long-range plan for parks and trails. The current plan, developed in 2010, has guided development and improvements at Arbor Lake, Merrill Park, and Sunset Street Park, among others. Ellsworth said the new plan will look at connecting trails between parks, like Arbor Lake and Summer St. Park.

Ellsworth serves as chair of the Parks and Recreation Board and as a liaison to Imagine Grinnell, which plans to use volunteers, local contractors, and the Parks and Recreation Board to outline a long-range plan for trail development.

“We’ll be looking at ways to connect the existing trails to parks or green spaces as available, and once we have funding, engineers or grant writers can step in,” he said. They advocated that city planning for city and park projects potentially include bike-friendly and bike-safe design.

“The concept, the notes, will take years to implement, and the volunteers who are doing the groundwork at Arbor Lake Park have started with small trails as part of the larger plan. They’re part of it,” he says of Imagine Grinnell’s role.

Alexander said the trio usually relies on city workers to clear away bigger trees and brush and show volunteers the next path which needs trimming with the weedwhacker. They try to create a path wide enough for two small bikes side by side.

She found the trail crew by doing a regular guided bike ride around Grinnell two years ago and met other riders interested in more mountain bike trails for winter bike use, as well as for walking and jogging while avoiding wet or mucky soil and gravel riding on older trails.

Ellsworth said, “It’s nice to have more accessible folks in Grinnell, able to ride, hike, or walk in the woods while still being close to home. We want places for kids to ride mountain bikes safely with their parents.”

Brownell says the City of Grinnell developed some trails in Grinnell 20 years ago, but most have become overgrown in the meantime.

“There’s an industry biking and hiking,” he said, adding biking has grown and the industry standard has changed in the right direction. “And this was his trajectory,” says Alexander, saying the trio “started from scratch” and she was willing but unsure how to create a soft trail. Ellsworth knew, she says, starting by removing brush and mowing. “We just kind of figured it out, and we’ve just kept going. It’s phenomenal,” she said, compared to two years ago.

Alexander said that means the crew typically uses saws to clear away limbs and roots and then smooth the soil into the trail path with shovels, rakes, and the weedwhacker. They try to make the path wide enough for two small bikes side by side.

Alexander encourages others to volunteer to help maintain existing trails and make new trail segments, an easy way to take the kids out for that experience.

Alexander said, “We’ve commented more than once that we’re enjoying the trail’s life. After working on them, we feel like they’re in the right shape. It’s like your own backyard where you take pride. Normally you have to go away to go off-road, but this is a way for families to do that here in nature, out in the woods, volunteer, and get involved.”

Patrick Cogley, always eager to document local volunteer projects, encourages others to join in. Imagine Grinnell invites anyone to volunteer or learn about its mission to improve Grinnell as a livable and sustainable community by calling 641-236-5518.

– Written by the Grinnell Herald Register