Local volunteers come together despite wildfire to complete Fiery Gizzard trail re-route

This 28-foot-long bridge spanning McAlloyd Branch is ready for South Cumberland State Park hikers months ahead of schedule, completing what officials say is one of the most difficult pieces of the Fiery Gizzard Trail reroute. The rerouting work stems from a request from a private landowner to remove the trail from his land. A recent similar request from a second landowner means an additional mile of trail must be added to the rerouting project. Volunteers have logged more than 3,000 hours to move the timeline for completion up.

Tight deadlines, an untimely 300-acre wildfire and lingering uncertainty about the Fiery Gizzard's future proved no match for hundreds of volunteers over the past 18 months.

An extensive two-phase reroute of the nationally acclaimed Grundy County hiking trail is complete, thanks to a small team of park rangers, hundreds of trail advocates and grant funding.