Hello members and friends of the Montour Trail!

I finally had the opportunity to ride my bicycle over the McDonald Trestle a few weeks ago. What a great experience! It reminded me of Stan Sattinger's quote in David Templeton's September 7, 2003, Post Gazette article: "Stan's retirement plans, he said, will consist of riding a bicycle back and forth across the viaduct. He wasn't joking".

Well, the Montour Trail Council is always planning and working on ways to complete the Montour Trail as soon as possible. This spring and summer, our volunteers will be working on two very significant trail sections. John Wasco - with engineering assistance from Jack Peth, Ned Williams and Mark Imgrund - will be heading up our efforts to develop the old Montour Railroad transfer track into a trail connection to the Panhandle trail. Part of this project will include refurbishing a sixty-foot-long bridge.

The other significant volunteer project we're working on now is to extend the Trail west from the Library junction In Peters Township to the Allegheny County line. This is a DCNR funded project headed by Dave Wright with on-site coordination by Mark Imgrund. Frank Ludwin will provide much of the heavy equipment volunteer work.

Volunteers are welcome to participate in either of these projects. You can contact John Wasco or Mark Imgrund respectively.

Happy Trails.

Dennis Pfeiffer,
President