• Trail surfaces are wet and muddy due to recent storms.
• Two major log jams exist on the Otter Creek Trail as a result of spring flooding on Otter Creek. They exist between Garnettsville and Blue Hole.  Getting around these obsructions is difficult.  Park staff are rerouting trails around the obstacles to avoid further inconvenience. 

Upgrades and progress:

• Eagle Scout Candidate Charles Swinehart and his volunteers completed a reroute of the Valley Overlook Trail just west of the V-2 trail marker.  This 900 ft. reroute replaced a badly eroded section of fall-line trail, and placed the trail on a much better lie on the hillside nearby.
• Two large interpretive panels have been installed.  One at Garnettsville Picnic Area, and one at Rock Haven Picnic Area.  These very nice signs discuss the history of those early settlements in the land that would later become Otter Creek Park.  Funding for the project was provided through a recreational trail grant.
• Twelve new interpretive signs have been installed for the model solar system trail, thanks to Jefferson Community College.  The model solar system lies between the Observatory and Nature Center and shows the scaled size of the universe, from the Sun to Pluto, if that distance was only 900 ft.  There is a huge amount of information to be learned as you read the interpretive panels along this very informative short section of trail.
• A 1500 ft. section of the Valley Overlook Trail has been rerouted near trail marker V-1.  This was rerouted by Eagle Scout Candidate, Nick Do and his scout troop.  This is a great improvement getting a huge section of low and flat trail to a better drained slope.  This reroute also avoids the old "spaghetti junction" and the convergence with two other trails.
• Thank you very much to the anonymous individual(s) who picked up the extensive litter along the Otter Creek Trail resulting from spring flooding of Otter Creek.  The world needs more people like you.
• The rerouted section of the Otter Creek Trail near Garnettsville Picnic Area has been completed.  The final step has been completed with the old section of the Otter Creek Trail near Garnettsville (south of O-14) being removed by an Eagle Scout project.

• Our next volunteer trail day, is Saturday, July 19.  If interested, contact the park to reserve a spot. 
• We are also seeking volunteers to help maintain the trail system on an ongoing basis.  Please give us a call if interested.

To report problems like downed trees across trails at Otter Creek Park, contact the park office.  Try to give very specific location details like location indicator numbers from trail marker posts.
Trail concern contact: Bryan Lewis, (502) 574-4583

A look ahead:

• Another Eagle Scout project is planned to reroute an extremely steep slope on the Otter Creek Trail located just east of the park entrance.  We will increase the length of trail and move it to a better location to ease this slope.  The project should begin in July.
• We are in the process of installing 40 nature interpretive panels on the trails throughout the park.  These panels discuss various topics including plant life, animals, history, and geology of this area.  Funding for these panels was through a recreational trail grant.