(logo whooshing) - And I wanna start with that beautiful shot, Ed, of the wetlands there in Duryea.

I think that's where that was.

Could you tell us what we're looking at there?

All those different colors and what we're seeing.

- It was known as the swamp area, and there's a natural source that comes from the dams that sit above Duryea that flow into one side of it.

And a lot of what was in there came from past flooding where the Susquehanna River backs up into the Lackawanna and it overflows and covers that area up.

And it's been that way since I've been young.

So we're looking at 60 years easily.

And it has a great influx of fish that are in there, wildlife in abundance, and all sorts of different plants foliage.

When you walk through you notice a lot of different variations of everything.

- Interesting, I wanna get to what's going on in Duryea there in a moment, but Lynn, I was really struck by what you said there in the piece that so many people had come in.

When did you see that outdoor recreation could be an economic driver?

- I think it took us a while to realize that people are now using the trail in great numbers.

And our office is right next to a store.

It's an old fashioned general store, they sell food.

And it's hard for me not to look out my office window and see all the people that have parked their bikes in front and are going to the store for lunch, for drinks.

And when we did that survey, it really blew us away that there were so many people from out of the area and so many that stayed overnight.

So I think because we're a long distance trail, we're 38 miles, plus we connect to the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail, that's 70 miles.

- So that's a draw.

- So it's a draw.

People, there's local people out there, but surprising to us there're people from out of the area.

- [Julie] I don't wanna put you on the spot here, but you said you took zip codes.

Anything really surprise you?

- Like Maryland?

- That's pretty far away.

- [Lynn] Right, upstate New York.

Other than that, you know, just a good radius of this whole area.

- That's really interesting.

Kat, I know this is something that you have been, I mean, it's something you're personally interested in and then you've also been reporting on a lot, but when it was time to do this particular show, you jumped right on it.

What are some of the things that you learned in reporting through this?

- I think one of the things that's like, that's very interesting to me about kind of all the trail systems that we have, you know, the DNH, the DNL, the Heritage Trail, is that they are pathways that once fueled the industrial revolution and they kind of changed the economy of the region.

And now they're doing that again with, you know, biking and hiking and walking and, you know, like Lynn said, like going to the general store and kind of fueling the economy in a different way.

So it feels like economy similarly, but it's a different purpose.

Like these pathways are now used for a different purpose.

And that really struck me in the reporting for this story.

- When you stop, when you're hiking and you stop in a town, what is to be found there?

What in your opinion, makes a good little trail town?

- I love a place with a good sandwich.

- Of course.

- Yeah.

A cafe is great.

You know, a gear shop.

When we talked about this, like a lot of people who are hikers and campers and bikers, like they're gear heads.

They want new boots or, you know, new tents or even a new bike.

So a gear shop is always great too, but really a good sandwich at the end a long hike.

- Just to get a sandwich.

You know what, I feel that, I get it.

My family, like, I think a lot of families, started hiking a lot more during Covid.

Have you done any studies, Lynn?

Anecdotally, do you think people are out there more or do you know people are out there more?

Are you still seeing that bump?

- I think that's when it started was during Covid that we saw many more people on the trail.

You know, it was safe to be out there.

You didn't have to wear your mask when you're walking next to your friends.

It was a place for people to meet.

You don't go to a restaurant during Covid or you can get outside.

So I think that's when we started seeing more people.

And it does help that we've done some more improvements as well.

- [Julie] What kind of improvements?

- Well, surface improvements, you know, drainage improvements.

To kind of emphasize what Kat was saying, I love historical signs.

We have 18, so we wanna keep the railroad history, the industrial idea alive of what these towns used to be and what these towns can potentially be.

- And I know you're a former Duryea councilman, and I believe it was under in your tenure that that land was purchased.

What do you want to, what do you wanna do with that?

- Well, that land was purchased after I got off of council, okay.

But I had a vision talking with Owen in the past of trying to do something with that because growing up in that town, I rode those trails when they were railroad lines.

And I found out that it takes an awful lot of legalities to be able to come through with something like that.

And fortunately for the current council there are several people on there that were backers of getting something like this going and the ball kept rolling and at one point the property became available for sale and they negotiated and purchased that land there.

So I've had several meetings with the Owens group that they've had, and they've shown the objective of what it's gonna be there by running the trail through, but it's also gonna be a loop that runs the whole swamp trail and alongside the Lackawanna River that runs down.

So they have different ideas with the benches and with everything else and educational type of signs and different things that'll go up there.

And I'd have to say, going into the future, there's a good possibility that that trail will also be used along with a much larger recreational area that possibly might come to fruition.

- Well, not specific to Duryea, but since you have been through this and you're kind of following this, what kind of things are we not thinking of?

What does it take to create a trail?

When you say, I mean there's got to be a lot that goes into it.

What are the sort of things that most people wouldn't even think about?

- Well, I've been there a long time in this town and I knew of the rails coming through there.

A lot of the people that live within Duryea borough, or even I say surrounding areas are much younger.

They never knew that the rail lines ran through certain parts of their town.

Now we have active lines that still run yet, but they're not trail lines.

So it was informing the populace and different people through conversations and meetings that they became aware of what we had besides that was just a swamp road back there.

- [Julie] Swamp road.

- Swamp road, that's what it was called for the longest time and it was used by fishermen and hikers, but through the process that they're going through right now, and I've seen the diagrams in print, and that has the potential to be a beautiful, beautiful area for a lot of future residents in this whole area to use and enjoy.

- You brought up Owen, Owen Worozbyt is going to join us here in just a moment so we're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back.