Two landslides took out Juneau’s popular Auke Lake Trail in September, causing the City and Borough of Juneau to close it to the public. Now, as trail workers repair it, they say it’s an example of climate impacts on local trails they’ve been seeing more frequently in recent years.

On Monday, a trail coordinator used a chainsaw to rip through a fallen tree blocking the path along Auke Lake where landslides washed it out. The trail is flat and follows the contour of the lake next to the University of Alaska Southeast’s Juneau campus. The landslides occurred during an atmospheric river in late September and the trail has been closed since.

“We saw footsteps as we were going,” said Meghan Tabacek, the executive director of Trail Mix Inc. “People are already still using this trail.”

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