After years of winter storms knocking down dead spruce trees in Kachemak Bay State Park, you'd think that by now there would be no more trees left to blow down and clog the park's 25 miles of trails. Not quite.

"We keep thinking this would be the last year, but we keep finding another one that didn't fall," said Roger MacCampbell, district ranger for the Alaska State Parks. "The tops carry quite a way as they break."

So once again, for the ninth year of Trails Day, volunteers will head across Kachemak Bay on the first Saturday in June, and tackle the big job of keeping trails open: cutting up blowdowns. Don't want to have the fun of muscling logs? From children to seniors, there's plenty of other work to do, including picking up trash off the beaches, resetting cairns or cutting back brush.

Part of national Trails Day events, volunteering to work on trails in Kachemak Bay State Park is also a cheap way to get across the bay. The fare for Trails Day is $15 a person, a fourth the cost of a regular water taxi ride. Water taxi operators are donating their time and boats to shuttle volunteers to trail heads for the routes needing work.

The fee goes to the Friends of Kachemak Bay State Park, a nonprofit organization supporting the park, said Mako Haggerty, chair of the organization and one of the taxi operators donating services. Other water taxi operators giving rides include Smoke Wagon, Bay Excursions, Triton Charters and Homer Ocean Charters.

This year, Kachemak Bay State Park has two four-person, mostly volunteer crews working all summer long to keep trails open, MacCampbell said. They'll be running chain saws and directing work on Trails Day. The Volunteers in Parks crews have already been out getting trails open.

The Grewingk Glacier trail to the lake and the Saddle Trail are open, and the north and south Grace Ridge trails are clear to alpine level. The China Poot Lake trail from the ranger station to the lake is clear. Last week, crews were working on the Sadie Knob trail and trying to get it cleared to alpine level, MacCampbell said. Other trails aren't yet clear, which is where the volunteers for Trails Day come in.

Skiers who want to help make some new tracks can also volunteer with the Kachemak Nordic Ski Club to clear trails at the new Eveline State Recreation Area trails out East End Road past McNeil Canyon.

Kachemak Heritage Land Trust is also working on trails it maintains in town. This year's project is to build a new Calvin and Coyle trailhead and parking area at the end of Mariner Drive.

Jim DePasquale, KHLT conservation director, said the new trailhead is being built in response to Mariner Drive residents complaining about the parking situation there. A small parking area had been on a public right of way. KHLT chose to make a new parking area on its land at the end of Mariner Drive. KHLT also is encouraging the city to put up signs warning motor home drivers that there isn't space to turn around a big rig at the end of the street. School children can access the Calvin and Coyle trail from Paul Banks Elementary School, but the parking lot there isn't an official trail head.

KHLT usually puts crews to work on the Homestead Trail on Diamond Ridge, but this year hot shot fire crews worked on that trial when not fighting the Tracy Avenue fire, DePasquale said.

"Those guys are the best trail maintenance crew you can find," he said.

To sign up for the State Parks trail work, swing by the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center today and Friday. Space is limited, and some projects have already filled up. Check in is at 7 a.m. Saturday at the Seafarer's Memorial on the Homer Spit. Water taxis depart at 7:30 a.m. and return between 6 and 7 p.m. For the Eveline trails work, show up at 8 a.m. at the trailhead.

Bring a big lunch and snacks, water, warm clothes, raingear, sturdy boots, bug dope, sun screen lotion and a camera to record your hard work. Hand tools will be provided. If you bring your own loppers, Pulaskis or folding handsaws, mark them with your name. For safety reasons, only parks workers can operate chainsaws.

For the KHLT project, show up at the Mariner Drive trailhead at 9:30 a.m. DePasquale asked people to respect private property and park on the side of the road and not block driveways.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.