Eagle Scout project to add trail behind Temple church delayed after tornado

TEMPLE, Texas (KWTX) - Connor Wilbert’s Eagle Scout project is getting delayed after the Temple tornado caused significant damage to the trail he was working on.

Once he completes this, he will officially earn his Eagle Scout rank.

This is the second time Connor’s Eagle Scout project has been delayed due to weather. He saw some setbacks from the Mother’s Day storm, but that storm didn’t cause anywhere near the extent of damage he got this time.

Uprooted trees and branches from the tornado still block the entrance to the trail.

”You can’t get in on either side with a vehicle,” Connor said.

He was working on a half mile trail behind the St. Francis Episcopal Church until the Temple tornado halted his progress.

”The second week after my school finished I had a week planned out where I would work for a couple hours and it was supposed to be finished within that time,” Connor said. “Then the tornado hit and we had to reorganize.”

Before the tornado all that was left to do was to mark the second half of the trail and lay down mulch.

”There’s going to be a couple of benches along the trail, there’s going to be a part that goes next to the creek down there,” Connor said.

The church itself has dozens of downed trees, including several in the outdoor chapel, making the space unusable.

”I’m not sure how many trees we have on the property, but I’m going to guess about 60 and a nice proportion of those came down,” father David Krause said.

Connor relies on volunteers to help him out on various work days and he’ll pretty much need to start the project over from scratch.

”I think the hardest part now is going to be picking out new dates because we’re going to have a shorter time to work with because we’re coming up into the heat of the summer,” Connor’s mom Diana Wilbert said.

The goal is to have the trail completely finished by the end of the year.

”It’s pretty big to me, because it’s a pretty big endeavor,” Connor said. “I’m basically making a trail from scratch.”

Connor is looking for volunteers to lend a hand, particularly people with chainsaws. Anyone interested can reach out to his mom at gijanemp@aol.com or 254-541-1755.