A Great Gretnan: Todd Nicholas
Todd, his wife, Patty, his daughter, Brylyn, and their five rescue cats call Gretna home.
You are a rare species, a 4th generation Gretnan. What things have changed here since you were young?
A LOT has changed around here since I was a kid. This town was very different in the 80's & 90's when this place was filled with kids! It looks very different here now, almost like everything was "child proof" when I was growing up. When I went off to college and would come back to visit, it was like everyone put out their nice decorations now that all the kids were at school! Ha!
What was your favorite part of growing up here?
The community of kids here was amazing! We were able to roam the streets and forest not really having to worry about anything. Growing up there was a program at the Chautauqua playground from like 9 to 12 where we all played kickball, 4square and had town-wide capture the flag events. Then, going to the lake for the day with all these same kids. I am very grateful this was a part of my childhood. Whenever we got significant snowfall some of the roads in the Heights were purposely not plowed so we had sledding hills, along with the sledding spots in the forest. Like the run from Pinch Rd. parking lot [Pinch Road parking at entry to Governor Dick trail] down to the Frog Pond.
Tell us about your favorite trails.
I use Governor Dick trails for race training and to just blow off steam and be outside in our amazing forest. My favorite part of the mountain is trail 4 into trail 15. That side of the mountain has very interesting terrain — all very large granite slabs. These trails are meant to be difficult, but, when you know every rock and root it just becomes challenging fun! Trails 4 and 15 are the best in town!
Why do you feel it’s important to be active on the trails committee at Governor Dick?
Several years ago I actually adopted trails 4 and 9 on Gov Dick, since I was riding them everyday during the Covid lockdown era. This was encouraged by the park to get some locals involved. This eventually turned into the work our trails crew ( and like 100 volunteers which are mostly riders) performed on those trails to add new switchbacks. This helps the trails drain better in spots to avoid further erosion and increase line of sight to help avoid user conflicts. During the covid lockdown when everyone wanted to be outside our trails got very crowded with new users.
You said your Grandfather was instrumental in the Horse Shoe Trail in the Gretna area. Did he work with the Horse-Shoe Trail Club? (Now the Horse-Shoe Trail Conservancy)
Yes he worked with the Trail Club. His name was Carl Maurice Erdman.
He helped create and mark the trail through this mountain with yellow painted horseshoes on the trees. Clarence Shock was a regular Sunday morning visitor for breakfast on their porch at 4th and Birch.