A quirky band of do-gooders built a path to a notorious public sex spot in Prospect Park to keep horny woodsmen from trampling nature while knockin’ boots.
Litter Mob, a group of trash-collecting volunteers, built a 50-foot-long wood-lined path atop an overgrown trail last week to prevent horndogs from damaging soil and killing plants while searching for the forest’s equivalent of an hourly motel.
The group — which has cleaned up pounds of condom wrappers, lube packets and other kinky unmentionables — hopes the path will keep any clothes-off activities on-trail in the Midwood section of the park.
“I don’t care if people have sex — but all the little trails they leave behind are really bad for the forest floor,” said Marie Viojen, a photographer and park advocate who heads the group.
The path will help prevent soil erosion, protect tree roots, and keep the park’s flora and fauna thriving, she said.
The hillside patch of woodland, near the carousel by Center Drive, has long been a spot for gay cruising. It has also come to be known for its piles of trash, empty bottles of booze, food wrappers, and more risque refuse.
That’s why Litter Mob — which includes a New York University student, a French guy, and an ecology writer — meets twice a month to clean the area, documenting strange and beautiful findings, like sex toys and colorful birds, via photograph.
The group spent two hours last week with the Prospect Park Alliance’s natural resource team, hauling dead tree limbs to flank the path to pleasure. They then dug grooves in the soil and staked them into place.
The refurbished path makes it easier to reach the outdoor sex spot, but visitors should know that those who make the most of the Midwood could still find themselves facing charges of public lewdness.
Park spokesman Paul Nelson said his volunteers weren’t building the path to encourage outdoor sex, but were instead simply sprucing up a trail that already existed.
“They were cribbing the steep part for better footing and to control erosion,” he said.
Viojen now says the city should dedicate employees to regular trash collection at the litter-plagued, nature-threatened site, which she hopes the path helps to some degree.
On Tuesday, she returned to pick up more trash see if the path kept park-goers from getting wild too close to the wildlife.
“It looks…well used,” she said.
Reach reporter Natalie O'Neill at noneill@cnglocal.com or by calling her at (718) 260-4505.
