Snuffy The Leaf Blower Rides The Trails

10 January 2025 – BREWSTER, MA – Nickerson State Park visitors and Cape Cod Rail Trail wayfarers alike have probably spotted "Snuffy" as it snuffles dried leaves from local paths and byways - and we wanted to learn more about this odd looking machine, starting with the way "Snuffy The Leafblower" earned its name from the way it snuffs up leaves and shares a certain resemblance to Mr. Snuffleupagus, the Sesame Street resident.

If you've been enjoying the Cape Cod Rail Trail between Yarmouth and Wellfleet, chances are you've crossed paths with an odd looking, zero turn, close quarters leaf blower. It does not have a wheel, but behind the control sticks you will usually find Susie Johnston, Forest and Park Supervisor of Nickerson State Park and the Cape Cod rail Trail, managing paths and trails for the Massachusetts’ Department of Conservation and Recreation.

“This is a Grasshopper 900X. It's got a Buffalo Turbine on the front of it and it does a very wonderful job blowing leaves off of campsites, off of roads, off of trails,” says Johnston. When she is asked what the Grasshopper is called she laughs. “I call it the Snuffleupagus. It doesn’t look like a grasshopper or a buffalo. It looks like a Snuffleupagus.”

Named after Mr. Aloysius Snuffleupagus, the Sesame Street resident, Snuffleupagus – Snuffy for short – the machine share certain physical features with the muppet: a curved tube resembling an elephant’s trunk, blowing leaves rather loudly, keeping wayfarers and furry friends safe from slipping.

“So the Snuffleupagus, we use it all over. We use it here at the park on the campsites, blowing off tick habitats. We use it on the bike trails in the park. We use it on the roads within the park, blowing them off for cyclists. Walkers. Special events that are happening in the park. And we use it out on the Cape Cod Rail Trail, 26 miles of it. Goes from Homer Park up to Wellfleet Hollow State Campground,” says Johnston.

Twenty six miles in Snuffy’s small cabin makes for an uncomfortable ride, so the park supervisors usually divide it into two days. “On days where we have like after a windstorm or any big rainfall kind of thing, it can take a full day to get up to one end and back.

Johnston, who just finished her 19th camping season with the DCR maneuvers Snuffy, a zero turn machine, as if she's born to do it. “Zero term means you're not using a steering wheel. There's two control sticks (…) you can make yourself spin in circles really fast. (…) It's really something you wanna sit and spend time with before you're going out on the trails and being around people,” says Johnston.

The leaf blower has surpassed its fluffier four and a half year old namesake in age. Five years have passed since the DCR received the machine, and since then Snuffy has been roaming Cape Cod alone. But in November last year, the family got bigger: Snuffy got a sibling.

“So my machine is a Kubota and I love this machine,” says Terri Souza, Forest and Park Supervisor for the Cape Cod Rail Trail, at the DCR. She points to a fan-looking add-on at the front of the Kubota with a small tube pushing the air, turning the Kubota to a leaf blower too. “This attachment is a blower, so it works very much like the Snuffleupagus as it will blow the leaves off the trail,” says Souza.

“We have a bed in the back that tilts up. So last year we built 250 picnic tables and we used mainly this to take them out,” she adds. “We also use it a lot if we need to get wood, move wood or debris and stuff like that. So it's great. Plus you can be inside and it's heated.”

Terry Souza retired after 30 years in banking and took up supervising in Nickerson State Park and the rail trail. A decision she has not regretted. “Oh, it's beautiful. It's gorgeous. Just being out here in nature, being able to enjoy all that Cape Cod has to offer, and especially Nickerson State Park. We're very lucky to have this,” says Souza. “And the rail trail, it's priceless. Twenty six miles that you go through different towns, different ecological places. You can be next to the bay, you can be next to a cranberry bog, ponds. We’re so lucky to have it.”

This dynamic duo – or should we say quartet – is dedicated to to making sure Cape Codders can keep feeling lucky and enjoy local gems in the Cape’s great outdoors all year round.