Trail Crew Life

I've had quite a few people ask me what it's like to work as a volunteer on a trail crew. I've been doing it for a number of years now, and each crew is different, both because of the people and because of the location. But last week I spent three days in Desolation Wilderness doing a combination of clean up and wilderness naturalist. It's a good example of how things go.

Lake Aloha. Enjoy the view and the water. Camp 100 feet away.

The first day we took the boat taxi across Echo Lakes (all volunteers pay their own way) and started up the trail to Lake Aloha Our goal was to set up camp at Lake Marjorie or Lucille, and then scope out work that needed to be done at Lake Aloha. But our lead ranger also needed to check the permits of every backpacker, and make sure they knew the current regulations: Camp 100 feet from the lake, poop 200 feet, put all your food in a bear canister, and don't make a fire. And answer any questions they might have along the way.

That takes time. In fact, it took us more than two hours to hike the 2.2 miles from the boat dock to the trail down to Lake Marjorie. It was a beautiful, hot, sunny day, so we also warned people about staying hydrated. After setting up camp, we still had time to get over to Lake Aloha, where we found a few illegal sites in use. Our ranger got them moved to legal campsites, while we studied how we could best restore those sites. We got back to camp about 6:30. Filtering water, rinsing ourselves off, and making dinner meant we were finally done with the day at a little after 8. And we were all in our tents and falling asleep before nine.

Before

Twelve hours later, we were picking up our shovels and hoisting our packs for the one-mile hike to Lake Aloha. That's where the fun began. Those campsites were now empty--but they were very flat and very close to the lake. We couldn't do anything about the latter, but we could make them less flat.

After

We dug holes and buried boulders to stick up like icebergs in the middle of the site. We stationed big logs across likely tent sites. We scattered rocks, big and small, over those flat places as best we could. Sure, someone could clear that all again, but at least it was going to cost them a lot of effort--because we put a lot of effort into them. And maybe they would just look for somewhere else to camp--somewhere that met the criteria on their permit.

All the while, our ranger was also talking to anyone who walked by. And when we finished one site, we were off to another, stopping to talk to each group where we found them. Three more groups were asked to move back from their site near the water. One group was warned that storing your garbage in a plastic bag hanging on a tree is not a good idea. And we found trash=--left by backpackers, in one case complete with a plastic bag that included the owners name. (He'd had something shipped to him, then used the bag for garbage, then left the bag, with his name still on it, surrounded by similar trash, at an illegal campsite.. You can't make this stuff up.) We picked it all up and carried it all out.

And it was hot. At over 8,000 feet, 86 degrees is plenty hot. Humidity? 15%? And we were often working in areas of extensive white granite, that reflected heat and sunlight right back at us.

It was hot.

Just as we had decided to call it a day, we found the remains of an illegal campfire, and spent some time burying it on our way back to camp.

Before

After

We ended the day back at camp around 6 p.m. And repeated the rinsing, filtering, and cooking. The conversations ranged from hiking in Peru to teaching physics, from great books we'd read about the outdoors to our respective water filter systems. And again, we were in our tents before nine--and long before it was truly dark.

Day three was a change of pace. One of our team hiked out early, as she faced a long drive back to the Bay Area. I left camp just as our ranger was getting her gear in her pack. While she hiked back to Aloha and then down to Lake of the Woods on her way out, I hiked over to Triangle Lake, where I found a big tree right across the trail--work for another day, and for someone with a saw, and then down to the trailhead to answer questions for half the day. I managed to talk to 130 people in four hours, and I hope I made things a little easier for a few of them.

Oh, and the scenery was wonderful. Yeah, it was hot. Yeah, we worked hard. But we also left for home feeling as if we had made a difference. And feeling a few sores muscles, as well.