20 JANUARY 2026 | GOLD HILL, OR. -- The Club's Wilderness Corps Crew backpacks into the most remote wilderness on the Pacific Coast where they spend up to two weeks at a time working from spike camps with no access to amenities.
"First year crew members get a $1,800 monthly training allowance," says executive director Gabriel Howe, as well as accommodations on off-trail days.
He mentions the program hasn't changed much in the last 12 seasons.. "The rest of the world went soft in the last decade," Howe gruffs. "We didn't." To learn more and apply, go to siskiyoumountainclub.org/wcc2026.
A Wilderness Corps crew improves tread on a remote section of trail in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area.
After waking up before sunrise, crews spend spend long hours digging out forgotten trails, clipping brush, and cutting downed logs, often in the footprint of recent wildfires.
2025 intern Samantha Zimmerman of Kansas speaks to the challenge. At first, she struggled to hoist a 60 pound pack on and keep up with the crew. "But I pushed through, looked back, and was like, 'yeah I can do this.'"
The most unusual thing about the program, though, is perhaps the digital detox, Howe says: "Interns don't bring their phones or other mobile devices into the backcountry."
Samantha (second from right) with her crew in the Marble Mountain Wilderness Area
It's a major departure for a generation who were raised by parents glued to their iPhones. "This is the first generation who, as young children, looked up to their parents for eye contact, only to see them distracted by a screen. So this experience is transformative."
That's part of why Samantha is returning in 2026. Part of her duties will be supporting those first year crew members. "Now I'll be able to help them figure it out. If I can do it, they can do it."
Interns crosscut a downed log in the Marble Mountain Wilderness Area.
Crew members onboard remotely in the spring and travel from near and far for one of two start dates in June. In between each work hitch, interns participate in a program that includes a whitewater rafting trip and visits to places like Redwood and Crater Lake national parks.
They participate in vocational workshops including one on financial literacy, job seeking, and earn natural resource certifications. The program is funded by community support and partnerships with the Rogue River-Siskiyou, Fremont-Winema, Six Rivers, Klamath, and Mt. Hood national forests, as well as the Mid-Klamath Watershed Council and the REI Cooperative Fund.
Resources and links:
- Learn more and apply: www.siskiyoumountainclub.org/wcc2026
- "Grimes Goes Wild," a 10-minute film following 2024 intern and third-year crew member Chloe Grimes
- A Long Way to Nowhere, 30 minute film follows 2023 intern across the Kalmiopsis Wilderness
- Siskiyou Mountain Club Youtube channel, a great place to watch short films from the wilderness: www.youtube.com/@SiskMtnClub
