On December 6, we sent five staff members and nine volunteers to the Upper Applegate River to close out the year in style. Over the course of two days, they camped on the lake, shared fireside stories, enjoyed homemade food, did a little trail work, and hauled out a truck load of trash.
On Saturday, the crew split into two groups. The first took a stroll along the Middle Fork National Recreation Trail, enjoying some of the hard work they’d put into maintaining the route over the previous year. Frequent volunteer Lyle Hatch traveled from Lebanon, OR and scouted “a couple of really nice swimming holes.”
The second group took on a longer hike, scouting trail conditions on the Frog Pond and Cameron Meadows loop in the Red Buttes Wilderness.
Regular volunteer Sierra Davies had never been to this area of the Wilderness before, having only accessed its higher elevation areas from the Cook and Green Pass Trailhead. “I didn’t even realize the amount of water and ponds and high meadows there are,” she says.
While conditions on the Frog Pond trail were “dang near perfect,” there is work to be done on the Cameron Meadows portion of the loop. Sierra remembers crawling over “a few blowdowns and exploded trees.”
These fallen logs will soon come under the teeth of our crosscuts in the warmer months of 2026 — if we can maintain 2025 funding levels.
The crew eats well
Aaron Arzoumanian was joined by his wife, Agness and his son, Jayden. They brought six pounds of pulled pork along with BBQ sauce and buns. Together with Trevor’s signature grilled cheese sandwiches and a variety of sides and deserts, the volunteers had more than enough food to satisfy their cravings — not to mention a pancake breakfast cooked by volunteer Lyle Hatch on Sunday morning.
“As I get older,” Lyle says, “I’m realizing that I just can’t put as much time into repairing tread and doing logouts. My body is telling me to slow down. But being a camp cookie sounds like a good place to go next.”
After a hearty breakfast, the crew tackled another project: trash cleanup along the river. “We started from the lower Middle Fork Trailhead,” Trevor recalls, “and worked towards Applegate Lake.”
Trash haul
Most of the trash was scattered in riverside pullouts or dispersed campsites. In the summer months, when heatwaves hit the valley, these sites can be very popular, as they offer access to the cool waters of the Applegate.
Volunteers were surprised by the amount and variety of items found. Sierra recalls seeing “huge chunks of metal and plywood, cue-tips and broken glass.” Despite being familiar with the area, Trevor admits there were many sites that were new to him. He discovered some hidden gems, including “amazing waterfalls and old mine tunnels.”
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Aaron stressed that cleaning up the trash was “Important to us. We wanted to see if we could help.” He hopes to get more involved with SMC in the future, having now experienced his first volunteer trip.
“It was great to see everyone as a group,” he says. “Everyone had a great time. People were super friendly, and it was great to get out.”
Back in Tucson, he used to take his family out for backpacking trips, but everything always seemed so far from home. “It was a six hour drive to get anywhere,” Aaron remembers. But with trails so close to home in the Applegate Valley, he wants to “do some backpacking again.” He hopes to participate in a guided backpacking trip with SMC in the spring of 2026.
Despite her continued commitment to the Club, Sierra says that she “didn’t make it out to as many events as [she] would’ve liked to this year.” She plans on upping her hours in 2026, and is interested in joining a volunteer crew that works on more remote trails for extended periods.
She suggests that anyone who is on the fence about volunteering should just pull the trigger. “It’s such a great way to meet people and get to know the trails and feel like you’re doing something awesome for the community and the planet.”
“God, we have fun out there”
Lyle sees volunteering as his responsibility. “I’ve been a longtime trail user,” he says. “With federal and state budgets being what they are, volunteering with SMC is an outstanding way to give back. It’s important that everyone steps up and does their part.”
From swinging tools to pulling saws and even cleaning up trash, the work can sometimes feel tough. But Lyle says he’s “always had a good time. Never a bad experience. Yes, I wake up sore and tired. But God, we have fun out there.”
