For the past three seasons, Siskiyou Mountain Club has run a 14-day hitch with our Wilderness Corps interns. The rationale behind these long trips is simple: cut down on driving time and maximize hours spent in the woods working.
But there is one drawback: It's nearly impossible to carry two weeks of food on one's back. We've relied on the help of volunteers and local horsepackers to resupply the crews each year with extra rations.
This season, we had a group of four volunteers who assisted with the resupply mission, arriving around lunchtime on July 17 at the Elk Lake Creek Trailhead in the Mt. Hood National Forest.
The Corps members were nine days into a 14-day hitch in the Bull of the Woods Wilderness, busy tackling heavy brush, downed logs, and damaged tread on a loop of backpacking trails.
As the interns made their way towards the trailhead (lured, no doubt, by the aroma of home-made tacos) they were greeted with whoops and cheers from the volunteers.
Lyle Hatch, a longtime volunteer with the Club, says he thinks the interns "are a lot of fun ... just good energy."
Alicia Bond, an emergency medical professional and volunteer who had also joined last year's resupply mission, says she appreciated how diverse the group is.
"It's fun that they come from all over the country," she says. "But they're all working so hard and doing amazing work for the trails."
One intern, Astrid Olsen, received a special morale boost from her family back in Vermont. Her mother had written nine postcards, all of which were hand-delivered to Astrid by program manager Trevor Meyer.
Once the interns had refilled their food bags and eaten their fill of tacos, they headed back out into the woods.
Meanwhile, the small volunteer crew car-camped at the trailhead, and then got to work on Saturday morning crosscutting logs along the Elk Lake Creek Trail. They hoped to ease the intern crew's hike out by removing as many obstacles as possible.
This work included under-bucking a complex log with a large root wad.
The interns will egress from their project on Wednesday, July 22, with many stories to tell and hundreds of hours of trail work under their belts. But their endeavors would never have been possible without the four volunteers who helped resupply them midway through the trip.
Want to volunteer with us and be a steward for your local public lands? Check out our calendar of events at siskiyoumountainclub.org/pages/calendar.
Upcoming events include our Monthly Stewardship Day on July 30 and an overnight volunteer work trip August 1-2. Both are in the Sky Lakes Wilderness Area. Email trevor@siskiyoumountainclub.org with any questions.
