Our first round of Wilderness Conservation Corps interns just completed their first hitch on the Illinois River Trail ... and it wasn't easy.
Their eight-day orientation began with classroom training, map lessons, and a gear shakedown at the Club's Gold Hill facility. Most of the five interns had little to no backpacking experience.
With three staff members at the helm, the interns loaded into a van and embarked on a two-hour drive to a remote section of the Illinois River National Recreation Trail near Bald Mountain. After setting up camp, crew members were shown how to remove brush and logs from the trail prism using hand tools - including antique crosscut saws.
This area, contained within the boundaries of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, has experienced heavy fire damage in the last twenty years, most notably from the 2002 Biscuit and 2018 Klondike fires.
“This was the hardest day of my life,” intern Alex Spears of Austin, TX told me on the fourth day. Along with the other interns, he’d woken up at 5:30am, broken down his camp, packed up 60 pounds of gear and tools, and hauled it all a thousand feet up to Bald Mountain. And that’s not even mentioning the eight hour workday in which the crew clipped thick slick-leaf bushes in the sun and pushed saws through burnt logs on a steep slope.
Over the weekend, things became even more challenging for Alex and the crew as triple-digit temperatures swept the valley. When the interns finally arrived at the Oak Flat Trailhead, completing their 18-mile trek, they were drenched in sweat and relieved to be finished.
Program Manager Karly White says “I think this was the hottest intern orientation on record.” And I’m not arguing with that.
Program Manager Trevor Meyer cooked the crew a barbecue by the river, and they had a chance to celebrate what they’d accomplished. For now, the interns will rest up, enjoy a day at Applegate Lake, attend a crosscut saw class, and start preparing for their next foray into the wilderness.
This training period has allowed our interns to grow stronger, fitter, and ready to take on more difficult challenges later in the summer, including a 14-day trip in July.
We’re so grateful for the dedication of these young peple and their willingness to do hard things for the service of a greater mission - a sentiment that is often in short supply these days.
Want to support our crew? Consider visiting our donation menu here. It gives you the option to choose how you give. From as low as $6 (a canister of backpacking fuel) up to $1,800 (a full month stipend for an intern), every donation is appreciated, and we invest 100% of the revenue back to our mission.
Stay tuned for more news about the 2025 crew and their adventures across the region!