Thursday, October 22, 2009

Volunteer Trail Project in Acadia National Park

This trail project was under the auspices of the Appalachian Mountain Club in conjunction with the Acadia National Park trail personnel. We stayed at AMC's Echo Lake Camp nestled on a lovely forested hillside at the south end of Echo Lake bordering Acadia National Park. The camp was in its final week of its 9 week season of hosting campers, so we ate breakfast and supper in the dining hall with the other campers, enjoying delicious meals by the chefs and service by the servers -- a rare treat compared to my other 20+ volunteer trail projects where we had to cook our own meals and clean up after each meal -- all before or after an arduous day of trail work. And it was the best food I've ever enjoyed on a project! Thanks, AMC staff!

With 125 miles of trails in the national park -- most with elevation changes, years of stormy weather, and much use by hikers -- the trails require much maintenance, and like other parks, volunteers supply a good measure of the hours devoted to reconstruction and maintenance.

Here's a video account of the project...



My entire written report is posted here.

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