Volunteer Trail Projects

In three couple weeks, I'll be joining a dozen or so other volunteers at Arkansas' Buffalo National River as we lengthen the hiking trail that runs on the bluff above the river. Over the years, I've been on over 20 such crews, enjoying the comradeship of other hikers who also love the outdoors and desire to give back to the hiking community. And at the end of the week's labors, we have the pride of seeing the tangible results of our hard work as we walk the segment we constructed or maintained. Here are reports on all of my prior projects. Perhaps you've been to one of these glorious locales and maybe even hiked on our trails!

My Volunteer Trail Projects

(Unless marked otherwise, all projects were through American Hiking Society)

--1997 Bob Marshall Wilderness of the Flathead National Forest in Montana.

--1998 Gallatin National Forest of Montana.

--1999 Manti-LaSal National Forest of Utah

--2000 Columbia River Gorge (Chinook Trail Conference) in Washington State's Beacon Rock State Park.

-- 2001 The Colorado Trail above Copper Mountain Resort.

-- 2001 Hiawatha National Forest of Michigan

--2002 a Sierra Club Service Project in the Superstition Wilderness of the Tonto National Forest.

-- 2002-- Cumberland Trail Conference in Tennessee.

--2002 Pine Mountain Trail Conference in Virginia and Kentucky.

--2002 Buffalo National River in Arkansas

--2003 The Palmetto Trail in South Carolina's Wateree Swamp.

--2003 Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area (Jefferson National Forest) in Virginia

--2003 Apache Sitgreaves National Forest on northern Arizona's Mogollon Rim

--2004 The Florida Trail in Osceola National Forest along the Suwanee River

--2004 Goat Rocks Wilderness of the Pinchot National Forest in Washington

--2005 Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts (Sierra Club Trail Project)

--2006 South Carolina's Palmetto Trail in the Francis Marion National Forest

--2006 Independence Grove of the Forest Preserve District of Lake County (Illinois)

--2007 Spring Valley Trail in Arizona's Hell's Canyon Wilderness

--2009 Acadia National Park in Maine with the Appalachian Mountain Club

--2010 Buffalo National River in Arkansas (coming in April)

I also put together a slideshow/primer on how a trail is built, using photos from various projects.

I strongly encourage you to consider volunteering for a project if you can spare the time. (Maybe you'll get to have a supper of deer, elk, and moose with the crew of the long-running PBS series "This Old House" as we did in '97! See my photo of Steve and Norm.)