I'm starting to look forward to summer, and thus trails and hiking...

A few years ago I attended a volunteer training put on by the High Cascade Forest Volunteers - a group that organizes folks to help maintain trails and backcountry campsites in the Willamette and Deschutes National Forests. The training was free, had a huge diversity of topics from first aid to using a chainsaw (yes, those could certainly be useful together), and had excellent leaders.

Later that summer, I spent a day and a half in the Diamond Peak Wilderness cutting brush along trails and cutting logs blocking the trails with big cross-cut saws. Hard work, even with several skilled volunteers at my side!

Boy was it rewarding though. As someone who hikes regularly, I'm always happy to use trails that have had recent maintenance. Most people don't think about the work that goes into this, or assume someone is paid to do the work. While some Forest Service staff do work on trails, the vast majority of the work of trail clearing and cleaning is done by volunteers.

The High Cascade Volunteers has a new website with lots of good information on how you can get involved in taking care of the trails you hike or campsites you use. They have more free trainings coming up in May, and plenty of work parties scheduled all summer long.

I wish I had more time to devote to this volunteer work, but as it is many summer weekends are tied up using the trails - leading hikes for Oregon Wild. I encourage anyone out there who has the time and capability to help give something back to our National Forest trails to do so. We'll ALL thank you!