[pct-l] Respect for the PCT

[Janet Grossman]

Great post, Barry!
I'll be heading from home in Arizona to northern California next week 
for my third trail project in the last year. It's hard work, but I'm 
learning so much each time about trail work and tool use, which I then 
apply to my weekly work with our local Forest Service volunteer crew. 
Although I haven't yet completed the whole PCT, hoping to do my final 
665 miles this summer, I just get so much out of actually working to 
make the trail better. I have this weird thing about not wanting to work 
on a part of the PCT I haven't yet hiked, but now most of it is 
"available" to me.

Rock-Kicker
(Janet)

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 30 May 2014 09:30:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Barry Teschlog<tokencivilian at yahoo.com>
Subject: [pct-l] Respect for the PCT
To: PCT L<pct-l at backcountry.net>
Message-ID:
	<1401467421.18113.YahooMailNeo at web163601.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

With all the talk of disrespect, here's a way to give back / show some respect for the trail and hikers / equestrians we all love:

http://www.pcta.org/volunteer/project-schedule/

I count 13 events in June.? 4 training and 9 working on the trail. I know for a fact there will be more events since our crew will almost certainly get in some project days in June organized from our e-mail list and Facebook page that won't make it up on the PCTA page.? I'm sure other groups will as well - I know the Mt. Hood Chapter does a lot of their projects via their own e-mail list and through their Stewards.


I can't speak for the other volunteer crews up and down the trail (see list of crews at the link below), but as for our crew here in the Northwest (The North 350 Blades) the only thing we need more of is volunteers ?- we're growing our volunteer base nicely, from 400 hours our first, partial year, in 2010, to mid 2000 hours in 2013, but our crew can easily handle another 1000 hours this year over last year, if you come and join us. ?The PCTA has supplied us well with tools* and training - that's one place where your membership dollars go. ?


http://www.pcta.org/volunteer/regional-groups/

I'd suggest to everyone that working on the trail is a great way to help hikers...all the hikers, not just those few that happen to pass by when having a cooler out doing magic, but all that will pass for years to come, day, section AND thru. Out of pocket cost is practically nil as well - the gas to drive out to the project.? All the tools are provided - heck, on the multi day trips, you're typically fed.? Trail crew is way cheaper out of pocket than trying to keep a cooler or cache stocked for 700+ thru hikers.? And its easy to limit yourself to exactly the level of effort you're comfortable with - one day?? That's great, way better than none.? 5 days?? Sure.? 10 days?? Heck yeah!? With trail crew, there are no worries about being overwhelmed, no matter if it's 50, 500 or 5000 thru hikers in a year. ?Come out for as much, or as little, as you desire.


What, you can't do heavy work you say?? That's ok....First off, it's a work at your own pace crew - we have no "production" schedule. ?A light day of work is WAY better than none. ?Also, on our crew, we can use camp cook / hosts on our multi day projects, we can use folks willing to shuttle crews when we do log outs or annual maintenance / drainage cleaning (so we can do one way, instead of out and back or time consuming self shuttles - basically doubling the miles we can cover in a day). ?We'd love to have a photographer / videographer join us to show off the work, to name several non-physical ways to make the crew more effective. ?There are also many tasks that are only mildly physical - snipping brush with loppers is one such task (which we need even when power brushing as the saw always misses a few bits of brush here and there).? Don't want to do multi-day projects?? There are lots of single day trips out there.? Can't hike in very far to
  the project?? Many projects are very close to the trail head.? Don't know anything about trail crew?? No sweat, the crew leader and other experienced volunteers will train you as you go.


I can say for certain, since our crew started working south of Snoqualmie Pass in 2010, we've had a huge impact on this formerly under maintained 30+ mile section of trail - we've cleared out over a dozen miles of brush, cut out hundreds of blow downs over the years and maintained, restored or rebuilt miles of tread - and the best part? ?Zero injuries, since safety is our first priority.? The work we did back in 2010 has been, and will continue to pay dividends to the class of 2014 and beyond - how's that for return on effort, versus a cooler of sodas??


In a few weeks, I'll hike over the section of trail that was our very first project back in August, 2010 - some rock check steps we installed to help fix an eroded section of tread.? Since that day, several thousand people have benefited from that work.? Consider - your one day of working on the trail will benefit EVERY hiker that passes by that spot for 5 to 10 years or more.

Respectfully (to the trail and the trail users) submitted.

Barry


* - On the tools provided by the PCTA, our crew has 3 brush saws, 2 chain saws, spare blades, spare chains, spare bars, Chain saw back packs, gas cans, 2 cycle oil, several dozen grubbing tools (Pulaski's, Pick-Mattock's, grub hoes), several dozen scraping tools (shovels, McLeods, Reinharts), rock bars, loppers, hand saws, a pole saw, cross cut saws, wedges, axes, single jack sledges, first aid kits, safety glasses, work gloves, ear plugs, chain saw chaps, helmets, base camp gear including a kitchen tent, stoves, propane tanks and hoses, coolers, cookware, plus some other stuff I can't think of off the top of my head.? We also have the training to use this gear as well.?