Workshops and Work trips

Hi,

We've had a few work trips and work shops since last I wrote.

On Friday the 13th, we had an orientation and overview hike. There were a few attendees, as well as the newly arrived SCA crew leaders group. The SCA people had mostly built trails in backcountry settings and they are all very excited to do trailbuilding that is this technical and made to last under high usage for a hundred years.


The Student Conservation Association is an organization that was concieved of by a Vassar student in the 50's in her senior thesis paper. She thought that having outdoors service for High School students would lead to a lifelong love of nature and care for the earth. This led to the SCA having crews of High School students led by 2 Crew leaders to work in places like national parks to build trails. This program is still around and these 6 people are crew leaders who have lead High School groups in the past. They are great to work with and can teach our volunteers a lot.

On Saturday and Sunday, we had a rigging workshop. We had Bob Reardon and the SCA crew there to learn about the safty and mechanics of rigging. Even with mechanical advantage on my side I had a hard time beating Eddie in tug-o-war, but I'm not all that muscle bound yet. Time to start doing some rockbar lifts! Seriously, this workshop is fun because we get to play games with pulleys, as well as learn about the systems that we have.

The crew kept working out there through the cold and rain- it rained last week on both Tuesday and Friday, but they still got a lot done. Starting on Saturday, Jed Talbot is teaching a dry stack stone cribbing workshop that is actually still running until Tuesday. We got our new SCA 10 month intern at the TC out there- his name is Matt, as well as 2 volunteers, Joe and Liz. We also had a man named Dave out; he worked with Jed out in California. Jed's dog Cedar was there- he didn't get any wall built but he fetched many a stick by using his imploring "throw that stick for me" eyes. I love that dog, though its true he was probably a work distraction, I was glad to have him around. Anyway, I know Joe and Liz were excited to come out again and work with the SCAers, and I think I learned a little more about stonework.

Also, a little plea from the crew. The water at the camp was turned off today for the end of the season so if you happen to be coming to the mountain, try and bring extra water for them. If every volunteer coming out brings an extra gallon or 2 of water, then they can cook a little more pasta, drink more tea or brush a little more teeth.