Mt. Massive 2009: Continental Divide Trail Alliance
Section of old trail restored by CDTA volunteers
Mt. Massive 2009: Continental Divide Trail Alliance
On July 9th Joe and I met up with the Continental Divide Trail Alliance (CDTA) crew. There were 12 people comprising their crew: Randy, Mark, Wiley, Skip, Cooper, Aaron, Time, Clare, Colleen, Elizabeth, Ted and Ben. All seemed very nice and enthusiastic about being there with us.
Having just had such a wonderful time with our last group I was a bit apprehensive, how would the CDTA folks measure up? What would it be like to work with adults again? What about working with people that I just met as opposed to the Overland group who we had gotten to know over a long period of days?
Luckily, the CDTA group was a wonderful, fun group of adults. We had a chef in camp, Tim, so I didn’t have to do any cooking or helping in the kitchen tent (I think I did get a little spoiled). Had to do a few dishes but with so many people, the job sharing was easy.
On the 10th we hiked up to the work site. It’s a long hike up there and my neck hurts. I noticed the pain when I rolled over last night in my sleeping bag and then again pouring milk into my cereal. It should make trail work a ton of fun when I can’t move my neck so much (sarcasm). At the work site we got a few steps put in and finished up a set of stairs that the Overland group started.
On the 11th we decided to do some restoration work at the upper end of the Willow Resto area. It was a bit nicer of a hike (read: shorter) and with my neck still hurting, I was ok with a shorter hike. I also ran in to my friend, trail name Mom, as she had hiked to the summit on the 10th and was camped out not far from our stretching area. She heard us and came out for a quick hello.
We ended up putting in a good number of grass plugs (transplants) and re-contouring 100 or so feet of old trail. We also fixed some tread on the new trail so it’s a bit easier and more sustainable for walking. Unfortunately, we got stormed off early so work got a bit curtailed. Fortunately, that meant that I could relax and chat with our volunteers since we had more time in camp.
We ended up having a great evening full of storytelling and laughter. It was great to be with the group and it was great to have some spirited, strong women around. I always feel fortunate when I have the opportunity to work with strong women in the field, and this was no exception.
Overall, CDTA was a great group to work with. They all have a great spirit and I hope our paths cross again.
