Volunteer Vacations: Doing yard work for Washington’s wilderness

A Vacation that Makes a Difference

By Lauren Braden
Photos courtesy Washington Trails Association

Photo at right: Working vacations where volunteers do hard labor to create and maintain trails for the public.

Would you spend a week in the woods that could change your life? It may sound like a tall order, but each year hundreds of volunteers spend a week tending to local hiking trails, and rewarding their souls at the same time.

Last fall, I signed up for my first-ever “Volunteer Vacation,” held at Leadbetter Point State Park on the Long Beach Peninsula and hosted by Washington Trails Association (WTA). I was looking for a unique way to connect with nature. And as a mom to a young child with special needs, a few days in the woods shoveling dirt sounded like the perfect opportunity to reconnect with myself, too. WTA’s Volunteer Vacations are trail work parties that span a whole week (they also host one-day and 3–4 day trail work parties). These vacations tackle trail projects deeper in the backcountry than one-day trips can reach, or they may focus on a specific project like building a bridge or constructing a new trail.

Our digs for the week: the historic lighthouse keeper’s quarters at Cape Disappointment State Park.

On my vacation, we would build a new trail across forested wetland that links to the existing trail system at Leadbetter Point State Park.

Along with my sturdiest hiking boots and rugged pants, I made sure to pack some ibuprofen. I previously worked for WTA as their communications director, so I knew my Volunteer Vacation would entail some manual labor beyond what my body was used to. I also knew I’d be making a tangible difference, a contribution to hiking trails that would serve generations of hikers to come. Sore muscles were totally worth the price.

While many of these Volunteer Vacations take place deep in the scenic backcountry with a primitive base camp, our lodging for the week would be the historic lighthouse keeper’s quarters at nearby Cape Disappointment State Park. That’s what I call a vacation — private bedrooms, hot showers, and full kitchens. I’m not surprised these deluxe vacations tend to fill a bit faster than the backcountry trips.

Cutting a new trail is hard work.

We employed that kitchen the very first morning. Twelve hungry volunteers got to know one another over coffee, juice, pancakes and bacon served on our formal dining table, the same place we’d have each tasty breakfast and dinner together for the week. Meals are a community effort — volunteers share cooking and cleanup duties, and all food is provided by WTA. Once our bellies were full, we were off to see the work site and get some trail built.

At the park, our cheerful crew leader Tim Van Beek walked us through the project. Before our eyes lay a dense swath of wetland forest with no pathway in sight. The task of building a trail through all that tangled vegetation seemed, well, impossible. But we got right to work.

No prior trail experience is necessary to take a Volunteer Vacation with WTA, but I’d volunteered on a half dozen one-day work parties before and earned a shiny green hard hat with my name emblazoned across the side. Like any semi-seasoned volunteer I had a favorite tool, too—the shovel.

My shovel twisted into the earth, then pulled out a heavy mound of dirt with a fern sticking out the top. It was a perfectly nice fern, but it had to go. So I flung the whole mound aside and then sunk my shovel into the earth again. The work was hard, but I felt alive and full of energy.

By noon as we surveyed the fruits of our morning labor while munching on sack lunches, the beginnings of a brand new trail were already taking shape. We’d cleared a long stretch of corridor and flagged the margins. Some volunteers had worked collaboratively on bite-sized projects, like removing a tree stump buried right in the path of the new trail. We discussed how far we expected to get before 3 p.m., the usual time to pack up and head back to “camp” and get dinner started.

The 12 of us hailed from all over the Pacific Northwest, from Poulsbo to Oregon City, and each of us had our own reasons for giving six days of our lives to wield shovels and pound nails into boardwalk planks.

Happy volunteers after a long day of trail work, looking forward to a communal dinner.

As I rode back to the lighthouse quarters with fellow volunteer Pat Limberg of Seattle, I talked of my need for time in nature that brought me out to the coast for this trail work. Pat, a trail volunteer for over a decade, shared what brings her back year after year.

“I originally started volunteering because I’m a hiker and I believe in giving something back for the greater good,” Pat said. “I was hooked after my first one in 1996. I loved not only the time working on the trail but also the time spent in the off-hours with everyone in the group.

“No phone, no TV, no radio, no newspaper for a week. So you had better be ready to be part of the community. To me it doesn’t get any better than that.”

As we all sat together outside after another hearty meal that evening, we watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. And I thought, Pat is right. It doesn’t get much better than this.

If you love to be outside in the woods, want to make a difference to trails and enjoy the company of kindred spirits, these vacations are a wonderful way to spend a week.