The new Dodge staff finished their training this past week, and is now ready to hit the trails, and begin an epic season of trail crewing!!!!! From hearing Alex DeLucia’s amazing trails stump speech a total of 13 times, to installing 15 bog bridges, to assisting in leading National Trails Day, the dodge staff had a wide variety of experiences which all will directly benefit them leading volunteers out on the trails this summer.
Head crew leaders Ack and Maya, along with projects intern MattyZane, all arrived on the 25th of May, to begin a month long training. The first week was mad crazy, having the hut kids as well as the pro-crew participate in most of the trainings—including the famous White Mountain Day. The crew was also able to share their knowledge of trail work with the entire hut crew, giving them a training of basic trail structures and trail maintenance. The week ended on a bang, as the crew got decked out in costumes for Funktion—to celebrate the beginning of the season.
The three assistant leaders, Leah, Goose and Hannah, arrived the second week, along with the Berkshire staff to “rock” out some rock work, and other trail structure training. That following weekend we were all able to put our leadership and trail work skills to work, by leading volunteers for National Trails Day—from bog bridging, to rock barring and patrolling, NTD turned out to be a giant success.
The Third week of training was all about Alpine work, felling, and driving—a solid combo. We all got to experience the excitement and “master the Mountain” by cruising up the famed Auto Road to do some alpine flower and rock work training—as well as digging up some geo-cashes. The following day we put on our lumberjack attitudes, and went to Lonesome Lake to chop up some blow downs, and trees to use for native bog bridges. The week ended with a BBQ at the DeLucia Palace with the Highland center staff.
The final week of training was spent in the woods at Lonesome Lake. Projects Coordinator NickScott led us through a mock week in the woods, to get jazzed and prepped for the season. While we did install a fair amount of Bog bridges, we spent the majority of the time scouting out projects and learning how a typical week is run.
All in all, the training was very beneficial. Although it was a long process, all of the information and skills we learned should help us rock it out in the field.
submitted by: Dodge Intern Matty Zane
