Trail work

Our ward did a day of service for the State of Alaska Parks Department. When the day turned out to be miserably wet, we still had a blast. 

September 20th, we headed out to Point Bridget State Park to do some trail work. All decked out in rain gear and rubber boots, we shoveled pit run into wooden frames like this one.

Fortunately for us the rocks had be helicoptered in, so after our six hours of work we only had to carry back the empty bags for the state park to reuse.

We had people of all shapes and sizes. At one point I was explaining to a four and six year old how they could go into the trees and pick out clumps of moss to re-vegetate some of the eroded trail. The four year old started out enthusiastically, dropping tiny pieces of moss down the middle of the trail like Gretel from the old fairy tale. The crew chief bust his gut laughing at them.

I was relieved when about three hours into our project a couple Tongan men arrived, and they led the gravel bag dragging team like they were hitting the grid iron.

Afterward Mr. X said his back was sore and he injured it further helping some senior citizens cutting down a tree the next week. I may have had a run in with the shovels on Mr. X's shoulder. Thankfully my hat took the brunt of the impact. The next day I was shocked at the soreness of my fingers from all the shoveling.

When we hiked out to the Blue Mussel Cabin in January, we were pleased to see our efforts peeking out under the snow.