Field Program

This past hitch, our crew headed out to Dubois, Idaho, and this time we did trail maintenance! This was our first hitch working on trails, so we had much to learn and master from the day we started out there until our last day. Bryant Sinka stepped up as our crew lead this week; his expertise and experience in trail work played a major role in our success this hitch. Thank you!

Our first day out, we spent the evening scouting out the trail, going over ergonomics and proper tool use, and planning ahead for the rest of the week. After Bryant gave us a quick trail maintenance lesson, we started immediately practicing for tomorrow and the days to come. After we completed our first practice run of widening trails, we all joked and asked Bryant, "whose patch of trail is better?" and "who's got it down right?"

I didn't know it at the time, but asking those questions was going to set the tone and standard for how we'd maintain these trails moving forward. When we initially met with our project partners, Rigo, we were informed that we wouldn't be assigned a fixed amount of miles to cover on the trail. So with that in mind, Bryant made the executive decision that we'd focus on quality over quantity. Prioritizing becoming experts in trail maintenance over just getting anything done.

Going into the next day, as a crew, we felt comfortable tackling the hard work and applying our freshly learned fundamentals to trails. We were mostly testing out the waters, figuring out how we'd move efficiently and productively. Tapping in and out or syncing with one another. We hiked out three miles and widened 347.1 yards of trail (0.2 miles). Not knowing our full potential but understanding how hard we had worked on our first day, we took this as a success.

The following day, we barely broke even with what we did the day prior, hiking out three miles again and completing 379.3 yards (0.21 miles). Gaining more experience in building up bridge approaches, burying culverts, and widening trails.

On our third official day of trail work, we managed to widen and back-slope 724.9 yards of trail (0.41 miles). We absolutely crushed it on Friday. We ended the weekday on a high note and with a whole different kind of drive. We were setting the bar for the weekend.

We spent Saturday brushing and clearing out corridors on the trail. This was a technical skill we hadn't yet become masters at. So unexpectedly, we only cleared out 496 yards of trail (0.28 miles). Instead of feeling defeated, though, we took that extra hunger and drive into the next day and cleared 718.1 yards of trail on Sunday (0.40 miles).

Then came Monday. And indeed it felt like a Monday. The weather was not in our favor. We started the cold morning with light showers. We hiked out in the rain, we started trail work in the rain, and it did not stop raining. To us, it didn't look like it was going to clear up anytime soon.

We refused to complain, though. I didn't hear one of my crew members whine or cry out about how much it sucked. We worked up until 11 am and then stopped for our morning OSHA. We huddled up, addressing the elephant in the room. Bryant asked and made sure, "We're all okay, right? I mean, besides being a little cold and damp- nobody is suffering and miserable right now, right?"

All I could think to say was, "of course we're all suffering and miserable right now," but knowing how that negative energy might affect my crew for the worse, I chose to stay quiet. Until I couldn't.
"This just fricking sucks," I yelled.

"It's the life you chose," Bryant quickly rebutted. I felt frustrated, freezing cold, and soaking wet. During our fifteen, we planned to fill up a huge ball root that disturbed the trail, finish widening and back-sloping the meadow, and clear out corridors for the rest of the day. It was back to work right after OSHA, despite the rain, we planned for a long day.

We hadn't done any ball roots before, but somehow we immediately fell into our flow state. The same flow state we were regularly tapping into to get these trails done with high quality.

Jesse and Brandy hiked out to visit and check on us after some of the rain passed. Personally, when I saw them, I felt like we were saved. I felt like the torture, the suffering, and the misery had come to an end.

They kindly offered to have us stay in a shelter for the rest of the day. Similar to our other project partners, they were generously offering hospitality in times of hardship.

Jack Richards, without hesitation, kindly declined their offer on behalf of our whole crew. Without questioning him, I quickly sided with his decline. And so did everyone else. I didn't even have to hear Jack's justification for why he didn't want to accept the shelter. I immediately understood the standard he was setting for the Montana Conservation Corps. I admired it, and I respected him more for it.

Even when faced with adversity, an MCC crew is expected to persevere through any obstacle. Seeing that Jack had full faith in our team to get through that crappy day and still come out on top, I clung to that same faith. At the end of the day, we went over stats, we completed 436.9 yards of trail (0.25 miles).
During debrief, Bryant had confessed to all of us, "I was feeling pretty drenched, cold, and miserable myself."

Hearing Bryant admit how he actually felt out there made me feel seen. More than anything, though, it just reinforced the idea that we indeed are one team. If you are suffering, your team is suffering as well with you. We are together as one. We never forgot that.

On our last day of hitch, we widened, back-sloped, and cleared out 1.05 miles of trail. We ended our hitch on a great day. Our best day. We got to leave at lunch, and we absolutely deserved it.

Again, special shout-out to Bryant Sinka. Bryant's leadership and victor mindset got us through the worst of our hitch; he is incredibly experienced in trail work, and constantly demands the best out of each and every one of us. Without Bryant on our team, we wouldn't have found it in us to produce high-quality work efficiently. Thank you so much, Bryant!