City of Rocks National Reserve is a place for climbers, hikers, campers, and fellow lovers of nature. The small town of Almo, Idaho is the heart of this recreational area. The people of Almo care with curiosity and hospitality--Janis is both your go-to gal at Tracy's General Store and the mother of our project partner, Carolyn. Both of which are generous, kind, and have a great appreciation for their community and the work that MCC crews do. 

Our crew of 6 began the hitch with high spirits and left with even higher ones due to the delightful people and project partners we had the privilege of work with. We believe that the motivation we maintained throughout the nine days of unpredictable weather was fostered by the breathtaking worksites paired with the joyful pop-ins from Carolyn and Terri at CRNR.
 

Our day to day projects varied both in location and in outcomes. The first set of days we replaced retaining barriers and fences in the snow, which consisted of hauling in ten foot logs, rebar, and electric tools to get the job done. By day three, we were all pretty confident in our abilities and strategies for carrying '10 footers' down and uphill, and navigating uneven terrain (which we later tended to).
 

The middle of the hitch brought learning opportunities for building check steps, water bars, fencing to keep out livestock, brushing, and removing barbed wire fencing. After a while the crew began to forget how many worksites we had been at because we kept finding a flow and knocking out the project partner's goals with ease as we worked as a team. When taking our OSHA breaks, we put on (biodegradable) glitter to bring up morale, and started calling these breaks "GLOW-SHA". Our final days in the City of Rocks were spent building 13 check steps, 3 large water bars, hauling dirt in backpacks, and repairing tread that had washed out due to decaying steps. We made lots of crush and started reaching a solid flow state where everyone felt comfortable doing each aspect of check step building; although souring rocks for crush was surprisingly challenging for a place called the city of them. Nevertheless we found them and took many single-jacks to them, creating stable and well maintained trail.

Overall the morale was high, leadership skills were strengthened, hot sauce was consumed, hard work was done, beautiful trails were maintained, and fun was had along the way.

Wishing the future recreators of the City of Rocks National Reserve the best time and hope they enjoy the little piece of us we left in the work we did there.