kelnadam
Registered: October 2008
Posts: 1
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“Dirt flies, and sweat drips.
Breathe in, breathe out. One more swing.
Make a difference.”
I compose the haiku in my head as I finish my turn digging with the pick. Carlyn, one of my fellow crew members, hands me a rock bar.
“Alright, this is our last rock. Flip it in, and we’re done,” encourages our crew leader.
I glance at the rock and back at Carlyn. This “rock” could have been Hercules’ thirteenth labor. Over three feet in length, this rock probably weighs more than Carlyn and I combined.
“It’s just a rock,” Carlyn points out.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” I reply.
I spear my twenty pound rock bar into the earth next to this beast of a rock. I push down, and the bar slips out. I throw my lever into the ground again. This time, the metal bar grates against the solid rock.
“I’ve got a bite! I’ll hold!” I shout to Carlyn. My muscles tense as I focus all of my energy into propping the rock up higher so that Carlyn can position her rock bar underneath. Her bar drives into the ground, and she lifts the beast higher.
She calls back, “I’ve got it. Re-bite!” I pull my rock bar out of the ground and replant it. Hold and re-bite. Hold, re-bite. We go back and forth until our arms burn and our breath comes in ragged gasps. The rock slowly begins to tip over.
“Alright, you’ve got it. Push it in!” our crew leader shouts excitedly.
With bestial grunts and all of our remaining strength, we push the rock over. It lands with a solid thud into the hole we had dug.
“Good work! This rock won’t be moving for a long time. We still have to fill in the rest of the hole, but for now, grab some water,” suggests our crew leader.
Carlyn and I collapse on the ground, pulling off our gloves and bright yellow hard hats. Hair plastered to my forehead, I close my eyes and listen to the sounds of the woods. Sunlight and a slight breeze dance across my face. Confidence, pride, and pure happiness radiate from me. I feel completely at home on this flood-damaged bridle trail. Once we finish our work on this trail, it will feel like home to many people besides me. Our work is going to help people understand and appreciate nature. Preserve, Protect, Enjoy - that’s what we do.
“This is what it means to be on a six-girl Student Conservation Association trail crew,” I think to myself. “We must be crazy to give up our summer to work nine hours a day in a national park.”
I exchange a look with Carlyn, and I know that we’re not crazy. Every teenager should spend a summer on a trail crew. It’s dirty, sweaty, smelly, and sometimes hairy, but it’s worth it. We put so much into this trail, but it gives a lot back, too. My work on trail crew gives me a new level of confidence and sense of self. I can quote Shakespeare and solve a definite integral, but I can also handle a Pulaski as if it was a hammer, and that’s something special. The accomplishments that I have made while on trail crew, from a foot bridge in Morristown to a rock wall in Shenandoah, have given me the confidence that I can and will do anything I want, no matter how difficult. On this particular trail crew, I have created bonds of friendship that will never be broken. We are all different, but our love of nature unites us. Whether I need someone to help me move a gigantic rock or sing hippie songs to cheer me up, these girls will always be there. Alone, that’s all we are - just girls, but together, we are the Trail Crew Barbies, girly and burly, changing the world, one trail at a time.
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