Just Another Day at the Office

Here's word from Spencer, who's working on a trail crew in New Hampshire:

Hey all, just checking in from what might be the best summer job ever. This summer I'm working trail crew in the Northern Presidential Mountain Range in New Hampshire for the Randolph Mountain Club. The rest of the crew and I live right at the base of Mt. Madison and Mt. Adams. An average day of work could include moving giant rocks, chopping down trees, fending off moose and bears, and always lots of dirt and destruction.


We spent the majority of the first few weeks hiking all of the 100+ miles of trail with axes, clearing any trees that had fallen in the trail. One of the highlights was coming across a 15x20 foot boulder that had created a half-mile path of utter destruction down the side of Mt. Jefferson. Its path ended after it bounced 50-60 feet across a gully and obliterated a tree two feet in diameter.

Most of the summer is spent making rock staircases and water bars. As a general rule of thumb, if you can move a rock by yourself without too much effort, it is not big enough. One of the cooler projects I've worked on was a retaining wall, in which we lowered 300-500-pound rocks with a high-strength pulley down an embankment to rebuild an eroded trail. From time to time, a rock will get away from you and go crashing down the mountain, destroying everything in its path. There is quite a sense of accomplishment in working with rocks. At times rocks can be obstinate and infinitely annoying, but good rockwork will last for 50-70 years.

So far the summer training has been going great - a bit unconventional at times, but always lots of fun. The Randolph area is one of the most densely trailed areas in the country, which makes for some amazing trail running. I've been able to do some great uphill interval sessions and have seen all sorts of wildlife: moose, bear, beaver, falcons, foxes, and more. All right out my back door - I haven't needed to drive to go to work out once so far this year. One of the challenges I have had to deal with is figuring out how much trail work to count as training. Some days we will spend most of the time hiking, stopping only to move downed trees. Then there is packboarding, a mildly hellish device made of wood and canvas, which somewhat resembles a backpack used to carry tools, firewood, and anything to big or heavy to fit into a backpack. A full set of tools alone can weight 40-60 pounds - then strap on a full overnight pack with all the gear one would need for a week of camping. At times, trail work and training can be pretty exhausting. The solution I have found is just to eat a lot - pasta by the pound and always second or third lunches and dinners.

Recently I did a one-day traverse of all the eight AMC huts along the Appalachian Trail. I got to see a lot of new and beautiful terrain as well as eat some of the hut crew's amazing food: pumpkin walnut pancakes, pasta bakes, bread, and hundreds of cookies, all homemade. This may be because the hut kids have nothing else to do but sit around and cook, but either way it was delicious. The traverse was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life. Imagine an average workout, then multiply it by a factor of 10 or 15. Don't worry, Nathan, my average heart rate was 143. I went far beyond what I thought I was ever physically capable of and redefined my understanding of the words "tired" and "endurance." All in all, it was a good but very long day.