My love of nature started young. I was often outside climbing in, talking to the trees, and talking to the plants and animals. Going camping with my parents, we would drive into the most remote places our vehicle allowed, rarely seeing other people. More often than not, I would find myself hiking off trail with my dad. He always said he was taking a short cut. The short cut inevitably turned it to the steepest, hardest terrain and always took longer than the trail but was almost always much more fun. As well as much more challenging for a 6 year old to keep up with her 6’ 3” tall dad! *
I didn’t see many camping trips during my younger adult life. Some summer weekend car camping in pay to use camp grounds and a few stints of camping in the desert for Burning man. Not the kind of camping in a location that felt like I belonged there. The mossy, pine scented forest held my heart all those years while I was a city dweller or living in other states that didn’t even have real forests. In my early 20’s I’d sometimes set up my tent in the guest room and sleep in it, pretending to camp.
The real coming home for me, after moving back to rural Oregon, was my first backpacking trip into Boulder Creek Wilderness, October of 2021. While volunteering at HealTerra, I was constantly hearing Rusty talk about the trail work they were doing around Pine Bench in Boulder Creek Wilderness and how amazing and beautiful it was. All his talk about it felt like something between dangling a carrot and a broken record.
Thankful to a long warm fall, and finally discussing the trip with a friend, she and I hiked in for a couple of nights. It did not disappoint! Beautiful views, giant pines, manzanita, cedar and all of Boulder Creek is so diverse ecologically, it’s captivating. Spiritually the area is magical too. Soon after, we hiked back in, to *maybe* help with a little bit of the trail work. I’m an obsessive lopper user, when I start clipping away I have a hard time stopping, just like at in my own yard. however, once I laid my hands on that crosscut saw, it was all over! I was definitely hooked!
The following spring I made sure I took the wilderness CPR course and the sawyer certification. I couldn’t wait to get back out there! Source One Serenity received grant money from ODFW that allowed for a paid stint into the Boulder Creek Wilderness. The pay wasn’t important to me, but I was glad for it, as it did allow me to purchase some upgraded gear. I was just so excited at the opportunity of 8 days in the forest working hard! I was so nervous and anxious that they’d get a ton of applications from veterans or other more experienced people that I wouldn’t get to go. I was elated when it was confirmed I was able to join! I started planning and packing and unpacking trying to get my backpack just right. Even though our food (it still needed planned) and larger gear was being packed in by mules I was still concerned about the amount of weight in my pack. I would be hiking in with people whose physical abilities were greater than mine. I was worried.
I was also worried when a few people had backed out. We were now down to only three confirmed people and there was talk of cancellation. I pleaded with the powers that be, which may have been borderline whining to say the least. I needed to go, something was calling me. Once again I was elated when the trip stayed on the schedule!
Finally the morning we were slated to leave arrived! After a very short night of not much sleep. Rusty and Rodger arrived to pick me up. I was nervous! I was a fairly inexperienced backpacker and little to no actual trail work under my belt, and I’d only used the crosscut saw a few, brief times. I’d never met this Rodger fellow, he was an experienced previous Forest Service trail crew leader. I’m an introvert, sometimes an extreme introvert, so meeting new people is always a bit taxing. I’ve experienced camping under stressful physical conditions and know what it can do to groups. I also knew a couple days we’d be joined a couple other people and a Forest Service crew, more new people. But again, I needed to go.
After a little over an hour in Rusty’s bumpy green truck, we arrived at the trailhead. I was anxious to start the hike, and relieved to have one last real bathroom break. If a pit toilet counts as a real bathroom that is. We unloaded and began to ready our things. Just before departure we received maps of the area and Rodger led our “tailgate” meeting. This is the part of protocol for trail crews, professional and volunteer alike. It’s a mental / physical health check in. Lay it all out before we hit the trail so there are no surprises 4 miles in, through rough terrain, with no cell service. We did have forest service radios to check in and check out for the day so there was some reassurance there. But we were still going to be in a remote location.
We were all a bit lacking in sleep and a few other minor physical ailments but nothing too concerning so we set off!
STRAIGHT UP HILL. I hadn’t hiked in to Pine Bench via this route prior. There are two other trails that take a less direct, softer approach to the elevation gain. This route starts with 1.4 miles of nothing but straight up switchbacks. About halfway up the second switchback I’d already fallen behind Rodger’s seemingly sprint up the hill. I stopped, and with panic in my eyes and shear terror in my heart, I turned to Rusty and attempted to blurt out “I can’t keep this pace!”, while trying to catch my breath. Had I driven myself to the trailhead, I may have turned back, gotten in my car and just gone home. And cried. I was embarrassed and filled with anxiety. Rusty just laughed, and said, “neither can I!” Rodger stopped at the next switchback and at that point realized he couldn’t keep that pace either! Thankfully.
It’s the most brutal trail I’ve ever been on. An elevation gain of approximately 950’ compacted into the first 1.4 miles! Oh, and did I mention it happened to be in the high 90’s that first and second day!? And we were hiking into Boulder Creek much further than I’d been before. At least twice as far as my previous trips. Dehydration is always a concern for me but I consciously pre hydrated and hydrated as much as allowed between water sources while trying to avoid extra weight in my pack.
At one point about half way to out camp, the two guys were up ahead, talking their heads off. I was a little ways back, lost deep in thought, in a down hill portion, on loose rock and apparently lost touch with reality briefly enough to slip and fall straight forward. Now, I don’t really know that it was great they didn’t notice I had fallen, but I was happy they hadn’t. I hopped back up quickly with only a small scrape on my knee and a slightly bruised ego. It was also a wake up call to keep my head on the trail!
Getting to camp that day was a relief, even when we had to move the cache of supplies into a safer less exposed, and less filled with snags camp site. I took some, very guilty, pleasure in being the weakest of the three at that point, as those food barrels were heavy and I was not physically able to lift them! Especially since we had to make multiple trips over a jackstraw of downed snags. One of the rare occasions I was relived to be weaker. I was exhausted from the hike and the new camp had one last steep incline from the creek to the plateau. Even after a week of camping there that little hill still got everyone out of breath going up each time!
All in all, it was a beautifully successful week! We cleared miles of the trail of brush and downed trees. We worked hard and each evening were rewarded by an icy cold mountain stream to splash off the sweat, bark and hopeful not to find any ticks!
I definitely inherited my dad’s love of outdoor adventure. As it relates to trail work, I find great pleasure locating a trail that has been reclaimed by nature. The clues are still there if a person knows how to see them and what to look for. It’s a fun treasure hunt kind of challenge, when the trail disappears right before your eyes! I also enjoy the roughing-it aspect, self reliance, and the lessons that working as a team provide. My real challenge is that I am selfish in my trail work. I don’t really want other people to enjoy the clear trail as I like to spend time in nature without lots of human interaction. I’m doing it all for myself. The time in nature, the hard work, the disconnect from technology and the worries of modern life. When I really think about it, most of my basic human needs to feel alive are being fulfilled out there. My physical needs, mental and spiritual needs, my need for connection to nature and others, contribution to something greater and in a sense my creative needs.
I’m very grateful to Source One Serenity and HealTerra for the opportunities they have given me and others who need a sense of purpose and adventure in their lives. The focus for these organizations are Veterans and I am the furthest thing from their focus group but they’ve accepted me as well as a few other community members who are not service related. If you do know a Veteran who could use some outdoor time and a mission direct them to SOS. Trail and outdoor recreation season is fast approaching!
*please note: going off trail, especially in a wilderness area does not follow proper outdoor etiquette. It’s bad for the natural habitats and ecology. Nature does better without humans traipsing all over it.
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