Volunteer Vacation - Lily Pad Trail, Montana Trail Maintenance

Save to Favorites

Join American Hiking Society for a week of building & maintaining trails in exciting locations across the country. Volunteer Vacations foster public land stewardship and provide volunteers the opportunity to give back to the trails they love, meet new people, and have a great time doing it! Crews consist of 6-15 volunteers accompanied by a crew leader. Volunteer Vacations involve backpacking or day hiking and accommodations vary from primitive campsites to bunkhouses or cabins. Tools and supervision are provided by the host agency or organization. Experience nature up close. Travel to new destinations. Meet other outdoor enthusiasts. Take a vacation that nourishes your body & your spirit. Get Out. Give Back.

Project Specifics:

Join this project to work on a gentle trail among rugged and picturesque topography containing hundreds of lakes, high-rolling plateaus, and deep, glacier-carved valleys. The United States Congress designated the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in 1978 and it now has a total of 943,648 acres. Spanning the Montana-Wyoming border on the Shoshone, Gallatin, and Custer National Forests, the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness is the juncture of two mountain ranges (Beartooth and Absaroka) with differing geologic types. The Absaroka Range (prounounced ab-ZORE-kuh, the Crow Indian word for crow) is of volcanic origin, while the Beartooth Range, named for a spike of rock resembling a bear’s tooth, is granitic in formation.

For this project, volunteers will conduct trail maintenance on up to .75 miles of Lily Pad trail. The trail starts on BLM and then crosses onto State Land and eventually Forest Service. The trail is located in a pine forest and is shaded almost the entire way. It provides panoramic views of the Beartooth mountain peaks, and the trail is only a few miles from Mystic Lake Dam and trailhead. Mystic Trail leads to the highest peak in Montana. The Lily Pad trail is a gentle, but steady climb up the first 1/3 of a mile to a ridge, then it heads back down the other side of the ridge in the same fashion. The trail is well established but needs some routine maintenance done along the entire length.

Volunteers will camp below at the Forest Service group site and make the hike in each day, up to 1.5 miles in and out. The trail is a steady gentle climb the first 1.3 of a mile to a ridge and then the trail drops back down again off the other side at the same grade and distance. It is a well established trail thru a pine forest.

AHS acknowledges with gratitude that this project takes place on the traditional lands of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, Apsáalooke (Crow), Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, Niitsítpiis-stahkoii ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ (Blackfoot / Niitsítapi ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ) peoples past and present. We honor the land itself, the Indigenous communities who have stewarded this land for generations, their deep and sacred connection to these lands, and those who continue to steward these lands today. We offer this land acknowledgement as the first of many steps to stand as an ally and amplify Indigenous voices. We invite the American Hiking Society community to join us through continued efforts to support Indigenous communities and learn more about the history of the lands on which we live, work and recreate.

Accommodations: Volunteers will camp at a nearby Forest Service group site with an onsite pit toilet and potable water available nearby. Volunteers need to bring their own tent and personal camping gear, sleeping bag, towels, personal cup / bowl / mug / eating utensils. Please contact volunteer@americanhiking.org for assistance with gear needs.

Trip Cost: $425 per person

Volunteer Experience: While trips do not require prior trail maintenance experience, all of our projects require participants to be in good physical condition and will involve 30-40 hours of physical labor during the week.

Find More Information & Register Here: https://americanhiking.org/volunteer-vacation-trip/absaroka-beartooth-wilderness-mt-volunteer-vacations-2023/