Volunteer Vacation - Adirondack Park, New York (Week 2) Trail Maintenance

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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:

Created in 1892 as one of the first Forever Wild Forest Preserves in the nation, the Adirondack Park is a unique wilderness area, and volunteers are needed to help maintain it! At 6 million acres, it is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States. The state of New York owns approximately 2.6 million acres, while the remaining 3.4 million acres are devoted to forestry, agriculture and open space recreation. The Adirondack Park is not a National Park - there’s no fee to enter and the park doesn’t close at night, nor is it a state park, a common misconception. It’s also the largest National Historic Landmark, covering an area larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and the Great Smokies National Parks combined. Champlain Area Trails has a number of new trails that will be developed in Adirondack Park this year. Volunteers will work to establish and maintain these new trails by clearing the trail of branches, brush, and fallen logs plus doing some side-cuts to level the trail on hillsides. Volunteers may also assist with the installation of new bridges and boardwalks as needed throughout the week. Project access will include driving 20-30 minutes on paved roads.

AHS acknowledges with gratitude that this project takes place on the traditional lands of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk), Mohican, N’dakina (Abenaki / Abénaquis), and Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga (Haudenosaunee) 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: Accommodations will be in a youth summer camp with 2-4 people per room on beds. Breakfast and dinner will be cooked/provided for by camp staff. Lunch fixings will be provided for the volunteers to make their own lunches. Laundry may be available. Volunteers need to bring their own sleeping bags and/or linens/bedding, towels, and personal toiletries. 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/adirondack-park-ny-volunteer-vacations-2023/