LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Daniel Corona has had many great times hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail, but coming across the trail bench between Kingsbury and Spooner after an unexpected snowfall is an experience that is burned into his memory.
The bench provided a much-needed respite for lunch after the difficult hike and a place to drink in the vista. “It’s such a great view of the lake,” the communications manager for the Tahoe Rim Trail Association said.
It’s just one of the many views the roughly 174-mile loop around Lake Tahoe offers. If you complete the entire trail, whether in segments or one go, you can become a part of an exclusive club, known as the 165 Mile Club (the prior distance of the trail before updates and re-routes), in addition to earning bragging rights.
But what’s often unseen are the hours upon hours of work to keep the trail maintained.
“Our trail is a world-class iconic trail for a reason, and it’s because of those people who do that work,” Corona said. “It’s critical.”
Volunteer trail crews do a majority of the work, including leading the installation of new trailhead kiosks. Last year, the trail received over 9,000 volunteer hours.
Clearing brush, removing large boulders, adding drainage and removing trees are all part of keeping the iconic trail well-defined, easy to follow and access.
Crews typically work on the trail from June to October. However, volunteer crews got an early start this year due to the early melt-out and had already cleared over 250 trees before the association’s paid summer crew started in June.
So far this year, both volunteer and staff trail maintenance crews have now removed over 500 trees on the trail. That number is quickly approaching last year’s total of 570 removed trees, with months of trail maintenance still to come this summer.
The early start, along with training and deploying one of the largest groups of volunteer crew leaders the association has ever received (18), has made this season so productive.
The crew of four staffed trail members typically go into the harder-to-reach areas of the trail, spending days at a time in the backcountry on assignments, known as “hitch.”
“They hike out,” Corona explained. “When they find a tree, they cut it and keep going and just work their way down the trail, clearing trees and then set up camp for the night and then start all over the next day.”
Although it’s physical work, it very rarely lowers the morale of these workers.
“As they’re leaving to go out on hitch, they’re all excited,” Corona said, “and when they come back, they’re all just as stoked because they just spent a week camping and doing trail maintenance with their friends.”
When not on hitch, the staff workers often lead volunteer workdays.
The association hosts numerous volunteer workdays throughout the summer, at times multiple each week. Anyone 18 years or older can volunteer.
To learn more, visit tahoerimtrail.org/volunteer.
