Distance Hikers: Why You Should Volunteer

The truth is when hiking on Buckeye, or North Country Trails, there's going to be parts of them that are going to make a hiker stop and "scratch their heads."  That's because there's disconnect between the expectations of a hiker and the experience of the maintainer.  From what I know, if most maintainers have been hikers before (not all have), then most of those haven't been distance hikers.  So instead of doing what they believe is right without question, even if they could stop and "walk a mile" in the hiker's shoes, some of them might not have the experience to know what to anticipate.  It's kinda ingrained in our culture that all ignorance is bad and therefore, we shouldn't embrace it.  That's true and mostly for ignorance that we cling to.  But ignorance is the point from which we all start from on the path the knowledge.  And maintainers should stop from time to time and temporarily forget what they know to see the trail from the uninitiated's point of view.

With that being said, it wouldn't hurt for hikers to participate in trail maintenance or a work crew... even on road.  This because they should gain an insider's perspective in as little as 5 volunteer hours.  From that, the hiker can understand why the trail is routed, or engineered the way it is.  And will help keep them in motion down trail because they have the experience to get inside the mind of the maintainer.