Hitch 6 was a partnership between the Idaho Trails Association and the Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation. Three SCA interns were enthusiastic to work on the Gant Ridge trail in the Bighorn Crags. We camped at Cathedral Lake, an oligotrophic body of water created from the last glacial recession. It was lovely. We fell asleep to a trickling melody played by the small creek near camp each night and awoke to sunlight filtering through Englemann spruce every morning.

“You are part of a legacy,” said Mark Bingman to the group of volunteers as we gathered for the Wewukiye (Wa-woo-kia) Trail Project. Mark is the North Zone Recreation Manager for the Boise National Forest, where there are few non-motorized trails. The Cascade Ranger District is leading the charge to construct a new 16-mile hiking and mountain biking trail that will connect Warm Lake, Stolle Meadows, Vulcan Hot Springs and other landmarks.

Four eager volunteers turned out to perform maintenance work on the Hum Lake Trail from August 17th through 19th on the Payette National Forest. The Hum Lake Trail is a very popular backpacking trail outside of McCall, which ascends over a small pass from Duck Lake.

Magdaline, one of the SCA interns learned several positive lessons while working in the wilderness. As she proclaimed, “The first lesson is that backpacking with tools is really hard. The second lesson is that the Backcountry Horsemen sure know how to cook. The last lesson is that if you are going to be doing stream crossings during work you should definitely have a spare pair of shoes.”