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The best part about trail work, is that you learn a whole bunch of rules – how to set rocks, where things should go, where they shouldnโ€™t go – and then you get to break all of the rules.ย  Nature does what she wants, and doesnโ€™t give a hoot about your so called โ€œtrail rules.โ€ ย I love this because it means thatย every project must be approachedย differently. You never know what youโ€™ll find when you set out to work. ย This means that as trail workers, we have a set of skills that we have to adapt to new situations. When I first found out weโ€™d be working on a mudslide on Mt Evans, I was excited- I had no idea what that would entail, besides finding the trail.ย  The mystery grew as I looked at a map and realized that the directions I was given didnโ€™t make any sense, there wasnโ€™t a trail between those two lakes!ย  Maps donโ€™t always have all the trails though, so we met our volunteers, drove up, found a trail and then started hiking. And then we saw it.ย  A HUGE MUDSLIDE.

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So we got to it, rearranging the decomposed granite, figuring out where the trail might have been at some point and how to keep everyone in one spot with cairns, mono-walls, and retaining walls.ย  Itโ€™s been a new experience for me and I canโ€™t wait for the next challenge.

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Layla F.

I have been covered in dirt since childhood. Originally from Massachusetts, I have been living in Texas for the last 6 years, splitting my time between working in Big Bend National Park, and living in Austin with my dog and my sweetheart. This is my first time in Colorado, and I hope to perfect my pika call by the end of the summer.

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