Last Tuesday I participated in a volunteer gear haul-out for a youth program called Girls on Ice. The program is for high school girls from all over the country. They get 11 days of nature, science, and art, mostly outdoors. In fact, much of the program is spent camping near the Easton Glacier on Mt. Baker at an elevation of about 6000'.
Nine girls and three fabulous instructors spend a week at this camp. The instructors include a botanist (Kari), a glaciologist (and founder of the program, Erin), and a mountain guide (Cecilia). The program is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and is supported by the University of Alaska (Fairbanks). The program also depends heavily on volunteers. This is where I come in (since I'm a public employee you know I don't have any money!). Female voluneers help haul gear up to camp.
Just so you don't think that this is some kind of spa vacation for these girls, they haul big backpacks full of gear too. However, most of them have never been in the mountains and very likely come from a city. This year the girls came from Chicago, Rhode Island, New York, Atlanta, and similar places. One girl was from Enumclaw (near Mt. Rainier) and another from Alaska. Some girls have to apply multiple times to get into the program. The group size is limited by wilderness area restrictions.
I didn't get to participate in the gear haul up to camp because the timing didn't work for me. The date for the gear haul out did work for my schedule so that's how I contributed. I arrived the night before since we had a trailhead meet time of 0700. Five of us camped together the night before. It was really great getting to the know the coordinator, Kelsi, who is a former Girls on Ice graduate, another graduate of the program (Claire), and two women from Seattle who are avid backpackers (Anna and Julie — let's do the Wonderland Trail again as we discussed!).
In the morning we met with the rest of the crew, Jessica (another graduate), Ginny, and Karen. Paperwork completed and filed we started on the trail around 0730. The pictures are the best part of this and I must say this is possibly the most positive experience I have ever participated in for nearly 24 hours. It felt life changing to me and I was merely there to help haul gear. The volunteers, instructors, coordinator, and girls were all great. Do this. It's important!
Corinna, what a great experience–and I saw you in one of the Gear Angels photos. Absolutely fabulous photos. The one photo of Mt. Baker is the best I’ve seen. The program itself sounds wondrous. Good on you!