Great Scenery with a Little Sweat
Jul 08 '00
Imagine visiting some of our country’s most beautiful places for just $75 a week! I thought it too good to be true, but I learned that for around $75 a week (meals included) and a little sweat, I could visit America’s greatest National Parks and help save a little bit of the environment for others to enjoy. You see there are several different organizations that offer you the chance to participate in what is called Volunteer Vacations.
The Premise
You shovel, rake, trim, clear trails, rebuild old buildings, and reintroduce vegetation to the forest. You do all this while enjoying a week-long vacation in America’s National Parks and Forest. You become the caretakers of our forest and parks while spending a week in some amazing places.
The Organizations
I found three different groups in my search for a really cheap summer vacation: American Hiking Society, The Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Volunteers.
a. American Hiking Society
Here is a group that is dedicated to serving the interest of hikers and protecting hiking trails. They claim to be the only organization dedicated to hikers. They offer several trips to maintain different trails. Upcoming trips include North County National Scenic Trial in Moraine State Park in Pennsylvania, and the Pine Mountain Trail in Jefferson National Forest in Kentucky. Each trip is sponsored by an organization, usually the park, and they provide meals and accommodations. On the Pine Mountain Trip, tents are provide, and on the North Country Trail, you have the option to stay in cabins or pitch a tent. In both cases, transportation to and from the local airport is provided. The organization lists a price of $60 per trip. Their website can be found at www.americanhiking.org.
b. The Sierra Club
Their mission is to “explore, enjoy, and protect." They put together National Outings each month to different locals and help maintain the beauty of the place. They have the same concept as the American Hiking Society: you see beautiful scenery and do a little work. One of their featured trips is to “explore, camp, and work on the slopes of Mount Shasta, at timberline, near the Sierra Club Alpine Lodge.” The work project includes working with the Forest Service to maintain the trails and help repair damage to the old historical building of the lodge. The Sierra Club’s trips are a little pricier. For seven days, the outing cost $285 ($50 deposit). They provide food, but you must provide a tent. A brochure is available for each trip with an equipment list. Information about National Outings can be found at the Sierra Club website: www.sierraclub.org/outings.
c. Wilderness Volunteers
This is a nonprofit organization founded to organize and promote volunteer service on America’s wild lands. They boast of working with the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They offer 32 different trips ranging from the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana to the Hakalau Forest Wildlife Refuge in Hawaii. Their trip to the Hawaii cost $198 dollars and they provide meals and accommodations in a dorm. You must pay to get to Hawaii. While there, you will spend four days planting native trees to reforest the refuge, and You’ll get three free days at another dorm, to swim or snorkel. The Bob Marshall trip is also seven days for $198. They, however, do not provide accommodations; you’ll have to haul your tent in on a backpack. You’ll backpack into the mountains climbing 2,600 feet to reconstruct trails. They’ll give you free time to hike the mountains or fish in nearby streams. Their website can be found at www.wildernessvolunteers.org.
Can’t beat the view!
While these trips are not for everyone (some are very physically demanding), they offer a cheap, yet rewarding, way to see America’s national treasures. How many people can say they snorkeled and saw breath-taking scenery in Hawaii for less than $200 a week!
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Epinions.com ID:
seevango
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Location: Louisiana
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