“Who would have thought that sleeping in the cold and getting up early to carry rocks and work on trails could have been as much fun as lying on the beach,” mused Michael Mathias, one of the 30 spring break students from across the country that worked with the Trails Forever program in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  
During the month of March, students from the University of Virginia, New York University and Calvin College spent their days off hard at work with Park staff improving  two trails in the Park.  The students worked on improving the sustainability of a section of the Smokemont Nature Trail by constructing a double-staircase out of locust wood and vastly improving the drainage along the Rich Mountain Loop Trail in Cades Cove.  
The spring break portion of the Trails Forever program provides the opportunity for trail work to get done that would not have otherwise been accomplished this year and exposes college students, in many cases, to a whole different set of skills and experiences.  
Alex Hutcheson summed up the experience by saying, “The entire week was challenging, rewarding and fulfilling.  My experience with Trails Forever definitely makes me more likely to volunteer in a national park in the future”.
Spring break groups are just one of the ways the Park incorporates volunteers in the Trails Forever program (www.smokiestrailsforever.org).   The Park is actively recruiting individual volunteers to work with a Park crew on a major trail reconstruction project this season.  To sign up for a work day Friday-Monday from May 20 to Oct. 16 contact Christine Hoyer at (828) 497-1949 or Christine_Hoyer@nps.gov.  
    

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