My "I Love My Park Day" Experience

On Saturday May 7, 2016, my cousin and I made our way to the Minnewaska State Reserve to participate in a volunteer project for I Love My Park Day. This was the first time I have participated in I Love My Park Day and it was a great experience.

My cousin K, a junior in high school, loves volunteering and wants to make it her life's work helping others and is setting her sights on joining the Peace Corps after high school, so this was an ideal chance for her to gain further experience in hands on volunteering. For me, it was a way to not only enjoy spending time with K, but to also spend time in the great outdoors, doing something for the benefit of others so they may enjoy it, too.

We were fortunate in being able to work at the base of Spackenkill Falls. It is such a beautiful and peaceful area, even on wet and rainy days like Saturday.

Our team, a diverse combination of people of all ages and backgrounds, including other AmeriCorps members, worked together to clear and define a hiking trail at the falls. When we arrived, we could see something that resembled the actual trail, but also pseudo-trails that could be misleading to hikers. We worked to more clearly define the proper trail and the disguise the pseudo-trails. K and I worked with the trimmers in removing overhanging branches and such that obstructed the trail, we helped rake over a pseudo-trail, we moved logs and brush to help disguise the pseudo-trails, and we helped carry five gallon buckets of crushed shale to fill in the holes left behind after some of the others removed the loose rocks from the trail. Let me tell you.....shale. is. heavy. And carrying it up a hill.....heavier.

Toward the end of the day, the trail looked great and there was no mistaking where the real trail was. I know that K and I took away a lot more than we were able to give. I will definitely be going back to Minnewaska soon.