Winter is not the season of our discontent. At least, not often (with apologies to Tom Paine,of course). For a trail crew, winter is our “off-season,” though. It’s really useless to go out and dig on a construction or reconstruction project, what with the soil turning to muck in no time flat. There’s the chance, of course, that a blizzard or an ice storm will come blasting through, creating havoc on a trail or trail section. Then, PATCers will be called out to help remove the deadfall and blowdowns so that the trail is clear again for winter hikers. I don’t look forward to such a storm; I’ve lived through and dealt with too many of them. Winter is a beautiful season, or it should be. It is a time to reflect on the passing year with an “eye” toward what we can and should do, as a crew, in the coming year.

It’s spring—late spring, almost summer. On Memorial Day weekend, hundreds of people evacuated the cities and suburbs to go to beaches and mountains. Depending upon where each went, people swam, sunned, combed beaches, hiked, and spent some money in shops, restaurants, diners, hotels, and camp grounds. All of us drove. Yes, I went out, too. I hosted a picnic for 20 of the 38 people who maintain the Appalachian Trail in the South District of Shenandoah National Park. (All were invited and encouraged to attend, of course.) Among those who came, ate, and conversed, several hiked nearby trails while a few came in after doing some work on their trail sections.

It was a beautiful Saturday, and I was struck by…how few we were, compared with the numbers of others who were at other sites at the Dundo Picnic Grounds that day.