National Trails Day

National Trails Day is the first Saturday of June. On this day, people get together and fix up the trails around America. I love hiking, so I had to help out! I signed up without knowing what was waiting for…

6月の最初の土曜日はナショナルトレイルデイです。この日はボランティアが集まってアメリカ中のハイキングの道をきれいにしに行きます。ハイキングが好きなので、何が待っているのかも予想せず、張り切ってボランティアに参加しました。

The day was gorgeous! More than 100~150 people came from all over the country to help improve Appalachian trail in Smokies.

良い天気!　遠いところから100～150人ぐらいの人が朝早くから集まっていました。



I thought it will be picking up trash from the trail and chopping brunches to make more spaces on trail… Well, I was wrong. We all had to carry shovels and really heavy tools to fix and build trails so people can enjoy the hikes without having accidents or injuries.

仕事はごみ拾いや草刈ぐらいのものだと思っていたら、大間違い。　みんなショベルやくわのような物をかついでトレイルへ…　古い道をハイキング中に怪我をしないように大舗装するらしい。



We were divided into smaller groups and the leader explained what we have to do
小さなグループに分かれて仕事の内容を聞く





Some of the equipments and materials were already brought by helicopter earlier but we had to take them into the wood/trail… by dragging (some carried)

重たい物は前日にヘリコプターで持ち込んだらしい。でも現場には自分で運ばなければなりません。引きずるかかつぐか…



Main job was to clear water bars so the water doesn’t stay on the trail. This was my first work.

主な仕事は道に水がたまらないように水はけ用の道を作ることでした。これは最初のお仕事。



I even had to make steps… I didn’t even know that human made the steps on the trail. Until that day, I thought the step was naturally and conveniently formed… I felt so stupid!!! I surely learned a lot, and now I appreciate it even more!

階段も作りました。今まで階段は自然に出来た物だと思っていた私はなんてバカなんでしょう。いろいろ勉強になりました。

By the way, I paid/contributed $20 to participate in this. In the return, they provide us lunch and a t-shirt with 75th anniversary logo. The lunch after the hard work was so good. It was very hard to get up and go back to work though…

ちなみにこれはボランティアなのですが募金をしなければなりません。でもお昼とスモーキー75周年記念ロゴ入りのTシャツが支給されます。力仕事の後のお昼はさすがに美味しい!　あまりにもお腹がすいていたので写真を撮るまでに1口食べてしまいました。

On the trail, I found summer wildflowers :) (yellow clintonia)

夏の野草も咲いてました



We worked 9 to 5 with 2 breaks. It was really a hard work, but it felt so good knowing people will enjoy our hard work. I also enjoyed meeting different people. They all were inspiring. I will do again and so should you!

9時から5時まで、2回休憩。よく働きました。でも終わると気持ちが良い!　いろんな人にもあえて良い日になりました。

This view is from the Clingmans Dome. I had to visit it since it was near. Clingmans Dome is the higest spot in the Smokies.

最後にクリングマンドームからの風景。スモーキーで一番高いところからの見晴らし。