Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation
Expect Nothing, Pull Saw, Slay, Repeat
Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation
I'll Tell You What
Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation
Why Work in Wilderness
WRF
Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation
Wilderness Growth

Forrest reflects on his first hitch in the Bitterroot National Forest.

Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation
Moments in the Mountains

Bring Your Dad to Work Day

Katie Burbridge 

Wilderness & Trails Intern

Puddin Mountain Trail | Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness

July 29-August 5, 2026

To say I was looking forward to this volunteer hitch would be an understatement. Not only would this be my first time in the Bighorn Crags of the Frank Church-River Of No Return Wilderness, but someone I knew personally would tag along in the volunteer group. 

Very personally. My dad. 

Katie hiking back to camp after a day of work!

Some people, understandably, might find the idea of their dad coming to their workplace for 8 days stressful. But I was ecstatic! For one, my workplace this week is in the breathtaking Idaho wilderness surrounded by glacier lakes, granite mountain ranges, and little ground squirrels you don't see back home in Virginia. Second, dad and I go on hiking and backpacking trips all the time and share a passion for nature. I think the only person who was more excited about this than me was him. 

For both of us, this hitch was full of a lot of firsts. For starters, dad had never been packed in by mules for a hike before, and I got to excitedly point out how silly and cute they were. Before this summer, I had never seen a mule before and was delighted when they looked like horses with disproportionately large heads and noses. I think dad appreciated this visual too. 

The morning reflection at Welcome Lake

Secondly, because this hitch was with volunteers, we had group meals provided by SBFC. Over the summer, I had developed a simple but effective meal plan for each hitch: snacks for breakfast, tuna for lunch, and summer sausage with sauce and either stuffing or Spanish rice for dinner. Simple, consistent, lots of protein and carbs. So you can imagine my surprise when our camp cook made backcountry pizza, jambalaya, breakfast burritos, and even no-bake cookies throughout the hitch! Dad and I agreed to take notes on her cooking to try and improve our own back home. 

My dad looking out at Welcome Lake in the morning

By far my favorite experience this hitch was getting to look out at Welcome Lake every morning while dad drank several cups of coffee. Shockingly, glacier lakes are not a thing in Virginia (actually, natural lakes aren’t a thing in Virginia either). So every morning before work, we walked out and took it all in: the reflection of the mountain mirroring the real thing in the perfectly still water, the mist drifting off the lake as the day started to warm, the moon slowly hiding behind the rugged mountain peaks. The view never got old. I think both of us are going to cherish those memories forever.

Getting to share these memories with my dad and the rest of the crew is an experience I will never forget. I think this being my last hitch is poetic in a way- I started this internship nervous and unsure how to do anything, with dad being my biggest supporter. Now I’ve ended it by getting to show him how much I’ve grown both as a wilderness intern and as a person. I hope I get to have more experiences like this and can continue to grow.  And who knows, maybe I can pass on the trail crew torch to dad and he can continue the work I started. No pressure, dad.

My dad and I on our way to the worksite.

Katie Burbridge

Glen Allen, VA

University of Mary Washington: Environmental Science and Conservation Biology

Ever since spending her formative years exploring, hiking, and camping in the Virginian forests, Katie has had a passion for protecting wilderness. Now as a junior in college, Katie is seeking an experience and connection with nature that she has never had before. By traveling across the country and joining the SBFC internship team, Katie plans to learn more about trail maintenance, habitat management, and conservation tactics. Katie plans to use her experiences and shared knowledge with the SBFC team to further her lifelong goals of protecting the earth's natural wonders.

Fresh Eyes

Andrew Geiselhart

Wilderness & Trails Intern

Slate Lake | Gospel Hump Wilderness

July 16-21, 2026

The youth crew getting ready to hit the trail!

One of the best ways to experience the wilderness is seeing it through the eyes of someone who’s never been there before. My 4th hitch took me into the Gospel Hump Wilderness on a Youth Wilderness Expedition hitch. From the start, it was clear this trip would be about more than hiking miles. It was about helping the next generation build a connection with wild places.

The youth after a night of cowboy camping under the stars!

After hiking down to Slate Lake, we set up camp right along the shoreline. It was the type of campsite that reminded us why wilderness areas are so special. Every morning we woke up to calm water surrounded by mountains, and every evening we got to watch the sun set over the lake after a day of work. It was hard to imagine a better place to spend the week.

While our days were spent working and exploring the wilderness, some of the best memories came once the work was finished. Evenings around the campfire quickly became everyone’s favorite part of the day. We spent hours playing Monopoly Deal and Uno, laughing together, and getting to know one another better. Those simple moments around the fire brought our group closer together and became just as memorable as the work we accomplished.

Andrew and a youth trying out the crosscut saw.

Our off day gave us another chance to appreciate the beauty of the Gospel Hump. We spent the day relaxing in a beautiful meadow where a deep creek flowed through the grass. It was the perfect place to slow down, enjoy the quiet, and appreciate everything the wilderness has to offer. Moments like that remind you that wilderness isn’t just something to work in it’s something to experience.

Throughout the hitch, it was rewarding to watch the kids become more comfortable in the backcountry. For some, this was their first time spending several days in the wilderness, carrying everything they needed on their backs and being away from friends and family. Watching their confidence grow behind the equipment and seeing them enjoy the little things from evenings around the fire to the incredible scenery was one of the most rewarding parts of the trip.

The crew!

This hitch was my second to last trip of the summer. It being one of the last weeks in the woods, it gave me time to reflect on everything I had learned throughout the season. From working the trails to helping lead this youth hitch, every experience reinforced the importance of protecting places like the Gospel Hump Wilderness. Spending the week at Slate Lake, sharing laughs around the campfire, and introducing kids to the backcountry reminded me why stewardship matters and why these places are worth preserving.

This trip only lasted a week, but the friendships, experiences, and lessons from this hitch will last much longer. Hopefully, for the kids, their time in the Gospel Hump Wilderness was more than just a week in the backcountry, it was the start of a lifelong appreciation for wild places.

Editor’s note: Check out the video this crew made on their day off for more fun!

Andrew Geiselhart

Huntsville, AL

University of Alabama: Environmental Science

Growing up in Huntsville, Alabama, Andrew developed a strong connection to the outdoors from an early age. Through years in Boy Scouts, he gained valuable outdoor skills and eventually earned his Eagle Scout rank. He also spent much of his childhood on long road trips with his family, visiting national parks across the United States and exploring a wide range of landscapes. These experiences developed a lasting appreciation for wilderness and adventure. He was drawn to SBFC for the opportunity to travel and live in the West while helping maintain and protect the wild places that inspire him.

Feet, Hooves, and Paddles

Cam Begley

Wilderness & Trails Intern

Waterfall Creek Trail, Salmon-Challis National Forest

 

STEEP, NARROW ROAD AHEAD.

TRAILERS NOT ADVISED.

Wildflowers on the road to the Bighorn Crags campground.

The Forest Service sign was less than encouraging, but there were still 11 miles of steep, narrow road between us and the trailhead. Without an alternative, Packer Tyler put the rig into four-wheel drive and sent our crew, plus five pack mules, inching towards the Bighorn Crags. The road wound tight corners and steep washboard sections, but the truck and trailer held firm as we traversed the old burn scars outside the Crags; areas of dead, charred trees that looked lifeless until you could get close enough to see its dense carpet of paintbrush, lupin, and yellowbells.

Eventually, we reached the campground, where nobody was more eager to stretch their legs on stable ground than the mules.

Packer Tyler’s mules walking off their carsickness at the Bighorn Crags campground.

After unloading the rigs and re-packing the pack string’s panniers, the crew was ready to go. Actually, I was chomping at the bit to get started, after spending my off days hearing about the magic of the Crags. Expectations were high, and when we hiked in the next morning, I wasn’t disappointed. That day, we made ten or eleven miles to Terrace Lakes, climbing to well over 9,000 feet of elevation as we slipped through a dramatic mountain pass above the appropriately-named Heart Lake.

Heart Lake on a clear day. Not a bad day for a swim, either.

Ultimately reaching Terrace Lakes, we were rewarded with a beautiful campsite on a thin land bridge surrounded on either side by two clear, cool alpine lakes. In the evenings, cutthroat trout would sometimes jump two or feet in the air, as if to taunt us for not bringing fishing poles. The pack string arrived half an hour after we did, dropped off our tools and food, and disappeared back up the mountain pass. Time to get to work.

Over the next four days, we worked our way down the Waterfall Creek trail, leaving scatterings of ponderosa samplings and miles of neatly-trimmed trail in our wake. Besides the constant chatter of loppers and hand saws, the work was accompanied by long-winded games of Contact, Would You Rather, and discussions of what songs were stuck in our heads each day (I had a rough three-day stretch of Joni Mitchell’s “California” on mental repeat). I can’t say it didn’t get a little repetitive, but it kept us from going (completely) crazy.

Crew Lead Cait Dillon showing the crew her battle cry on the Waterfall Creek trail.

Bumping camp twice in these days, we often had a new body of water to swim in, and always we’d compare it to the other lakes and creeks at dinnertime (the best is my secret spot at one of the Terrace Lakes. I won’t say which one.) 

Finally, on day seven of the hitch, we plummeted nearly 6,000 from the high country down to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, where River Patrol provided our third form of transportation for the hitch: whitewater rafting. For a day and a half, we floated the Middle Fork, and replaced our usual routine of hiking, clearing brush, and cutting the occasional downed tree with hours of rafting, swimming, and checking out the ancient petroglyphs along the canyon walls. Obviously, it wasn’t a bad trade.

Floating out on the Middle Fork. Thanks, River Patrol!

Nearing the boat ramp and coming to the end of what was obviously the best hitch of the summer, I looked back towards the receding walls of the Middle Fork’s Impassable Canyon with an unfamiliar sadness. Usually on day eight of a hitch, I could hardly wait to get back to town and eat cheeseburgers at the Missoula Club until I started feeling sick. But, truth be told, I could have spent the rest of the summer pulling baby trees and pushing cut logs down the steep hillsides of the Waterfall Creek trail. If you’re ever lucky enough to get the opportunity to hike in the Crags or above the Impassable Canyon, get there as soon as you can.

Just stay out of my secret swimming hole.

Cam Begley

Suffield, CT

Trinity College Dublin: Environmental Engineering

Cam was born and raised in northern Connecticut, where he worked as a summer camp counselor & teacher at an outdoor education center before moving to Dublin, Ireland for college. Now returning to the US with an Environmental Engineering degree, Cam is excited to build his wilderness skills and gain experience in conservation work. In his free time, Cam loves playing guitar, rock climbing, and bass fishing.

Salamander Stories

Alex Newsom

SBFC Wilderness & Trails Intern

Red River Three Forks - Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests

July 15-22, 2026

Salamander Volunteer Project

Spending a week in the backcountry maintaining trails is always an educational and eye-opening experience, whether it is someone’s first time or their fiftieth. Mix in a team of volunteers who have created their own club through which they have been performing unpaid trail work year-round, rain or shine, plus their own professional, personal, and vocational experiences, and you are in for a rich variety of shared knowledge and passion. This group of individuals from Oregon call themselves the ‘Salamanders’ and make a point to travel to different areas every year to engage in multiple days of trail work on top of their more local schedule. Some of the Salamanders, along with Jo - a first time trail work volunteer - were willing to pose for portraits and share quotes on how they started trail work, what they love about it, and why they keep doing it.

All pictures presented here were taken by Alex Newsom (@alexinunderland) and located in the Gospel Hump Wilderness of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests.

 

Alex Newsom

Bellingham, WA

BS: Earth & Enviro Studies; MS: Geology

Originally from Florida, Alex has lived in five states and three countries, learning what they can about the ecosystems, geologic formations, and cultures of each area. Alex has participated in a variety of volunteer work, including trail maintenance and habitat restoration in Washington and Nevada. After an enlightening season working as a Wilderness Steward Intern with the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation and U.S. Forest Service in 2025, Alex is determined to continue enhancing their trail skills and working in public lands. Alongside hiking, Alex enjoys trail running, nature photography, reading, and playing guitar.

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Moments on East Moose Creek

Emilia Anders

Wilderness & Trails Intern

East Moose Creek Trail  | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

July 1-8, 2026

The view from Elk Summit overlooking the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness with Blodgett Pass in the distance. Photo taken by Abram Wilkinson

Whenever I get back from a hitch, there are always a couple of moments and stories that stand out to me that I tell my friends and family. These are my favorite ones from my last hitch. My crew and I worked clearing Cedar-East Fork Moose Trail #486 to East Moose Creek Trail #421 in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. We first camped at Elk Summit, an awesome campground with views of the Selway and Blodgett Pass. There were nine of us, and we operated as a Supercrew, which led to lots of laughs and fun moments. We were able to bring out four saws and cut lots of trees, which was super fun. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with and get to know so many cool people in such a cool place. We had a great time and cleared almost 400 trees out of the trail! 

Katie and I taking a water break! Photo by Emilia Anders.

Our hitch ran from July 1st to July 8th, so we celebrated the Fourth of July in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness. On the fourth, we were cutting and heard the screech of a red-tailed hawk. This call is my favorite bird call of all time, and is iconic for being the “bald eagle screech” used in movies when things are supposed to be patriotic. Bald eagles have a much softer, high-pitched chirping call, and at some point, someone in Hollywood decided it wasn’t majestic enough for our national bird, so they substituted the call of a red-tailed hawk. I have never felt more patriotic than I did while listening to the call of a red-tailed hawk in the wilderness. 

Crew lead Emma in the cedars at our camp. Photo taken by Riley Sterling

On the fourth day of the hitch, we bumped camp from Elk Summit down to the junction of East Moose Creek Trail and Cedar-East Moose Trail. This is down in the canyon, 2500 vertical feet lower than Elk Summit, where we were coming from. It is near the East Fork of Moose Creek, in a giant cedar grove. Walking down into the cedars for the first time was captivating. It felt prehistoric. We set up our tents under the canopy of cedar, and I felt like a little kid, so excited and grateful to be in such a magical place. It is the prettiest place I have ever camped. There are huge cedars all around, living, standing dead, or decomposing into the ground. The ground was completely covered in ferns and other vegetation, and there was so much life. Never have I been in a place with birds that sing as they do there. All day and night, birds are singing, even at three in the morning. Living and working in such an awesome and otherworldly place for five days was such a cool experience, and I am already planning my trip back. 

Katie hiking with a crosscut and lopers on the East Fork Moose Creek trail. Photo taken by Alex Newsom


One of our crosscut saws hanging on a cedar behind a fresh cut. Photo taken by Emma Cianek

My last tree of the hitch was incredibly top-bound. Riley and I were on a saw team together and had spent five hours earlier that day making three cuts on a large tree that had the same problem, so we were not stoked to face it again. It was 3:45, and we knew we were hiking back to cache tools at 4:15. This was going to be the last tree of the day. As we tried different strategies with little success and started to think about how to tell our crew lead we were going to be late, the saw teams around us began to wrap up. As they finished their trees, they came and offered help. We soon had six members, and we used a Katana Boy to cut through one side and chopped the other with a single-bit axe. Both jobs are exhausting and time-consuming, but by rotating through the six of us, the work went surprisingly fast. Somehow, dancing and singing started, and Andrew started playing music on his phone. Abe, Andrew, and I danced as we rotated with the others, and many laughs were shared. A tree that started with low energy and seemed to promise a hard end to our last cut day turned into a dance party that boosted the morale of the whole group. It is the most fun I have ever had on one tree, and it was an awesome way to wrap up a very silly and fun hitch.

Emilia Anders

Boise, ID

University of Idaho: Environmental Science

A Boise native, Emilia is a junior at the University of Idaho, studying Environmental Science with a focus in policy. She was first introduced to trail work through two seasons with the Idaho Conservation Corps. She had the opportunity to work on a backcountry trail crew in the Frank and fell in love with the wilderness! She is so excited to live outside, explore more of our awesome public lands, and help make wild spaces more accessible to everyone. When not on hitch, you can find her climbing, river surfing, or singing in choir!

Question of the Day in the Bighorn Crags

Prior to each hitch, the interns receive a text from the crew leads that briefs us on any important information we need to prepare for. For this particular hitch, the text from Cait and Berkeley contained something along the lines of, “The Crags have gotten up to 20 inches of snow in some places this past week.” While I am accustomed to and appreciate a good snowfall, this message raised some questions about whether we would be able to get back into the Crags.

I am very thankful these questions and fears were not validated, as the snow melted and this entire hitch felt like a vacation. The rugged beauty of the mountaintops, camping at glistening alpine lakes, the rewarding work of cutting and clearing immense amounts of trail, and getting to experience the majority of the Crags trail system made this hitch unforgettable. I could not have asked for more. Getting to experience the Crags while knowing I was giving back to this naturally breathtaking, beautiful region was highly rewarding and a buttload of fun.

Each day, I asked the crew at least one question of the day, which would be mulled over for several hours while working, sometimes debated, and then logged.

A quick run-down of our work route:

→ Arrive at Bighorn Crags Campground, where we camped for two nights. During the first two days, we cleared the stock loop and several miles of the Upper Yellowjacket Creek Trail.

→ Bump camp to Mirror Lake, clearing the Bighorn Crags Trail and the stock loop.

→ Bump camp to Birdbill Lake, set up camp, and then clear to Ship Island Lake and up to the Big Clear Lake pass before running into snow.

→ Bump camp to Welcome Lake, clearing along the way, and then clear to Terrace Lakes and a section of the Bighorn Crags Trail.

→ Stay one more night at Welcome Lake. With day packs, clear the Puddin Mt Trail all the way down to Buck Lake.

→ Hike out to Bighorn Crags Campground, clearing along the way.

In total, we hiked and cleared approximately 60 miles of downfall, completed drain work, and gained around 12,000 feet of elevation. It was a fantastic hitch!

Questions of the day:

The view from Mirror Lake, our first true night in the backcountry. 

Question of the Day (QOTD): If you had the power to never get a blister or chafe anywhere ever again, where would you choose? 

Berkeley- Between the four small toes 

Cal- Slightly to the side of his bone protrusion from playing hockey as a kid 

Cait- Inside of the big toe

Jaxon- Pinky toe

Clarinne- Chaffing on the ribcage

Forrest- Under the heel






QOTD: If you could choose anyone in the world to do trailwork with for a hitch, who would you choose (three person crew)?

Berkeley- Her friend Syd because she is funny and Terry Tempest Williams

Cal- Steve Rinella and Grandpa Mark

Sophia- Her partner Cade and Pete Davidson

Cait- Her mom and Amy Poehler

Jaxon- His cross country teammates

Clarinne- Her girlfriend Chloe and Conan O’Brien 

Forrest- My younger brother Tucker and old dog Coditza



Birdbill Lake.

QOTD: If you could make one piece of gear weigh nothing, what would you choose?

Berkeley- Shoes, she would bring a wide variety on hitch (rain boots, clogs, etc.)

Cal- Sleeping pad

Sophia- Boots

Cait- Books 

Jaxon- A 3 person tent

Clarinne- Books 

Forrest: The backpack

Ship Island Lake

QOTD: Would you rather add twelve miles to your day with a full pack or spend the entire day brushing?

Berkeley- Hike the 12 miles 

Cal- Hike the 12 miles

Sophia- Brush all day 

Cait- Hike the 12 miles

Jaxon- Brush all day

Clarinne- Hike the 12 miles

Forrest: Hike the 12 miles

Going over the Beaver Slide.

QOTD: If you could recruit one animal to help you with trailwork what would you choose

Berkeley- A fox to help dig tread

Cal- Elk 

Sophia- A beaver

Cait- A bluebird to scout the condition of the trail ahead

Jaxon- Elk 

Clarinne- Pegasus (power of a horse plus you could fly back to camp after you’re done with work)

Forrest: A moose

QOTD: Would you rather have unlimited huckleberries on hitch or zero mosquitoes?

Looking down at Heart Lake from the pass leading to Terrace Lakes.

Berkeley- Unlimited huckleberries

Cal- No mosquitoes

Sophia- Unlimited huckleberries

Cait- Unlimited huckleberries

Jaxon- No mosquitoes

Clarinne- No mosquitoes

Forrest: Unlimited huckleberries

QOTD: If the Bighorn Crags had a theme song what would it be?

Cal- Water of Love by Dire Straits

Sophia- Don’t Fence Me In by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters

Cait- Biding My Time by Robert Lester Folsom

Jaxon- The Manifesto by Gorillaz

Clarinne- Smokies by Barefoot Jerry 

Welcome Lake in the early morning.

QOTD: What is your favorite sound in the wilderness?

Berkeley- Light rain on her tent

Cal- Thunder 

Sophia- Birds

Cait- River Noises 

Jaxon- Swaison’s Thrush 

Clarinne- Wind in a grove of aspens 

Forrest- Running water

QOTD: If there was only one grocery store left in the world for life which would you choose?

Berkeley- Berkeley Bowl 

Cal- Wegmans 

Sophia- The Good Food Store

Cait- Super1

Jaxon- HEB (“anywhere else is incorrect”)

Clarinne- Winco 

Forrest- Wegmans

Forrest Ives

Erieville, NY

Johns Hopkins University: Environmental Science

Forrest grew up in Cazenovia, New York playing tons of sports, including hockey, lacrosse, and soccer. He is attending Johns Hopkins University where he is studying Environmental Sciences. He enjoys all things outdoors, some of his favorites being backpacking, mountain biking, and canoeing. This love for the outdoors stems from summer vacations spent in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York with his family. Forrest was drawn to this position because the opportunity to practice conservation first hand and the ability to have an impact on managing lands for the betterment of the natural areas they encompass.

My First Youth Hitch

Amelia Green

Wilderness & Trails Intern

Lower Gospel Lake | Gospel Hump Wilderness

July 2-7, 2026

I was really nervous getting ready for this hitch. It would not only be just me and my crew lead, April, from SBFC, but also my first youth crew hitch. However, April was amazing at reassuring me and giving me some solid expectations for the hitch.

The biggest concern that I had was not really any significant dangers on the actual hitch – bears not being too prominent in the Gospel Hump Wilderness (though I will say that our bear hang was it’s own little story, that I’ll elaborate later). No, my biggest concern was more of the social aspect of going on hitch: whether the youth we’d be spending the next six days with would get along. However, my concerns turned out to be unfounded, and the kids got along rather quickly. Even the car ride to the trailhead was already filled with conversations and some laughter.

Lower Gospel Lake near camp

Morgan at Upper Gospel Lake (Group hike on Monday)

Some after dinner swing dancing at camp with April, Amelia, Liam K., Liam G., Orin, and Morgan.

Getting onto the trail – while a bit difficult to find – was a nice and easy decline towards the creek (if you ignored all the trees that we had to climb over). When we got to this waterfall, the trail kind of disappeared and you had to climb up the rocks to get back to the tread, and the kids took their time. None of them pushed too hard, taking breaks as they needed – which was best with the heat of the sun over us and very little shade in this section of the hike. 

Arriving at the lake was an amazing relief. We all worked to do the regular camp chores and pulled out all of our group gear before setting up our tents. We got through our lessons, which the kids genuinely participated in each day, before being set free to do as we pleased until dinner.

I took the chance to get changed and have my first dip in the lake before I was to help out with dinner – burrito bowls that night. The lake was the best part of the day. It was cool, refreshing, and perfect after a rather hot hike down and up a little mountain. The burrito bowls were the final cherry on top, and a nice heavy dinner to fill us all up after such a long day. 

Setting up the bear hang at camp beside Lower Gospel Lake. April tying it up, Morgan, Dellin, and Orin holding the bags up.

Now, back to that bear hang – we had only one pulley, so we were attempting to get all of the group gear into one bear hang. Using a double-figure 8 knot, we got all of the bear bags onto the rope, but it was so heavy that we had to get help from the youth. With some heaving and pulling, were able to get the bear hang up and tied securely to the tree.

Overall, the day was a great start to my first youth hitch, and I would love to something like this again. The crew was great, April was an amazing leader, and the trail itself was fun to work on.

Amelia Green

Moscow, ID

University of Idaho: Environmental Science

Amelia grew up in Marsing, Idaho, about 45 min Southwest of Boise. She has been in the outdoors her whole life and did some trail work in the Fall of 2025 on top of a lengthy background in agricultural work. She adores the outdoors, especially the mountains, and attends the University of Idaho for Environmental Science to continue working in the field. She loves learning about plants and animals and how ecosystems work together.

Broadening Horizons: Backcountry Food Decoded

Riley Sterling

Wilderness & Trails Intern

62 Ridge Super Crew

6/17/26 – 6/24/26

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

Boots on the ground are the backbone of trailwork. But what gives those boots the strength to leave their sleeping bags in the morning? Food. The longer I’ve spent at SBFC the more I’ve noticed people bringing one or two items that some ultralighters would consider heinous crimes. When asked, my coworkers often deem these items utterly essential for an eight day hitch. This is not to say that we are bringing things that we don’t need. In reality, after working a 10+ hour in the backcountry, our needs become very specific, and sometimes peculiar. Before each hitch I still weigh the pros and cons of every item. However, I often come to the conclusion: after a long day of hiking or trail work, that one extra pound seems like a good trade for a gourmet, non-dehydrated, meal. 

Abe Wilkinson hiking up 62 Ridge to our campsite at Bear Wallow on Day 2 in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness. We started down by the river! Photo Taken by Riley Sterling

Some go for the freeze dried backpacking meals, some surf the bulk food section at WinCo, and others eat exclusively ramen. And no one judges because we all know what it feels like to get back from a long day of work only to find that you only have the one meal you don’t want. The trick is to find what works, and sometimes it takes a little creativity and (*gasp*) a bit more weight to my pack.  

After a deep dive on Reddit, and trial and error on a couple backcountry hitches I have come to the conclusion that the internet is not helpful, and word of mouth offers the most creative ideas.

This hitch, 11 of us hiked deep into the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness up to 62 Ridge to clear a section of the Idaho Centennial Trail. I asked my crew what unique items they brought, and the following list was the outcome. 

1. A full rack of ribs

My tent at Bear Wallow on 62 Ridge in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness. We stayed here almost every night on our 8-day hitch.

We spent the first two days of hitch hiking 17 miles into the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness. When we arrived at our campsite for the week, my crew lead pulled out a gallon Ziploc bag full of Costco ribs for dinner. Yes, they were bone-in, and yes, he carried the bones out. Let this serve as a reminder that backpacking food can be whatever you want it to be, and lighter isn’t always better.  However, hikers beware! Cleetus (sasquatch expert and reliable source) says this may entice a sasquatch into your camp!

2. Trail sushi

Sophia Evans preparing “trail sushi” for lunch on 62 Ridge in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness.

There are only so many options for lunches in the backcountry… If you aren’t creative enough. Much of the work we did on this hitch was brushing, and the amount of lopping we did demands something to look forward to throughout the day. One trail tech braved the daunting unknown and brought seaweed, packets of smoked salmon, furikake, mayo, and sriracha for every lunch. She cold soaked instant rice in a small container as well. Consider me impressed! Suffice to say, Reddit is not as all-knowing as I thought. 

3. Olives and Sardines

Hydrated? Yes. Messy? Probably. Worth it? Assistant Crew Lead Nathan seemed satisfied. This was a part of another creative lunch idea. Why have another packet of bland tuna on a tortilla when you can have canned sardines and olives in a wrap instead. During my first two hitches, one of my biggest takeaways is that aggressive flavors can get you through anything, so I don’t blame him for these bold flavors 6 hours into a day of lopping. 

4. Baby carrots

Emma Cianek single bucking a hang-up to clear the 62 Ridge Trail (#606)

The crunch. The freshness. The opportunities. My crew lead, Emma, and I spent a day cutting trees separate from the rest of the group, so we had a separate lunch break after we successfully cleared a big pile-up. Emma put carrots into her wrap, along with a few other forms of nutrients, and as the crunch echoed through the trees I found myself wishing I had something to munch on with that much crunch. Additionally, I have literally never seen baby carrots go bad. I don’t know how that works. What I do know is they are a great backcountry option. With days pushing 90ºF, many things end up being gross by the latter end of the hitch but Emma’s carrots stood the test of time. Carrots may weigh more than dried fruit, but having some reliable fresh veggies to snack on seems worth it to me. 

5. 3lbs of peanut butter

Need I say more? It's nearly half a pound of protein-packed calories per day. And interns gotta eat.

6. Ramen

I know what you are thinking. 

“Riley, that is literally a textbook grocery store backpacking dinner.” 

Andrew Geiselhart keeping the hacky sack circle alive at Bear Wallow while Amelia Green, Nathan Grooms, Abe Wilkinson, and Darby Hannon watch with anticipation.

Yes, that is true. However, previous to this job I had never thought of it as a breakfast option. If you are tired of oatmeal or you just like a savory breakfast, ramen is the same weight and is just as fast to make in the morning. And when your crew lead says to try something, you try it (so I did). I will say, after the ramen breakfast I felt like I added more to our daily morning hacky sack than usual. 

While this is not a comprehensive list of the uncommon food items that we brought, it gives a look into the vast options you have when you apply a wider lens to backcountry calories. I now feel I have a lot more to choose from when I’m heading to WinCo on the Tuesday before a hitch. Going forward, I feel much less trapped in the endless loop of oatmeal, ramen, and bagged tuna.

Riley Sterling

Mountain View, CA

Colorado College: Ecology and Organismal Biology

Riley was introduced to the outdoors through canoeing and backpacking trips in Maine, where she grew up. These experiences sparked her interest in ecology and conservation, which she now studies in college. As she got older, she began to see how time spent outdoors contributed to her personal growth, leading her to guide wilderness trips for youth over the past two summers. Through this work, she learned firsthand how access to wild places can broaden perspectives and support conservation efforts. She is excited to help provide outdoor access in a new way this summer!

A Day on the Middle Fork

Cal Osterberger

Wilderness & Trails Intern

Middle Fork River Trail, Salmon-Challis National Forest

6/17-6/24/2026 

It's somewhere between 3 and 4 in the morning. I am about 8 miles into the Frank Church nestled along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. I wake to the patter of rain on my tent, the lullaby it creates does not soothe me back to sleep. In a bit of a frenzy, I fumble around with the zipper of my sleeping bag, make it out of my tent, and scramble around gathering my boots and clothes I had left to dry out overnight. Once I am back in my bag I sit wondering if my morning will be one of wet boots and soggy clothes. With this on my mind I quickly fall back asleep; nothing I can do now but pray. I wake next at 6 to my lovely alarm, I quickly shut it off, no snooze button for me this morning. I instead opt for setting an alternate alarm at 6:30, breakfast is not in the cards for me this morning. 6:30 comes quicker than I hoped. I stare at my tent for another 5 minutes before getting ready for work. Socks first, mostly dry, are slid onto each of my battered feet. The rest of my clothes follow before I venture out into the damp world of trees and dirt. Time to throw on the boots, my mad dash last night was not in vain. The boots are definitely damp, but dry socks go a long way in the fight for comfort. I grab my backpack, sit down with the rest of my crew (most enjoying a coffee and oatmeal) and begin packing for the day. Lunch, tools, and plenty of water take up about 10% of the space in my 80-liter pack. A quick stretch and briefing from my crew lead follow, retread day. After grabbing a pulaski, shovel, and small hand saw (the famed big boy) I set out with the rest of the crew to start the day.

Photo of the creek crossing we did in the morning in order to get to the section of trail we were working on

The day begins with about an hour long hike to get to the point where work stopped last night. A few creek crossings and a caffeinated Clif Bar later and I am starting to fully come back to life. One of my coworkers and I will be a two man retread machine today, powered by watermelon sour patch instead of gas; every piece of blown-out trail in the vicinity is shaking with fear. After a discussion on the proper way to retread a trail, work begins. The tread of a trail is what you actually walk on. Overtime, lengths of tread will deteriorate and sluff off into the abyss below the trail. We are working in a river canyon where the tread is cut into a mountainside. Tread blows out here for various reasons: water, gravity, time, and heavy mule traffic are the primary culprits. In certain sections, small rock slides turn the trail into an uneven rocky sidehill situation for those using it; this is where the shovel comes into play. My morning is spent one scoop at a time, throwing a shovelful of rock from the trail. Progress comes fast, and before I know it, about a hundred feet of tread has been rid of rock and returned to its former, much flatter, glory. Future trail goers will not need ankles of steel for this section anymore, and pack strings will glide by without hindrance. My coworker is alongside me with the Pulaski, a sort of shovel/axe combo tool. His focus is on the sections of tread where it could be said that there isn’t much trail left. He digs, swing by swing, back into the mountainside to reestablish the trail and remove some earth on the uphill side of the tread. If he does his job well, the next group that comes through here will only need to do a little shovel work to get the trail back into shape.

Several hours later, it is lunch time. The damp chill of morning is gone, now replaced by a blazing sun. We are covered in dirt from our toil, and shade is on the mind. After finding refuge from the sun under a Ponderosa, we take a seat. Today’s lunchtime discussion: underrated Saturday nights. Much discussion follows and I chase a tuna packet tortilla with a scoop of peanut butter to settle my empty stomach. We decide that, among other things, hitting your local bowling alley is a heavy hitter in the world of underrated Saturday nights. Lunch culminates in a quick trip to filter more water for the afternoon. Back to work.

Photo of the Middle Fork Trail where we worked, much of this section was where our retread work was focused

5 PM comes, and the rest of our crew meets up with us after a full day of cutting trees out of the trail. We join them for the hike back to camp. Solid progress was made today, and the hike back to camp is now closer to two hours than one, a sign of a solid day’s work. Once we are back at camp, we assemble in a rough circle in the “kitchen” (a somewhat shady patch of dirt) to cook dinner. Tuna mac is on the menu tonight. I fire up my stove, boil my pasta, and before long, dinner is served. Some hot sauce puts the chef's kiss on the meal, and I chow down while we recount the more inconvenient parts of the day. I clean my stove and pot, stow my food for the evening, and head to the river. The end-of-the-day swim is a vital component of my day. It's something I look forward to all day in the blazing sun, but now, as I stand in the frigid Middle Fork, I am having second thoughts. Before I have too much time to reconsider, I lay down in the water. Soon it's over, and I am headed to my tent for the evening, clean (relatively), in a fresh (relatively) set of clothes, and ready for bed. Once in my tent, I lay in my sleeping bag reading a book until I am rudely awoken by said book falling on my face. Seems to happen every night; today we made it about twenty pages before I dozed off, solid work.

The same routine will be repeated for another four days until I hike out and return to a world where Frank does not rule. In the end, I am a gambling man– boots, socks, and work clothes stay out of the tent to air out. Surely it won’t rain two nights in a row.*

(*Editor’s note: It did NOT rain. Boots were dry!)

Group photo of a section which required heavy shovel work to remove rock which had slid into the tread

Cal Osterberger

Boise, ID

University of Utah: Biomedical Engineering

Cal is from Boise. His childhood was spent developing a love for all things outdoors, a time during which the Frank Church Wilderness left a profound impression on him. After spending the last 7 years living outside of Idaho, he craves nothing more than to experience the Frank as an adult who can fully understand how special it is.

Big Creek Trail Adventures

Darby Hannon

Wilderness & Trails Intern

Big Creek Trail, 6/3/26 – 6/10/26

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness: Bitterroot National Forest

Day 1:

We started the day at 5:30 a.m. to make it to the tool cache by 6:30. When I got to the cache, I set down my pack and notice my tent was not strapped to my backpack. I called my boyfriend, freaking out, and begged him to look for it at his house. After a couple minutes, he retrieves the tent, and races to the cache therefore saving my hitch.

My boss describes the main objective for the week at the trailhead: rerouting a creek that shifted and is now flooding the trail. We hike in and immediately start work on the creek. We finished the day by digging out the original creek bed. When sitting down to eat dinner, my fuel runs out. Then I curled up in my sleeping bag and read the first Hunger Games book until I fell asleep.

Day 2:

We continued working on the flooded creek and completed our objective, uncovering about 50 feet of trail!

Day 3:

Darby Hannon single bucking a hung up tree to clear the Big Creek Trail in the Bitterroot National Forest. Photo taken by Crew Leader, Berkeley. 

We bumped camps, with a new objective of clearing the trail all the way up to Big Creek Lake. 

Day 4:

Today was the best day. We had two saw teams for both saws: Berkeley (crew lead) and I were on a team, and Nathan (assistant crew lead) and Forrest were on the other to clear the trail, while Katie and Andrew spent the day de-limbing trees and lopping. We had lunch as a group on a ridge, with a beautiful view, where we sang “Boogie Wonderland” and laughed the entire time. We made it to Big Creek Lake, where we spent time taking photos, assessing the agenda for tomorrow, then hiking back.

Day 5:

This morning after deciding we weren’t bumping camps, I exited my tent to find it was snowing. We hiked to the last tree on the trail and decided to cut it into three-foot sections to clear the corridor.  We sing songs, specifically from Frozen, and take turns sawing to stay warm. After deciding not to cross the creek crossing due to the waterfall, we work backwards to help Forest Service employees clear their trail. While I was lopping by myself, I heard rustling and looked up to find a moose near me. A couple minutes later he reappears in a clearing downhill from me, where he is eating and we lock eyes for about a minute before leaving to avoid getting charged.  

Katie, Nathan, Berkeley, and I singing a song from Frozen, in the Bitterroot National Forest, during the Big Creek Trail hitch 1. 

Photo of Big Creek Lake on June 7, 2026, by Darby Hannon on the Big Creek Trail hitch 1. This was taken after sawing the big tree seen in the video. To the right of the photo was a creek crossing with a giant waterfall below it. 

Day 6:

Today I spent ten hours lopping with Forrest on the other trail. After the workday, I spend the entire duration of dinner laughing because Katie kept making me cackle about everything. Before going to bed, I finished the Hunger Games.

Day 7:

Darby Hannon standing in front of a mountain on the daily commute from work to the campsite on the Big Creek Trail in the Bitterroot National Forest. The photo was taken by Katie. 

Today I spent another eight hours lopping back to the original campsite. It was raining on us the entire day, so all of my clothes were wet, making it hard to maintain warmth. We made it back to camp and spent some time eating to regain energy and warmth before joining the group in making a staircase out of rocks. We ended the day and I quickly ate my dinner so I could go change into warm sleeping clothes and get in my sleeping bag.

Day 8:

I was having a hard time staying warm, since we were cleaning tools in the rain before the packers arrive. We played hacky sack to kill time before hiking back to the cars. While we waited, I enjoyed a pickle and got warm. On the drive home, the only thing on my mind was a hot shower.

Hitch #1 in the books!

Darby Hannon

Darby, MT

University of Montana: Forestry

Darby was born in Arizona, and moved to Missoula, Montana to start her forestry degree at the University of Montana. She grew up taking trips to go camping, fishing, and hiking, where she first fell in love with the great outdoors. Darby has experience backpacking, where she discovered her love for nature. This is her first experience working on a trail crew, but she hopes to pursue a similar career in her future.