Flexibility is key when it comes to working in the field! This year, we had a fantastic debut with our roving restoration crew, and these guys were the epitome of flexibility. Weeds don’t always just grow right along the trail, and the weather isn’t always sunny… but nevertheless, the backcountry never fails to amaze us. A few reports of flex come in these quotes:

The trail listed had not been in use or maintained so we followed game trails and the creek bed through thick patches of Alder and spruce until we finally made it.

We were dismayed to find the trail no longer present and resorted to bushwhacking and sliding our way down the steep terrain and slippery heather to the lake.

We finally made it back to the trailhead at 17:45, 3 hours later than we had planned.

The boys were good at thinking on the fly and deciding on the best plan of action:

Unfortunately when we reached the road we found it unused and completely overgrown with alder.. After assessing our options we decided to attempt to work down the drainage but we were forced back up to the road after an hour of negligible progress over dangerous terrain. We slowly pushed our way along the road and through the alder until about two miles later it began to clear up.

Not only was our crew never discouraged by the turn in plans, they were able to find the light in little things and always brought humor to the table:

I also startled a bull moose grazing almost on the trail in front of me as I came around a corner. He took one look at me and ran the other way; I don’t think I smelled great after 5 days in the backcountry.

But all of these hard days made them so grateful for the days that went as planned:

As we accessed our route for the day, we were grateful for the lack of off-trail travel required.

Needless to say, a huge shoutout to our awesome crew for being so adaptive, enjoying the little part of what makes this area so special, and never failing to shine in your positions.