Summer Trail Work: Be Ready for WTA's Backcountry Trips

Endless rain, snow, and gray days gotcha down? Today you can start dreaming of long days full of light and a little bit of trail work, because WTA's backcountry trip schedule is ready to preview!

Backcountry trips are multi-night volunteer work parties that run from March to late September. Why spend the night? These trips focus on sections of trails that might not otherwise see any maintenance (think worksites more than our usual 2-3 mile approach for day work parties). So it's easier for the crew to simply head out to the worksite and live there for a few days.

Spend an idyllic few days doing trail work and camping in gorgeous places (rainbow not included in every work party, but most of them). Photo by Jason Courts.

This sort of focused work is great for Washington's trails. But it's also a benefit to the volunteers, who get to spend multiple days in gorgeous campsites. Sometimes they even get to stay places where permits or campsites are hard for the average hiker to snag.

So if a shortcut to a primo campsite with a side of trail work sounds good to you, read up on the details and timeline below, and look into our schedule.

• Youth Opportunities
• WTA does also offer youth-specific Volunteer Vacations, but they follow an entirely separate process from what we outline here. If you're interested in one, start by checking out our Youth Volunteer Vacation page.

DO THese four steps before February 11

Registration in 2023 opens on February 11 at 10:00 a.m. Complete these four steps before then so your registration can be as smooth as possible.

Create a My Backpack account if you don't already have one. (Note: If you write trip reports or have volunteered with us before, you've already got an account. If not, here's how to make one.)

Complete your Medical History and Backcountry Experience forms before Feb. 11. They're in your My Backpack dashboard. They typically take about 20 minutes to fill out, and you'll need access to your current medical record to do it, so be sure to allow time for that.

Review the calendar between Feb. 3 and Feb. 11 to find a trip or two you're interested in.

Read our Frequently Asked Questions for BCRTs or volunteer vacations, where you'll be able to find a lot of answers. If you're still curious about something, sign up for our 6:00 p.m. Q&A session on Feb. 9

Hiking to and from the worksite in scenery like this? Yes please. Photo from WTA archives.

Pro Tips

Get online early
Work parties go fast. If you can, try to be online about 10m before registration starts.

Get on that waitlist...
If a trip you want to join is full, put yourself on a waitlist. There's a good chance you'll get on the trip. Life comes up, and volunteers often have to drop from work parties before we head out. WTA staff looks at registration timestamps when moving people off the waitlist, but here are some other criteria we consider:

• Have you had the chance to do a volunteer vacation before? (We hold two spots on each volunteer vacation for newcomers)
• Have you already been on a trip this year? Is there someone else on the list who hasn't had the chance to go out yet?

...but don't save your spot
Please only register for trips you are certain you'll be able to join. We understand that life can throw curveballs  and you may need to cancel last minute. But we want anyone who is interested in experiencing a backcountry trip to have a chance to snag a spot, and registering for a lot of trips you're only partially sure you can make takes away that opportunity from other people.

We can't control fire (or weather)
Ongoing drought conditions and an increasingly unpredictable climate have extended wildfire season across the West. We do our best to plan trips that take these and other environmental factors into account, and we have back-up plans in place in case locations or projects need to change. However, safety is our number one priority, so even with careful planning, cancellations may still be necessary. We'll communicate any changes or cancellations to crews as early as possible.

See you out there? We hope so! Photo by James Alexander