Adirondack Peeks Winter 2023

Volunteer Service Hours Tom Fine, #7138V T he most visible way in which 46ers give back to the mountains is through trail work, which is a main fo cus of the 46ers’ stewardship mission. Perhaps less visible (but just as vital!) is the work put in by volunteers on the education front by way of the Adopt-a-Highway Program, Outdoor Skills Workshop, Trailhead Stewarding, and the Correspondent Program. Being a 46er affords all of us the opportunity to join a unique group: those who volunteer their time in the vari ous club activities. The milestone volunteer hours that are recognized are 46, 146, 346, 546, 746, 1,046 and—gasp— 2,046 hours, the equivalent of one year of full-time work. As the table shows, there are three people who have volunteered over 2,046 hours and eighteen people who have volunteered over 1,046 hours as of the end of the 2022 volunteer season (see Table 1)! Most of these hours were earned with the Trail Crew because, for years, Trail Crew or working at the Outdoor Skills Workshop were the only ways to get volunteer hours. In more recent times, volunteer hours can be ac crued by volunteering for Adopt-a-Highway work, Corre spondent work, Outdoor Skills Workshop work, Trail Crew work, and also Trailhead Steward work. Because other training is required for these, those training hours will also

be tallied for inclusion. Volunteer hours add up to awards in the fol lowing increments: 46 Hours, 146 Hours (which also gets you a gold ringed 46er Volunteer patch), 346 Hours, 546 Hours, 746 Hours, 1,046, and, finally, completing the large multi-patch em blem, the 2,046 Hours

Award. That handsome emblem, sewn on your well-worn pack, shows you were willing to give up the equivalent of a one year of 40-hour work weeks to toil and sweat in the woods, or clean up litter along Route 73, or educate hikers as a Trailhead Steward, or volunteer at the annual Outdoor Skills Workshop, or correspond with an aspiring 46er. There is no greater way to Give Back than to volun teer. For the sake of new 46ers, a bit of history is in order. The 46ers volunteer efforts began with the Trail Crew, which grew out of the High Peaks Task Force headed by Ed Ketchledge (#507). Ketch is the guy who figured out

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