Service in the Wild: Outward Bound Students Give Back Through Trail Maintenance

Service has always been a cornerstone of the Outward Bound experience.  Striving to make a difference in the lives of others and our communities helps cultivate compassion and foster a sense of selflessness. As Kurt Hahn once said, “We learn what it means to be human when we act to help others.”

Zac Cole of the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference teaches the basics of trail maintenance to crew members of the POBS New Jersey Youth Leadership Corps in the Delaware Water Gap.

Recently POBS teamed up with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference to provide service opportunities to our students on expedition in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.  This month, crews from the New Jersey Youth Leadership Corps (NJYLC) met up with Zac Cole, Long-Distance Trails Program Coordinator at the Trail Conference, to engage in service in form of trail maintenance.

“It is a tenet of the Trail Conference that everyone has the right to be outdoors and to experience nature, and Outward Bound is bringing kids into the woods exactly for that purpose,” said Cole. “So it’s a perfect match for us to pair up. The process is, I come out and meet the students on their course and introduce them to what trail maintenance is, then together we take on a section of trail – working our way along, cutting back overgrowth, and keeping the trail clear.”

NJYLC crew member Yashmee on the Coppermine Trail.

After Cole provided instruction, safety gear and implements to cut back overgrowth, students spent the morning working their way along the Coppermine Trail, an offshoot of the Appalachian Trail.

“Service is important because you want to make sure that you’re giving back to the community, and that they’re getting the same opportunities that you had,” said Yashmee, a 15-year-old NJYLC student.

“Being on this course and being able to go hiking and canoeing and everything – it’s an amazing opportunity that we’ve been given. Clearing the trail like this is a great way to give back to other hikers.”

Outward Bound Faculty Instructor Opal Bednarik agreed. “Service is a core Outward Bound value, so it really directs our work. On course, where we’re living together, working together, and taking care of each other, we do a lot of different types of service – like cooking dinner, cleaning up, things like that. And then this type of service on trail lets us expand outward to take care of the broader world and the spaces that we’re a part of. So this is a really cool opportunity to take care of this trail that many, many people are going to use after we’re here.”

Cole was impressed with what he saw.

“It’s inspiring to see the kind of enthusiasm these Outward Bound students bring,” said Cole. “I hope this partnership continues. I would love to see us do more things together in the future. I think it’s a natural fit – Outward Bound, the Trail Conference and the Appalachian Trail all supporting each other to do good work.”