VOLUNTEERING

Here’s a shovel.

How volunteers helped shape the Tahoe Rim Trail

People come from all over the world ten years we will have a new trail!” Even though it took much longer to explore the Tahoe Basin, climb its than that to complete, their enthusiasm never wavered. mountains, and enjoy views of the Jewel of Sam and Jackie dedicated countless hours and worked on every the Sierra. It’s hard to imagine a time when segment of the trail to make the dream of the TRT a reality. For a while, that was not possible. Before the early 80s, every evening after work they would grab their tools and head out to recreation in the Tahoe Basin looked a lot build trail for a few hours before dark. Sam estimated that in one of different. Thanks to the vision of a Forest his busiest years building trail on the TRT, he hiked over 1,000 miles to Service employee and dedication from work sites. many volunteers, the dream of the Tahoe by Veronica Palmer In all their years volunteering for the TRTA they have done it all, Rim Trail was born. Development both serving as early crew leaders, Jackie becoming one

Two of those dedicated volunteers who Director of the first female sawyers, and Sam serving as were there from the start are Sam and Jackie board president for many years. They have Viviano. The Tahoe Rim Trail wouldn’t be what it is today without the worked in the office doing filing and passion of these two. In the early 1980s, they saw an ad in the local served as cooks for Backcountry newspaper about a gathering at Spooner Summit to talk about a future Work Camps. Sam even found trail that would circle Lake Tahoe from atop the ridgeline called the himself making spaghetti Tahoe Rim Trail. They were hooked. What struck Jackie the most was sauce out of ketchup for one how enthusiastic everyone was. She recalls that people would say “in of those camps when the

1985 1986

First TRTA Backcountry Work Camp held.

Art and Sylvia Koerber earn First Volunteer of the Year Award. The TRTA opens office at the Yank’s Station Pony Express stop in Meyers, CA.

Grab your shovel. Join a trail crew.

Volunteer workdays take place June through October most Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Dig in and help improve the TRT. Details and registration can be found at tahoerimtrail.org/volunteer/join-trail-crew/.

horse resupply failed to show up. He says the secret was all in how he used the spices.

Over the years, they have seen the Association grow from a small one-room office in Meyers with no bathroom to the professional organization it is today. Early years featured bake sales and borrowed firefighting tools. The approach to building trail also morphed. In the beginning, Sam said they didn’t really know what they were doing. The first mile ever constructed, from Grass Lake towards Armstrong

Pass, had to be reconstructed the next year. “We were learning as we went along,” Jackie added. As the organization grew, so did the knowledge and skill of the volunteers. It wasn’t until years later that some of the (still active) crew leaders rewrote the trail standards to what is used today. For example, originally new trail was laid out with a stake every 50 feet on the centerline, then the trail was built evenly on either side. Now, the trail is flagged on the highline, followed by digging down to get the backslope and building out the tread width toward the lowline.

Forty years after their first adventures with the TRT, Sam and Jackie are grateful for the time they have spent working to provide this amazing recreation opportunity for the community. Sam said, “If I were to die today, thinking about the important things in my life, the TRT memories would be among them.”

Over the next 40 years, the TRTA hopes to continue this amazing legacy and preserve this world-class trail they built. Together, our volunteers, members, donors, board, and staff will meet the challenges ahead. From addressing overcrowding and climate-related issues to finally moving the trail off of road sections and onto single-track trail, we are ready for it all. Thank you to all our volunteers over the years, like Sam and Jackie, for giving us a trail like no other, the Tahoe Rim Trail. We will continue to tell anyone who wants to know what the Tahoe Rim Trail is all about, what Sam and Jackie told many others: “here’s a shovel.”

1989 1990

First group hike goes to Genoa Peak. Big Meadows Trailhead is the first TRT trailhead completed.