Virginia Trail Volunteer Op.

In the Saturday 3 July 2004 issue of the Winchester (VA) Star, there is a note requesting volunteers who want to hike the Trail and report in on water sources. They are specifically targeting seniors and retired folks, but I would half guess that young working people would also be allowed to help.

It reads: "The Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement, at the request of the National Park Service, is seeking volunteers that like to hike the Appalachian trail and would help with monitoring water sources along the trail and report their findings on a Web page. This volunteer position requires a person who is computer comfortable and has access to the Internet. For more information on this volunteer opportunity, contact Tom Benjamin at EASI, via his email address: tom@easi.org."

What a concept! Volunteers helping out on the Trail!! I just hope they make sure the volunteers take their own water, because it'd sure put a dent in their program to have volunteer hikers out there dehydrating in the hot Virginia weather of July and August afer finding water sources have dried out. I mean, how would they know if a volunteer doesn't come back whether a) the spring was dried up and the volunteer dehydrated; b) water was plentiful and the volunteer headed for Maine; c) volunteer accidentally headed south and ended up in the Smokies, never having checked the water sources?

Oh, yeah, the article does also specify for more general information to "call the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program at 1-800-883-4122 or 635-7141, Ext. 303." And that they're targeting Winchester, Warren, Clarke and Frederick counties in Virginia. (Anyone else along the Trail doing similar monitoring?)