Entry from June 6th

Spike Training, or Hitch Training as it is usually called out west, was started a week ago yesterday.  This type of outside-the-classroom training and education is designed to simulate just what it will look like when we get our crews in 18 days -- only now with 36 other Crew Leaders, not 8 younger Corps Members.  In the past week, we have learned techniques for trail building, rock splitting, stone step and check step building, water bar building, and different techniques from professional trail builders like a head officer of Professional Trailbuilders and the founder of Timber and Stone, LLC (who used to work for the VYCC).  Additionally, we got a long and detailed history of Vermont (again, from a previous VYCC Corps Member and Crew Leader), including a demonstration on a three-dimensional relief map of the 20,000-year old ice dam that broke on the Winooski River and drained all the meltwater into a young Lake Champlain in Huntington.
So far this has been an incredible educational experience and I look forward to our last day of Spike Training followed by more classroom training and visiting our future worksites all before our Corps Members get here!