Service With WTA 2-26-17

The Trilliums knocked the socks (or should we say hard-hats?) off of the WTA crew this past Sunday with their hard work, determination, and "tenacity", to use the words of one of our crew leaders on this day. Our day began with a quick check-in from the group in our Opening Circle before joining the good company of our work crew leaders. We couldn't have asked for more mindful, generous, and enthusiastic WTA leaders to guide us through a day of trail-building on the Fragrance Lake trail. After a crash coarse in tool use and safety, we slapped on our hardhats and set off up the trail to our work site.  



The WTA builds and maintains trails over the entire state of Washington, and their volunteer trail maintenance program is among the largest in the nation. They log more than 105,000 volunteer hours statewide each year, and over 2500 volunteers giving back to the trails they love. Our group hiked in over a mile with tools, hardhats, and full packs to work on a section of the trail that needed rerouting.

Highlights from the day include:

*Connecting with one another and our WTA crew leaders as we hiked our way up the beautiful Fragrance Lake Trail. 

*Using and learning about some "real deal" trail tools including McLeods, Pulaski's, hoes, and hand saws, among other tools. (Ask your daughter about the use of each tool or which was her favorite!)

*Getting down and dirty as we hauled brush, transplanted plants, built up berms, and moved around rocks, small and LARGE with shovels, hoes, and our own strength and willpower!

*Learning new skills such as how to properly haul rocks, techniques for sawing logs, good transplanting and hole digging techniques, and safety checks/tips throughout the day. 

*Enjoying stories and connecting over highlights of the day as we ate lunch together before getting back to work!

*Accomplishing the unthinkable- sawing through a log that was a foot in width and happened to be in the middle of the hiking trail!

*Watching a once tromped and eroded section of forest transform into a beautiful forest garden, complete with new plantings of salal, oregon grape, sword ferns, and saplings! We felt proud stepping back at the end of the day to look at the incredible amount accomplished through our teamwork, strength, and determination!

*Hiking down with tired arms and legs but full hearts and Overflowing Cups* after a day of giving back to the forest, the community, WTA, and the many hikers who will wander up and down this beautiful trail for years to come. 

*Finally, enjoying hot cider, cookies, and Fig Newtons from Arlen, our very generous and comical crew leader. 

To close our day we shared our practice of Attitude of Gratitude and stood together with our WTA crew as each shared something they were grateful for from the day. We have a motto, Our Cups Overflow**, that describes the feeling of giving back to the plants, animals, friends, family, and many intertwined communities who are impacted by these service days. It felt like our cups had created a river of overflow that day. While basking in this river of gratitude, we each shared our thanks for things like the mud, the sun, the company of one another, meaningful work, strength, service, Explorers Club, and WTA. 

Our words of the day? Collaboration and Muddy Construction!

Enjoy the full album of our day here.

Mottos especially alive today: Our Cups Overflow, Get Dirty!, Collaborate and Compromise, Stretch Your Edge, Connect and Protect, Walk Your Talk, Widen Your Circle