8GWJ: Backcountry Patrol Trail Maintenance, Mount Rogers NRA

Enjoy the beauty of the highest mountains in Virginia while helping visitors and maintaining trails. Volunteers work with hand tools to clear brush, maintain water bars, dispersed campsite maintenance, and removing down trees and limbs. Patrol duties are often accomplished independently and trail maintenance is usually accomplished with other volunteers and Forest Service technicians.

Backcountry Patrol serve as wilderness specialists in the Mount Rogers crest zone, Lewis Fork & Little Wilson Creek wilderness areas. Volunteers patrol the backcountry trails, meet and talk with visitors, provide information on low-impact camping, record visitor use, and maintain the trails & trailhead facilities. Work may be scheduled for ten days in the backcountry and four days off. Housing is a shared one- room, wood-heated cabin located near the Appalachian Trail and the summit of Mount Rogers with no electricity or plumbing. If housing is provided, we request a minimum of 24 hours per week of service. 

Opportunities to learn cross cut saw and other skills are often available depending on the season and work priorities. Volunteers should be able to hike up to 5 miles per day and be prepared for a variety of weather conditions at high elevations.

Located in southwest Virginia, the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area manages approximately 200,000 acres of National Forest land near Mount Rogers. The area features four Congressionally designated wilderness areas; the Virginia Creeper Trail; the Mount Rogers Scenic Byway which traverses over 50 miles offering views of the National Recreation Area and open rural countryside; the 5000 acre Crest Zone featuring elevations over 4,000 feet, large rock formations, and a mixture of mountain balds and spruce-fir forests; a herd of wild, free-ranging ponies; and the highest elevated road in the state of Virginia leading to the summit of Whitetop Mountain. 

Mt Rogers NRA partners with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.  If you are interested in volunteering for the AT, or for additional information about this opportunity, please contact  Viviana Ruiz, Partnerships, Volunteers and Service Coordinator at [email protected] or  at (276) 781-3392.