Hitch 4: Feb 18-27

Hitch four started off with the entire crew recieving a Leave No Trace trainers course led by our project sponsor, and Leave No Trace Master Educator, John Bauer. For three days and two nights we hiked through the Econfina Water Management District along the Econfina River, discussing Leave No Trace priciples along the way. We hiked a total of 18 miles along the FNST in our three days in training. We covered all seven of the Leave No Trace ethics and finished the trip as certified Leave No Trace trainers. We returned to St. Mark's for the night of Feb 20th, then packed up the camping gear and tools for an F-Troop event in the Little Big Econ State Forest, near Orlando. We spent the 21st driving down the the Little Big Econ State forest, then set up base camp. On the 22nd and 23rd we prepped for the arrival of the volunteers on the 24th. We set up base camp and the information kiosk, and stagged all the lumber needed for the boardwalk project down at the work site.
On Thursday, the 24th the volunteers arrived, in F-Troop record breaking numbers, and we started working on the 500 feet of boardwalk needed on the FNST. We laid 200 feet of boardwalk on Thrusday, another 200 feet on Friday, and the remaining 100 feet on Saturday. On Sunday we broke down base camp and headed back to St. Mark's.

Hitch Totals
People certified as Leave No Trace Educators: 5
Boardwalk Constructed: 500 feet.