Orientation

October 3 – October 8, 2011 The crew has arrived and the season is underway! This first week was spent mainly getting a hold on the Wakulla County area, learning about the Florida National Scenic Trail, making plans and getting to know each other and some of the various folks we’ll be working with in the Florida Trail Association, St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge and Apalachicola National Forest. We also got the chance to head out onto the trail itself and do some work on Wednesday and Friday. We took up arms against the intruding palmettos and wire-grass with our trusty brush saws and mowers (that’s right – trail work with lawn mowers!). Along side some excellent volunteers we were able to knock out nearly six miles of trail maintenance in those two days. Not bad for our first week. To finish off the week, we took part in the first ‘Apalachee Ambles’ hike on Saturday morning. With a couple dozen FTA members we hiked the western-most three miles of the St. Mark’s Refuge. It was a beautiful day for a hike and we enjoyed meeting some of the local members. That’s all for now, pictures and bios coming soon! – Michael Swanberg