From the ‘Trails Connect’ Series: The power of serving together
By Evan Coulson, Coordinator of Strategic Initiatives, Camp Ondessonk
It started, like many things, with a challenge to solve. Camp Ondessonk leaders noticed a bottleneck in the logistics of moving large numbers of campers from Le Coeur to the Grotto. As one might expect, some campers decided that they needed a restroom break as they passed by the beach bathhouse. Doing so often attracted others to do the same, resulting in a delayed start for Sunday Mass on many occasions. To meet this challenge, it was determined that a new trail to connect Le Coeur more directly to the Grotto would be routed just beneath the Scenic Overlook to transport campers and staff directly to mass and to Camp’s opening and closing campfires.
To kick the project off, Alyssa Macuiba (former Camp O Seasonal Outdoor Education staff member and current Wilderness Technician in the Shawnee National Forest) volunteered to help lay out the trail corridor. Alyssa then offered an intro to trail building workshop to a crew of Northland College students staying at Camp for an Outdoor Education class trip. These students worked with Alyssa for an entire day, learning trail construction techniques before honing their skills for an additional three days as they worked to shape the new trail corridor.
The corridor was completed a few weekends later by a spring volunteer group comprised of former summer staff members from the 2010s coordinated by Steve ‘Bush’ Bushong and Ethan Fowler. During the summer that followed, Shawnee Adventure Campers spent their half-day trail stewardship activity block slowly cutting in trail tread and erosion control features along the trail corridor while Ondessonk Wisdom in Leadership (OWL) program participants partnered with summer volunteers to spread crushed gravel and to build cedar log landings along the trail.
The project was completed this fall by three additional groups of volunteers. Tracey Simpson, one of the summer volunteers who worked with OWLs to build cedar log landings, returned with her husband Jermey (another summer volunteer) and son Jack (former summer staff member) to design and build a beautiful set of wooden stairs connecting the trail to the top of the scenic overlook. Then, a small group of OWLs participating in Fall Lodge Reunion completed the trailhead at the top of the Scenic Overlook while a group of middle school students from the Gateway Science Academy (coordinated by one of their teachers, former summer staff member and C.I.T. Director, Rusty Parker) designed and built the decorative sandstone rockwork down at the Grotto Road trailhead.
Trails connect people to powerful experiences of place but can also serve as pathways to learning tangible as well as intangible things. As the Grotto Trail took shape, college students learned trail design and building techniques. Former staff were able to give back while also role modeling an ethic of service for the next generation of Ondessonk staff. Campers learned safe tool use and, as they worked alongside their staff and summer volunteers, also learned what it means to be a person of service. Exhausted Adventure campers and OWLs often lamented how surprised they felt to have enjoyed working so hard, and they regularly reflected on the sense of pride they felt after serving a place they loved alongside people they respected so much. Gene Cannavan, a former Camp Director, often famously reminded the Ondessonk community that “many hands make light work.” I imagine his eyes likely sparkled as he watched those hands making the work lighter together, knowing how much that work was teaching them some of those things that matter most. That lesson carried on with the many hands that built the new Grotto Trail. And, to top it off? Mass will be much more likely to start on time this coming summer.
Click here to learn more about Hiking and Biking at Camp Ondessonk.