MRNPA's Final Work Party for 2011 - October 1st!

Greetings,

The last Mount Rainier National Park Associates trails work party for 2011 will be on Saturday, October 1st. We will be working on the Rain Forest Loop Trail at the Carbon River entrance. I am told we will be doing maintenance on the trail tread and possibly some repair of the wooden bridges. As always, volunteers should bring a lunch and plenty of fluids to drink, work gloves, safety glasses, a hard hat if they have one, and a full set of rain gear. October is frequently rainy, so bring some dry clothes too.

We will meet at between 8:30 and 9:00 AM, and be ready to go to work by 9:00 AM.

If you plan to attend this work party, please sign up at www.mrnpa.org and tell me that you are coming, how many volunteers you are bringing with you. I need an estimate of the number of volunteers so that Park staff can be sure to have enough tools for us all. If you have a hard hat that you will be wearing, please tell me that too.

There are safety equipment requirements for all MRNPA trail work volunteers. (These rules apply to all trail workers.) Anyone using an aggressive tool - like a Pulaski, ax, shovel, etc. - or anyone working near them - is required to wear both a hard hat and safety glasses. People not working with or near an aggressive tools are not required (but will be encouraged) to wear a hard hat. If you own a hard hat that you can wear, please bring it. If you do not have a hard hat, we have hard hats that we loan for the day.

Wearing safety glasses is encouraged at all times. Not all safety glasses are comfortable for everyone and some will not fit over eye glasses. Because of cleanliness issues, some people don't like wearing safety glasses that have been worn by other people. For these reasons, and probably many others, please purchase (acquire, find, dig-up, whatever) a pair of personal safety glasses that you will wear. The local hardware store is a good place to start shopping. A serviceable pair or safety glasses will cost about $10. And be advised that shatterproof eye glasses do not meet the requirement for safety glasses. Safety glasses all have side protection which eyeglasses do not.

If you are not able to attend the MRNPA work party on October 1st, but are interested in volunteering at Mount Rainier National Park, please take a look at the following message from Mount Rainier National Park concerning National Public Lands Day on September 24th. That may interest you.

John TitlandVolunteer CoordinatorMount Rainier National Park Associates