Harrison Will Kahn
In 2006 I went with Landmark Volunteers to Olympic National Park. Everything went perfectly. My group leaders were funny and interesting. My fellow volunteers were extremely friendly, and we all had a lot in common. The accommodations in a local church were comfortable and the work clearing trails in the breathtakingly beautiful national forest was challenging. But that is not what I am writing about. I am writing about my experience in the summer of 2007 at the Continental Divide Trail site.

I got a call from the group leader about a week before the program started telling me the group was very small and the volunteers were all boys. I had really enjoyed the large, co-ed group that had been part of the Washington experience and I was skeptical. They gave me the opportunity to change groups even at that late date, but I decided to go anyway.

When I met my group at the Albuquerque airport I didn’t get a good feeling. It looked like a motley crew that could never get along. Some in good shape, some not so much; varied religious backgrounds; preppies and hippies; was this going to work? Although I knew Landmark values diversity, I wasn’t sure. Then came the next blow. As I waited making awkward small talk with my group, it became obvious that my luggage wasn’t going to arrive. My group leader was unflappable. We were off to K-Mart. I didn’t want the program to call my parents because I figured they would only worry. My leader insisted, talked to my parents and laid their fears to rest. We picked up everything I needed and even though my broken-in hiking boots arrived a few days later, I stuck with the ones that I got at K-mart. Tragedy averted.

The next day we were up at 6:00 and from that moment forward I experienced the most back-breaking labor I have ever known in my life. The Landmark website says, “This program is for experienced, physically fit hikers,” and they weren’t kidding. Each morning we would hike straight up about 4 miles, carrying our picks, shovels and axes with us. We worked all day in the New Mexico sun clearing the trail and constructing erosion control and soil stabilization structures. At the end of the day it was 4 miles back to the Ranger Station.

I was so tired by the 5th day I fell asleep early with my contacts in and awoke the next morning to excruciating eye pain. More calls to my parents. Quick-thinking by the Landmark leader got me to Silver City---the closest town. The diagnosis by the town doctor was a scratched cornea. Glasses for the rest of the trip! The group was secretly glad for my troubles because they had all come along to Silver City that day and later we went to a nearby hot springs. Soaking in the hot springs became a ritual and we made several early-evening trips to the springs for a good soak after a hard day’s work.

Surprisingly, our diverse group came together. Superficial differences did not get in the way of forming deep bonds on the trail. We were part of something big, something important. The people who hike the trail will never know about the motley crew, the lost luggage, the scratched cornea or the long, satisfying soaks after a hard day’s work, but I will never forget them.

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