Julia Elizabeth Murphy
My last year as a participant in Landmark Volunteers was another amazing experience. I have volunteered with Landmark for the past three years, and each year Landmark has been the highlight of my summer. Whether it was the new friendships I made or the amazing places I was able to visit, I always had a great time.

In the past I volunteered at Acadia National Park in Maine and the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming. For my last summer with Landmark I decided to do bookends of the United States and traveled to Washington State to work at Olympic National Park.

When I arrived in Washington my group greeted me with open arms. We were all having fun until it was time to pack the van and take the two hour bus ride to the church where we stayed. We somehow had to fit all of the luggage and ourselves into one van. This challenge seemed impossible, but it was our first group task and we figured out a way to make it work.

For the first week, we made a new trail in Robin Hill Farm County Park. Every morning we had to walk up to our work site, which was a great time for us to bond. I never appreciated or understood trail making until I did it myself. We first removed to “duff”, the organic dirt, from the trail and then lopped off as many roots as possible. We then searched for fallen trees that we then stripped of bark to put alongside the trail as guidelines. We continuously walked the trail making sure every part was level. Having the goal of ¼ a mile to complete in a week seemed impossible once again, but our group worked together and completed it with great surprise! Walking the trail after finishing it was a feeling that none of us could describe, knowing that we really made a difference in the park.

That weekend we traveled around Port Angeles trying many different coffee shops (not one being Starbucks), hiked to the Marymere waterfall, swam in glacier water, visited the Hoh Rainforest, and went white water rafting. We also traveled up Hurricane Ridge, which driving up alone was a challenge. By the time we were at the top it seemed we were above everything. We literally ate our dinner next to deer and afterwards had the only snowball fight in summertime I have ever heard of!

The second week we traveled to Kalaloch and slept in tents to be close to our worksite on the beach. We slowly attacked the invasive English ivy plant that was taking over all the native species along the beach. By the end of the second week we made a pile of ivy that you couldn’t imagine.

My experiences at Olympic National Park, National Elk Refuge, and Acadia National Park are ones that I will treasure forever. I learned how to work hard, make friends, learn to incorporate different people, and feel like I made a difference. I am reminded of my experiences every time someone asks me what I did during summer vacation, and I am proud to say I spent it with Landmark Volunteers.

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