Restoring the Beauty of the Rhododendron Trail

As honored campers and the brotherhood of cheerful service, the Order conducts conservation projects for the hosts of our national events. On Tuesday, forty Arrowmen trekked onto the Rhododendron Trail above the Ridgecrest Conference Center. They cleared the overgrown trail to make it accessible for future Ridgecrest guests and addressed erosion issues.

The project was selected because over time the trail had become overgrown with very little walking room. "We walked the trail the day before the project and it was really hard to get through." said Taylor Blanc, Conservation Project Chairman, of Wa La Moot Kin Lodge of Blue Mountain Council, Burbank, WA. Other work on the trail included rerouting part of the trail to avoid the water fall line. Arrowmen also moved dirt to create a new base layer at the bottom of the trail. "It was really great to see how people of various ages could work together and get something done in that short amount of time." Blanc said. "It really showed what the OA has to offer and the kind of people we have in our Order, especially when they really didn’t know what they were getting themselves into."

Today work will on the Rhododendron Trail. Guests will finish work on the erosion problems and trim back the trail to decrease the rate of overgrowth.

Revised 8/04/2011