Right On Rogue!
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:51 pm
Pacific Crest Trail volunteer spotlight: Chris Ryerson
By Mark Larabee
November 18, 2015
http://www.pcta.org
Chris Ryerson estimates that he’s spent about 650 days in the Sierra over the past seven years. It’s no wonder he’s gravitated to working in the trails he loves.
He recently became chief of the PCTA Trail Gorillas’ Section G, meaning that he coordinates projects in the area, scouts for trail damage and makes sure his crews are well cared for.
Chris joined the PCTA Trail Gorillas for his first work project in late October 2009 and has been at it ever since. That project was in the Trail Gorillas’ Section F, which runs from Tehachapi to Walker pass and is notorious for heavy brush that grows up to 18 inches a year.
Chris on the summit of Clyde Minaret in the Sierra Nevada.
Asked where he like to work trail and Chris’s answer is an enthusiastic “Anywhere I can!” But most his work is done in Southern California south of Kennedy Meadows. “I get out most with the Trail Gorillas and have also done lots of time with SCA (Student Conservation Association) crews,” he said, “but any group that offers trail work could see me show up.”
For Chris, working hard on the trail is personal and cathartic.
“I have lived a life that is lonely and full of turmoil,” he said. “Being able to get out on the trails I love and do something not only for myself but for every other person that walks it gives me a sense of enjoyment and purpose that I have lacked all my life. Combine that with an ever expanding list of people I respect and...
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