AMERICAN HIKING STRIVES TO MAKE BACKCOUNTRY FOOT TRAVEL SAFE AHS Volunteer Vacations 1997 offers unique blend of camping vacation and trail vocation Washington, D.C. As winter sets in across the nation and Americans begin dreaming about how to spend next year’s vacation time, American Hiking Society suggests a unique and refreshing alternative to crowded beaches and overpopulated slopes. AHS Volunteer Vacations integrates rest and relaxation with the growing effort to establish, protect and maintain foot trails in America. Each year, this national non-profit group sends hundreds of volunteers to remote, yet magnificent locations to build and restore foot trails in national parks, forests and rangelands. Armed with pulaskis, rakes, shovels and hoes, these energetic crews will descend into such famed places as Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, and the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas.
Over the past 20 years, American Hiking has used Volunteer Vacations to heighten the awareness of volunteer opportunities on public lands and help restore America’s special places. Kicking off its third decade of caring for America’s trails, AHS Volunteer Vacations will send nearly 50 teams of trail volunteers into America’s National Parks, Forests and Rangelands in 1997. Participants will restore damaged trails and build new ones while enjoying unique one- or two-week vacations. More than a program that rehabilitates trails, Volunteer Vacations fosters public land stewardship.
