Jay Majersky
Nez Perce-Clearwater NF Trail Crew Leader
Hitch #2 | Mocus Point Trail #469 and #208
Nez Perce-Clearwater NF | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
Everyone romanticizes this job. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have the outdoors as my office; the bright skies littered with stars at night; the sweat and dirt and sunshine. I love it all. However, this job is also hard and is full of challenges.
You've got bugs, bears, blisters, burns, dehydration, exhaustion, hypothermia, the fury of the elements whether it's sun, heat, rain, snow, lightning, wind, carrying extra batteries and radios and satellite phones and rope, gear, saws and a constantly changing series of circumstances in camp and at the work site. You're watching the skies and keeping an ear glued to the radio to hear the fire weather forecast, hanging bear hangs, digging catholes, filtering water, staring at maps and coming up with plans even when you're "off the clock." This job is a lifestyle, and it never stops.
Within all these moments I find a piece of solitude and appreciation for being so small in the forests. For example, the light patter of rain bouncing on the rainfly, butterflies, the serenades of birdsong, the babble of a mountain spring you're filling up water from underneath a grove of old growth cedar trees, or the painted sky of a summer solstice sunset.
But really, I want to talk about this sandwich I made last week. What does this sandwich have to do with anything? I'm not sure. But I think it encapsulates something about this job I admire the most.
To pose a few questions: "What happens when you go into the backcountry and something is missing?" or "What happens when you’re in the backcountry and something goes wrong?" It's really easy to see the failure and to get caught up in it. Me? I forgot my cook set on the kitchen table the day I left for our second hitch.
Despite everything, I didn’t have a to chance to get lost in my mind and upset about something as mundane as a missing cook set. I have a crew that is there to support me and there is always some other solution to be made. I have to adapt, or I'll just be stuck having a bad time thinking about something I forgot.
Finding a solution as best as I can within that moment is what I enjoy about this job.
I'm always having to think, and it's in these moments that I am able to look beyond the situation and tell myself,
"This could have been worse, but I did everything I could to make something new out of something I never believed was possible."
In this case, it was an open-faced ramen sandwich. And you know what? It was really good.
Open Faced Ramen Sandwich.
JAY MAJERSKY, NEZ PERCE-CLEARWATER NF TRAIL CREW LEADER
Jay hails from Connecticut. They started doing trail work when they moved to Missoula in 2017. Jay started backpacking when they spent three months on the Appalachian Trail in 2015 and has gone on to work in nine different Wilderness areas across Idaho, Montana, and Arizona over the last six years. Having a job that allows Jay to backpack, work, and explore these wild and remote areas of America feeding their wanderlust is a surreal dream. This is Jay’s second season with SBFC.