When life-long hiker Dave Boone returned from the service, he picked up a local hiking guide and started hiking every trail he could find in his native Connecticut. Dave’s exploration of local trails soon led him to the Appalachian Trail.
He became a volunteer Ridgerunner with the Connecticut Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC-CT) regularly hiking an assigned section of the A.T. and welcoming and providing help to hikers. Ridgerunning combined Dave’s love of hiking and his desire to support the A.T. and also allowed him to meet the Trail maintainers and other volunteers responsible for managing the Connecticut section of the A.T.
He moved from ridgerunning to Trail maintenance and management after joining the AMC-CT Trails Committee. A question about moldering privies (yes, really) first piqued Dave’s interest in Trail management. With his background in public health and water management, the privy question, like much of the work of the committee - including Trail maintenance, environmental monitoring and land protection – fit well with his own interests or experience.
Now the chair of the Trails Committee, Dave says he does something related to the A.T. every day, even if it is only responding to an email, but it is worth it. Every time he completes a project, he says, “I feel a real sense of satisfaction and accomplishment . . . I’ve done something that is built to last and is bigger than me.” Dave invites all volunteers to join the Connecticut chapter at one of their regularly scheduled work trips.