Cant' Stop, Won't Stop - Amanda Strickland, NRock

Before our first hitch we dubbed ourselves “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop.” We had been hoping that a crew name would develop naturally from an inside joke but, at the end of the day, we more or less just picked one. As it turns out, the name fits us extremely well and we’ve taken to shouting it at any seemingly appropriate time.

Whether we’ve jumped into Montana life right after graduating from high school or college or are returning for a second season with MCC like our leader Sarah, we’re all excited to get outside and to do some work in the quote-unquote real world. With one leader and only six people total we’re one of the smaller crews, but that doesn’t stop us from getting a lot done—and we have more space in our rig!

Our first hitch was with the revegetation crew in West Glacier. We spent four days working in the nursery and planting along Going to the Sun Road. At the end of day one Jedd said it was probably the most rewarding day of work he’d ever done. We felt like we were working on the edge of the world. Jedd and Konnar took special pride in placing the restoration signs to keep visitors off of our work.

We were lucky enough to have our second hitch in Glacier as well, this time on the East side. We worked at a variety of sites building and repairing fences. Most memorably, we spent three days in Many Glacier hiking (or perhaps more accurately climbing, sliding, and occasionally falling) alongside the barbed wire fence. As a reward for the sometimes exhausting trek the hills treated us to spectacular views and peaceful meadows where we took our breaks. When we weren’t working with barbed wire, we tore down the then rebuilt a jackleg fence by St. Mary with one of the youth crews.

This week we head out to the Kootenai to do some brushing and I think we’re all looking forward to working on trails for a change. Perhaps we will catch sight of more wildlife as well to add to our growing list which already includes several black bears, some eerily tame deer, mountain goats, horses, a grouse, and a moose!