It's not the thought that counts because they aren't thinking ahead. It's not nice, it's not a service. It's just trash that you like the look of for a few years. The rats say thank you though 🐀🐀 #pnw #trails

I hate Boy Scouts. Primarily, Eagle Scouts and their fathers can catch my pruners, okay? You know what I think would be a great Eagle Scout project is going through your archives, finding all of the projects that have been done on trails or public lands or whatever, having the realization that none of it has been maintained for five years, a decade, maybe more, going out, hauling off your brethren's shit so I don't have to. That would be fantastic. I'm a trail manager, a site steward, and this is what happens every time. I get an email or a call from mom, right, asking what would be a good project for their kid, and then I'm supposed to do a site walk. I get ghosted half the time, and then if I'm ever on the trail, the Scout and I usually, we're right here. They understand that I'm serious and there are things you can do and what you can't do. Dad, on the other hand, pushes for a more grandiose project because they really want to leave their mark on stuff. Anyway, then we end up with a bench that's somewhere that I asked them not to put it, made out of something you shouldn't make it out of, and with paint that's not made for, you know, all weather. So that's a good time. Guess who's maintaining that bench that fits one and a half people out in the woods that's definitely going to get tipped over into the creek? No one. I'm just waiting until it looks bad enough that I can haul it off and nobody's going to yell at me. You know what was my final straw that really burned my biscuit? I will never trust another Eagle Scout again is going out, doing a site walk, telling people, like, no, you can't build a bridge over this little wet place because, first of all, it's stupid. Second of all, it's too squishy. It's kind of rock. And third, we don't need it. The trail is structurally sound. It's rock. You just get your shoes wet because it's in a fucking gully. Welcome to the Pacific Northwest. And then they didn't seem excited about anything. I didn't think I was ever going to hear from them again. And then I'm walking down the trail and there are rocks blocking my dip drains and bird houses wired to the trees with a little black hose like it's a sapling in your yard that you're trying to keep from going over. Guess what we don't need in the woods full of hollow logs? Bird houses, right? But the problem is they're so high up in the trees that I'm going to need a ladder and two spotters to get them down. So when I finally, three years later, have a big trail work party with enough able-bodied people that we're going to be able to cut them down, they're girdling the trees. Isn't that fantastic? And guess what they're full of? Rats! Thank you, Boy Scouts of America. And just for funsies, you know what projects they keep turning down? There are two places on the trail that are dry enough to handle like structures being built or posts being put in the ground. One is at the top and it's kind of an abrupt edge. It's a bigger drop than I think people realize. And so just two posts with a crossbar in there with a little sign that says, you know, steep edge, please stay back. Or there's another one and it's kind of a steeper spot on the trail. It only goes down for about three or four feet. And I think it would be useful to put like a handrail there because a lot of elderly people use the trail. And then, of course, there's always invasive species removal. Those are the really helpful things that they could put their frickin' name on. But do they want to do that? No.