These three student clubs take their stewardship responsibilities extremely seriously — although the work isn’t all serious. Christina McIntyre is the Director of Professional Development, National and International Scholarships, in the Virginia Tech Honors College and OCVT faculty adviser. “A big part of our mission is to keep the section maintained and have fun doing it,” she says. “We get a lot of first-timers. We want them to have a fun experience that makes them want to return. We try not to overwhelm someone on their first trip. They come back because they find it fulfilling. It’s a tangible way to contribute to the Trail and the environment. They form a sense of community, often with people they wouldn’t meet on campus.”

Paul Jeffers and Max Sheehan, the club’s trail maintenance officers, oversee work on two sections totaling about 33 miles. “I do a lot of hiking, so I just feel good about being able to give back some volunteer time,” Jeffers says.

Sheehan agrees. “It’s very rewarding to help clear and maintain sections of trails that I hike along with so many other people.” He understands that the A.T. is also important to the surrounding communities and is glad to help. “I love hiking and most of the time on the weekends there’s nothing I would rather do than get out and go walk — with some tools.”

Alan Bellows, a Bates College alum and the Maine Appalachian Trail Club’s treasurer, is a case in point. “I was very active in the Bates Club when I was a student,” he says. “I worked at Baxter State Park for the Youth Conservation Corps during summers. Then I did nothing with the A.T. while life intruded for the next 40 years. But as I got older and approached retirement, I had a lot more time and so I became re-involved. You get that lifelong connection, which helps to sustain the club and the Trail.”

Today, he works a desk job as an engineering consultant. “For me there is definitely still that aspect of escape,” he shares. “I don’t want to go all ‘spiritual necessity of nature,’ but I enjoy the outdoors far more when I’m off on my own or with a small group of friends surrounded by trees.” Like Joyner, he believes that building a sense of belonging among students by bringing them back multiple times to work on the Trail pays off. “Those are the people who I think really stick with the A.T. long-term.”

“Bates is a place that’s really steeped with traditions, and this is a long-standing tradition,” notes Catie Luedee, Associate Director of Outdoor Education and Programs in the Office of Campus Life. Students “love the idea of being part of something bigger than them and something that alumni did before them.” The BOC now maintains around 3.5 miles of trail. Luedee feels that the students gain “a better understanding of the responsibility they have to be stewards of the land they occupy.”

The Dartmouth Outing Club’s association with the Trail goes back decades, as well. Willow Nilsen, Associate Director of the Dartmouth Outdoor Programs Office, suggests that the A.T. wouldn’t exist if not for the trail system Dartmouth students developed in the 1920s. This symbiotic relationship remains strong — and beneficial — as its members work to maintain 54 miles of the A.T. plus 25 miles of other trails.

“There’s a certain amount of trail maintenance that’s problem-solving on the spot,” Nilsen says. “You have to just sort of figure it out. Building skills, learning to trust themselves — that independence and self-efficacy is something students don’t necessarily always get in our educational system nowadays.” She adds, “The sense of camaraderie in the outdoors and working together with other people outside is incredibly meaningful.”

Camaraderie is a theme that resonates strongly with Joyner. “We have an epidemic of loneliness in the United States. And it’s not confined to people in senior living facilities. Social media doesn’t necessarily result in genuine human connection, which is an essential part of our being,” she says. “It is so, so valuable to have opportunities to be in community with others. And volunteering is one way to be in community while helping communities.”