As we plan our study abroad trips in our Russian program we always try to find the best experiences for our students. Study abroad is something that is meant to challenge you to live outside of your normal life and experience how others live around the world. These experiences create better informed citizens of the world who consider the impact their actions have on others. During this program, I took the students on an interesting and one-of-a-kind experience – the Great Baikal Trail. This organization takes volunteers to a remote part of Lake Baikal to build a trail. One of our students will write more about this organization in another post. This post deals with the students and their reactions to taking part in this volunteer project.
Lindsay Hodge – My service trip spent building the Great Baikal Trail was extremely gratifying. I was proud to support their mission of promoting eco-tourism and environmental consciousness in the area. My classmates and I completed approximately 138 feet. I am happy to know that my efforts will be appreciated both during my life and long after. The bad weather, bugs, and cow poop were certainly outweighed by the once in a lifetime views and the promise of continued conservation. I plan to monitor the progress of the trail and hope to see it successfully come to fruition.
Auriel Moore – I will be the first to admit that I was not at all excited to build a trail. The evening before we started the trail, a few of us took a walk with our tour guides to see what the path would be like. After maybe ten minutes of trekking across jagged rocks along the coast of Lake Baikal, we reached the entrance to the trail. I decided against climbing up the side of the rock and waited until the next day to see the actual trail. The next day, our group made that same trek across the beach, but this time, we had to climb up the side of a large cliff with our tools. I’ve never been afraid of heights, but the amount of space to walk along the cliff was minimal, and the thought of slipping was nerve-wracking. Once we reached the trail, we chose our assignments, and my job was to clear the weeds and branches from the trail. In the beginning, it was hot, I was thirsty, and I was irritated by the litany of bug bites I collected; but after we got started, the first two-and-a-half hours went by pretty fast. Returning would be the difficult part. I debated heavily if I would return for the second half of trail building, but in the end, I decided to press on because I knew there would be a greater reward for seeing the experience through. Once I reached the top again, the remaining two hours were better than our first session. The sun was going down, a cool breeze came out, and most of the horse flies had disappeared. The best part of finishing our piece of the trail was not only looking back and seeing how much of the trail had grown but also seeing how clear the path was after hours of trimming and raking. In that moment, I knew I made the right decision to come back.
Nikki Johnston – Building part of the lake Baikal Trail was definitely an experience. It was a lot of fun working with everyone to see how much of the trail we could get done in a short amount of time. We made it more into a game than anything, especially the part where we fight off all the horseflies. The view was amazing, the water was extremely still. The walk up and down the mountain definitely spiked my adrenaline.
Devon Parodi – Camping in Irkutsk was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience. From waking up in the morning and seeing breathtaking Baikal, to seeing the countryside as we drive from place to place, I think Irkutsk just might be my favorite part of USA In Russia 2019 so far. Everything was beautiful no matter where you looked, the food was good and the people were friendly, even though helping build the trail was tiring work, it was extremely rewarding knowing that it would be out to good use for others. I hope that one day I can return to Lake Baikal, it was such an amazing experience I hope I’ll be able to share it with others one day.
Frederick Carver – I absolutely relished my time spent in Siberia. The trip was an extremely rare opportunity to experience a place surrounded in myth that few Americans are ever privileged to see. While I was truly delighted by our travels through the city of Irkutsk and the spectacular countryside of the Buryat Republic, these lovely sights paled in comparison to the magnificence of Lake Baikal. In all the earth, I have never seen a place quite like Lake Baikal. The dramatic contrast between the forested mountains and the placid lake was unbelievable. I was also amazed by the clear and clean water that was both stunning and safe to consume. We not only saw this lovely lake, but also camped by its shore for two nights to help construct the Great Baikal Trail. Although the weather was not ideal, we succeeded in making good progress on the trail. I was quite pleased to see many in our group grow and adapt as several of the experiences that come with the outdoors were very new to some. Lake Baikal proved to be an extraordinary environment where one can almost feel the beating heart of our natural world and it was such a pleasure to have worked to make this natural wonder more sustainably accessible to more travelers. To me the experience meant a chance to be enveloped by nature, to take a break from studying in Moscow, and to serve the people of the nation we are hosted by.
Zoe Kontak – When I first heard the term “trial building”, my first thought was that it was just another fancy name for a hike; I wasn’t aware that we would actually be carving out untouched land to make new sections of a trail up a steep cliff that, if we misstepped or tripped could lead to our certain deaths. Getting up the mountain was one of the easier parts of the day. Going up, your back was facing the water and the steep cliff. In the end, it was the descent that terrified me. Going down you were acutely aware of what could happen if your foot slipped. To get up the mountain, we had to climb up the side of the mountain and use a rope tied to a tree so we didn’t slip on one of the steepest parts of the trail. We had a fireline going to bring up all of our tools that we would be using throughout the day. Before we headed out, we were all allowed to pick out which tool(s) we wanted to use for the day. Since I was familiar with how to use clippers and, (in the beginning), I didn’t feel like absolutely trying to destroy my back. I tried to opt for the easy way out. It didn’t work out for me very well, and I ended up switching with someone for a pickaxe halfway through the first shift. The work that we did was hard, but rewarding. One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was the self proclaimed ‘rock squad’, who would drop what they were doing at the drop of a hat if anyone who was working on digging up the trail had a particularly difficult rock that they had trouble removing. The whole experience overall was one of the most rewarding things that I have done in my life. It feels good to have contributed to something so massive and full of history, even if this is something that I won’t be returning to in my life. Lake Baikal is a once-in-a-lifetime visit, and I was honored to contribute to its rich past and continuing history.
Matt Lombard – My first impressions of Irkutsk were not positive by any means, as I viewed it as a dumpy Asiatic region of Russia that was merely there for people to exist. But when I saw Lake Baikal, the oldest and largest freshwater lake in the world, my opinion of the region completely changed. The inhabitants of the Irkutsk region used this lake for much more than just beauty; they mined minerals out of the Lake, studies the surrounding flora and fauna, and dedicated much of their time into keeping the lake clean and beautiful. My group and I were fortunate enough to camp along the banks of this great lake, and to see its divine beauty up close and personal; an experience I truly would not exchange for anything. Camping on the lake was a bit uncomfortable, but waking up to my friends and the Earth Corps volunteers making us breakfast gave off the vibe that a music festival would. A festival where you wake up in your campsite and many of your festival family offers you breakfast, and tells you what they plan to do that day. On the second day, we woke up to some rather gourmet oatmeal, and shortly after, we all grabbed tools and walked around the banks of Lake Baikal to a location that these volunteers had previously begun working on. They were building a hiking trail for people to use, and by the end of the day my group and I helped to make this trail 42 meters longer through the use of pickaxes and shovels. The odd thing was that these volunteers brought no clean water with them, and when we asked about this, they informed us that the lake water was perfectly safe to drink. I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first, but after swinging a pickaxes around for a few hours, I was thirsty enough to drink whatever liquid was available. And in the end, the lake water was not only clean, but delicious as well. From swinging the pickaxes to looking out onto the beautiful, clean waters of Lake Baikal, this camping trip on the lake was a completely new experience for me, and I am so fortunate to have had this time to reflect on the true wonders of the Irkutsk region and the stunning beauty of Lake Baikal.
Michael Tanner – It was a great experience to help build the trail. We camped on the shore of Lake Baikal for 3 days. On one of those days we climbed up a mountain and aided in building a trail for ecotourism. We were supposed to build for 6 hours in total with a lunch break halfway through. But rain was coming around the 4 and a half hour mark so we had to go back to camp early. Even though we had to quit early we still built 42 meters (137.8 feet). It was a unique experience to volunteer myself and make a change on the planet. We all received certificates and everyone was very happy with our work. Although I hate camping, I’m glad to have went and had that experience.
Lydia Henry – As someone who is not used to doing physical work of any kind, I was pleasantly surprised by the experience I had helping to build the Great Baikal Trail. I had apprehensions when we first started the camping trip because it was colder than expected and many of us did not prepare adequately. However, on the day of trail building, the weather was mostly warm and clear. The hike to the trail site began along the unbelievably beautiful lake, and I think most of us felt incredibly lucky to even be seeing a view that very few people, much less Americans, have seen. The next part of the hike added some adrenaline when we turned away from the water and began climbing up a steep and rocky incline. My heart skipped a beat several times when I looked back down to see the lake far beneath us. The biggest surprise of trail building was that the path we cleared was actually along the side of this very steep incline. Instead of “clearing the way” on flat ground like I expected, it would be more accurate to say that we created a trail out of nothing, literally digging into the side of the mountain with pickaxes. It was almost like the trail was hiding and we had to find it. I have never done anything like it, and I enjoyed it a lot. It helped that most of our group was also having a good time and we worked together well. The workers from the Great Baikal Trail group were surprised by how happy we were while working and by how much we accomplished. They made it clear that they were grateful to us for helping. We were certainly grateful to them for making camping relatively pain-free and for giving us this incredibly unique experience.
Marylyn Gafford – I have been on many hiking trails in my life, but not once did I ever stop and think about the people who had to go out and make those trails for me. After getting to help build a portion of the Great Baikal Trail, I don’t think that I will ever take trails for granted again. Building the trail for even just a few hours was incredibly exhausting, and I couldn’t help but think while I was working that there are volunteers who come out and do this for weeks at a time, all in the name of the preservation and appreciation of Siberia’s natural landscapes. It felt really great to know that even if I never come back to hike on the Great Baikal Trail, I contributed to something that will last for other generations to enjoy in the years to come.
Molly Saul – For me, the experience camping by Lake Baikal and participating in building a trail along the mountain, was literally a huge step for me. I had never been camping (not even in my backyard), or hiking, so initially I had my reservations. I had no idea how to really prepare or if I had even prepared enough, or what to expect, and that caused me great anxiety. However, once we got up to our spot, and had begun carving out the trail, I truly felt pretty proud of myself. This was something I never thought I would be doing, let alone in Siberia, and thinking about how we were contributing to a trail that many would eventually venture through, was surreal to me. I enjoyed seeing our group come together (the rock squad!) and accomplish something so important for ecotourism at Lake Baikal. We made a mark together. Again, this was my first time for all of this; camping, hiking, trail building, and I can genuinely say that I went straight from beginner status to expert because I got my start in Siberia. Who else can say that?
Isabel Klinner – I have always loved camping, and getting to camp in Irkutsk is a once in a lifetime experience for me! I have been camping since I was eight, and getting to camp in a place that is next to a beautiful lake in a new place was something I will never forget. We were able to camp for three days and we had an amazing opportunity to help build a trail with Great Baikal Trail Association. They were amazing and had a wealth of information about trail building and Baikal, as well as being amazing hosts for the group. When we arrived it was a lot colder, as it had just rained and we were worried that we may not be able to build the trail the next day, but the weather surprised us the next morning and when we woke up it was bright and warm! Building the trail was a team effort and we all got to know each other better that day. This is an amazing experience that I will never forget. I know that I will always remember this trip and the impact it has left on me and the permanent impact it has left in the form of a beautiful trail.
USA in Russia 2019 