BMWF #18: Girls in the Bob - Washboard Reef Trail #117

Dates:

Meeting Date/Time/Location:
July 23, 8:00 AM, Choteau Ranger Station

Hike In Date: July 23rd

Hike Out Date: July 27th

Ranger District:

Rocky Mountain Ranger District

Trailhead:

West Fork Teton

Campsite:

“Empty Jug” Cabin Site, near North Fork Teton River along trail #117

Miles to camp:

2

Project Description

Girls in The Bob brings teenage and young adult women (ages 14-19) on a volunteer adventure in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex for a week to get their hands dirty on wilderness stewardship projects. The girls work together to find their strength, push their limits, make new friends, sleep under the stars, and have an adventure of a lifetime.

Let’s be clear – this is no walk in the park! Projects include using crosscut saws to clear trees and digging with hand tools to improve tread or trail drainage features. After meeting your crew leaders on Tuesday morning, we will caravan along the Teton River Road to meet your packers at the trailhead. After loading your gear on the mules, you and your crew will hike into your home base for the week along the West Fork Teton River. 

Applicants don’t need previous backcountry experience, but should have a desire to explore the wilderness and learn more about public lands. This is an opportunity for young women to learn new skills and become more confident leaders, while having a blast in the backcountry!

After meeting your crew leaders in Choteau the morning of July 23rd, we will caravan to the West Fork of the Teton trailhead where we will meet the packers. There we will sort gear and shoulder our backpacks for the short 2-3 mile hike to the basecamp. This camp will be our home for the week while we work on clearing and brushing this wilderness access trail.

Please note: While BMWF greatly admires wilderness therapy programs, Girls in the Bob is not designed to rehabilitate troubled youth. Instead, this is an opportunity for young women who are interested in and enjoy the outdoors to learn more about wilderness and gain new skills in supportive learning environment with a group of their peers.

We welcome all women and girls (transgender and cisgender) as well as non-binary people who identify with the women’s community, ages 14-19.

Cancellation Policy

It is very important to know that you are expected to commit to the project once you sign up. All of our projects take a lot of time and effort to organize and we want to make sure that we have full trips so that we can complete the project as outlined by our Forest Service partners. Please do not sign up for a trip unless you are committed to doing it.

We do, of course, understand that things happen and circumstances change, so if you must cancel, please do so as soon as possible. Cancellations made less than 45 days before the trip and no-shows will forfeit their project registration deposit as a cancellation fee. 

While uncommon, BMWF may find it necessary to cancel a project due to low volunteer sign-ups or safety reasons (i.e. wildfires), but will contact volunteers as soon as possible and typically no later than two weeks before the project start date.  For this reason we strongly recommend volunteers purchase trip insurance when making airline reservations or other travel arrangements.

To see how many spots are available click the SIGN UP button below. The second page will tell you when there are fewer than 4 spots remaining on a trip.

We encourage you to join the waitlist if a trip is full – we often have openings for these spots throughout the summer!