Katie’s Crew Log: Trail Maintenance Along the Upper Stillwater
Editor’s Note: Join us for the second installment of Katie’s Crew Log, where Crew Leader Katie Kelly shares the experience of leading one of ABWF’s 23 multi-day volunteer stewardship trips this season. This time, Katie and Stewardship Manager Jarret Kostrba guide a group of intrepid volunteers on a high-elevation trail maintenance trip outside of Cooke City to remove fallen logs, brushing the trail corridor, and clean water bars. The crew was rewarded with hearty meals, howling wolves, and starry night skies.
These important volunteer efforts keep your favorite wilderness trails in good working order, making them easier and safer to enjoy season after season. If you are interested in seeing where else we are leading trips this year — or want to join us yourself — check out our Trail Projects page here. Can’t make it out on a volunteer adventure but still want to support this important stewardship work? A donation to ABWF is a great place to start!
Katie’s Crew Log | UPPER STILLWATER RIVER | Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness | JULY 30 - August 2
Thursday 7/30/2026
Jarret and I arrived at the campsite early and set up camp. A quick thunderstorm blew through, throwing one strike in the meadow below camp and rocking our ear drums with thunder. I scout the Lost Wolverine Trail for work the next day. Wildflowers painted the meadows and I found some trees across the trail for us to clear. Most of the volunteers arrived by Thursday night and got their tents set up.
We gathered around the fire and chatted until the moon rose over the ridge. I mentioned how every trip, we've had (at least) one volunteer with a wild fun fact about their life. One volunteer chirps up. "Well..." Nicole, from Arkansas, smiles. "My current job is maintaining a missile silo converted into an AirBnB."
Friday 7/31/2026
I wake up at 5 AM. I can tell some sound outside woke me up. Then I hear it: a low howl. It sounds like it is on the ridge just above camp. One by one, other wolves join in. I sit upright in my tent, an attentive audience member to the choir.
Chris, our volunteer camp cook, arrived and oriented himself to our basecamp. The trail crew headed out to Lake Abundance to brush out some sections our local legend volunteer Geoff scouted on a previous hike. An amazing MCC crew had as already cut out any fallen trees on the trail, so we made quick work of any overgrown brush, limbs, and saplings. Geoff showed us an old reroute project that he completed with the USFS and former ABWF crew leader Ben Daley. On our hike back, Tyler spotted a massive bull moose taking a dip in Lake Abundance.
Chris prepared an amazing dinner with his comically large camp knife gifted to him years ago.
Saturday 8/1/2026
As we feast on French toast and bacon, I remark, "Happy August! Rabbit, rabbit." My sophomore English teacher said it was an old superstition to say "rabbit, rabbit" aloud on the first day of the month for good luck. Volunteers chuckle.
We cruise up Lost Wolverine Trail to clear trees and brush. We hit the wilderness boundary at the top of Wolverine Pass, marked by signs posted high on trees to prevent snowmobiles from crossing in the winter. On our hike back down, I pause at a large meadow and wonder when I'll be up here again. I try to take it all in: Mount Abundance above, Wolverine creek snaking across the meadow, this unique group of volunteers.
We reconvene with Chris back at camp, who tried his luck fishing Lake Abundance. He also dismantled an illegal fire ring he found right on the shore. Dinner is stellar again--jambalaya and some pan-roasted broccoli! Dishes fly by as we muse about backcountry inventions and kitschy gift shop ideas.
The group talks around the campfire for a good while about various and sundry topics: fishing the Bighorn; first time backpacking trip blunders (e.g. a nearly all-cotton wardrobe in Denali); canvas tents for hunting season; taking children camping.
One by one, folks are overtaken by yawns and head to bed. As the campfire burns down, Geoff points out the constellations as they emerge in the night sky. Vega first, one of the brightest stars in the sky. Deneb, part of Cignes the swan. The sky is dark and the stars increase exponentially by the minute.
Sunday 8/2/2026
One last morning to take in the peace of the meadow with a hot cup of coffee. We tear down camp and scour our area for any traces left behind. We begin the bumpy drive up and down from Daisy Pass, ultimately ending up at the Lower Lady of the Lake trailhead. We hike a short distance up the trail to cut out a few trees that remained after our previous Cooke City project with AHS.
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