Volunteer Vacation Crew Leaders

These are some of the men and women that will work with you while you're out on a Volunteer Vacation. They'll make sure you are safe, having a great time and eating plenty of good food.

Jane Baker

Jane adopted Spokane as home in 1984, migrating from the Midwest, "a great place to be from". During the week she is a physical therapist in an out-patient clinic.  She got her first taste of trail work over 20 years ago with the Sierra Club, with whom she did Service trips in Olympic NP, Idaho, and Colorado.  When word trickled down that there was an organization right here in Washington state that specialized in volunteer trail work, she jumped right in to doing Volunteer Vacations with WTA over the last 5 years.  Now as a Crew Leader she is excited to help bring the organization and spirit of WTA to her fellow hikers in Eastern Washington, to make those trails great destinations, and to finish putting the "Washington" in WTA.

Arlen Bogaards

Growing up on the family farm in the shadow of Mt Baker, Arlen discovered the great outdoors and the wonders of nature. Influenced by an aunt with a penchant for hiking, and involvement with a local youth group, Arlen learned to love hiking and camping. Arlen volunteered with WTA before joining the seasonal staff.  He leads early-season Volunteer Vacations and spends his summer leading weekend trips in the Mount Baker district, as well as some winter work parties in the Bellingham area.  Arlen loves to travel, work on trails, garden, play and listen to music. If his guitar or mandolin is anywhere nearby you might find yourself singing around a campfire after a great day on trail.

Krista Dooley

 

Krista is WTA's Youth Programs Coordinator. A Washington native, Krista came on board in 2007, and has been organizing and guiding WTA's youth programs, including Youth Vacations and the Families Go Hiking guided hike series.  Before joining WTA, Krista spent two years as Program Director for Camp Highland Outdoor Science in Southern California, but she decided she missed the seasons and big trees of the Pacific Northwest and returned to Washington to pursue graduate studies in Environmental Education at IslandWood and the University of Washington. Her love for the outdoors keeps her working and playing in the woods year round. Krista enjoys hiking anywhere in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

 

Sarah Hanson

Sarah, a Cascadia and Salish Sea native, has been seeking, transforming and inventing life over her 30 years of planetary existence, and has been actively creating holistic and sustainable culture on the trail and off the trail.  She enjoys guacamole, mostly resides in the San Juans, has traveled to 13 countries and 43 states, is a switch hitter with the pulaski, enjoys organic farming, studying alternative healing and wild edibles, and loves playing with cross-cut saws.

Steve Hertzfeld

Steve began working with WTA in 2005 as an intern for the Youth program at Wallace Falls State Park, where he learned how to make one zip-lock lunch bag last an entire week. Since then he has been leading Volunteer Vacations for adults, as well as the Advanced Youth Volunteer Vacations. Steve graduated from the University of Washington, majoring in comparative religion, and continues to make good use of his degree while coaching crew during the winter and leading Volunteer Vacations in the summer. When not working on trails, he spends his time sharpening up on competitive scrabble, going out on hikes, and taking road-trips.

Janice O'Connor

When she isn't leading a volunteer Vacation during the summer, you will find her volunteering her time leading day trips and Backcountry Response Teams for WTA on the Olympic Peninsula, or scouting trails on her pal Moby (photo). Janice is a semi-retired Registered Nurse has been leading trail crews for about six years. She joined WTA 9 years ago after running in to a crew while out on a hike and being told to "pick up that shovel and help us out" by Greg Ball, one of WTA's most memorable crew leaders.  She has met some of the most terrific folks out on work crews, and her favorite tool is the shovel.

Mike Owens

Mike was born in Healdton, Oklahoma, lived in that state for 19 years and then moved, via Holland, to Connecticut where he did 5 years of college, graduating from UCONN with a degree in English Lit which he parlayed into a job with a publishing company. After 22 years, he went into banking and eventually managed to get into a job with WTA which allows him to use his English Lit training 4 days a week.  In addition to these to Volunteer Vacations, Mike  crew leads mid-week trail maintenance crews throughout the year and has a strong following of volunteers who come back time and again because of his fun work parties.  Mike led 184 days in 2008 and has spent more than 1,600 days on the trail since 1998.

Julia Schwarz

Julia first joined a WTA work party while still in high school in 2004.  She then attended a Youth Volunteer Vacation, and she was hooked and WTA was hooked on her. Julia spent three summers as a Volunteer Vacations intern, and has been chief crew leading Volunteer Vacations for the last two years. This year she'll take some time out of her busy schedule to lead one trip and assist on a couple others. She currently attends Carleton College in MN where she is studying geology. She likes to dig in the dirt for work and play.

Eric Smith

While searching for work in Seattle last summer, Eric stumbled upon his dream job as an intern for WTA's volunteer vacations and will return for an encore this summer.  As well as assisting on many trips, he will also crew lead two trips this summer.  Eric is currently enrolled at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL and is pursuing a major in psychology.  Other interests include Ultimate Frisbee, soccer, adobe photoshop, cooking, guitar, and climbing everything in view.  Eric is an easygoing guy and enjoys any activity that involves mountains, lakes, delicious food, or pulaskis, but preferably one that includes all four.  His favorite hike of last season was Waptus Lake.

Bill Sunderland

A long time volunteer, with over 500 days on trail, Bill found WTA while in graduate school at the University of Washington. His favorite place in Washington is Dishpan Gap, and this will be his ninth season spent maintaining trails in this area.  While not on trail, Bill spends his time traveling between Seattle and San Juan Island, home remodeling, hiking, and pursuing his interest in computational linguistics.

Chris Wall

Chris began as the 2008 Front-country Youth Vacations Crew Leader.  Chris now works full-time at WTA as the Youth Programs Specialist. Originally from Illinois and Louisiana, Chris connected to the outdoors at a young age through scouting. After college, he headed west and spent 8 years doing biological survey work in Colorado, Oregon, California, Alaska, and Washington. In 2005, Chris tired of scientific field-work and shifted his focus to Environmental Education by attending graduate school in Cambridge, MA at Lesley University's Audubon Expedition Institute. He returned to Washington and prior to his work at WTA, worked as an educator at Islandwood and the Olympic Park Institute. Chris can't commit to a favorite hike, but it most certainly lies in North Cascades National Park.

Gary Zink

Gary''s first WTA Volunteer Vacation was at Indian Heaven near Mt. Adams in 1999. He's loved working with WTA ever since. Inspired by his first crew leader, Greg Walter, he finally found a purpose in life for wilderness camping. Gary has spent most of his life in the woods since hiking in the Black Forest, Germany, at age 5. He's worked for the US Forest Service as a fire fighter and for Simpson Timber Company in the early 70's. He retired after a 26 year career with The Boeing Company and love the old ways of woodsmanship. His passion is cross-cut sawing. What he enjoys the most at WTA, are the people. Working and talking with anyone who shares a love and respect for our great Pacific Northwest outdoor resources.