Check out this summer’s volunteer projects!

No experience necessary. Join us for one day or multiple days. All tools and training are provided. Complimentary camping and most dinners will be available for most of these projects, and details will be emailed to participants prior to the event. Registration is required for all events. Because we now have an electronic waiver, all volunteers must each register separately. If you have any difficulty registering, please contact [email protected].

Trail Renewal events start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. Expect to travel and work on rugged and uneven ground. Please register only if you can volunteer for a full day. If you are unable to join us for the entire day, please sign up for a different event when you are able to commit fully. Want to know more about what to expect on a Trail Renewal event? Check out our FAQ.

2025 Projects - Please note that these dates and locations are subject to change as we see what spring brings us.

Trail Clearing Weekends Come help SHTA clear trees off the trail that have come down over the winter. Certified sawyers will cut, all others will help remove the debris. Expect to hike several miles while removing downed trees. Schroeder May 17-18, Grand Marais May 31 - June 1

Beaver Bay Boardwalk Come help SHTA replace 500 feet of failing boardwalk. Activities will include building wooden structures and reshaping tread with hand tools. Expect a less than 1 mile hike from the trailhead to the project. Register here for June 12-16

Cascade River Loop (All-Femme) In partnership with Unruly Women (unrulywomen.org), this project is reserved as an all-femme event, which means all folks who are female identifying and/or femme leaning non-binary individuals. Join SHTA in renewing the Cascade River Loop. Volunteers will use hand tools to repair and reroute the current trail. Expect about a 2 mile hike from trailhead to project site. Note: State Park pass required. Register here for June 20-24 (All-Femme)

Bean and Bear Reroute Come help SHTA complete a reroute on the Bean and Bear Loop. Activities will include using hand tools to repair and reroute the current trail. Expect about a 2 mile hike from trailhead to project. Register here for July 10-14

Cross River Backpack Team Back by popular demand - a backpacking trail maintenance team! Water crossings on tributaries of the Cross River need improvement. Volunteers will remove a bridge and place one or more stone step crossings. This is a strenuous trip that is open to volunteers with at least one day of trail maintenance experience. Previous backpacking experience required. You must commit to all three days, and you will need to provide all your own food and backpacking gear. In addition, you will carry 5-10 lbs of SHTA-provided tools to the site. The hike in will be about two miles and mostly uphill. If a strenuous trip is your jam, please join us! Register here for August 1-3

Bean and Bear Reroute (All-Femme) In partnership with Unruly Women (unrulywomen.org), this project is reserved as an all-femme event, which means all folks who are female identifying and/or femme leaning non-binary individuals. Come help SHTA complete a reroute on the Bean and Bear Loop. Activities will include using hand tools to repair and reroute the current trail. Expect about a 2 mile hike from trailhead to project. Register here for August 8-10

Cascade River Loop Join SHTA in renewing the Cascade River Loop. Volunteers will use hand tools to repair and reroute the current trail. Expect about a 2 mile hike from trailhead to project. Register here for August 21-25 

Cascade River Loop Backpack Team Back by popular demand - a backpacking trail maintenance team! The crew will repair tread on the Cascade Loop that is too far to efficiently reach in a day trip. This is a strenuous trip that is open to volunteers with at least one day of trail maintenance experience. Previous backpacking experience required. You must commit to all three days, and you will need to provide all your own food and backpacking gear. In addition, you will carry 5-10 lbs of SHTA-provided tools to the site. The hike in will be about two miles and mostly uphill. If a strenuous trip is your jam, please join us! Register here for September 5-7

Drainage Maintenance, Mud Reduction! You can be a drainage hero! Join us as we do the work to keep water off the SHT so that the trail stays dray and mud-free. Expect to hike 2-6 miles while working. Register here for these single day work parties: October 4, October 18

A special way to support our group projects – We’re looking for a few folks who are willing to participate as a camp cook. This person would arrive at camp at about 4:00pm to set up for dinner on the nights that there are shared meals. If you’re interested in doing this on one or more of our projects, please contact Barbara Budd at [email protected].

Trail work between the southern terminus and Two Harbors has begun for the season, and there’s lots going on! Scroll down to see our new offerings.

Join our southern area contractor, Larry, as he leads trail maintenance events in the Duluth vicinity. Depending on the day, you might find Larry leading groups of volunteers lopping, weed whipping, or building trail structures like stairs or boardwalks. Check out the list below, or go to our registration page for dates and details about what project will happen at any given event.  When you get to the registration page, look for events that start with the words "Duluth Area."

You’ll also see Volunteer Crew Leaders leading Saturday work and weed whipping work parties.

While many dates and projects are listed below, others will be posted regularly throughout the summer. We post most work parties four or more weeks in advance, though last-minute opportunities will also arise, so keep coming back to find a date that works for you! Scroll down and click on a date to register.

Volunteers have requested camping information near Duluth. You can find a list here.

Duluth Area Trail Maintenance Help SHTA maintain the Trail in the Duluth area by joining one of these weekday work parties. Activities might include hardening tread (getting rid of the mud), building rock and wooden structures, and repairing the tread with hand tools. No experience necessary! All tools and training provided by SHTA.

• June 10
• June 12
• June 17
• June 18
• June 25
• June 26
• June 27
• July 9
• July 10
• July 11

NEW THIS YEAR! 1st and 3rd Saturday work parties! If you’ve been waiting for something that fits your schedule, try this out! Join SHTA as we complete needed maintenance on trails in the Duluth Area.  Activities may include repairing the tread with hand tools and lopping brush back from the side of the trail. No experience necessary! All tools and training will be provided by SHTA. Expect to hike up to 3 miles.

• Special Event: June 7, Introduction to Trail Work - National Trails Day!
• June 21
• July 5
• July 19
• August 2
• August 16
• September 6
• September 20

Duluth Area Weed Whipping Come help SHTA open up the trail corridor for hikers and runners. Some folks will be lopping back brush, some operating weed whips. No experience necessary! All tools and training will be provided by SHTA. Expect to hike about 4 miles per day while working. Wednesday evenings will be in partnership with the Duluth Foot Trail Alliance (DuFTA).

• June 24
• June 25
• June 26
• July 1
• July 2 (evening)
• July 8
• July 9 (evening)
• July 10
• July 15
• July 16 (evening)
• July 17
• July 22
• July 23 (evening)

Introduction to Trail Work  New to trail maintenance? Have you ever wondered if this was something you'd enjoy? This half-day event is a great way to check out what it's all about. No experience necessary.

Register here for June 7 - Introduction to Trail Work for National Trails Day!

Adopt a section of trail: Section Adopters inspect and maintain a 2-5 mile section of the trail at least twice per year. The primary goal of a section adopter is to lop back the persistent brush that threatens to obscure the Trail. Check out the full job description. Update 5/10/22 - We are celebrating 100% adoption! If you would like to be on the waiting list for a section, please fill out this form. We will get back to you as soon as there is an opening on our adopter list.

Adopt a campsite: Campsite Adopters inspect and maintain a SHT campsite at least twice per year. They clean out the fire ring, clear brush, and report hazard trees in the area. Check out the full job description. Update 5/10/22 - We are celebrating 100% adoption! If you would like to be on the waiting list for a campsite, please fill out this form. We will get back to you as soon as there is an opening on our adopter list.

To file your volunteer hours, please follow this link to get to your volunteer portal and the reporting system. If you do not yet have a portal, or if you have any questions  this, please email [email protected].

If you have any questions about adopting, please email [email protected].

There are lots of ways to volunteer at SHTA, and not all of them require using a shovel or a saw.

Below are some areas where we can use help. If you are interested in any of these volunteer opportunities, please contact [email protected]. Let us know how you'd like to help out at SHTA, and we'll let you know when opportunities arise. If you have a skill to share or an idea of how you can help that isn't on the list, let us know.

• Facebook moderators
• Trail Ambassador
• Trail store and office
• Camp cook (for group events)
• Photography
• Education and outreach, tabling
• Professional/Technical

These instructions are for Adopters, Trail Clearing (sawyers/swampers), and other individual projects (i.e. tabling, office/store, board activities). If you participate in a Trail Renewal or Duluth Area Group Project, your hours are automatically recorded. Do not fill them out using this system.

Please note that there were several years that records were not being kept in this system. At this point, we do not have plans to enter them here, but know those hours were recorded in the fiscal years when they were performed.

Instructions for filing your hours.

Here are the steps to follow:

• Click on https://superiorhiking.secure.force.com/requestVolPortalAccess
• If you use the email address that you gave SHTA, you should be in the system and it will automatically generate an email to you sending you a secure link that is your personal, secure volunteer portal.
  • Go to that email and click on the link you find there.
  • Scroll down to Your Volunteer History and click on the "Submit a New Task" button on the right.
  • Fill out the form.
    • If you are entering adopter hours and need to file a full report, at the volunteer activity question, choose "Adopter, Section and/or Campsite (full report)" and the long form report will open. Please fill out the entire form and click Submit at the bottom.
    • A note: Date you began is the date you started your adopter work this spring. If it was multiple days, don't worry, just one date is necessary. Then you can put the total number of hours (so yes, you could have 32 hours listed, but only one day listed).
    • Scroll to the bottom and click "Submit."
  • You can keep that link (by saving the email and/or bookmarking your portal link) and use it to file all of your volunteer hours, except any hours spent on a group project like our Trail Renewal Projects or Duluth Trail Maintenance - those will be entered by the crew leader. If you lose the link, you can get a new one by requesting it using the same link above.
• If you use a different email address, or if you have never been in our database (for example, if you brought a friend to help you, they need to enter hours, but they won't be in the database), the above link will give you an error message to contact [email protected]. If you get that message, please send me an email with your (or your helper's) name, email address, and zip code, and I will send out a link to the portal. It may take me a day or two to respond to that request, depending on which day the request arrives. Once I get the request, I will initiate an email with a link to your (or your helper's) volunteer portal. Then follow the steps above starting with "Go to that email and click on the link you find there."

If you brought friends out with you, please have them file their hours separately. If they don't want to do that, please just let me know via email at [email protected]. But it would be very helpful to have everyone's hours logged in our system for accurate reporting. You can have them request their link directly from me, or you can send me their names and emails and I'll send out a link to them, whatever works best for you.

Because the SHT is an affiliate of the North Country Trail, SHTA volunteers have access to the Volunteer-In-Parks program. The VIP program for the NCT is co-managed by the National Park Service and the North Country Trail Association. The VIP program provides important protection for volunteers. All VIPs are entitled to the same injury considerations that NPS employees receive (provided they are operating within their approved scope of duties and NPS policies). Additionally, VIPs are recognized for their contributions and earn annual recognition items based on hours of service and are eligible to attend certain skills and leadership training.

To sign up as a VIP, please follow this link. Choose "Individual Agreement Sign-Up Process" and take into consideration the instructions below.

Under Step 1, there are multiple categories to choose from. Please select all titles where you could potentially volunteer. If you ever choose to add a position, you will need to update your VIP paperwork if you do not choose it now.

* As an SHTA volunteer, please contact [email protected] when the position description states to contact someone within NCTA and the Chapters.

Follow the rest of the steps as outlined.

For our organized events (for example, trail renewal projects or Duluth Area Trail Maintenance), we have a minimum age requirement of 12, even when accompanied, due to several safety factors. We are unable to make exceptions on these projects. However, there are a couple of ways that you could volunteer with SHTA and bring your children along!

1) You could become a Trail Ambassador, either tabling at trailheads or while hiking on the trail. This involves educating users on Leave No Trace principles and answering basic questions about the Trail. It also requires attending an ambassador training. If you are interested fill out the ambassador interest form.

2) You could become adopters of a section or a campsite, because adopters' work is independent, and you can easily incorporate a child into your plans. We currently have a waitlist, and while we can't guarantee you a desired section or campsite, there are openings every year. If you want to be on our waitlist for adopters, please fill out the adopter waitlist form. We will contact you when an opening occurs.

If you have any questions, contact [email protected]