Hey Webelos and Girl Guides, planning to camp out with us on the Backbone Trail in 2014? Not that you need the prompting, but since the playground’s in need of a little extra upkeep this year, we’ve added a day’s worth of trail work to the entrance requirements for Game 2. We aren’t going to require that you submit proof of completion prior to entry or put an exact number of hours on this – it’s really about scout’s honor and giving back to the trails. ‘Course we might randomly ask you about where and when you “served”, or dish out a little extra pre-race schwag to those who went above and beyond the call of doodie duty.

We’ll keep you posted on upcoming trail work opportunities in the Santa Monica Mountains (or you can follow the SMMTC page here), but of course whatever trail you decide to whack away at is fine by us.

Pic below is from Overlook Trail in La Jolla Canyon, taken about a month ago. Looks a bit different from last year, but we think it’s actually beautiful in a Tim Burton-ey kind of way.

Image by Gretchen Garnett