A FAQ Teaser

As congratulations are going out to volunteers mapping the New Mexico section, questions are pouring in, and for good reason. We've done a good job of keeping details fairly vague up to this point, so trust that a list of frequently-asked questions is being honed as we speak. Watch for it in coming posts. In the meantime, here's a question from Backpacker map contributor Eli Schelin and his hiking partner Robert Vanderhoof; they'll be mapping a leg in Glacier later this summer.

Q: What will the roles of team members be?
A: An average team will be made up of five volunteers, plus one representative from a project sponsor (be it Backpacker, the CDTA, or a federal land manager). One of the five volunteers will serve as a team co-leader with the representative in question, coordinating logistics such as travel, meeting place and time, and a basic trip itinerary. So we'll be supplying area and route information to the team leader (including updated maps), and the planning from there will be within the team. And what of other roles among team members? That's up to the team, and can fit whatever dynamic a particular group may take on. If you find yourself to be the only good cook around, it's probably no mistake. The same goes for photographers, and so on; we're trying to spread the wealth, so that every team has a good mix of expertise. And if there are two good cooks on a team, that's when things get interesting. Dueling ramen recipes are the stuff of legend.