{"product_id":"dirt-work-an-education-in-the-woods-9780807001004","title":"Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods","description":"\u003cp\u003eA lively and lyrical account of one womans unlikely apprenticeship on a national-park trail crew and what she discovers about nature  gender  and the value of hard work  Christine Byl first encountered the national parks the way most of us do: on vacation. But after she graduated from college  broke and ready for a new challenge  she joined a Glacier National Park trail crew as a seasonal traildog maintaining mountain trails for the millions of visitors Glacier draws every year. Byl first thought of the job as a paycheck  a summer diversion  a welcome break from the real world before going on to graduate school. She came to find out that work in the woods on a trail crew was more demanding  more rewardingmore realthan she ever imagined.  During her first season  Byl embraces the backbreaking difficulty of the work  learning how to clear trees  move boulders  and build stairs in the backcountry. Her first mentors are the colorful characters with whom she worksthe packers  sawyers  and traildogs from all walks of lifealong with the tools in her hands: axe  shovel  chainsaw  rock bar. As she invests herself deeply in new work  the mountains  rivers  animals  and weather become teachers as well. While Byl expected that her tenure at the parks would be temporary  she ends up turning this summer gig into a decades-long job  moving from Montana to Alaska  breaking expectationsincluding her ownthat she would follow a professional career path.  Returning season after season  she eventually leads her own crews  mentoring other trail dogs along the way. In Dirt Work  Byl probes common assumptions about the division between mental and physical labor  womens work and mens work  white collars and blue collars. The supposedly simple work of digging holes  dropping trees  and blasting snowdrifts in fact offers her an education of the hands and the head  as well as membership in an utterly unique subculture. Dirt Work is a contemplative but unsentimental look at the pleasures of labor  the challenges of apprenticeship  and the way a place becomes a home.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647598747701,"sku":"ByrdShop_0807001007","price":71.57,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780807001004.jpg?v=1781695226","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/dirt-work-an-education-in-the-woods-9780807001004","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}