Outstanding in Her Field, "Summit Trail Amy" Snags Smith Rock State Park Award
July 28, 2021
When SmithRock.com first tagged Amy Sue Matthews in a Facebook post a few years ago as “Summit Trail Amy,” little did we know the name would stick. Now a Smith Rock State Park volunteer, her nickname has been adopted by the park staff, other volunteers, and visitors alike who adore her, often stopping her once they spy her signature purple ponytail. Deservedly, “Summit Trail Amy” has now been recognized for more than her ponytail—she is the recipient of an Outstanding Volunteer Award for 2021 by Oregon State Parks.
We first encountered Amy snowshoeing on the Rim Trail. We asked her to send us pictures of her day.
Then she sent us this first trail report of the snow on Summit. Her nickname “Summit Trail Amy” was born.
Amy started as Smith Rock State Park’s very first “Smith Rock Trail Steward”, assisting the park staff with trail patrol, litter picking, and customer service on all the trails in the park, but she quickly exceeded everyone’s expectations, pitching in on many things outside of the role. And in 2020 when COVID impacted the management of the park with layoffs, suspension of seasonal hiring, budget cuts, host cancellations, and more, Amy filled in everywhere she was needed. As Ranger Josie Barnum put it, “Amy Sue stepped up to the plate by opening and staffing the Welcome Center in a modified way, doing extra litter picking and trash patrol, advising customers of closures, and being a much-needed presence on the trails and throughout the park while the staff was trying to keep it together. We will never know the true impact having her here has had on our staff and visitors. It’s a difficult thing to quantify incidents that never happened because of her presence and assistance to our agency.”
When not on the trail, you can often catch Amy advising hikers on a myriad of different topics on the park, sharing her love of the flora and fauna of Smith Rock, especially snakes.
We did a campaign to ask visitors to save Amy’s back from countless cigarette butts, abandoned filled dog poop bags, and other disgusting trash. It’s still an issue.
Genuinely concerned for the safety of others, Amy advises hundreds of hikers to wear the right clothing and footwear for their activity, pack water, leash their dogs, not to pick the flowers (and poison hemlock), trail conditions and recommendations and advises them to stay on the trails to prevent erosion. And the park credits her with a sharp decrease in the past two years in staff, EMT, and Search and Rescue calls due to injuries from flip flop accidents on the steep scree slopes of Misery Ridge, and dehydration. You’ve probably seen her by the footbridge letting people who aren’t carrying water know where they can fill up a bottle they may have, or go to buy some.
Amy’s trail reports, her input on needed signage, and other countless contributions have become so valuable to park staff that she’s asked to attend their safety meetings. Since she gets to log more “trail time” than the rangers most of the year, she can provide great insight on the visitor needs balanced with her knowledge of park operations. The advisory sign at the footbridge with updateable trail conditions, such as ice on the backside of Misery Ridge? Thank “Summit Trail Amy.”
Amy in her “happy place.”
Headed for 100° in the park, Amy sets an example of hiking with enough water and super early.
Amy checks on the progress of the Bald Eaglets during the entire nesting season.
Hike in a mask in the snow and ice to give us trail reports? But of course.
Amy checks out the conditions after a snow covers frozen ice.
And who can forget “Summit Trail Santa?”
Her generosity exceeds all expectations too. When park funds were especially tight, Amy donated countless bottles of water and dog poop bags (which mistakenly a lot people thought she wanted back, filled), and even household items to the seasonal park residence. And when she heard about a man in the Willamette Valley who had lost everything in last year’s raging wildfires, who was still trying to help others in his community, she stepped up, donating her SUV for free to a total stranger so that he could continue to help. Her response when asked about her action? She just said, “He needed it more than I did.”
While she may be known for her Summit Trail loops, you can catch Amy on Misery Ridge too.
She has to sneak in kisses from her pal Monkey Face after all.
“Amy Sue is absolutely amazing. I am really not sure we could have made it through 2020 without her!”
Ranger Josie Barnum
Now you can see why over the years we’ve given her so many variations on her nickname (28 so far). Amy Sue Matthews is hard to quantify. Here’s one more: “Mega Volunteer Amy.” Bravo!