Who is your Mid-Trail Staff that you may see on Rubicon Trial?

Meet your Mid-Trail Staff that you will see on the Rubicon Trail.  They are a great resource.  Stop and say HI to or get information on trail conditions, things to know, or ask questions .  They both look forward to seeing you on the trail.

This is Mike Hafelfinger’s third season working as Mid Trail Staff, working with both Shannon Chard and Merlin Scott in the past. He works the trail every week Monday through Thursday, spending most of his time between the Loon Kiosk and Little Sluice.

Mike ran the trail for the first time in 2011, in his Toyota pickup on 33’s.  He began wheeling as a means to get to high lakes to go fishing, ended up meeting Sean Russell, a past president of RTF, and ran the trail for the first time with him.  On his second trip he ran Soup Bowl, which he says, “really charged him up”, and he was hooked.  Since then, he figured out that the pickup wasn’t big enough for a family of three (Mike, his wife Gail, and his dog, Shadow), so he sold the truck and bought a Landcruiser, which is what he wheels today.

He retired from being a butcher, but has worked as a ski instructor near Sand Point, ID (where he met his wife Gail), a diving instructor taking dive trips to Florida, and a certified ship’s Captain on the west coast.  He also has his own 39 foot boat and has extensive blue water experience, having sailed the west coast from Canada to Mexico and to Australia and back.

He enjoys talking to trail users and finding out their stories, and likes to help folks from out of town and have an enjoyable experience on the Rubicon.

Glenn White is our newest Mid Trail Staff, filling the position vacated my Merlin Scott after his many years in the Rubicon.  He’s been doing the job for three weeks and feels like he is “settling in”.  He works the trail every week Thursday through Monday, spending most of his time between Little Sluice and Buck Island Lake.

Glenn ran the trail for the first time in 1982, in the Toyota Land Cruiser he still runs on the trail today.  Prior to his commitment to Mid Trail Staff he typically made six or seven trips a year to the Rubicon, usually for five days at a time.  His son Clint has been his “Life Long Wheeling Buddy”, in the passenger seat as a kid, and driving his own Jeep for many years.

Glenn is known to many on the trail, mostly for stopping to help folks out with mechanical problems or breakage.  He says Rubicon is his, “favorite place in the world”, and considers it a privilege to be able to work there and considers Mid Trail Staff a way to give back.

He especially enjoys sharing the trail with “one timers”, those who are on the trail for their first, and perhaps only time.