Hitch #6

It seems that each hitch is more challenging then the one before, and this hitch was no exception. We returned to the La Garita Wilderness, where we were last hitch. But this time our site was on the opposite side of a mountain from last time. We also had the added complication of sickness. One of our crew was sick from day one, and subsequently each of us came down with various levels of illness.

On day one we had the first, and luckily only severe, rain of the week. This led to setting up our bear hang in the cold and wet before a late night getting to bed. Due to the fact that we would be working above tree line our crew leaders decided to start our days early. This meant 5 am breakfast and hitting the trail by 6:30 am. If you know me you know that I'm anything but a morning person. I had to put aside my exhaustion each morning, or at least try to stay awake. But by the time we began hiking the sun was starting to rise, adding warmth to our hike.

By the time we hiked about a mile uphill to our first stop on the trail we were all ready to stop and work. On day two we did some work on that section of the trail but then we began our real work. Our project sponsor told us we had about 3/4 mile hike to our final work site; we estimated nearly 2 miles. As we soon found out these 2 miles were steadily uphill followed by a steep final climb to nearly 13,000 ft. This hike was made more difficult by each of us carrying an apx 4 ft log. Needless to say, this was my most difficult part of the work day. We did this for three mornings before we had placed the required number of check steps.

Now of course our hitch was not without its rewards. When we reach our final work site we were rewarded with the most amazing view of our trail winding down into the valley. We were working in an alpine meadow, well above tree line. On Sunday morning we were given time off to continue up our trail, which ended atop San Luis Peak at 14,014 ft. We were able to summit my first 14er as a crew, and the experience was one I'll never forget.

The rest of the hitch we were able to sleep in a little more each day, due to the fact that we'd be working below tree line and wouldn't need to worry as much about afternoon storms. Sleeping in meant breakfast wasn't until 6:30 am, which I'm amazed at how happy I was to hear. We put in a total of 47 log check steps and 20 rock check steps by the end of the week.

Our hitch ended a day earlier than usual, with us driving back on Wednesday. This is because we spent from Wednesday night thru Friday morning at Raspberry Gulch just outside Salida. This was the final hitch for our summer crews and we spent the time camping together and completing exit paperwork and joining in celebration of all we'd accomplished together. Friday was a super de-rig were we cleaned all our gear, vehicles, dishes, and tools to the best of our ability. We said our goodbyes and most people went their seperate ways. My crew, along with one other five month crew, have one extra day off before returning on Friday August 29 to help plan the orientation for the new crews that will come in for the remaining two months.

These next four hitches will be filled with new adventures. One of our crew leaders has been chosen to lead a post 9/11 veterans crew for the fall. Because of this we will have a new co-leader. Luckily we have already met her as she was a crew leader for the past three months. This new dynamic will be our first obstacle, hopefully one we'll quickly overcome and we'll grow closer because of it. For now, enjoying my time off and preparing gear for the colder weather ahead.

From a Best Friend

There are people in this world who we only meet in passing. There are others who remain in our lives for only a portion of it. Then there are those who will be ingrained in our future from the moment we first meet. And then there are best friends. They fall into a different category entirely because they are not only a part of our everyday existence, but from my experience they have the ability to become involved in every aspect of our lives. We can tell them more secrets than we can our parents, they tend to have personalities as similar to us as can be, and sometimes, only once in my life, we can meet a best friend who is so entwined with who you are they are practically family. I'm lucky enough to have a "sister" such as this in my life.

Over the past five years there have been ups and downs, we've laughed and cried, and cried from laughing so hard. We've have late night, into early morning, Disney movie marathons and Minecraft sessions while acting as immature as possible. We met new people along the way and others have gone. We've explored underground caverns, maneuvered various rope obstacles like skilled tight rope walkers, climbed to high peaks, raced down rushing rapids, hiked endless miles, and a million other adventures that would take too long to explain. You've overcome fears of a raging river by getting back on it, I've been on it only to get ejected in the river. I've fished in the last frontier, you've survived an RV trip across the desert.

Yes we've come a long way, you and I. I've become more adventurous in my pursuit of thrills and dragged you along for the ride. You've tried to use your teacher mentality on me and I have been the worst possible student (but really, what kid is gonna sit still while you read a book when they're waiting for a movie to start?). We've worked in the sweltering heat of summer, singing Disney and Country songs at the top of our lungs. We've worked in bitter cold of 3 degrees, with a wind chill, until we were sure our fingers and toes no longer existed. We've bonded over a shared love of books, and shared how much we love certain things. You with your penguins, all things orange, hippie and Hawaii. Of course we also love our cats.

We both tried, but in the end had to succumb to the inevitable fact of being super seniors. But looking back, it just wouldn't be right with the universe if we graduated at separate times. We've grown so much as friends, as young women, in our career pursuits, and in independence. I've gone on several wild adventures, but now, for really the first time, you have also left the comfort of home in pursuit of your dreams. For the first time, neither of us knows when we'll be together again. But in a way, this is the true test of a friendship. Being together while we're apart may be hard, but I know that we'll meet again and it will be as though no time has passed.

And so, while I could write on forever, I shall add my final remarks. Buddy, my special friend, yo-yo, Yoda, and whatever other nicknames I can't remember; I so look forward to hearing everything about your new adventure. I have seen you work towards this since the moment we met. This is only the beginning for you, and me. Seize the day. I know you'll do wonderful things, but remember who your best-est buddy is and always will be.   -D

Hitch #5

This was our first back country hitch. This means that we did not have our vehicle easily accessible and everything we brought with us had to be packed in on our backs. We were in the La Garita Wilderness, working on the Colorado Trail and the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. On Wednesday we drove the roughly three hours to the trail head and met our project partners. For the first four days we worked alongside two Forest Service rangers.

On our first afternoon we hiked the 1/2 mile to our first campsite. We stayed there until Monday morning. Each day we walked to our work site, crossing a stream twice a day. Our main job for this hitch was building structures on the trail to route the flow of water off the trail. This meant many heavy rocks that had to be dug into the ground and even more logs. Being that this is a National Forest no machines can be used. This means that instead of chainsaws we used cross cut saws. That was a tiring yet exciting opportunity. To use a saw that has existed for decades longer than I've been alive, it feels historic and a bit nostalgic.

On Monday morning we packed up camp and hiked another 4 1/2 miles to our next site. This was done with packs that easily weighed 50 lbs or more, plus the addition of carrying all our tools. But the view was worth the exhaustion. At this point we were close to 12,000 feet and we were surrounded by mountains were the tree line was just above us. We camped in a small valley where we could have a 360 degree view. My only regret is that I forgot to bring my camera so I could capture the beauty.

Monday afternoon, about an hour after we reached our site, I was in the group setting up our bear hang. At this time the rain began. Being that I was a ways from camp I did not have my rain pants on me. The rain quickly escalated into a lightning drill and by the end of the hour of sitting in the rain, I was soaked. Along with everyone on my crew we changed what we could and went back to work in boots that were so wet we were standing in small puddles.

Luckily for us by the time we began work on Tuesday the sun had come out, and continue to stay out for the day and the next day. It's a true testament to the attitudes and skill of our crew that throughout the entire process we were able to be positive and even joke about how wrinkly our feet were at the end of the day. Eventually all our socks dried and work continued as normal.

We made the decision that if we could finish our work Wednesday morning we would pack camp and hike out that afternoon, rather than waking up before dawn on Thursday. We were able to accomplish all our tasks and by 3 pm on Wednesday we had begun our five mile hike back. This took about three hours, even though our packs felt substantially heavier. This is an interesting phenomenon, given that we had eaten 99% of the food we had packed in. I won't go into detail about our meals, but basically breakfast but oatmeal, lunch/snacks was trail mix and one tortilla with pb & j, and supper consisted mostly of some sort of grain and curry flavoring. Needless to say I was excited when we stopped for lunch on our way back Thursday.

Overall this hitch was the most tiring yet, but it also gave us the chance to get even closer as a crew. Our next hitch will also be back country, in the same general area. But next time we will be camping close to tree line and working above tree line. This means higher elevation and more possibly for severe lightning storms. We are now halfway through our season, and after next hitch the summer crews will be finished. We'll be camping as a big group one more time before saying goodbye. Then a week later we'll receive about 40 new staff. I'm looking forward to seeing how the season progresses as the weather starts to cool.