Spring Hitch and Spring Break

Three weeks ago I was preparing for my first hitch of conservation season. I and five other crew members spent almost two weeks clearing campsites and preparing three different state parks for opening day Memorial weekend. We started at White Lake State Park, where we cleared nearly 200 sites.

From White Lake we could see Mount Chocorua (the peak on the right in the photo above), which we were told we had to hike. So on the Saturday of our hitch we took the day off to hike. The view from the top was absolutely incredible.

After our day off we worked for one more day at White Lake State Park before heading to Wentworth State Park. We worked there for one day and then spent three days at Ellacoya State Park on Lake Winnipesaukee. We were lucky to be working near or on three different lakes during our time.

We returned on Friday May 22 and once we completed our "pack in" day we were officially on spring break, which wraps up once we start work tomorrow morning. I, along with many of the other member, decided to go home for my break. I flew to Tennessee the first full day of break and was home for six days. Over the course of my time I was able to enjoy many of the parts of home that I had been missing. I got to see various family members and friends, had so much amazing food, listened to lots of country music and had the opportunity to recharge before heading back to NH.

My return trip to NH was probably the most adventure of the entire trip. After waking up at 7 am the Friday of my flight and making the 3 hour drive to Nashville I made my way North. With the exception of a very short layover in Detroit, my flights were uneventful. While I knew that my flight landed in Boston just after 11 pm and that I was meeting a friend there who flew in around midnight, neither of us had any idea how long our night would be. We had planned to take a bus just before 7 am that would drop us in Concord. But the 7 hours in between were sleepless and noisy and by the time the bus arrived I had been awake for nearly 24 hours straight. Needless to say once we finally arrived at Bear Brook around 10 am we both went to our cabins and slept the majority of the day.

Now after getting caught up on sleep I can relax for the rest of today and await the return of the rest of the members. Right now about 1/3 of the people have returned and most of them will come in today. Ahead of us we have training for a couple weeks before going into hitch one, which I am co-leading. I'm looking forward to the many adventures that are sure to come and working alongside my other crew members on various projects.