Sailing With No Wind

This is what happens when you are out on a rigged sailboat with no wind! Dan Casati (one of the leaders of the Wenanchee team) shows us his best pirate impression.
"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing , absolutely nothing,
that is half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." Kenneth Grahame The Wind In The Willows

As part of the AmeriCorps program through Northwest Service Academy/Mount Adams Center, each team gets a 5-Day Natural History Trip. Each team goes with another team. My team went with the Wenanchee team to Ross Lake which is a lake that was created by the damming of the Skagit River and is in the recreation area of the North Cascades National Park. The elevation of the lake is 1600 feet and it is over 20 miles long. We rented canoes from the Ross Lake Resort. In order to get to the resort, we had to take a ferry, a truck and then a motorboat. It was quite the site to have 15 of us loading and unloading all the group and personal gear from one mode of transportation to the next. Once at the resort, we geared for canoing for the next few days. The weather was absolutely amazing all week. We all were expecting it to be cold and were surprised that we didn't have to pull out our warm clothes all week.

On day two, some of the guys decided to rig two of the canoes together for make a sailboat. They took it out that night before dinner and had some success. The next day, they made a couple of adjustments to try it out that day. It turned out, that I ended up on one of the canoes that was rigged together. Well, there was no wind at all that day. The water was flat as a pancake. The day consisted of the two in front (me being one of them) paddling, while the two in the back laid back, clipped their nails and fished ;) I did learn how to cast out with a fishing pole. Quite exciting.

The best part about the trip was that neither team had to plan the menu, grocery shop or pack/unpack. We just had to worry about our personal gear and help out breakfast/dinner preparation and cleanup.

On our long drive back to Trout Lake, Washington, I started thinking that there won't be many more times where I will be piling into a Ford Expedition with 6 other people, heading to spike out or trying to figure out where we all want to get some grub. Hard to believe that the summer is getting close to ending. I guess I just have to enjoy the time I have left.

Song Quote:

"Now, don't hang on;
Nothing lasts forever
But the earth and sky;
It slips away,
And all your money
Won't another minute buy.

Dust in the wind:
All we are is dust in the wind.
Dust in the wind:
Everything is dust in the wind."

Kansas - Song Dust In The Wind

Hiking On Paved Trail With Trekking Poles

One of the magnificent falls.


Sunday, September 2 (hard to believe that it is already September -- where has the year gone?) Today I drove 3 and a half hours to The Gorge to see Dave Matthews Band perform. The Gorge Amphitheater is a 20,000 concert venue located above the above the Columbia River Gorge in George, Washington (middle of nowhere in Washington). The concert was awesome. Well worth the drive even if it meant getting back to Trout Lake at 3:30 in the morning.

On Labor day, Karlena and I went to Historic Oregon City where we learned about the Oregon Trail, went on a walk of the McLoughlin Historic District. A couple of Oregon City facts: 1844 - first incorporated community west of the Missouri River; 1850 - First federal court and land office on the Pacific Coast accepts and records City of San Francisco plat; 1899 - First long distance commercial electric power transmission in the United Stated from Oregon City to light 55 street lights in downtown Portland.

After half a day of work, Karlena and I went on a waterfall marathon hike on Wednesday. We decided to drive along the old Columbia River highway and hike to waterfalls. The hiking was very beautiful through lush green rainforest. One of the main waterfalls is Multnomah Falls. Multnomah Falls is the second tallest year round waterfall in the nation. The trail to the view at the top of the waterfall is paved switchbacks which is why I titled this post as "Hiking On Paved Trail With Trekking Poles."

On Thursday, I went on a hike with a group from the center to Indian Heaven. We hiked around a couple of lakes and I did some Huckleberry picking. There were so many huckleberries out that, it was hard for me to stop picking them.

Tomorrow we head out with another team on a 5 day natural history trip in the north cascades. We will be canoing on Ross Lake. The best part about this trip, is we don't have to do any preparation beforehand like planning a menu, grocery shopping, packing the food. I am so excited. The weather is supposed to be excellent this week.

Hitch #7 - Seldom Heard and Seldom Seen

Mt. Jefferson 10,
Baby H - my first transplant
Hiker with dog watching the crew move a huge rock


This is what happens when you leave your helmet behind

Our hitch for the last week in August, took us to Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Area/Jefferson Park. A 6 mile pack in. This time we had 3 mules pack us in and out.
Jefferson Park is a very beautiful area surrounded by a number of lakes at the base of Mt. Jefferson.
The work this week consisted of rehabbing user trails that spurred off of the PCT. Some of the things that we did were transplanting plants, putting up rehab signs, moving large rocks and logs to put in path. It was nice to be doing different work for a few days.
We had an older gentlemen joining us for the week as a volunteer. His name was Seldom (that was his legal name -- no first or last name just Seldom) and he was 72 years old. He sure didn't seem like he was 72 by the way he worked.

Andy, you goonie!

Painted Hills in John Day National Monument

Sheep Rocks at John Day National Monument
Sunset on Oregon Coast

John Day Fossil Beds are fossil beds whose sedimentary rocks preserve a 40 million year record of plant and animal life. There are three units in the area. 1) Clarno Unit; 2) Painted Hills Unit; and 3) Sheep Rock Unit. In the Clarno Nut Beds, there are more than 300 plant species. The Painted Hills Overlook you can see how the weathering of volcanic ash under varying climatic regimes resulted in vividly-hued rock layers of red, pink, bronze, tan, and black. This was by far my favorite of the fossil beds.
One day on our 5 days off, I drove to the Oregon Coast. I visited Astoria where Goonies was filmed. While there, I took a hike up to the column and walked up the 164 stairs to a nice 360 view.
I then made my way down to Seaside. Got out and walked along the main shopping strip and walked along the boardwalk and beach. That night, I watched the sunset in Manzanita and on one of the viewpoints on HWY 101.

Team Pictures

From L to R: Casey Bicanich, Will Bruno, John Kruse, Dave Lebourveau, Bryan Leonard, Kevin Staples, Karlena Cardin, and Shannon Tuddenham
A little blurry but this gives you an idea of the people that I have to put up with everyday ;)
A little dark, but still kind of a cool picture of the team
We always seem to find a way to keep warm even if it is with a barbecue. Does this look safe?

Thanks to a volunteer from our last hitch down south, I am able to provide these pictures. Enjoy!

Theme Song of the first 2 and a half months on the trail

Song: Wagon Wheel
Artist: Old Show Medicine Show

Headed down south to the land of the pines
And I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline
Starin' up the road
Pray to God I see headlights

I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
And I'm a hopin' for Raleigh
I can see my baby tonight

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Runnin' from the cold up in New England
I was born to be a fiddler in an old-time stringband
My baby plays the guitar
I pick a banjo now

Oh, the North country winters keep a gettin' me now
Lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave
But I ain't a turnin' back
To livin' that old life no more

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke
I caught a trucker out of Philly
Had a nice long toke
But he's a headed west from the Cumberland Gap
To Johnson City, Tennessee

And I gotta get a move on before the sun
I hear my baby callin' my name
And I know that she's the only one
And if I die in Raleigh
At least I will die free

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Hitch #6 - We Are The Pack Team

Beautiful sunrise skyline in Mt. Adams Wilderness
Group around the campfire with Mt. Adams in the background

"What Did The Fish Say When It Ran Into A Wall?" Answer at bottom.

In order to get ready for our first hitch up north, I ended up working for part of one of my days off. Somehow there is always a person or two who has to work on our days off because we have to grocery shop and then get all the food organized, etc. Seems like they would give us an extra day for that but no such luck.
7:30 a.m. Monday morning - personal gear ready, meet pack team with group gear. Instead of 2 mules, we had 3 but still not enough to carry all our group gear which meant....the team and 1 volunteer carrying in a tool or two each. No big deal, right?
Our new sponsor, Dana, made us work after hiking 6 miles straight up an awfully rutted trail. Some areas steeper then others and some rutted out more then other areas. The team is not used to doing work on the trail after traveling to our site whether we drive or hike so I was not prepared for doing some trail work. Dana had to leave early the next morning and wanted to show us how to put in check dams. Check dams are used to slow water down the flow of water coming down the trail. That way preventing erosion problems. The week on the mountain consisted of putting in a lot of check dams. Check dams are made by finding a mostly flat top, thin rock, digging a trench the length and depth of the rock, securing the rock with setter rocks and then filling the rest in with dirt. Other projects that were done for the week was some tread definition, water bars using rocks or logs.
On Friday, I hiked out to meet Stephanie who is the volunteer coordinator and was resupplying us with food for the next couple of days and also hiking in 6 new volunteers from Envirocorps. They do trail work in Portland for the Lower Columbia Center and are not used to backcountry, camping, trail work on the mountain, etc.
With Stephanie came bad news. The packers had canceled which meant that we would be packing out not just our personal gear but all the group gear which included: tools, food, garbage, cooler, and on and on.
John, who was leader for the week because Karlena was on vacation leading a college group in the sisters wilderness in Central Oregon, wanted to hike out on Sunday. Saturday night it rained all night. Sunday morning we packed up and hiked the 6 miles down in the drizzle, muddy trail. I only managed to fall 3 times and slip twice as many as I fell. One of the ridiculous things that our sponsor had us carry up that she thought would be useful for moving rocks, was a dolly. The dolly turned out to be a pain in the a--. The dolly was wider then the actual trail which made it extremely difficult to push or pull along the trail.
Despite having to be our own pack team, the week was not all that bad. We were in a yet another beautiful setting, great volunteers, especially Letha (she just got back about 2 months ago from being in the Peacecorps in the Philippines for 2 years.) By the time we had cleaned all the gear and stuff, my crew was exhausted. Of course, we were exhausted at the beginning of the hitch. Good thing we had 5 days off before the next hitch.

Answer to joke: Dam (ha ha)

Hitch #5 - Pick A Title

Karlena and I build our first rock water bar together
Sleeping On The Job....lunchbreak on the trail
Kick Ass retaining wall

This post could very well have a number of titles. Instead of limiting it to one, I will list my options and let those that actually read my blog, pick their own title....

1. Farewell to Our Redneck Crew Leader Mr. Bicanich aka Casey Jones
2. Go F--k Off A Cliff
3. What's Your Name?
4. Barbecue Fire

Our last hitch in the Northern California/Southern Oregon, was in the Russian Wilderness. We spiked out at the Music Creek Trailhead for the week. Our commute to the Pacific Crest Trial was a mile up switchbacks and then at least another half mile to mile hike to our project site.
We had one volunteer with us all week. Jed, a 5th grade school teacher in Sacramento but grew up in San Jose. His father grew up in Mapletown, Utah. Crazy that I keep running into people with Utah connections. The work this week consisted of rock water bars, retaining/junk cribs walls and moving one massive rock from the trail.
The past two hitches, we have seen quite a few Pacific Crest Trail through hikers (starting in late April and hiking 2,650 mile anywhere between 5 or 6 months. Through hikers have names like: Not A Moose, Totally Rachel, Easy Rider, Out There and many more that I am sure to come across.
The last two night, I slept with my rain fly off so that I could do some stargazing. On this hitch, I saw a few shooting stars which I can not really remember ever seeing a shooting star before then.
We packed up a day early in order to have a farewell barbecue at our sponsor, Ian's house in Medford.
Friday was the drive back north to Trout Lake, Washington. 5 am start after not much sleep. After trying looking for where my stuff that I had left here was and finding an empty room, I did some unpacking and laundry.
That night I went to visit the Mt. Hood team. They live in a nice house in Zigzag, Oregon which is located on Hwy 26. Saturday, I went for a beautiful hike on Mt. Hood. Beautiful wild flowers in bloom.
Tomorrow will be our first hitch with a new sponsor/new area. It will be in the Mt. Adams Wilderness. We have to hike in 6 miles and we most likely will have to carry more then just our personal gear since we might only have 2 horses to pack us in. This will also be the first hitch where we will have quite a few volunteers. 3 for the first half and 9 for the second half.

Where Are You Going Next?

Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA
Mt. Lassen - Lassen National Park in CA
Subway Cave outside of Lassen National Park

Somehow we managed to get five days off before our last hitch in this region.
Of course Karlena and I made the most of our days off. First we went to Whiskeytown in California. It was super hot and I wasn't feeling all that good which didn't help but that didn't stop us from site seeing. The first day we hiked to a couple of waterfalls, and explored an old gold mill site; on the second day we went to an old historical town called Shasta right outside of Whiskeytown. We went to a couple of cemeteries, an old barn, ruins of clothing, jewelry stores; a cool thing about Whiskeytown is that they offer free kayak tours and we were lucky enough to get a couple of spots for the afternoon tour. There actually only happened to be 4 of us and then three guides. Most of the guides are volunteers and one actually grew up in Salt Lake but has not lived there for 30+ years.
Fun Whiskeytown fact: "Whiskeytown got its name from the California Gold Rush of 1849. Settled by gold miners, the town was first called Whiskey Creek for the stream on which it was located, but later the name was changed to Whiskeytown. A barrel of whiskey lost off a pack mule christened the stream with the popular drink of that day.
Before heading to Lassen National Park, we stopped off at Turtle Bay in Redding which is the location of Sundial Bridge.
Our first night in Lassen National Park, we camped by Manzanita Lake. The night we arrived, we went for a walk around the lake which was a really pretty walk. People were out fishing, walking their dogs or just out by the lake.
The next day, we hiked to the top of Lassen Peak (10,457). Even though we start around 9,000 ft., it was no walk in the park. As we were hiking up, we kept passing this guy. Once at the top, we sat and talked to him while we ate lunch. His name was Luigi which I had to bite my tongue so that I wouldn't laugh because it just didn't seem like it fit him. Anyway, he had been traveling around the world for quite some time. While we were talking, he started asking "Where Are You Going Next?....Where Are You Going To Camp Tonight?" We parted ways at the top of the peak but ran into him at our next stop....Bumpass Hell which is the largest area containing geothermal features in the park, and is part of the region once covered by the ancient volcano Mount Tehama. It received its curious name from a disgruntled explorer, who lost a leg after falling into a boiling pool. After that, we didn't run into him again. Just another person you meet traveling, swap stories and go your separate ways
Interesting fact about the park: "Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of the active, dormant, or extinct volcanoes that extend around the Pacific Ocean in a great Ring of Fire. This zone of volcanoes and earthquakes marks the edges of plates that form the Earth's crust. Volcanic and seismic disturbances occur as these great slabs override or grind past each other.

Hitch #4 - Freezer In The Backcountry

So....I have been slacking a little on updating my blog.
Our first backcountry hitch was successful even though we started out with a 15 hour day. The hike in was really beautiful. We hiked through amazing, colorful (yellow, white, violet, red) wild flower meadows.
Our base camp for the week was a half mile uphill climb to the Pacific Crest Trail and then we still had a mile to 2 mile hike to our project site. We worked with 3 people with the forest service. The majority of the week, I spent lopping and brushing. One day I was able to use my handy dandy cross certification by hiking about 12 miles to cross cut 2 big and 1 little tree out of the trail.
We had 3 volunteers this week: Amy, a friend of our crew leader's, Casey; Keith, Will's brother; and Bernard, early 60 year old man who was a super hard worker.
Luckily, we were packed in by 7 mules, otherwise we would of had to carry our food, tools, etc. and that would not have been fun. One of the coolers we had, had dry ice, so the food in that cooler was frozen. Our most successful keeping food cool to date.
The above picture was taken from the meadow by our camp. The sunset over the mountains was incredible. The last night I stayed up and stargazed.

2007 Summer Summit Champions -- PCT N

After a day of relaxing in Lincoln, Karlena and I headed to Crater Lake. We arrived Friday mid afternoon and picked a campsite out of over 200. Come to find out later that we picked the busiest weekend ever in the park's history.
Once we got situated with the campsite, I biked around a majority of the crater rim (about 20 + miles). Some of it was pretty tough. It was a beautiful day to be hiking.
That night we attended a presentation on the bird's at Crater Lake. It was pretty interesting.
On Saturday we headed up 97 through Bend on our way up to Trout Lake. Outside of Bend, we we stopped at a Lava Bed Monument with views of Mt. Bachelor, the Three Sister peaks.
Back in Trout Lake for the week. After two days of a nature hike, meetings, and catching up with other teams, it was team challenge day where all teams get nasty and we compete for the "timekeeper." The day started out pouring rain but that didn't stop us from playing our games. Each team had a category and then had to come up with a game for the teams to play and then that team would judge each team. The team with the most points at the end of the day won.
Teams also received points for having the most creative costumes/wearing them all day and team spirit.
The last competition of the day was dancing with the stars where two people from each team danced to different types of music that changed every couple of minutes. One by one they would be weeded out by the judges which happened to be the staff. At the end two guys from team were left standing. The dance off was the funniest thing that I had ever seen (someone recorded it so I might post it if I can). Once the points were added up, the winning team was announced. Drumroll please....PCT N....my team. We won the "timekeeper" and a cowboy hard hat which is pictured above. The hard hat is way cool. I feel like I need to go and buy some cowboy boots. It might of helped that we went into the competition with some points for winning a competition in training back in May. The funny thing about my team winning is that my team is so under the radar and not really all that competitive.
Friday was the actual summer summit day where we there was workshops. I made my very first dream catcher which I am very proud of.
Tomorrow we head back down south to southern Oregon. Monday we start our first backcountry in the Marble Mountains in California. 7 miles hiking in. We have 2 volunteers joining us which will be our first volunteers of the year.

Song Quote: "I've had my share of sand, kicked in my face, but I've come through" Queen - Song We Are The Champions

Welcome To The Fog....I Mean, The Coast

I look so tiny standing next to this massive redwood tree.
Looking up to the sky through the Redwoods
Camping on the beach in the Redwoods

The amazingly beautiful coast on a scenic drive in the Redwoods

Time for 8 days of vacation.

No better way to start planning a mini road trip then the night before at 9 pm. Karlena got a call from a good friend that invited her to go on a day river trip on the Trinity River in Northern California. They had one extra space and I got invited. Since we would be down that way, we decided to drive to the coast and stay in Arcata for a day and then head north up the coast through the Redwoods.

The river trip on Sunday was lots of fun. We paddled through some crazy rapids, swam in the river and did a little cliff jumping. It was hot so being able to cool off in the river was a treat. We stayed in Arcata with Karlena’s friend, Hannah.

Monday we spent a nice relaxing day in the cute town of Arcata and went for a little hike on the coast.

Tuesday we headed north and got a campsite on the beach. We started a 18 mile hike at about 1. The trail was called the Redwood Creek Trial and we ended up at the Tall Trees. We had the option of driving 2 hours to the trailhead but we had been in the car way too much and a hike was just what we needed.

Wednesday we spent the day doing some short hikes, a scenic drive along the most beautiful coastline, stopping at a lighthouse in Crescent City before heading back up to Lincoln.

Next stop....Crater Lake, Bend on our way to Trout Lake, Washington.

Song Quote: "And Ive got one more silver dollar, But Im not gonna let them catch me, no, Not gonna let em catch the midnight rider." The Allman Brothers - Song Midnight Rider

Hitch #3 Minor Setback

The team floating down the river on July 4th. It was one hot day.
Sunset from our camp.

At the lava bed caves, I took a step down on a trail and twisted my right knee. I thought I would be able to walk it off. No such luck. It still felt tight the next morning (I could still walk on it) so I decided to head to the ER instead of joining the team on our next hitch. The dr. at the ER told me that I had sprained my knee and to stay off of it for a few days by icing, resting and taking drugs. He wrote out a couple of prescriptions for me and sent me on my way. For the next three days (I didn't go outside for two of those days), I watched movies, slept, ate and watched tv. All my favorite things to do:)

Sunday I drove to meet the crew. We were working in California right over the Oregon border. We brushed and redefined 5 miles of trail. July 4 was Bryan’s birthday so we worked half a day and then went down to and hung out by the river until after dinner.

On Saturday, we went and worked with volunteers for half a day. The great thing about working on the Pacific Crest Trail is that we have the opportunity to host volunteers. It is a great way to meet/get to know other people. If anyone is interested in volunteering with my team (PCT North), let me know and I can give you more information.

Song Quotes:

"she's so big hearted,
but not so remarkable
just an ordinary humble girl
expecting nothing as we're made to think
its a pretty person's world

but you are beautiful and you better go show it
go look again, you gotta be true to your own
if you really wanna go to the top
do you really wanna win?
don't believe in living normal, just to satisfy demand

well if you wanna get free
and if you wanna do the passionate thing
and if you wanna get smart for the sake of your heart
you should own your name and stand up tall
and get real and see the beauty in ugly

well you are fresh, you're face is fabulous
don't forget you're one of a kind
when nobody is checking the deeds you've done
and nobody is hearing your cries
you make all of the fashion statements
just by dressing up your mind

well if you wanna get free
and if you wanna do the passionate thing
and if you wanna get smart for the sake of your heart
you should own your name and stand up tall
and get real and see the beauty in ugly
and see the beauty in ugly

well if you wanna get free
and if you wanna do the passionate thing
and if you wanna get smart for the sake of your heart and oh
you should own your name and stand up tall
and get real and see the beauty in ugly
see the beauty in a ugly"

Jason Mraz - Song The Beauty In Ugly

"she lifts her skirt up to her knees,
walks through the garden rows with her bare feet, laughing.
i never learned to count my blessings,
i choose instead to dwell in my disasters.
i walk on down a hill,
through grass, grown tall and brown
and still its hard somehow to let go of my pain.
on past the busted back of that old and rusted cadillac
that sinks into this field, collecting rain.
will i always feel this way?
so empty, so estranged

and of these cut- throat busted sunsets,
these cold and damp white mornings
i have grown weary.
if though my cracked and dusted dime-store lips
i spoke these words out loud would no one hear me?
lay your blouse across the chair,
let fall the flowers from from your hair
and kiss me with that country mouth, so plain.
outside, the rain is tapping on the leaves,
to me it sounds like they're applauding us the the quiet love we made.
will i always feel this way?
so empty, so estranged

well i looked my demons in the eyes,
laid bare my chest, said do your best, destroy me.
you see, i've been to hell and back so many times,
i must admit you kind of bore me.
there's a lot of things that can kill a man,
there's a lot of ways to die,
listen, some already did that walked beside me.
there's alot of things i don't understand,
why so many people lie.
its the hurt i hide inside that fuels the fire inside me.
will i always feel this way?"
so empty, so estranged 

Ray LaMontagne - Song Empty

A Day At The Mall

Karlena and I on top of Mt. McLoughlin
Lava Cave Beds National Monument
Lava Cave Beds National Monument

4 days off….

Guys entertain themselves once again by eating meat, drinking, fishing, and sleeping.

The girls of course, make the most of their time off. Here is how our fun filled days went

Saturday night: spend a few hours in Ashland checking emails, etc., and walking around the town,

Sunday: day of relaxtion in Ashland

Monday: hike Mt. Mcloughlin (9,495 ft.)

Tuesday: Oregon Caves National Monument – located in Cave Junction

A couple little blurb about the caves: :"Everything seemed to be leading me to the cave," Elijah Davidson, 1922 (written about his experience in 1874).

1880s: "In 1884, Walter C. Burch first heard of the cave from Elijah Davidson. Burch and his brother-in-laws, Homer and Ernest Harkness, staked a squatter's claim at the lower cave entrance. They charged one dollar per person for a guided cave trip, camping, good pasture and "medicinal" cave waters, as advertised in the Grants Pass Courier newspapaper. They tried to acquire title to the land but the land was unsurveyed so after a few years they abandoned the idea of development."

Tuesday night: Party at Jackie Onassis brother, Jamie's house in Ashland

Wednesday: Lava Beds National Monument
A little fact about the lava beds:
"During the Modoc War of 1872-1873, the Modoc Indians used the park's lava flows to their tactical advantage. Under the leadership of Captain Jack, the Modocs took refuge in "Captain Jack's Stronghold," a natural lava fortress. From here a group of 53 fighting men and their families held off US Army forces numbering up to ten times their strength for five months."

No song lyric for this post but I will provide a couple of music quotes:
"Peace Through Music"
"When Words Fail, Music Speaks"

Hitch #2 – Shoveling Snow In June

View from our campsite. Mt. Shasta in the background.
Crew clearing snow off the road.
Some of the work our team did along the trail.
A beautiful sunset over the mountains in Southern Oregon.

On Thursday, June 14, we traveled to the Siskiyou Crest in Oregon. We were base camped off a forest service road with an outstanding view of Mt. Shasta. I hate having to get up for work, getting out of my tent and being surrounded by some sweet scenery. What is even worse is going to work and having to work with even more amazing scenery. This by far is the best campsite/work area we have had the opportunity to work in.

On our first day working in this area, we worked half the day and then shoveled/picked/macloud a good pile of snow out of the road. Quite fun when you listen to some pirate chants J Our clearing of the snow turned out to be a benefit not only for us but for others. By the time we left, the snow was almost completely melted.

Sunday night, Brenden, a staff member from the Mt. Adams Center in Trout Lake came to visit us. He had friends that he came to visit with his family close by. He worked with us on Monday. On Thursday night, Stephanie, also a staff member at Mt. Adams Center, came to visit and worked with us all day Friday. It was nice to have a couple of visitors.

Right now, I am sitting at a little cafe outside on a beautiful, sunny, summer day in Ashland. Time for some much needed time off after this last hitch.

Song Quote: "Lonesome tears I can't cry them anymore I can't think of what they're for" Lonesome Tears - Beck

Slow Riding

After 10 days out in the woods, it was time for a few days off. While the guys sat around drinking beer, eating meat (one night we had a dinner that consisted of ribs, steak and corn on the cob), and fishing, us girls made the most of our time off by sightseeing, hiking and biking.

We went for a bike ride along the Bear Creek Greenway which is a scenic 19 mile bike ride that starts in Ashland and ends in Central Point. When we got to a stretch in Medford, the back tire on my bike decided to lock up on me. It was the oddest thing. It didn’t look as if it was getting caught in the chain or anything. After fooling around for a few minutes, it finally decided to work. At that point, I decided to not go farther. There was a nice park that I sat and ate lunch. The ride back to Ashland, was slow and my legs felt hurt from having to work twice as hard. Luckily, a couple of the guys on my team know a thing or two about bikes. One of them looked at it and came to the conclusion that the tire was bent and did what he could to fix it. Hopefully, the problem is remedied for a while.

The hike we did was by far one of the best hikes that I have done. It could of also been the fact, that I hadn’t been on a good hike in a while and was overdue for one. Our hike was along the Pacific Crest Trail by Lincoln and we hiked to Pilot Rock with a view of Mt. Shasta and the surrounding hills. We hiked at night and on the way back, watched the sunset. The silhouette on the mountains was awesome. Two of my favorite things in the whole world, are sunsets and stargazing. Experiencing both of them in a mountain setting is even better.

Hitch #1 – Eaten Alive

View from the Pacific Crest Trail in Castle Crags State Park.
Stepping stone project I worked on in Castle Crags.
Burney Falls
One women show on cross cutting. Just kidding, I had help.

So…

Apparently I am not very good at updating my blog. I would like to say that I will try better but I don’t think I can make or keep that promise J

The drive south to Lincoln, Oregon, our “home” for six weeks, started on Tuesday, May 31. Lincoln is located about 20 minutes east of Ashland, California, up a curvy, steep road. On our days off, Lincoln is “home.” Lincoln is a very small town or community. We have a little cabin to ourselves. Eight people, five beds. [insert fact about Lincoln]

My team will be working 10 day hitches with 4 days off. Here is how a typical hitch goes:

Day 1: Travel to campsite, set up campsite for week

Day 2 – 9: work on Pacific Crest Trail by where our campsite is

Day 10: Travel back to Lincoln, clean up

On Thursday, May 31, we traveled south to Shasta-Trinity’s Castle Crags State Park in California. The park is named for 6,000-feet tall glacier-polished crags. Castle Crags is located right off the I-5 corridor. Nothing better then being at camp, and hearing the traffic on the freeway or the trains in the middle of the night.

After we had set up camp, to our surprise, our first camp visitor stopped by, a cute bear cub. We kept our distance and let the cub meander by. Good thing, the state park provides bear boxes for food, etc.

The mosquitoes in this area were awful all day long and night. At one point, I had bumps all on my back and thought that I had some sort of rash or even Poison Oak.

Our first official day of work was on June 1. Our commute to work was about a 2 mile hike. Our first project included a couple of stream crossings and some other tread work. Lots of hauling of big rocks, setting big rocks, digging, etc. Somehow, I got put on a little project of my own, with a little help from Casey. I put stepping stones in a marshy area of the trail. It took me about two and a half days to complete but it was kind of nice to do something semi on my own on the first hitch.

On day 6 of hitch #1, we headed southeast to the Whitehorse Campground on the Plumas National Forest. Here we got cross-cut certified, did some brush clearing and a few drainage ditches. We got rained and snowed on. It was quite chilly at night so we had some big raging fires.

Song Quote: "Run through the river and into town, pretty little moon with it's head hung down, Chin Up, Cheer Up" Chin Up, Cheer Up – Ryan Adams

Let Me Introduce You To....

The PCT (Pacific Crest Trail - 2,650 miles of trail that runs from the Mexico border north to the Canadian border) North Team

Where our Motto is “We’re Not Here To Learn, We’re Here To Win”

One "Redneck" Crew Leader

Casey Bicanich - from West "By God" Virginia

Two Fearless Leaders:

Karlena Cardin - from Portland, Oregon

John Kruse - Normal, Illinois

Five Trail Members

Will Bruno - from Nashville, Tennessee

Kevin Staples - from Wisconsin

David LeBourveau - from Ohio

Bryan Leonard - from Illinois

and of course, me, Shannon Tuddenham

Pictures to come.

Song Quote: "Casey Jones You Better Watch Your Speed....Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind"

Four And A Half Hours Later

For Memorial Day weekend I took a trip up to Seattle, Washington to visit my friends Heather and Steve and their two boys, Emmett and Riley.

In order to get to Seattle from Trout Lake, you have to cross the toll bridge into Oregon, take 84 almost all the way to Portland, 205 North, then 5 North all the way into Seattle. I know it doesn’t like the fastest, most efficient way to get there from Trout Lake, however, the other route still has snow on it.

While in Seattle, I went to a Folk Life Festival at the Seattle Center, went out to dinner, went to Pike’s Place Market where I saw the famous fish throwers (despite the rain, it was crowded down there, took a walk around Green Lake Park where there was a wakeboard competition in the cold water I am sure, and went to a barbeque at some friends of Heather and Steve’s, and played with the cute kids. Three day weekends are so wonderful.

Watch Out for Falling.....

This summer I get to work in the great outdoors. I accepted an AmeriCorps position through Northwest Service Acadamy/Mount Adams Center which is based in Trout Lake, Washington. I will be a Field Team Member working on a team of 7 (2 leaders and 5 team members). We will be working on the Pacific Crest Trail in Northern California/Southern Oregon until about the middle of August and then heading north on the trail until the end of October.

The past two weeks, I have been training at the Northwest Service Academy/Mount Adams Center. Our training has included first aid/cpr, food handlers, member handbook, tool use and maintenance, etc. It has not just been work, work, work....we have had plenty of time to have fun and get to know not only our team but other team members as well. One more week of training then off to work.

A few fun facts about Trout Lake, Washington....

1. It is located in the northwestern corner of Klickitat County;
2. Trout Lake was first settled by the Swiss, but Americans soon followed and soon constituted more than a majority of the families;
3. The mayor pumps your gas and fixes your car;
4. Sleeping Beauty rests on a mountain top;
5. There is a Self Mastery Earth Institute where people gather in the field to see UFO's fly over Mt. Adams and they have Science, Spirit and World Transformation seminars (kind of freaky if you ask me);
6. They have multiple caves (i.e. ice caves, cheese caves, deadhorse cave and more)
7. There is only one school for grades K through 12; and
8. Pine cones fall from the sky;)

Song Quote of the Blog

"cuz it's the whispers I have never understood" Nanci Griffith - Song More Than A Whisper

Keep checking back for updates and pictures

I'm Still Alive....

Rodeo Beach where I ran the Golden Gate Marin Headlands half marathon.
At the end of the race.
Escalante
Zebra slot canyon in Escalante

Some of you might be wondering what I have been up to the past few months since returning from my three month world adventure.....let's see if I can sum that up in a few sentences

worked little, played hard for a month or two....

took a couple of trips....one to Austin, Texas and one to San Francisco area to run a half marathon....

ran the Salt Lake City half marathon (ran my personal best)....

worked lots the past month.....

took a little getaway trip to Escalante for some much needed hiking/relaxation....


Above are a few pictures from my recent little trips.

Next stop....
Trout Lake, Washington (more about that in the next post)

To keep with the tradition of my blog posts, I will continue doing Song of the Blog/Day/Just for the Hell of it

"In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone" Simon & Garfunkel - Song Sound of Silence

"There were times when I was so lonesome I took some comfort there." Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer

"Now I've fallen in deep, slow silent sleep It's killing me, I'm dying." Badly Drawn Boy - Song The Shining

Ed. Note - As I was hiking in Escalante, I heard these three songs and they were so perfect for the hike that I enjoyed so much that day