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

This Is The Place.....I Think

I love this place(Salt Lake in case some of you didn't figure that out)!!!!

After three months of living out of a suitcase or two, sleeping in tents, sleeping on buses, moving onto a different place after a day or two, it is nice to come back to a familiar place. I am finally settling back into being back in the states.

Currently, I am working part-time at O.C. Tanner (jewelry store in downtown Salt Lake) answering phones and giftwrapping. I hope to stay on for a bit after the holidays. I am enjoying working there very much.

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Hope you enjoyed my blog. Keep checking back for any updates.

One last song quote:

Simon & Garfunkel - Song America

"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together
I've got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies
And we walked off to look for America
Cathy I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America
Laughing on the bus playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera
Toss me a cigaret I think there's one in the raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenary she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field
Cathy I'm lost I said though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America."

Cheers,
Shannon

My Movie Soundtrack Adventure/Life

*Ed. Note...you probably think this picture is from one of my great stops around the world but no...it was actually taken from my balcony! Pretty amazing, huh?*

"From now on I'm just calling everything Awesome. Anything that's classified as a noun I'm turning into just plain Awesome. There are no more trees. Only Awesomes. There is no more man and wife. The saying now goes, I pronounce you Awesome and Awesome. Ice cream. What is that? I'll have two scoops of Awesome with Awesome on top please. Would you like to take a ride in my new Awesome? May I see your Awesome? May I pet your Awesome? That'd be Awesome. You're Awesome.

Sunrise and Sunset are the best hours of light for your body and mind because it is light you can actually ingest by looking at it, into it and it into you, absorbing its remarkable resources thru your pupils. Other times of day the light will just burn your eyeballs out. Awesome."
taken from a recent post of the online journal of the music artist Jason Mraz

Song Quotes in no particular order and for no particular reason:

"I have no answers for you" Dave Matthews Band – Song Where Are You Going?

"In this proud land we grew up strong we were wanted all along, I was taught to fight, taught to win, I never thought I could fail." Peter Gabriel - Song Don't Give Up

"I have climbed highest mountain.....I have run I have crawled" U2 - Song I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

"Stolen from Africa, brought to America, fighting on arrival, fighting for survival" Bob Marley - Song Buffalo Soldier

"It's such a waste to always look behind you, you should be looking straight ahead." JET – Song Move On

"This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you." Josh Groban - song Vincent (Starry Starry Night)

"They say that time heals everything….look out my window, still rainin'" Jonny Lang – Song Still Rainin'

"Listen to each drop of rain…open your eyes to the love around you" Evanesance – Song Listen To The Rain

"La la la la la la la life is wonderful, Ah la la la la la la life goes full circle, Ah la la la la la la life is so full of" Jason Mraz – Song Life is Wonderful

"There's always one reason to feel not good enough and it's hard at the end of the day" Sarah McLachlan – Song Angel

"What we gonna do when the money runs out I wish that there was something left to say where we going to find the eyes to see the bright of day" Song Nightblindness

"It's the perfect time of day....don't let it drift away.....close your eyes and take your last breath....press your head aside, the end is the beginning...." Howie Day - song It's the Perfect Time of Day

"Come on, oh my star is fading, I swerve out of control, If I, If I'd only waited, I'd not be stuck here in this hole." Coldplay – song Amsterdam

"Everyone's saying different things to me…wasting my time in the waiting line" Zero 7 – In the Waiting Line

"And I see no bravery, no bravery in your eyes anymore, only sadness." James Blunt – No Bravery

"There's no stopping curiosity….who's to say I can't do everything, well I can try…things aren't always just what they seem." Jack Johnson – Song Upside Down

"Another dream to ashes and they all fall down." Jason Mraz – Song Sleeping to Dream

"His path was marked, By the stars in the Southern Hemisphere, And he walked his days, Under African skies" Paul Simon – Song Under African Skies

"Cause they've never gone this long without a kill before" John Mayer Trio – Song Vultures

"The more we take, the less we become. The fortune of one man, means less for some." Sarah McLachlan – Song The World is on Fire

"How the hell can a person go to work in the morning, come home in the evening, and have nothing to say." Bonnie Raitt/John Prine – Song Angels from Montgomery

"People in every direction, no words exchanged, no time to exchange them" Dave Matthews Band - Song Ants Marching

"And if you want to talk about it once again" James Blunt - Song Cry

"I got jet lag and I never even left the ground, see it's like that every time you come around, oh I'm so hung over and I never even touched a drop" Joss Stone - Song Jet Lag

¨Adios to all this concrete. Gonna get me some dirt road back street. If I can just get off of this LA freeway without getting killed or caught, I'd be down that road in a cloud of smoke¨ Guy Clark - Song L.A. Freeway

¨Momma's gonna cook me supper, and Georgia's gonna tuck me in, this town is gonna make me something special I'm coming home again" Josh Kelly - Song 20 Miles to Georgia

"From a distance, we hold heaviness and no one is in need and there are no guns, no bombs, no disease, there are no hungry mouths to feed." Nancy Griffith - From A Distance

"sunshine, we all see, the same sky...." Song for Sunshine - Belle & Sebastian

"That's alright I still got my guitar....look out now" Jimi Hendrix - Song Red House

"And I know I'm dead on the surface, but I am screaming underneath" Coldplay - Song Amsterdam

"You say your life is like a movie where it all works out in the end I say your live is like a desert where does it go where it doesn't begin." Dave Matthews Band - Song True Reflections

"I'm so tired but I can't sleep, standin' on the edge of something much too deep, it's funny how we feel so much but cannot say a word, we are screaming inside but we can't be heard." Sarah McLachlan - Song I Will Remember You

"Waiting for someone to come pick me up off the tracks, a wild fire born of frustration, born of a world, oh, that gets me so high I've no fear at all." Sarah McLachlan - Song Train Wreck

"I got jet lag and I never even left the ground, see it's like that everytime you come around, oh I'm so hungover and I never even touched a drop." Joss Stone - Song Jet Lag

"Noone thought I was good enough for you except for you, don't let them be right after all that we have been through." Train - Song I'm About to Come Alive

"When everything feels like the movies, yea you bleed just to know you're alive...I don't want the world to see me 'cause I don't think that they'd understand." Goo Goo Dolls - Song Iris

"On the back of a motor bike with your arms outstretched trying to take flight leaving everything behind." Death Cab for Cutie - Song Brother On A Hotel Bed

"Jesus freaks out in the street handing tickets out for God, hold me closer tiny dancer, count the headlights on the highway, lay me down in sheets of linen you had a busy day today." Elton John - Song Tiny Dancer

"Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness and I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life." The Fray - Song How To Save A Life

"I may be mad, I may be blind, I may be viciously unkind." Annie Lennox - Song Why

"What big dreams we had, now I watch those dreams all fade and die. What big plans we had, now I watch those trains go rolling by." Chris Isaak - Song 5:15

"Look up, I look up at night, planets are moving at the speed of light. Climb up, up in the trees, every chance that you get, is a chance you seize." Coldplay - Song Speed of Sound

"We are miners, hard rock miners to the shaft house we must go." Cowboy Junkies - Song Mining for Gold

"And love is not a victory march, it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...it's not somebody who's seen the light, it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah." Jeff Buckley - Song Hallelujah

"You are relating to a psychopath, your role model is in therapy, you must be real far gone, you must be a psycho too." Macy Gray - Song Relating To A Psychopath

"Last week I had the strangest dream where everything was exactly how it seemed." The Postal Service - Song Sleeping In

"That's alright I still got my guitar....look out now." Jimi Hendrix - Song Red House

"Sunshine, we all see, the same sky...." Belle and Sebastian - Song For Sunshine

"Crazy skies all wild above me now, winter howling at my face and everything I held so dear disappeared without a trace." David Gray - Song Sail Away

"Diamonds in the snow... sparkle...2000 miles Is very far through the snow." Coldplay - Song 2000 Miles

"The sky glows, I see it shining when my eyes close, I hear your warnings but we both know, I'm gonna look at it again." Dashboard Confessionals - Song Don't Wait

Beth Orton - Song Pass In Time

"So much stays unknown till the time has come.
Did you imagine you could ever be so strong,
Then watch your fear just turn into relief?
Your sea of doubt become your own belief?
Though tears don't come to cry some grief away,
The tears will help to keep your need at bay
You're here just a while you might as well smile, you might as well smile, 'cause tomorrow, you just don't know. It will pass. It's gonna pass."

Bright Eyes - Song Easy/Lucky/Free

"Did it all get real? I guess it's real enough.
They got refridgerators full of blood, another century spent pointing guns at anything that moves.
Sometimes I worry thatIi've lost the plot like my twitchin' muscles tease my flippin' thoughts.
I never really dreamed of heaven much until we put him in the ground, but it's all I'm doing now, listening for patterns in the sound of an endless static sea.
But once the satellite's deceased, it blows like garbage through the streets of the nightsky to infinity.

But don't you weep.
(Don't you weep for them.)
Don't you weep.
(Don't you weep.)
There is nothing as lucky... honey, don't you weep.
(Don't you weep for them.)
Don't you weep.
(Don't you weep.)
There is nothing as lucky...as easy...or free.

Don't be a criminal in this police state. You'd better shop and eat and pro-create. You've got vacation days, and you might escape to a condo on the coast. I set my watch to the atomic clock. I hear the crowd count down till the bomb gets dropped. I always figured there'd be time enough I never let it get me down, but I can't help it now looking for faces in the clouds. I've got some friends I barely see, but we're all planning to meet...we'll lay in bags as dead as leaves all together for eternity.

But don't you weep.
(Don't you weep for us.)
Don't you weep.
(Don't you weep.)
There is no one as lucky... Honey, don't you weep.
(Don't you weep for us.)
Don't you weep.
(Don't you weep.)
There is nothing as lucky...as easy...or free."

written by Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams - Song Rainbow Connection

"Kermit: Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it,
And look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.
All of us under its spell,
We know that it's probably magic...
... Have you been half asleep? And have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
... Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same
I've heard it too many times to ignore it
It's something that I'm s'posed to be...
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.Laa, da daa dee da daa daa,
La laa la la laa dee daa doo..."

Huacachina Pictures

Sandboarding. Yes, that is me. One of the few shots of me actually standing;)
Who is that hottie?



Buggy I rode in the sanddunes

Pictures from Da Beach in Chile

The sisters
Beach in Arica
Our beach spot with a little shade and a little sun
Am I in the United States....nope....Chile and there is a McDonalds and Blockbuster
Industrial Arica by the Ocean

Colca Canyon Pictures

Pool stop after hiking for 2 hours
Picture of the Colca Canyon trekkers - from left to right my sister Jessy, Johannes from Germany, me, David from Malta, Nikki from Malta, Sophia from Holland and guide Luis
Cute picture of sisters at Eden pool in Colca Canyon
Condor watching

Arequipa Pictures

Jessy taking a little break
View of cathedral in Arequipa Plaza De Armas
Water system used for washing clothes at the monastery
One of the colorful courtyards at the monastery

Cusco/Cuzco Pictures

Blanco Cristo on hilltop in Cusco
My spanish class in Plaza De Armas from left to right - Helena from Switzerland, Sonya - teacher from Cusco, Georgina from London, Nik from Australia, Matthew from Washington D.C.
Cows enjoying the grass and view of Cusco. I wish I could take credit for this photo but no such luck. Thanks to my sister for this one.
On my last day of of Spanish class, we were hanging out in the Plaza De Armas. I watched as a bunch of kids piled out of the back of a large truck and then walked around the Plaza. I decided to take a few pictures. This one being one of them.
Santo Domingo - one of my favorite buildings in Cusco
View of Cusco

Sacred Valley Pictures

Moray
View of Sacred Valley from my mountain bike ride. Isn't it just beautiful? I love Peru!
Tradional Peru outfits as showcased by these dolls in the trees.
View of snowcapped peak from a ruin in the Sacred Valley
Salt Pans in Sacred Valley
Shannon standing in the salt pans after some mountain biking

Peru - Miraflores, Ayacucho, Andahualyas

Plaza de Armas in mountain town Ayacucho
Beautiful lake right outside of mountain town Andahualyas.
View of ocean in Miraflores
View of skate park in Miraflores