Brownie....I'M NOT GAY!

This picture is taken in front of the Brownie shop that we came to love. (from left to right: Brownie owners Cesar and his girlfriend Ornella, Cindy Mom, sister Jessy and moi)


I realize that I am a little behind in posting this but I have had a very rough week and a half since returning to Utah. I won't bore everyone with the details.


One day when while we were out shopping, Jessy and I stopped at a kiosko to get some water. While we were in there, my mom decided to do what she does best and make a new friend. Her new friend owned the shop next to the kiosko. The shop is an espresso and pastry shop. The owner of the shop, Cesar, was handing out samples of brownies. After Jessy and I were finished purchasing our water, we all went and got samples of brownies. We ended up buying a couple of brownies and a couple of banana con leche licuados that are famous in Buenos Aires. They basically are smoothies. Yummy!

While we were waiting for our licuados, Jessy picked up a map of the gay scene in Buenos Aires. My mom asks Jessy "do you think he (referring to Cesar) is gay?" Jessy says "uh clearly duh" Well, Cesar walks out from the back and says "I'm not gay....I have a girlfriend" Pretty funny to say the least.

The next day, we went back by there. His girlfriend was there. We ended up staying for about 2 hours. Enjoying licuados, brownies and just chatting. Cesar wrote down spanish song lyrics and then had Jessy translate them in english. Needless to say, that is why we were there so long. Both Cesar and his girlfriend are very nice. We ended up exchanging email addresses and spent about an hour in there on our last day. The people in Buenos Aires are really friendly which helps to make a city great.

Song Quote: "No Estes Sola En Esta Llevia (Don't Be Done In This Rain). No Te Entregues Por Favor. (Please Don't Give Up)." Song Nos Veremos Otra Vez (I Will See You Again)

Can I Have Your....

Sphere aka "The Pyramid"

Imagine, if you will, sitting at a nice restaurant for brunch with your mom. As you are enjoying the ham and cheese omelet you ordered, suddenly you have a dirty finger pointing at your food repeating something in Spanish over and over. I kept saying no and then the waitress comes over telling the intruder to leave. The intruder didn't budge. The intruder finally decides to grab my omelet off my plate with her dirty, grimy hands. The waitress and the cook were extremely apologetic and we got a free media luna with ham and cheese. My mom was sitting across from me and described the intruder with bit, eyes and looked like a witch. Personally, I thought the whole thing was kind of funny (ok, and maybe a tad sad). Just another good travel story to add to all the others.

Uruguay, Check

ok, ok so I've traveled to a place or two, what can I say I love to travel and explore what the world has to offer. While in Buenos Aires, we took a boat across the Rio De Plata to a little town in Uruguay called Colonia Del Sacremento. Cute little town lined with cobblestone streets, street cafes, street musicians at night. One day we rented a golf cart and drove along the beach coast line and stopped to read on the beach.

Even though getting away from busy Buenos Aires for a couple of days, it felt nice to come back and spend a few more days in the city.

Buenos Aires, Argentina...Check

One more country, one more city to cross off that ever growing travel list. Gee, the keyboard at this 'internet cafe' is crap. The keys stick and one of them doesn´t even work. Add all that to the fact that the South American keyboards are not the easiest to type on anyway. It is like learning to type all over again :)

Buenos Aires is a big city with lots of shopping. I have been here 4 days and I am pretty sure that I have done more shopping in these four days then I have in my lifetime. My mom and I came down here to meet my sister, Jessy, who has been here for about a month trying to make some dance connections before she heads back to Berlin.

Bueno Aires is very famous for its Tango. In La Boca, which is a very colorful part of the city, there were lots of couples tango dancing, teaching the tourists and offering pictures with them. I did none of them above except watching a couple or two as I passed by.

I will post more when I am at a computer that has a fully functioning keyboard (or as fully functioning as a South America keyboard can be).

You May All Think That I Have Gone Crazy....But It's For A Good Cause

This picture was taken during my first marathon. I figure this photo will do until I get one of me cycling.

Since I am "kind of" on hiatus from traveling, I figure I might as well get out and do something worthwhile with my time.

Greetings!

On June 1, 2008, I will be participating in a Century (100 mile) Bike Ride around Lake Tahoe.I've joined up with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team In Training program.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is a non-profit health organization dedicated entirely to finding cures and saving lives of those with leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma.

I'll be training and riding for an honored teammate named Omar Fejzic. Omar Fejzic was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma stage IV on August 7, 2006, and is currently undergoing Chemotherapy treatment. Omar is seven years old, loves animals, watching Animal Planet, and playing games. To help Omar, and others like him, I've committed to raising $3,900.Please consider making a donation to help find a cure for Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma.

There are two ways to make a donation:

1) Go to my very own Team In Training page:

http://www.active.com/donate/tntdms/studdenham

Click on "Donate now to help me reach my goal:

2) Make a check payable to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and mail to me at the address below.

I also would encourage you to pass this letter on to anyone else who might be interested in helping this cause.

Thank you for considering my invitation.

Sincerely,

Shannon Tuddenham

sltudd@gmail.com

801-971-3691

480 Wall Street, C-203, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103

Back In The City of Salt

Self Portrait at Lower Calf Creek Falls near Escalante
Sunrise in Escalante
Rock Steps to place my sister and I stayed at in Escalante


I have been back in Salt Lake City, Utah for 2 weeks and all I have done since I have been back is work, work, work. Where am I working you? I am back at the jewelry store, O.C. Tanner. From one extreme (trail maintenance) to the next (high end jewelry store).

Just a little bit about the end of the road trip with my sister:

After leaving Capitola area, we headed south down highway one through Monterey, Big Sur, and just north of San Luis Obispo, we headed east to Bakersfield. It was so nice to stop in Bakersfield. While there, we saw aunts, an uncle, cousins and their kids, old stomping grounds, and enjoyed lots of reminiscing and laughter.
When I saw the first sign in California of the miles to Salt Lake, I started getting excited to be heading back to Salt Lake. Our first stop in Utah was St. George where we stayed at a family friends house. I went for a lovely bike ride up Snow Canyon. Escalante was our last stop in Utah before Salt Lake. We enjoyed a great day hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls. Road Trip 2007 was a great one.

I should be in Salt Lake for quite some time. I am looking forward to winter here and the fun outdoor activities (skiing, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, etc.). Let's hope it snows soon :)

Happy Holidays to everyone and their families.

One Week Down....One Week To Go

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." Edward Abbey

"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." John Muir

Dancing at the Trout Lake Country Inn the night before graduation.

"Must We Must Always Teach With Books? Let Them Look At The Mountains And The Stars Above. Let Them Look At The Beauty Of The Waters And The Trees And The Flowers On Earth. They Will Then Begin To Think And To Think Is The Beginning Of A Real Education." Unknown


Well....
my one long summer of vacation came to an end Thursday, October 25 after three days of cleaning up around the center, evaluations, exit paperwork, a night filled with dinner/slide show/skits/dancing for hours, and then finally a graduation/luncheon on Thursday.

Saturday morning I picked up my sister from the airport and headed southwest to start our trip down the coast. The first night we stayed in Bandon, Oregon. The second night we stayed somewhere in northern California. Monday night we stayed with a friend of my sister's in Tiburon which is located in Marin county about 20 minutes from San Francisco. Tuesday early afternoon we headed into the city. That night we were visiting one of my sister's friend's when all the sudden the walls started to shake. At first it kind of seemed like the upstairs neighbors were being really loud. However, it was no loud neighbor's. It was an earthquake. Not a major one (5.6) and lasted at the most a minute. I have only been in one other earthquake and that was when I was younger at the beach on Balboa Island in Southern California.
Thursday we continued south down highway 1 to Capitola (south of Santa Cruz where my older brother lives) where we it would have been a beautiful drive if the visibility wasn't so very low :) This area is really nice. Lots of hanging out with my brother, his dog Max, a little shopping, exercising along the coast where there are multiple amounts of surfers, bonding at my brother's place by watching "Seinfeld" and logging onto our computers because no better way to bond then to not communicate at all :)
Tomorrow it will be time to continue south to Bakersfield to visit old stomping grounds from younger days. Bakersfield is where my mom grew up and where her family/friends still live.

Hitch #9 - Day Trippin'

Day 2: A light dusting of snow
Day 3: A winter wonderland
Day 3: Snow, Snow, Snow
Day 3: Snow Angel with a hard hat on. Sometimes you just have to take time out to play in the snow
Day 3: skinning a tree which is by far one of my favorite things to do.

For our last 10 day hitch, Team PCT N got to sleep in warm, comfortable beds instead of cold, damp tents. Good thing too because we worked in the snow for one day as you can see from the pictures above. We worked on the Pacific Crest Trail in the Gifford Pinchot Wilderness which is located by Trout Lake.

Here is a quick recap of the week:

Day 1: hike 3 miles in the rain, hike three miles out while working on cleaning out drain ditches, take 15 minute lunch because it is so cold and you can't eat fast enough to stay warm.

Day 2: hike 3 miles in the rain, cut a tree down, can't feel fingers because your gloves are wet which in turn makes your hands cold, take a 15 minute lunch because it is so cold and you can't eat fast enough to stay warm.

Day 3: hike 3 miles in the snow, skin a tree, hike out

Days 4, 5 and 6: work in the Gorge hiking in lower elevation while occasionally brushing one or two things.

Days 7, 8 and 9: knocking off berm (excess buildup on downhill side of trail) to widen trail, cut trees down, skin trees, end up with sap all over and I mean all over....in your hair, on your clothes, on your hands, etc., covering up culvert which involved moving a lot of gravel for cover up

Day 10: the nicest day weather wise that we had all week, more cutting down trees, skinning them and ending up with sap all over.

It was a long hitch only because we aren't used to working on our travel days. But since we were doing day trips, we had to work on our travel days.

We had one volunteer, Letha, join us. Letha volunteered with us on our project in Mt. Adams Wilderness. She loved working with us so much that she decided to come back.

As of today, I won't be working on the Pacific Crest Trail or doing trail work. It is kind of bittersweet. Seems so strange to think that the summer is coming to an end. October 27, I start making my way back to Good Ol' SLC. You might be asking yourself, what will I be doing for the next two weeks....well, next week for 5 days, I will be planting trees and then the last week will be cleaning up the campus and graduation in Trout Lake.

Song Quote: "Day Tripper, A One Way Ticket" The Beatles, Day Tripper

Song Quote: "Oh But Everybody Thinks That Everybody Knows About Everybody Else Nobody Knows Anything About Themselves Cause Their All Worried About Everybody Else" Jack Johnson, Wasting Time

Next Stop....Canada

View of downtown Vancouver
Three cargo ships creeping along.

"The only conceivable static (stability) is life, development - movement, or as follows:
For Statics
Everything moves continuously. Immobility does not exist. Don't be subject to the influence of out-of-date concepts of time. Forget hours, seconds and minutes. Accept instability.
LIVE IN TIME. BE STATIC - WITH MOVEMENT. For a static of the present moment. Resist the anxious fear to fix the instantaneous, to kill that which is living. Stop insisting on 'values' which cannot but break down. Be free, live.
Stop painting time. Stop evoking movement and gesture. You are movement and gesture. Stop building cathedrals and pyramids which are doomed to fall into ruin. Live in the present; live once more in Time and by Time - for a wonderful and absolute reality." March 1959 Tinquely

As a birthday present to myself, I decided I would go to Canada. I had never been and figured since I was so close to the border -- what the hell.
I arrived in the big city of Vancouver on Thursday night. On Friday, I walked all over the city. To Granville Island, through Stanley Park, Chinatown and many more areas of the city. It was slightly overcast which meant I wasn't able to see the beautiful mountains in the background of the city. Although big, Vancouver is a great city.
On Saturday, I went to North Vancouver to the Capilano Suspension Bridge which is more of an overpriced tourist attraction. I did receive a certificate which entitles me to two years of bragging rights for braving 230 feet and a 450 foot span across the raging (not so) waters of the Capilano Canyon.
After an hour of waiting to cross back into the United States, I drove over Deception Pass Bridge into Whidbey Island. While on Whidbey Island, I did a loop trail around Ebey's Landing and spent a very windy night at a campground (sleeping in my car) at Fort Casey (467-acre park with a lighthouse, an old artillery with two historic guns on display). Fort Casey is one of three coastal forts built in 1890s to defend the entrance into Puget Sound and the United States Navel Shipyard in Brementon.
On Sunday morning before I left Fort Casey, I walked around the old artillery, by the lighthouse. That was really cool.
Instead of traveling for one more day, I decided it best to get back to Trout Lake for a day of relaxing/getting some personal stuff done so that I didn't feel so rushed for going out on the next hitch. Which turns out we will not be spiking out and just doing day trips out of Trout Lake. It will be a little weird to work and then sleep in a bed instead of a tent.

Song Quote: "I'm gonna buy a gun and start a war if you can tell me something worth fighting for" Coldplay - Rush Of Blood To The Head

Hitch #8 - You Know It Is Time To Stop Lopping When....

North Bend -- Historical Railway Station
Snoqualmie Falls
Taking a break from lopping on the last day

Our second to last hitch, took us the farthest north that we would be going. We were west of CLE Elum in Washington and about an hour east of Seattle. The week was 8 days of lopping/clearing brush. Even though lopping is one of my favorite things to do on the trail, 8 days of it is not all it is cracked up to be.
After 4 days of being wet/cold/rainy, it was time for a "development day." We all needed a break so we went to North Bend, Snoqualmie Falls (cascades 270 feet (100 feet higher than Niagara Falls) through a rock gorge), and then into Seattle to REI and other site seeing.
The day after our "development day", we had a team of 9 (5 girls, 4 guys) Envirocorps come out and join us for remainder of the week. It was fun to have them join us. We enjoyed a game or two around the campfire.
On the last day of lopping, we knew it was time to stop when one of the leaders laughed so hard that they were brought to tears.

Hard Core

A little peak inside the crater of Mt. St. Helens
We made it. Karlena and I at the top of Mt. St. Helens

In order to climb Mt. St. Helens, you have to obtain a permit. The only way to do that is online. The fee is $15 plus a $7 handling fee. Only so many permits are given per day which means that you have to purchase it in advance without knowing what the weather might be like on that particular day.
September 17 was the chosen day for Karlena and I. It was the only day that worked with our schedule.
As it turned out, that day was rainy. We arrived the night before to camp at the trail head. It was cold, windy, foggy and rainy the night before at the trail head. The next morning the weather had not changed.
The elevation of Mt. St. Helens is 8,365 feet. The climb is 5 miles up/non technical. However, it is steep and the timberline is low so a majority of the climb is on volcanic ash. Once at the top, we did see some blue sky and the fog rolled in and out of the crater which was pretty neat to see. It would be great to climb it again on a clear day so that you could see the whole crater and the surrounding landscape.

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