Our second to last hitch began after Millpond. Flannel hiked up with my partner and I to 60 Lakes, where we met up with our boss (a different boss from the one who mobilized with us) who had arrived before us. The river Guide was also hiked in on the 19th, but ended up bivying along the way because it got too dark for her to finish the hike safely (and she didn't know exactly where our camp was!).
Demoblization involves pulling summer nets out of the lake, mending at least the ones that will go in for the winter, and then setting the nets for the winter. The summer nets then need to be flaked out and allowed to dry before storing them in large trash bags. All the gear is also dried, and some gear is stored in our Greenlee (a large, locking, bear box) while the rest is packed up and picked up by a helicopter at the end of the hitch. Flannel left the 20th - she had come up because she was partners with my Partner last year and they hadn't been able to spend much time together this summer. Our boss left on the 23rd, and the Guide, my Partner, and I were left to finish up 4.5 lakes. Stormy weather delayed a few things on the 24th, and we worked hard the rest of the hitch to ensure that everything was completed before the helicopter came on Wednesday. We were efficient enough that we were able to hike over to Rae Lakes Sunday night and have a candle-lit dinner prepared by Dario, as it was his second to last day in the new cabin. It was a fine meal, and we girls got to spend the night in the loft - very cool.
The helicopter came on Wednesday, and due to some superb help from the Guide, we finished all our work on time. We girls hiked out and got out to Onion Valley around 7:30pm - a tiring hike - I think made more tiring by the stress of demobing that morning. We celebrated by getting a motel room and going out to the Still Life Cafe - the awesome French food restaurant in Independence - still some of the best food I can think of ever having.
This weekend we are hanging around Bishop. There is a chance that we will hike in tomorrow (Saturday) instead of Sunday, because a big snow storm is supposed to come in next Wednesday. The hiccup is that there is supposed to be a smaller snow storm tomorrow. I am going to demobe Center Basin with the Guide, while my Partner is demobing LeConte with El Freezin and our boss. It should be interesting to see if we run into weather - I've never been caught in a snow storm before.
The thought of coming back home to Tucson is filled with a mixture of anticipation and dread. I am not looking forward to going back to some of the old things and yet I am greatly looking forward to seeing my family, friends, and cats again! I have had an awesome time working in the Sierra and hanging out with my coworkers/friends here in California, and it is hard to think about leaving and all of us going on our separate ways.
No photos until October - stay tuned.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Millpond Music Festival 2011 - Sept 16-18
Last weekend fell on the same weekend of the Millpond Music Festival, at Millpond Park, just north of Bishop. This is a music festival with a lot of folk-music type of bands, though there was an awesome marimba band and Los Lobos played Sunday night, which was pretty cool. I think my favorite bands were the Marimba one, Poor Man's Whiskey, Incendio, and Mumbo Gumbo.
We all camped at Millpond, and we unwittingly set up a tent, a sleeping tarp and a kiddie pool in the family area, which turned out ok (we did all our noisy talking at the music area, and not at camp), except in the morning when all the little kids would get up early and wake us up with their playing. Yes, we bought an inflatable kiddie pool, filled it up at a gas station, and drove it to Millpond strapped on top of El Freezin's car. To fill this pool, we ended up taking a couple dozen trips to the lake with an action packer - quite a feat!
Each night was spent dancing to the bands as they played, which was a blast. The first night a guy from Yosemite (El Freezin knew him) was my dance partner, and he called me pretty - making the first guy to call me that other than my dad. It was a good moment.
Remember the former coworker of my Partner, who ended up coming to the Center Basin party? He decided he would go to Millpond to hang out with the "Frog Girls," and showed up Saturday. I ditched Friday's guy for this guy, whose pseudonym will be "Tern" due to a former bird job of his. Tern and I danced Saturday and Sunday night, and I had a blast hanging out with him. Being with Tern at the music festival definately made the event extra special (and he also called me pretty - second guy ever!).
We all camped at Millpond, and we unwittingly set up a tent, a sleeping tarp and a kiddie pool in the family area, which turned out ok (we did all our noisy talking at the music area, and not at camp), except in the morning when all the little kids would get up early and wake us up with their playing. Yes, we bought an inflatable kiddie pool, filled it up at a gas station, and drove it to Millpond strapped on top of El Freezin's car. To fill this pool, we ended up taking a couple dozen trips to the lake with an action packer - quite a feat!
Each night was spent dancing to the bands as they played, which was a blast. The first night a guy from Yosemite (El Freezin knew him) was my dance partner, and he called me pretty - making the first guy to call me that other than my dad. It was a good moment.
Remember the former coworker of my Partner, who ended up coming to the Center Basin party? He decided he would go to Millpond to hang out with the "Frog Girls," and showed up Saturday. I ditched Friday's guy for this guy, whose pseudonym will be "Tern" due to a former bird job of his. Tern and I danced Saturday and Sunday night, and I had a blast hanging out with him. Being with Tern at the music festival definately made the event extra special (and he also called me pretty - second guy ever!).
Friday, September 16, 2011
Sept 4 - Sept 16
I have to type this fast because the computer I am working on (at the Bishop Library) will kick me off in 20 minutes.
Due to my car breaking down, my parents drove up to Marysville, picked me and my car up, and began to drive back down to AZ. Along the way they dropped me off at Fresno, where my boss had arranged for me to spend the night at a Park employee's house (a John Muir impersonator, a very nice guy). This employee drove me to work with him on Sunday to Grant Grove. At Grant Grove I was able to catch a ride with the Park courier, who was just leaving for Cedar Grove, where the Roads End trailhead is. I began hiking to 60 Lakes Basin from the west side around 2:30 pm using the Bubbs Creek Trail, which is quite pretty and not that steep, until you factor in my heavy bag - I hadn't anticipated needing a sleeping bag to hike in and had forgotten my spare one in my car (now heading to AZ) - so had borrowed a fairly heavy one from the park employee at Fresno. I also wasn't carrying a bear can, and so needed to find a camping spot with a bear box that night. I had planned on spending the night at Junction Meadow (arrival time 7:00 pm) but the bear box there was inexplicably locked, and I wasn't able to find the "second" bear box that was supposed to be there. Thus I ended up hiking to Vidette Meadow (arrival time 10:00 pm), thoroughly exhausted and ready for bed. I believe my "dinner" that night was a bag of peanut butter M&Ms.
The next day I took an inexplicable 5 hours to hike the remaining 6 miles (granted 4 of them were up hill, but still...) - I think I was just tired and beat. I pumped myself up with the thought of seeing the cabin crew and Rae Lakes Ranger at Rae Lakes, but when I arrived no one was home - I had forgotten it was Labor Day, and most people get that day off. Sad, I hiked to 60 Lakes Basin, and waited for my partner to arrive.
The next morning my partner still hadn't arrived, and I soon learned via Park radio that she had delayed her start time a day due to pulling a leg muscle. She would arrive the next day, leaving me a free day without work at 60 Lakes. I have spent days alone in the backcountry before and been fine, but for some reason being alone that Tuesday really hit me. On the plus side, I ended up starting and finishing a 700 page book that day.
This last hitch was marked by rain, or the threat thereof. It was hardly ever sunny, and even then it was cold, and so my partner nor I took swims in the alpine lakes to "clean" ourselves. We were both quite smelly by the end of this hitch. Due to the threat of rain, we started work early, took minimal breaks, and worked ourselves to the bone, so that when it did rain, we didn't have to work in it. In the end, we completed everything we needed to do (and some additional things too!) and only worked in the rain once. It was a good hitch - made us feel quite productive and successful.
My partner and I visited the Rae Lakes Ranger once to have dinner and spend the night (it was the night that it was supposed to rain the hardest - and it rained pretty hard). We had a delicious bean, polenta, and steamed squash and broccoli dinner and got to stay in the ranger's tent - staying safe and dry. The next day we hung out with the trail crew (who had just arrived at Rae Lakes to work on Glenn Pass) before going back to 60 Lakes to work again. It was a fun time, and a good way to spend the worst of the rain storms.
I am still loving working at 60 Lakes and love working with my partner, who is a delight to work with, easy to talk to, get along with, share things with, and listen to. I don't think we've had a disagreement yet.
My partner and I hiked out on Wednesday, starting around 12:40 pm (a half day of work). It only sprinkled on our side of Glenn, which was nice. Between Glenn and Kearsarge Passes we ran into 30 minutes of an amazing hail storm, which covered the ground in hail so that everything was white - pretty impressive.
My partner had left her car at Cedar Grove, anticipating snow during her last hitch, and also anticipating me having wheels to get us around on the east side. With my car breaking down, neither of us had a way to get into town from the Onion Valley Trailhead. During our hike out, we basically hoped to find someone at the trailhead who would be willing to give us a ride. Luckily, when we got to the trailhead, we found one person there, who ended up being the Camground manager there. She had just arrived from her weekend, and yet decided to take an hour out of her night (it was around 7:00pm) to drive us down the mountain to Independence. It was extremely generous of her - we were very greatful, especially since we had nothing to give her in exchange.
My partner and I decided to splurge and rent a motel room for the first night out, and we took hot showers for the first time in 2 weeks - pure bliss. We then went to a French food restaurant in Independence, which had delicious food, before going to bed in clean beds - more bliss. It was wonderful.
Yesterday my partner and I paid for breakfast (pancakes!) and wandered around Independence until other frog crew members hiked out. We had lunch at the French food place (yum) and dinner at the Thai food place (yum) and we all camped out in the middle of nowhere somewhere east of Bishop, where I probably only slept 3 hours, but at least I didn't have to pay.
The rest of this weekend we plan on attending the Millpond Music Festival before going back in. I do not know what internet access I will get after today, so may not be able to post again until Oct 7th or so. Since I am at the library, there is no chance of posting photos either (my laptop and card reader are now in AZ).
It will be hard to come back to "normal life". Things in the backcountry seem so peacful, but as soon as I return to the frontcountry I am attacked by mental dramas and real world issues.
Due to my car breaking down, my parents drove up to Marysville, picked me and my car up, and began to drive back down to AZ. Along the way they dropped me off at Fresno, where my boss had arranged for me to spend the night at a Park employee's house (a John Muir impersonator, a very nice guy). This employee drove me to work with him on Sunday to Grant Grove. At Grant Grove I was able to catch a ride with the Park courier, who was just leaving for Cedar Grove, where the Roads End trailhead is. I began hiking to 60 Lakes Basin from the west side around 2:30 pm using the Bubbs Creek Trail, which is quite pretty and not that steep, until you factor in my heavy bag - I hadn't anticipated needing a sleeping bag to hike in and had forgotten my spare one in my car (now heading to AZ) - so had borrowed a fairly heavy one from the park employee at Fresno. I also wasn't carrying a bear can, and so needed to find a camping spot with a bear box that night. I had planned on spending the night at Junction Meadow (arrival time 7:00 pm) but the bear box there was inexplicably locked, and I wasn't able to find the "second" bear box that was supposed to be there. Thus I ended up hiking to Vidette Meadow (arrival time 10:00 pm), thoroughly exhausted and ready for bed. I believe my "dinner" that night was a bag of peanut butter M&Ms.
The next day I took an inexplicable 5 hours to hike the remaining 6 miles (granted 4 of them were up hill, but still...) - I think I was just tired and beat. I pumped myself up with the thought of seeing the cabin crew and Rae Lakes Ranger at Rae Lakes, but when I arrived no one was home - I had forgotten it was Labor Day, and most people get that day off. Sad, I hiked to 60 Lakes Basin, and waited for my partner to arrive.
The next morning my partner still hadn't arrived, and I soon learned via Park radio that she had delayed her start time a day due to pulling a leg muscle. She would arrive the next day, leaving me a free day without work at 60 Lakes. I have spent days alone in the backcountry before and been fine, but for some reason being alone that Tuesday really hit me. On the plus side, I ended up starting and finishing a 700 page book that day.
This last hitch was marked by rain, or the threat thereof. It was hardly ever sunny, and even then it was cold, and so my partner nor I took swims in the alpine lakes to "clean" ourselves. We were both quite smelly by the end of this hitch. Due to the threat of rain, we started work early, took minimal breaks, and worked ourselves to the bone, so that when it did rain, we didn't have to work in it. In the end, we completed everything we needed to do (and some additional things too!) and only worked in the rain once. It was a good hitch - made us feel quite productive and successful.
My partner and I visited the Rae Lakes Ranger once to have dinner and spend the night (it was the night that it was supposed to rain the hardest - and it rained pretty hard). We had a delicious bean, polenta, and steamed squash and broccoli dinner and got to stay in the ranger's tent - staying safe and dry. The next day we hung out with the trail crew (who had just arrived at Rae Lakes to work on Glenn Pass) before going back to 60 Lakes to work again. It was a fun time, and a good way to spend the worst of the rain storms.
I am still loving working at 60 Lakes and love working with my partner, who is a delight to work with, easy to talk to, get along with, share things with, and listen to. I don't think we've had a disagreement yet.
My partner and I hiked out on Wednesday, starting around 12:40 pm (a half day of work). It only sprinkled on our side of Glenn, which was nice. Between Glenn and Kearsarge Passes we ran into 30 minutes of an amazing hail storm, which covered the ground in hail so that everything was white - pretty impressive.
My partner had left her car at Cedar Grove, anticipating snow during her last hitch, and also anticipating me having wheels to get us around on the east side. With my car breaking down, neither of us had a way to get into town from the Onion Valley Trailhead. During our hike out, we basically hoped to find someone at the trailhead who would be willing to give us a ride. Luckily, when we got to the trailhead, we found one person there, who ended up being the Camground manager there. She had just arrived from her weekend, and yet decided to take an hour out of her night (it was around 7:00pm) to drive us down the mountain to Independence. It was extremely generous of her - we were very greatful, especially since we had nothing to give her in exchange.
My partner and I decided to splurge and rent a motel room for the first night out, and we took hot showers for the first time in 2 weeks - pure bliss. We then went to a French food restaurant in Independence, which had delicious food, before going to bed in clean beds - more bliss. It was wonderful.
Yesterday my partner and I paid for breakfast (pancakes!) and wandered around Independence until other frog crew members hiked out. We had lunch at the French food place (yum) and dinner at the Thai food place (yum) and we all camped out in the middle of nowhere somewhere east of Bishop, where I probably only slept 3 hours, but at least I didn't have to pay.
The rest of this weekend we plan on attending the Millpond Music Festival before going back in. I do not know what internet access I will get after today, so may not be able to post again until Oct 7th or so. Since I am at the library, there is no chance of posting photos either (my laptop and card reader are now in AZ).
It will be hard to come back to "normal life". Things in the backcountry seem so peacful, but as soon as I return to the frontcountry I am attacked by mental dramas and real world issues.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Weekend Car Debacle
I decided that after my hike out (12 miles) I would call my friends in Marysville and see if I could drive up (8-9 hours) and visit until Sunday, at which time I would drive back to the east side and hike up to Sixty Lakes on Monday. The plan worked beautifully – I hiked out in 6 hours (need to shave off an hour!) and called my friend, who had no problem with me coming in late that night. Around hour 8 of driving (its night time and I am less than an hour from Marysville) a belt in my engine makes a loud shriek and I smell a burning scent. Fearing it was my car, I discovered that I was right at the turn-off for a rest area and pulled over, at which point steam billowed out of my engine. After much ado, AAA towed my car to a repair place in Colfax and my friends picked me up there (late at night). The next morning the repair place called me up and said that to fix my car (the water pump had broken, freezing up the belt and causing it to snap) would cost around $2000 – or more than I paid for the car in the first place. Discussion with my parents ensued, and they decided they would drive up to Colfax (14 hour drive) and tow my car back to AZ, where Dad would fix my car at a fraction of that cost. The downside: my parents’ plans for the weekend go out the window and I have no more car for the rest of my time in CA. Anyone know anyone in Fresno who would be willing to drive me to Cedar Grove on Saturday or Sunday? (I’m serious here)
In the mean time I am having a great time being clean, having clean clothes, and hanging out with my friends here in Marysville – basically taking it easy amidst the car issue and trusting that I will somehow make it back to Sequoia Kings National Park in order to get to work in time.
August 2011
I was out in the backcountry for almost an entire month this time due to me staying in, and not hiking out, during the five day weekend. The two stints this month were the first two with my new partner – an extremely nice, engaging, introspective girl. I think she is expecting me to come up with a clever pseudonym for her, but I can only think of things like “Awesome”, “Kind”, “Generous”, and “Thoughtful.” In the end, I think we were well matched as working partners, she will be referred to simply as “my Partner.”
I have already discussed in depth (I think) about what my job entails. I’ll simply just re-mention how much I love it here, and how much more fun (I didn’t think it was possible) the job is now that my new Partner is here. We take swims in the alpine lakes during our lunch breaks and sometimes sun bathe. We plan out the week and then change up things when we would rather pull nets then electrofish, or do a frog survey to break up electrofishing. And at the same time, we both have no problem putting in the long hours to get the job done. She is also an excellent cook, and makes the most delicious meals every night – I don’t think I will lose any weight (and might actually gain some) this summer, and that is fine by me.
The first weekend I stayed in and my partner hiked out; she had a friend who had flown in from the east coast to visit. I hiked over to the Cabin Crew camp, where the cabin crew was literally a week or two from finishing up the cabin. I still don’t know if I was truly 100% welcome to stay at the cabin crew camp (guys are so hard to read), but I tried to not bother them at all during the day (and finished Moby Dick!) and made sure that I didn’t eat any of the their breakfast or lunch food. I also brought my own dinner food and tried not to seem like I assumed they would feed me, and only ate what they made for dinner after being invited. I have no idea if they caught on how hard I tried to not seem like a mooch –a friend told me later that one of the cabin crew guys asked her why I never brought food to share with them, so I’m not sure. I don’t think they really caught on that our food was flown in on a one-time, all three months prepared ahead of time, no fresh produce deal, while they got weekly deliveries of groceries, including fresh meat, eggs, butter, milk, veggies, and fruit. In the backcountry, these things are coveted more than gold.
After spending a few days vegging out at cabin crew camp (and taking a 1-gallon shower using the most horrible soap for shampoo), I hiked over to Center Basin for the traditional Center Basin Party, which the frog crew has every year. All of the frog crew (except the Musician, who was at his other job) hiked into Center Basin, most bringing alcohol and fresh produce for a delicious taco dinner and pancake breakfast. One of our crew members had speakers for her I-Pod, so we had music and dancing. A lot of us girls had brought dresses or onesies (Bright pink! Mustard yellow! Flannel!) to dress up for the party. Flannel’s twin and another friend hiked up, and my Partner’s friend from the east coast came, as well as a former coworker of hers who they ran into on the trail up. The whole cabin crew was invited, and two of them showed up as well, and we all had a fantastic time, eating, drinking, dancing, and singing. A successful Center Basin Party.
The next day a group of us decided to climb Center Peak, a 12,760 ft tall mountain in the middle of the basin. The route up is all off-trail and composed of skree and boulders – a little sketchy, but not too bad. The view at the top was amazing, and it makes the first SEKI mountain I’ve climbed – totally awesome.
The next day most of us decided to hike to the Rae Lakes Ranger Station, which we did in excellent time, I think. I did the hike in my Center Basin dress, and decided that I like hiking in dresses. J At the ranger station my Partner met up with a second friend (and now had two friends who hiked up to visit her), which was pretty awesome. At the same time, it made me miss my sister an awful lot.
A “major” issue I dealt with this month was getting, and then getting over a crush I developed on one of the cabin crew guys. At first it was fun to just have a crush, and then I asked another cabin crew guy to ask the crush what he thought of me. Long story short, there was no reciprocated interest, which I initially reacted to poorly. Now I realized that I was, once again, saved from a guy who I was not meant to be with, and once the emotions toned down and the romantic interest went away (hard to like a guy who you know doesn’t like you back), I was back to normal – a vastly preferable place to be, instead of in “crush-land.” If the pattern of my life holds, it will now be another year before another “guy of interest” comes along, which, right now, is fine with me. Next time maybe I’ll be able to stop any interest before another crush develops – I don’t know how I haven’t learned from past mistakes yet.
During the most recent stint at Sixty Lakes, Roland Knapp – awesome frog researcher, came by again, this time to catch and swab mountain yellow legged frogs to follow up on a study of his. It was the first time my Partner had met Roland, and we had a couple of really cool conversations with him. On his last night in the Basin, Roland came by after dinner and shared some of his preliminary results and thoughts about what was going on with the frogs in the basin – really cool stuff. It actually made me excited to think about touching my thesis again – not for any reason but for the fact that Roland seemed interested in the results of my study, and that we may run into each other at a frog conference in November. I am thinking that major revisions of the thesis may ensue come mid-October.
One thing Roland, my Partner, and I talked about was the dying profession of the field technician, which seems to be regarded today as the job that the lowest man on the totem pole gets – the least skilled person. As you get more experience, you are given more office responsibility until you never go out in the field ever again. Roland is probably 40-something, and yet he still reserves at least two months of the year solely for field work – in those months he hikes all over the Sierras, collecting data and seeing awesome things, and getting awesome results. Roland offered his opinion that the least skilled people should be doing the data entry while the more skilled people should do the field work, because they not only do a competent job, but they are also able to make other observations about the ecosystem, which can often lead to other studies and/or discoveries about what is going on.
This discussion with Roland really made me think, and made me realize, more than ever, how much I desire to be a field technician over having a desk job. I was miserable the months before this job, stuck behind a desk writing my thesis and another report, and fighting for any field days I got. I love my job. I love the people I work with and the place where I live. I love that every day I am in the field and doing field work and knowing that I am doing a great job and collecting and recording data efficiently and in exactly the manner my boss wants it. I hate the thought that back home there were people who would get to do field work while I was stuck in the office, and that they did not seem to appreciate it or do as good of a job as much as they should have and as much as I think I would have. In a way it makes me not want to go home. If not for the snow (because I still don’t like snow) I would want to work in the Sierras forever.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Weekend 080611 to 080711
When I hiked out I called my coworker, Flannel, to see what she was up to. She and her twin were in Bishop, and they directed me to a place where they had gone swimming/bathing. It’s the first time I’ve bathed in a stream! Pretty fun (but cold) actually. I then met up with Flannel and her sister (who works in Mammoth and is as biology-nerdy as the rest of us) and we went and saw Cowboys and Aliens in the two-scene movie theater in Bishop. It was a funny movie – good for classic entertainment value. We then met up with the Guide (Flannel’s partner) who also hiked out today, and had some Mexican food (not as good as Tucson’s food). While there, we met up with one of the trail crew guys, who happens to be the boyfriend of my new partner. He was at the Rae Lakes cabin while I was there, and is a top-notch guy. Hikes fast for long distances, knows how to fix pretty much anything (chainsaws, solar panels, cars, etc) climbs, rappels, and has a desire to buy land and farm a few acres. Pretty cool. He knows the east side really well, and showed us all to a place where we could camp for free near this water canal area.
The next day we decided to hike around the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, where the oldest known trees in the world are found – over 4000 years old. We took a 4.5 mile nature trail and admired the really neat old trees, which grow in the most fantastic formations and configurations. Really quite cool. Afterwards we went to a local bakery/sandwich place for lunch (delicious homemade bread and BLTs!). There we met up with my new partner (no pseudonym yet) who is a really energetic, happy, cute girl with black curly hair. I think it will be as awesome working with her as it was with the Musician. We putzed around town until dinner time when we went to a really good Thai restaurant before going to another free camping area (thanks to my partner’s boyfriend).
Today we have been hanging out in a coffee shop all morning, getting our personal business done. My partner and her boyfriend went to go climbing. The twins are going around town before Flannel has to drive her sister back to Mammoth. The Guide and I may hang out in town – I need to do some shopping and laundry. We plan to all meet up tonight at another camping spot (near some hot springs I believe!) and I hike back up tomorrow. I am planning on staying in the mountains through the next weekend, so my next post will not be until the first few days of September.
Stint 2 7/26/2011 to 08/05/11
I actually kept a journal during this last stint, but forgot it in my car (which is parked behind a building across the street right now and I don’t want to go get it), so here’s hoping I remember everything.
I drove around to the east side of the Sierras on the 25th of June – an easy 6 hour drive – got some food at a grocery store in Lone Pine. As I passed through Independence to drive up to the Onion Valley Trailhead I passed 4 hitchhikers looking to also go to Onion Valley. I had heard of these people – people who hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCTers) which goes from the Mexican border to the Canada border and/or people hiking the John Muir Trail (JMTers) which goes from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney (I believe). These people hike for days on end before going out to certain trailheads, hitchhiking into town to get supplies, hitchhiking to go back to the trailhead, and beginning their hike again. I only had room for one, which worked out since the car behind me picked up the other 3. I ended up camping with these four in Onion Valley too, but left for Kearsarge pass before most of them woke up. My first experience with PCTers! They all seemed young – probably in their early 20s – and a little unprepared foodwise – I don’t see how they could have packed enough food/calories to hike the next 10 days, and they also seemed aghast at hiking more than 10 miles a day, even after hiking 800 miles in the past 3 months. Alas – it was nice to camp with others instead of by myself in any case.
On 7/26/2011 I hiked the 14-15 mile trip in ~9.5 hours, which included going over Kearsarge Pass (easy), Glenn Pass (not as bad as I’d thought it would be, despite the snow), stopping by the Rae Lakes Ranger Station to see if some supplies had come in (they hadn’t) and then going to Sixty Lakes. Once there I met up with my partner, the Musician, who had been there already for the past 4 days, hiking around the Sierras with his girlfriend and then meeting up with some former coworkers/friends who were doing a survey in another basin.
Our duties for the next two weeks were to check the Cotter Lake and SL-10 Lake nets at the beginning and end of the workweek, pull the Fjord Lake winter nets, set the Fjord Lake summer nets, check the Tulip Lake and SL-5 Lake nets once, electrofish as much as possible in between, and do frog surveys of 4-5 lakes.
7/27/2011 Checked Cotter and SL-10 and electrofished like crazy
7/28/2011 Pulled out Fjord winter nets, which were horribly tattered and tangled around trees and rocks at the bottom of the lake. We think an avalanche during the winter/spring brought a lot of trees into the lake and onto some of our nets – we lost a few to the trees and big holes had to be ripped into others in order to pull them out. We then put in most of the summer nets (but not the ones that needed to be set up where there was still snow on the bank).
7/29/2011 Checked Tulip Lake nets. With three nets to go (out of 43) it began to look like rain. Since we hadn’t secured any of our things at camp (no rainfly on screen tent, some things were out that should not get wet), the Musician and I went back to rainproof things and have lunch. And just in time, it began to pour. There is nothing like sitting in a dry screen tent while it is pouring rain in the Sierra Nevadas – hail, thunder, lightning. To our surprise, we then got visitors in the form of Roland Knapp and Neal (Roland’s field assistant). Roland is well known for his work in the Sierras, including surveying every (literally) lake in the Park for the presence/absence of non-native fish as well as mountain yellow-legged frogs. He has been involved with exotic fish removal in the mountain lakes as well as working with frog researchers in studying the Mt. yellow-legged frog’s response (and decline) due to chytrid fungus. It was like meeting a celebrity. The Musician had worked with Roland before, so he and Roland talked (with little input from Neal or me) for the duration of the rain storm (maybe 4 hours?). We then parted ways, with Roland hoping that the next day would be less rainy so he could do frog surveys, and we going to SL-5 Lake to check those nets. We ended up finding a lot of fish (~36) in SL-5, and piled them all on a rock to throw into a deeper part of a different lake (SL-5 is not deep). A delicious pile of 1-6 day old dead fish. Yum
7/30/2011 The Musician and I electrofished the heck out of the two inlets and one outlet of Cotter lake, shocking a whopping zero fish. It rained again.
7/31/2011 We checked the Fjord Lake nets – I don’t remember catching that many – I think less than 10. We also put in more Fjord Lake nets. It got stormy again around noon, and we got out of the lake to wait out the storm. Along our way back to the screen tent, we ran into two guys from the next basin over (Rae Lakes) who were working on the new Rae Lakes Ranger Station. They had the day off and decided to meet their neighbors! We invited them into the screen tent and talked for a good hour or two until the worst of the rain was over. The Musician and I then ventured out and ran into Roland and Neal, who were doing frog surveys again. Roland mentioned that he had seen one of the missing Fjord winter nets floating in Fjord – with his directions and intell, we went back to Fjord and pulled out the pieces of one of the missing nets – good to have it out of the lake, but completely un-mendable.
8/1/2011 I realized with dismay that it was my brother’s birthday, and I had no way (and had not pre-planned a way) of saying happy birthday to him. We checked the Cotter and SL-10 nets again – not many fish, but we did get a baby bird, though it was hard to tell if the bird had died and its body drifted into our net or if it had died because of the net – the bird was not tangled in the net at all, to my understanding. We then decided to check the SL-5 nets again since that lake had so many fish earlier in the week. 24 fish! While checking SL-5 it began to hail. When it seemed to end, we pulled out an SL5-net that needed some mending, and while mending it began to hail and rain even harder. There were some periods of sitting out the hail under some trees, but I really wanted to finish mending and set the net, since that lake caught so many fish all the time. When we finished the Musician and I were completely soaked and glad to get back to camp, until the Musician realized that the hail had split open the rainfly of his tent and allowed the rain to partially soak most of his stuff. We couldn’t wait for the rain to finish after that so he could dry out his stuff before night (which happened, thank goodness).
The Musician and I had discussed and determined that he should hike out on Tuesday, the 2nd, while I would stay in until Friday. One reason behind this is that the Musician was switching over to the Inventory and Monitoring crew the following week and had a lot of comp time from the frog job to use up. The main reason, though, was because he had gotten some sort of bug bite (?? we think) the previous week that was causing localized pain and a rash, neither of which was getting any better, that the Musician and I both decided should be seen by a doctor before his new job started.
It was weird waking up on the 2nd to have the Musician already gone (early riser!). I spent the day mending Fjord winter nets (horrible condition) and was a little weirded out going to bed that night, mainly because there were two guys camping at a nearby lake. The next day I mended more nets and then did a few frog surveys out the Basin on my way to the trail crew’s camp, where I had been invited over for dinner. The trail crew is supposed to get their cabin building supplies and weekly food every Tuesday, but had not received it by the time I arrived (Wednesday 6:15pm). However, there was a search and rescue operation (SAR) going on, and a helicopter was coming by to pick up the Rae Lakes backcountry ranger, Dario, who is totally awesome, to help out with the search. When the helicopter came, it also dropped off the trail crew’s food (but not the gasoline they needed to power their generator to do anything on the cabin). For dinner we had homemade dutch oven lasagna, garlic bread warmed by the fire, green salad with tomato and avocado, and chocolate cake (only slightly burnt). Delicious. I camped there that night.
On the 4th I had cereal with milk for breakfast! Delicious. Did more frog surveys on my way back to camp, mended nets, and at the end of the day hiked back to the trail crew camp at Rae Lakes (felt safer there) for dinner and to sleep. The SAR had found the missing hiker, no problem, in part (we think) because of some excellent advice on where to look by one of the trail crew guys, who had met the missing hiker on a few previous occasions. Two of the trail crew guys had hiked 26 miles that day to meet up with a mule packer to get some gasoline. Mid-afternoon the cabin crew finally got their cabin supplies flown into them (including one of the cabin doors, which looked awesome). The Sixty Lakes supplies also came in, so I will stop by and bring them back on Monday.
Dinner was steak, salad, noodles, corn, with rice-crispy treats for dessert. Yum. Breakfast was breakfast burritos with fried potatoes, onions, eggs, and sausage, downed with orange juice. Yum. I hiked out in 6.5 hours, reporting to the ranger two backpackers with dogs (no dogs in the Park!) along the way. Good times.
I love my job. I love waking up each morning, knowing that I will be doing something outside, in an awesome place, with awesome scenery. I love the people that I work with and meet along the way. I love that I can go for 10 days without a shower, wearing two pairs of pants and two shirts throughout those 10 days, and no one cares. Right now I hope I am able (and given the chance) to do this job again next summer, because it is awesome.
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