Hitch #2

Phew! Being away from technology for 20 days certainly speeds time... only my little red journal I keep in my tent slows time for me these days.

HITCH BY THE NUMBERS!

For you fellow math lovers, here's a little equation:
1 Hitch = 20 days + 55 miles of hiking + 150 hours of work + 100 gallons of water + 5 miles of completed trail + 30 grilled cheeses - 7 lbs of bodyweight (ha, yup!)
So, there you have it.

Our House (is a very, very very...)

The trail we are now unearthing is 25 miles long, located in the Boise Nat'l Forest. We will work on this trail until mid-October. Since we started working at the bottom of the 25 mile trail, the forest service provided a house for us to stay in the first week of our hitch. We will continue to stay in this house the first and last nights of our hitches, but as we continue up the trail, we will start camping as we go. We will camp 10 miles in the backcountry during our next hitch, 15 miles in the following hitch, and so forth.

So this house. This house has become our house (is a very, very, very...), complete with dark-brown wood paneling, brown shag carpeting, avocado and gold-detailed floor tiles, a dusty ceiling fan that hums, a deck that hosts nights of cigarettes and conversations (me only enjoying the latter, don't worry, mom!), mismatched living room furniture including a light-blue, pleather La-Z-boy (really? lightblue pleather?). Like true 20-somethings, we have stocked the freezer with frozen pizzas. Our living room was host to an epic arm-wrestling competition, first the right arm, then the left, and there is talk of hosting pretend American Idol auditions in the near future. Being removed from television, internet, and cellphone reception sparks such creativity (and fun!)

"It's just a 6 mile Hike"

I have been guilty of diminishing the struggle that is a 6 mile hike to "just" a 6 mile hike, until a friend kindly (and forcefully) reminded me that 6 miles is nothing but "just." If I really think about it, the hike to our campsite was quite challenging. Heavy breathing, slight pinching of muscles under the weight of backpacks, the need to drink an entire gallon of water in one day. For you yoga-naysayers, I would like to share that when I focus on the kinesiology of my body, and use all of my muscles, especially my core (abdomen), I am able to emerge from a 6 mile hike and 10 hour work days pain-free.

Living in the woods is "not an Alternative Lifestyle!"

Here are a couple of our favorite things about our alternative lifestyle:

#1: Being the weird people at rest stops.
Yes, often lacking showers and clean clothing, 5 of us piling out of a white suburban with tools and propane tanks piled on top, we are humbled into a category "people you try not to stare at because they look strange." It is one of our favorite things.

#2: Dinnertime.
Whether we are eating dehydrated beef stroganoff from a bag, or challenging each other to eat more grilled cheese sandwiches (the standing record is 4), dinner is a time for us to share food, swaps stories from the day, and continue our never-ending conversation-topic, "what will you do when you get back in town?" Our warm, communal environment at meals reinforces the notion that a kitchen, even among trees, bushed, deerflies, and spiders, is the heart of a home.

"I'd like to be a catcher in the rye..."

One of my favorite pastimes in the wilderness (and in my cable-less apartment) has been reading. Reading for pleasure. After hours of research and reading for class in graduate school, the last thing I wanted to do in my free time was read more. How wrong I was...! I am enjoying every word I read, every thought, every emotion.

Books I've read in the backcountry: Pope Joan, To Kill a Mockingbird, the Red Tent, Dandelion Wine, Catcher in the Rye and You Shall Know our Velocity! A mix of classic, contemporary, and historical fiction. I love them all - especially Mockingbird, Dandelion, and Catcher.

If you are sentimental and nostalgic, like, you have ever saved dried, dead flowers from senior prom and cant seem to part with the crinkled, brown petals, or you have a rock on your desk that you know you plucked from the ground from a meaningful place... but you can't remember where... but you know for sure it was monumental in your life... Dandelion Wine is for you.

If you seek inspiration in humbling, quiet places, and your dreams, though you try to reign them in, burst through stubborn reality into a Utopian Heaven-on-Earth, Mockingbird will blossom in your soul.

And finally, if you have ever lost control of neurotic thoughts, those that judge others harshly, labeling the world as less than deserving of your presence or perhaps as "phony" compared to the brilliant inner-workings of your mind... or have ever been drowned by questions of purpose or meaning, please, indulge in a little Catcher in the Rye.

As for historical fiction - I simply love reading about courageous female characters, breaking bonds of tradition. Pillars of the Earth and World Without End are still my two favorites. And if you've never read Dave Eggers, start with Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - you won't regret it.

Recommendations?? Assume I fit the above descriptions...

Until next month...

Take care, learn something new, and have an adventure today!

-Jules

HITCH #1

I am currently sitting in one of my favorite coffee shop sipping on a chai latte, enjoying a rich, fluffy quiche, wearing makeup and contacts… a long way from where I’ve been for the last 20 days! Difficult to choose a starting-point… so I’ll just jump right into it.

Our Trail near Idaho City

We spent the last 20 days working on a trail in the Boise National Forest near Idaho City.

About 1.5 hrs from civilization, we set up camp: our individual tents plus we are fortunate to be using a huge army-style tent (photo), complete with a little tin fireplace and tin-tube chimney. We share our meals in this great big tent every night – stir-fry, burritos, grilled cheese, chili – we eat surprisingly well in the middle of nowhere! Each morning we would hike 1-2 miles up and out of our little valley (complete with an ice-cold, snow-melted, mountain creek) into the mountains of the Boise National Forest (photo below: view during our hike to work). Each day we would work further along the trail, making the hike a little longer every day. Somehow our bodies were able to keep up and stretch the distance. The trail was in poor condition. Water runs down the trail and scoops out the bottom leaving it narrow and deep – terrible for walking and horseback riding. We widen the trail, build drains and water bars to avoid future erosion, and cleared brush/trees out of the path. Our crew of 6 covered almost 3 miles of trail in 20 days, and we are now old pros =)

Hot Springs

During our “hitch” (as we lovingly call our 20 days out in the wilderness), we get 3 days off for some R&R (it is much-needed!) One of those days we ventured to Lowman in search of Hot Springs.

Being a Midwestern flatlander, this was my first encounter with hot springs. After stumbling along a rocky, ice-cold river shore while simultaneously scaling/climbing the rocky side of a mountain, we finally found the sulfur-enhanced, rust-colored hot spring waterfall – smelling slightly of rotten eggs and rushing streams of hot, steamy water. We found a small pool to sit in, the warm water crashing and splashing all around us. This was an un-established, natural hot spring which, for me, was the best first encounter. There are more formal hot springs – complete with live bands, beverages, and lots of company. I foresee wandering to one of these establishments in the future…=)

Mice in my tent

Though I’m still in the honeymoon stage of this experience, it’s not all romantic in the woods. For example, one day I made the rookie mistake of not zipping my tent entirely closed, leaving a couple inches of zipper teeth separated. When we returned from a day of work I unzipped my tent to find the book I was reading (Pope Joan) had been nibbled all along the edges and there was a faint smell of what I grew-up knowing as ‘hamster cage’ fragrance – unpleasant indeed! After disinfecting some items and trash-bagging others, I nestled into my sleeping bag for the night. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rustling… coming from inside of my tent… scurrying from one corner of my tent to the next… to the next. (Photo: view from my tent)

Frantically I reached for my flashlight, which I soon discovered had a dead bulb – no amount of new AA batteries could save it. Still listening to the scurrying in the darkness, totally defeated, I zipped myself back into my sleeping bag, cinched the top as tightly around my head as possible, and forced myself to close my eyes and rest peacefully… one with nature. On the bright side, my new furry roommate didn’t chew a hole through my tent. I kicked him out the next day.

We’ve come to find that mice are our biggest problem in the wilderness – not bears, wolves, coyotes, elk, moose – no. Tiny, surprisingly destructive mice. At night, we watch their tiny little shadows crawling over the tops of our tents in the moonlight. When they are outside, I don’t mind them. In fact, their miniature outlines on my tent are almost cute… in a Disney Princess kind of way.

Bear-bait

Yes, you read correctly. Bear bait. One day, as we were meandering down the mountain back to camp after work, a kind gentleman in a white pickup pulled over and offered us a ride. Thankfully, we hopped in the back of the truck. Immediately we knew this kind gesture would have been better rejected. A thick waft of the most horrific, manure-like stench radiated from every inch of the truck bed. I assumed this man must be fertilizing and I calmly stuck my nose in my sweatshirt for the remainder of the ride.

Back at camp, the one lucky crew member who sat in the front with the driver informed us that the crude substance in the truck was not fertilizer. No. We had been sitting in remnants of bear-bait (animal intestines and such). The man in the truck was a bear-trapper. The smell clung to our clothes which I immediately bagged and put in the suburban. No bear-bait smells in my tent – the mice are bad enough!

Baseball-sized hail

I’ve had this entire week of – I will get to enjoy Independence Day, then we leave Monday for another 20 days. It has been a great week – I tried Bikram yoga for the first time (yoga in a hot room), I’ve been tearing through Dandelion Wine (a summertime must-read), and enjoying the quaintness of our town. During my relaxing week, however, I was introduced to the Armageddon-like weather apparently standard here in the summer. While on a run, I noticed some disturbingly dark clouds rolling towards town, so I decided to cut my distance and return home.

Safely inside, I sat in our barren living room, watching the dark clouds inch closer in our large picture window. The wind gained strength and was soon bending trees like flimsy prairie grass. Suddenly, snowball-size hail started falling from the sky. Staring, stunned, I heard the glass shatter nearby and tripped my way into a hallway closet. Special thanks to my poor mother for taking a call from her shaken 24 year old, huddling inside of a closet (you are never too old to call mom… or to hide in a closet). Unfortunately my car did have some damage – along with the rest of the town. Everywhere I go there are broken windshields, massive dents, missing headlights, damaged siding. The window I had been next to in our living room has spiderweb cracks running though it. Yikes.

Baking at altitude… and failing…

One of my favorite pastimes is attempting to bake – cookies, muffins, etc. I say “attempting” because it is not one of my God-given talents. I burn cookies, misread recipes, drop pans, cause smoke detectors to come to life and often need several fans to recover. There is no logical reason why I continue to bake, other than I love it.

Since I moved here, however, I have managed to burn everything I place in the oven, including my banana muffins, which are one recipe I can usually manage. I asked for advice about baking at altitude. I have been informed that higher altitude causes undercooking, not overcooking. Ugh. It’s now either the oven or me. Either way, I am on a baking hiatus and will settle for making puppy chow… until I decide to resume my irrational love affair with baking.

20 more days beginning Monday!

Yes, our crew is going back out for another 20 days beginning Monday. So far I am loving this experience. The mission statement of the MCC isn't to build the best trails (though we do high quality work). No, the mission is to develop young leaders through civic engagement and active citizenship. Everyone is required to do service work outside of trail work and attend city meetings. This is what I love. I'm planning to apply as a crew leader next year, nothing has scared me away yet!

Until next time -Jules xo

Bear training, Trail-blazing, and an Exclamation point tent

(This will be my last blog entry for 20 days....)

Last week was "How to work and survive this program 101." My crew of 6 loaded up our 'burban with supplies for a few days, and went to the Beaverhead National Forest for a test-run - to see what life will be like for 20 days during our real hitches.

We arrived at the trail, knowing only that we would stop hiking once we saw other people on the trail. I didn't realize that we were about to hike up and over a mini mountain with pickaxes, shovels, and other tools I can't quite yet name. Though we were all and winded, we stuck together as a group and slowly trudged up the steep incline. It felt great, getting the heart pumping, blood flowing - a bit more physically demanding than grad school =)

We reached the top, and then I saw it... snow.

Definitely the highest elevation I've ever been! We saw the other

crews off in the distance and joined them. We were helping forest rangers dig a new trail as the other one had suffered serious water erosion (apparently it hadn't been built properly in the first place). So yes, we were "blazing" a new trail - basically, removing top soil for the rangers to later shape and fill. We probably "blazed" slightly less than a mile - ended up on a hill filled with sage brush which we had to hack our way through - literally. It smelled like an herbal spa after a while.

After hours of work and some sore muscles, we stored our tools under some loose brush (since we would return to work the next day) and proceeded back down the steep trail to camp, way down in the valley. I have a love-hate relationship with gravity, hate it on the way up, but love it coming down.

Have I mentioned that it had been raining the entire day? Cold... wet... but really, no complaints.

Our tents were set with surprising ease (mine is the one with the exclamation point, shocking...), and we made a huge pasta meal at our site - complete with alfredo, yum! It rained all night - it was exciting... almost romantic listening to the light floops of water bouncing on my tent. Fortunately, I stayed dry throughout the night, but I cannot say the same for my fellow campers... =)

The next day we hiked back up and over the same small peak and completed a few hundred more feet of trail (many hands make light work). We retrieved our tools after lunch and once again hiked down to the valley - for bear training! Oh my. We basically just learned the differences between black bears and grizzlys (Grizzly bears = bad, Black bears = giant raccoons). We all practiced spraying bear spray (the wind changed toward the end of the line... giving some of us the sniffles). I feel pretty good about it, though - no worries. I am going to purchase my first dry-bag to put food/toiletries in to hang in the trees away from our bear-friends.

Gone for 20 days:

Yup, I leave tomorrow for 20 days in the Boise National Forest. We have purchased about $400 worth of food for the first 10 days and make a trip into town to re-load for the second 10 days. I know we will mostly be working on trails - more than just removing top soil this time =) It will be warmer in Idaho than Montana, and I can't wait to get into the hot sun!

Until the end of June, hugs all around,

Julie

Montana Day 8: Snow

Montana = Bears and Snow
It appears that my friends, family, and students were right... Montana = Bears and snow. Yes, within a week I've seen a bear and it has snowed. I am okay with it though... because Montana awesome.

Orientation
This week we went to Camp Paxton near Seeley Lake for our Montana Conservation Corps (MCC) orientation. There are about 100-200 young adults that have moved to Montana this summer to serve all over the state. Such a fascinating group of young adults - students right out of high school, 20-something hippies, environmental science majors, and others just looking for a way to serve and engage in their community (I am a 20-something hippie of course... ha). A lot of kind hearts for sure, which makes for a warm and fuzzy experience - I am proud to work with this group of young adults.

I received an Americorps T-shirt on Monday, which makes this all official. It is a part of my uniform, complete with carhartt work pants, hiking boots, leather gloves, and a bright yellow hard hat (Pictures to come, I promise!)

I took an oath to Americorps on Thursday(the MCC is a subset of Americorps). At first I was a little unnerved by the oath... I try to avoid oath-taking if possible. When I heard the oath, however, I was glad to participate:

"I will get things done for America -
to make our people safer,
smarter, and healthier.

I will bring Americans together
to strengthen our communities.

Faced with apathy,
I will take action.

Faced with conflict,
I will seek common ground.

Faced with adversity,
I will persevere.

I will carry this commitment
with me this year and beyond.

I am an AmeriCorps member,
and I will get things done."

What I'll be doing this summer:
I will actually be working in the Boise National Forest (yes, Boise is in Idaho, not Montana, but it's only about a 7-8 hour drive from our regional office. I am on a crew with 5 other individuals and we will be working in the "backcountry" (that's what the cool kids call it) for 20-23 days at a time. Yup, we will pack food, clothing, and any other survival gear for 20-23 days and stay out in the woods/mountains the entire time. We will be building bridges, trails and maintaining old trails. It's warmer and dryer in this region - less bugs and more sun, I'll take it!

Training this week:
Wednesday is Bear-training (among other wilderness survival training =). We leave for our first 20 days on June 7th. Idaho wilderness, here we come!

-Julie

Montana Day 1: Already saw a bear!

(Written 5/24)
Fellow adventurers -

Here I am, I have made it, to the great state of Montana. Hopped on Rt. 90W on Friday and arrived in Red Lodge, MT Saturday afternoon. This is my first time to Montana and I must say... GORGEOUS! It's worth the drive through South Dakota =)

(At this point, I'd like to send a special shout-out to my dad for driving the 22 hrs with me... Thanks, Dad!!!)

Last night, during a drive around the Bear Tooth mountains at dusk, I noticed a large black animal roaming around by the side of the road... "Is that a bear??" Ha, it was. A big, black bear - he (or she) was pretty cute from far away and inside a vehicle =) We drove around a quick bend and proceeded to exit the vehicle (hesitantly) to check out a rushing stream in a deep valley filled with trees, between the mountains. The mountains were beginning to fade to a deep purple-gray as the sun continued to melt away in the distance. No more bear-sightings (yet).

This morning I arrived at my apartment. It is Amazing - We can see mountains from our windows, there is a beautiful trail behind our apartment that leads to the quaint Main St. downtown. The view from the outskirts of town is straight from a post card (complete with baby ducklings and tulips - no joke).

Tomorrow is orientation - I look forward to finally learning about my role in the crew and the projects we have to look forward to this summer!

Stay tuned...
Julie

P.S. It was 30 degrees here today! Eeep!

Montana? Really?

"I might be movin' to Montana soon
Just to raise me up a crop of Dental Floss"

For those of you unfamiliar with Frank Zappa's song "Montana" please proceed to youtube for a real musical treat =)

Hello, Friends and Family! If you've made it this far, you must be truly curious as to why I, (a 20-something from the Chicago suburbs; a girl often found in heels and dresses) have chosen to move to Montana to camp/hike/and do manual labor for a little over 5 months. Welp, I will tell you...

Reason #1: Grad school. Oye! The grad school experience is two-fold: (1) An amazing self-reflection opportunity that renders a growth process unparalleled by any other experience known to man, and (2) *sigh*. Ha, there's really no other way to describe it. All of that learning, growth, and self-exploration comes at an emotionally draining cost at times. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend graduate school, and I may try for another masters or PhD at some point... but for now I am relieved to be DONE. It's time to set aside my laptop for a while and get my hands dirty.

Reason #2: Yoga. I started practicing yoga in undergrad to counteract the often intangible pressures associated with undergraduate life. In grad school I continued my practice and enrolled in Yoga I & Yoga II. I had always been interested in the self-reflection and meditation opportunities associated with yoga, but it wasn't until this year that I began exploring yoga teachings and philosophy. Lately, I've been reflecting on the Yamas and Niyamas - ten ethical guidelines (see http://www.theyamasandniyamas.com). As I reflect on each, I am humbled by how much I still have to grow. Ha, they are extremely challenging to actively practice on a daily basis... doing backbends and handstands is much easier than patience and self-reflection.

Reason #3: Yes, I do love the outdoors and can swing a hammer with the best of 'em. No, really! Some of you may know I've advised two Ohio State student trips to Mississippi to work with Habitat for Humanity. Though they were short experiences, I loved waking up at dawn, working all day, side by side with friends and students, then ending the day exhausted yet accomplished. I am excited (and nervous!) for the opportunity to continue this type of experience.

Welp, that's it! I will do my best to blog regularly about my experience. There is a chance my crew may spend twenty straight days out in the backcountry at a time... in which case I will just have to blog every 20 days. I will be journaling the entire time so I'll have plenty to reference I'm sure =)

Thank you, again for your support!

Julie

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined"

-Henry David Thoreau