All My Troubles on the Burning Pile.

How are things on the West Coast?  I guess you'll never find out if I don't keep this little blog of mine updated.  I could blame my lack of cyber-voice on my own laziness but I can honestly say that my biggest obstacle has been finding a reliable source of internet.  I could moan about it all I want but I think I'd rather just post a blog right now while I can.

In the long run it is so much easier to post blogs frequently as opposed to blogging just a couple of times a month.  This way it is easier to keep track of what I have already covered in previous posts and what new things I should share.  As I sit looking at this white text entry area I am having a hard time finding where to begin as so much has happened since my first post of February.

First and foremost I have been anxious to tell you about my most recent trip to the valley portion of Yosemite.  Though I knew it was going to be beautiful, no pictures I could have googled could've prepared me for the sights I saw with my own eye.  The sheer enormity of the place is overwhelming.  I will have to push my trip to Multnomah Falls to the number two spot in regards to being the most beautiful place I have ever been.  Never had I needed a working camera more.  Unfortunately though my camera is still on the fritz so the photos I do have were taken without the aid of a viewfinder.

This valley view was my favorite part of the trip.  The terrain seemed like it belonged on another world.



Kaitlin at the valley.

One of the many, many waterfalls.

Our mascot, the Swaggermonkey, by El Capitan (Thanks to Ellen for this one).

This photo is actually from our first trip to Yosemite, but I liked it so much I had to post it here.

Ellen and Andrea snapped these great photos of us watching the sunset over the valley.



The perfect ending for the day.

 Our trips to Yosemite alone were enough to make all of our time spent chopping wood and running chainsaws at Sugar Pine worth it.  Speaking of those two activities, I've done plenty of both in the past few weeks.  It has been quite the experience pulling down hazard trees with ropes while standing up to my knees in snow.  As of late we have been doing a lot of trail clearing which I enjoy a lot second only to running burn piles.  I wish I had some photos of us working in the deep snow but I just have these older ones I'm afraid.



Tibbs adding some fuel to the burn pile



Tuck and Tibbs looking good on one of our firewood piles.

I'll use an axe over a chainsaw any day.

Collecting the endless bounty of fire wood.




The whimsy master and the entrance to the wooden fortress of doom.



And everybody's still working on the weekend.

So yeah, we're getting work done.  But what's more important than work?  You guessed it.  Square Dancing.  Last week Silver 5 got to go to the Oakhurst's Gold Dust Dancers Valentines Ball!  We had a blast.

Getting a little practice in before the big dance!



The whole crew plus the most whimsical person in Oakhurst, Caitlin.





Yum, Yum!

 

Me and my date, Andrea.



Andrea seems a little more confident than I.

Ellen doing her thing.

Okay, I think that just about covers everything I needed to cover.  If not, oh well. 

Now on to new business.

Silver 5 finally knows where they are going for round 3.  We will be working at the El Dorado National Forest preparing for fire season.  You may remember me mentioning El Dorado before as that was where I did my FMT field day training.  When I first heard that this was where we would be spending our next round I was crestfallen.  When I heard it was also going to be where we were going to spend our final round as well, I fell even lower.  You see I didn't really care for the El Dorado staff or the organization itself when we went for field day.  I did not enjoy working with them at that time and I don't foresee enjoying working with them in the near future.  But what choice do I have?  Though I try to keep my blog focused on the upbeat things, I must admit that these past few weeks have been the hardest I've experience in Americorps.  Though I will do my best to choose a good attitude for the next round, I am expecting more turbulence ahead.

Not everything is panic inducing however.  I have taken another position with Americorps starting in August.  I am a little weary about posting details about the position but I can tell you that I am very excited about it.  I will let you know more when I can.

Again I apologize for the waning quality of my blog posts.  Things will get better when I go back to Sac next week.  It's so much easier to post while sitting on my bed than when I'm here sitting outside in the cold trying to get signal.

Wish me luck over the next few weeks.

Sawing, Dancing, and Hiking.

It is a night of cooperative technology and strong WiFi signal...so I shall blog!

Last time I sat down at my keyboard I was so frustrated at my laptop that I just stroked a few keys, uploaded the five pictures accessible on my photobucket, and logged off.  Now I can spend a little more time savoring my internet experience and enjoying what it is worth now that it is being my friend.

Life is good here at Sugar Pine.  The snow has stopped falling but is still making itself very present in our everyday lives.  Not a workday goes by where I don't complete some crazy fall that leaves me flat on my back.  Just today I was on the side of a slope trying to gain enough traction in the snow to lasso trees so that we could pull them down into the road for bucking with a chainsaw.  That kind of work is typical for this place.  Though being on a chainsaw is not my favorite job in the world, I cherish all of the time we get to spend outdoors. 




The view from the lodge.


Sugar Pine isn't all about work though.  As I mentioned in my previous blogs, Silver 5 has taken up line dancing at the community center of Oakhurst.  Though we only have a little experience under our belts we will be attending the dance group's Sweetheart Ball in one week.  Tomorrow is our last day of practice so wish us luck.  Also tomorrow is the day that I muster up the courage to have the most famous of the line dance group members, Grace Lee Whitney, autograph my book I just received in the mail today.  So far The Longest Trek has made for a compelling read.  Here's a little of what our Oakhurst dance nights look like:

Yeah, we're pros.

Kaitlin is making a big whimsy face!

In more old but worth posting again news, we took a trip to Yosemite!  Though we only saw the Mariposa Grove portion of the park, we got to experience some amazing things there.  To name one I got to experience what it feels like to be knee deep in snow for the first time in my life. 

The beginning of a long hike.

The camera doesn't do their size justice.

The view from the bottom.

Walking between fallen trees.

The Grizzly Tree.

I chewed through this with my teeth.

Tibbs in snow attire.

Did I mention they were big trees?

Jeff in Telescope Tree.

Finally at the top.

Tucker enjoying the scenery.

The bird's eye view.

The eye's view of the bird.

The Valley.

Looking over.

I love this picture.

Ah, it feels good to have y'all updated on the goings-ons around here.  Unfortunately however my next few blogs will only be text as the cold has taken a toll on the viewfinder of my camera.

Until next time....

P.S.  If you're more into moving pictures check out my videos from line dancing and Yosemite!

Hiking in Yosemite.

Let me just start by letting you know that blogging here at Sugar Pine is a difficult undertaking.  If I want a good WiFi signal I have to sometimes sit outside in the snow and reconnect over and over again.  I have been considering wrapping myself in tinfoil to increase my reception.  To top it all off the screen on my digital camera busted yesterday from being out in the cold air.  It just isn't an easy week for me technology wise. 

I do have good news in that I can still upload photos from Silver 5's trip to Yosemite the other morning.  They aren't high definition as the internet is too slow for that kind of thing but I think that despite that they are worth posting.

'Giant' is no hyperbole.

Tiny, tiny people.

The Grizzly tree.  One of its branches is bigger than the trunks of all of the other species of tree in the forest.

A small car could drive through here.

The Clothespin tree.

The Jeff to sequoia ratio.

A faithful couple.

Reaching the peak.

We could be an inspirational poster.

Since I'm having a frustrating night with uploading photos and getting my internet to work long enough to blog I think I'm going to call this the end for tonight.

I'll update you all with more words and some bigger, clearer photos soon I hope!  I have so much to tell you about Yosemite.

Trek.

In the past three days I have line danced, sat near a cast member of Star Trek, and rolled huge logs into the mouth of a bulldozer.  Not too bad for the first week of round two if you ask me.

Seeing as how these entry experiences into the new rounds are such whirlwinds it is hard for me to quantify everything I have done since arriving at Sugar Pine.  I will do my best to collect my memory though.

The four hour drive down here was less than exciting.  We traveled in a bleak covering of fog for most of our trip.  From Sacramento on it was as though we were trapped on some kind of old time horror movie set with a fog machine.  However when we reached the foothills it was as though we were meant to see the nature around us.  The sun came out and we were able to take in the beautiful land around us.  I guess I can't complain about the fog blocking out my view of suburbia after being treated to a clear sight of green mountains and valleys.

We stopped in the downtown area of the town we work at, Oakhurst, to gain our bearings and grab a bite to eat.  I knew from just the few minutes we spent in the area that I would love the town.  Everywhere we went people asked how and who we were, told us all about their quaint little town, and one lady even entrusted us with some money to bring her back some fries from the local diner.  People have been nothing but nice to us since we arrived.  We don't always get such warm welcomes as people don't really understand what they're seeing when nine young people step out of a government van in fire boots and matching uniforms.  This town however has already embraced us.

The camp itself is a little paradise.  The location of the grounds certainly is a plus as we are stuck right in the middle of the Sierra National Forest and Yosemite National Park.  Everywhere I look there are mountains, streams, wildlife, and snow.  While it is taking me a while to get used to all of the snow, I am thoroughly enjoying everything else Sugar Pine Camp has to offer.

Silver 5 is doing a lot of great work here.  I have been doing everything from burning brush to chainsawing fallen trees.  The staff is very clear with the work they want done and are obviously appreciative of our presence here.

So far the best thing about being here has been our extra-curricular pursuits.  Last Wednesday we all went line dancing at the local community center.  The small group there seemed so happy to have us.  The leader of the group made sure to point out that Grace Lee Whitney was a patron of the troop.  Unfortunately as a sci-fi fan I didn't get to talk to her before she left but I am having her book shipped to me here so I can get her autograph during next Wednesdays dance.  It's crazy the people you meet when traveling through places.

 
At this point in the blog I would like to apologize for the lack of info and pictures in this post as well as for my less than witty rambling.  Internet is a come-and-go thing and on top of that it's getting late and I have a big trip to Yosemite in the morning!  I will try to do better next time but life is too exciting right now to be on my laptop!

Until I find a small trace of WiFi again,

-Josh

Chief? McCloud.

I don't have long to blog as I have an early morning tomorrow.  We will leave at 5:30am for our four hour drive to Oakhurst/Yosemite.  For the most part I am packed but I will angst for a few more hours about things that I believe I am forgetting.

Today was the most physically exhausting day of my life.  I spent most of my day behind a McCloud (it's like a rake and a shovel had a baby) creating 25 chains (66 feet a piece) of fire line up and down the hills of El Dorado today.  After that I ran drills up the mountainside to see if I could deploy my fire shelter in a reasonable time.  I thought my lung might collapse during the scenario training but somehow I made it though.  I wish I could tell you more about the day I had but I am just that tired.  My eyes are beginning to blur and close as I am typing this.

I hope to update you all as soon as I can when I get to Sugar Pine Camp!  Should be a fun day tomorrow!

Lookouts, Communication, Escape Routes, and Scabies Zones.

My room is cluttered with wildland safety books, fire gear, plastic bags full of bedding and clothes, and unsteady columns of paperwork balancing on my dresser.  Hopefully that is some indication as to why I haven't been the best blogger as of late.  These transition times between projects are generally crazy but this one takes the cake.

I figure I should dissect my week in reverse chronology as the more recent (and disturbing) events our fresh on my mind.  Once when we were waiting in the lobby of the urgent care of Gresham, Oregon waiting to get check for lice I said, "What next for round two? Scabies?".  We all had a good laugh and eventually left there with all but one of us lice free.  Well guess what the majority of our team (and others) have now?  Scabies.  Yes these horrible little bugs have me putting all my belongings in plastic bags, washing everything I own, and putting on medicated cream every time I turn around.  Luckily I do not currently have them but a lot of people living in the dorms do and they are pretty contagious in dorm type living spaces.  Let's hope we can get this all cleared up before we leave for our next project on Tuesday.

To help ease the pain I made my team some scabies related whimsy awards (as I am the team's whimsy coordinator).  I got a pretty great reaction from them.  After a weekend spent in the laundry room washing clothes I figured that we needed the pick-me-up. 
Scabies aside it's been a busy week.  We have spent the last week in the classroom earning our wildland firefighting certifications.  It's been a really interesting course with our teachers being from some really cool forests such as Tahoe and Plumas.  There is a pretty good chance that Silver 5 will have a round 3 at one of those two locations.

Come tomorrow I have the field day for the course where we do everything from cutting fire line to practicing using our fire shelters.  It's going to be a long day but totally worth it.  I look forward to having a little more knowledge to put behind my fire helmet.

Now to step back in time a little more.  Silver 5 has done two more mini-projects since I last blogged.  We spent MLK day leading community volunteers at a local elementary school performing some grounds clean-up.  It was kind of neat being a bit of a director and not just a laborer.  My volunteer team cleaned off a huge portion of fencing that had become overgrown.  Before the MLK day project we worked at a historical cemetery and rose garden of Sacramento.  Our team helped beautify the cemetery by moving some rose bushes and cleaning of grave markers.  It was a strange little project but nonetheless we enjoyed being in such a beautiful garden space.  I plan to go back when the roses are in bloom.

I don't spend all my time lurking in cemeteries and putting on scabies cream though.  The other night Kaitlin, Andrea, Ellen, Tucker, and I went to go see the Sacramento Kings square off against the Portland Trail Blazers.  Portland won which was fine with us because I believe we all feel just as attached to Portland as we do Sac.

I hope to blog before I head off to the Yosemite area on Tuesday but if I don't then plan on not hearing from me in a while.  Internet won't be readily available where I am going but I'll do my best to keep you all updated somehow!