beep beep beep — It’s 0445 and time to start the day. I wake up, slide out of my sleeping bag into the chilly morning air of my tent. Shoving everything to the foot of the tent, I grab my work pants and wiggle into them trying to keep the dirt from the day before out of my sleeping area. I throw on a jacket and beanie and force myself out into the fresh morning air.
Walking over to the kitchen area, I’m delighted to see that our crew lead already has a fire started - what would we do without him? Oatmeal for breakfast and a safety meeting as the crew finally gathers together on our log seats. Today, we’ll be building a retaining wall around a culvert. Safety meeting subject: Moving rocks.
0600 and we gather our gear to hike out. I sling my pack over my shoulder which is dirty with bar oil from the previous days, but holds my most valuable items: PBJ and an apple. We begin our hike down the road to the trail while my boot is already rubbing on my blister. I look over into the meadow and am greeted by the familiar sight of Mr. Moose browsing in the meadow. Sometimes being out here feels like a dream.
0730 we make it to our project site. I throw my pack on the ground, walk over to the place I was yesterday, and begin my time of crushing rock to make fill for the wall. wack wack wack — the monotonous sounds drown out my thoughts. Crew mates are moving rocks and carefully placing them like puzzle pieces in the hole we’ve made. Rocks need to be about 100 lbs to be a good candidate, so this can get clunky.
0900 I whip out my apple for a snack. It’s already starting to warm up and I’ve shed my extra layers. It’ll be another smoky, hot summer day. 0915 back to work. We switch it up and I begin hauling in dirt to top off the finished side of the wall.
1200 I almost dropped a rock on my toe earlier, but I moved out of the way just in time… thinking back on it, I almost wish it dropped on my boot… maybe it wouldn’t have broken in half if I cushioned its fall. Eh, well, that just means I have to go find another rock to drag and shimmy back to our work space.
1430 I’m thinking back to those days at the beginning of the season, wishing it would stop raining or snowing for just 30 minutes. Now I’m looking up at the sky during my afternoon break pleading to find just a single cloud offering a little bit of shade. No such luck today. And my sunscreen spilled all over inside my backpack. At least my PBJ survived the mess. I don’t know if my arms can even pick up one more rock.
1500 The culvert is finished! The feeling of pounding that last bit of dirt on top of the culvert is indescribable. This was such a big project, and there were so many times when I was losing hope or just wanted to sit and rest for a while. But look at it! Isn’t it amazing?
1630 We made it back to camp. My turn to cook tonight, but at least that means I don’t have to do dishes! I wash my hands with the bucket water and begin preparing the meal. We’re having burritos tonight. With cheese - lots of cheese. Each night during dinner, we have a question of the day. Today’s question was a mindbender - “Which ice cream flavor do you think should NOT exist?”
1830 We sit in a circle around our empty fire ring. We’re at Stage II fire restrictions this week. Journal time, reading time, or joking time. Each night it varies.
2100 I always stay up the latest. Tonight, it’s just me and the stars. I look up for a bit, but the smoke and clouds cover most of the view. Getting up, I grab my journal and make my way back to my tent. Outside the tent, I shed the work pants and climb in. I wrap myself up in the sleeping bag and reach over to set my little alarm “0445.” I can’t wait for another day in the field. What a life this is.
