Hello again! I'm back as promised for Part II of my trail crew adventures. So, sit back, relax, and scroll through some more pics!
July 17
We pick up on the second day of week 5, the first week we went backcountry, hiking out five miles to our campsite with all our gear and tools.
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| views on the hike up |
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| (today was basically just a hiking day) |
July 18
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| Sarah tending to Anna's wounds |
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| stumbled upon another cache of bones |
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| check out this skull! |
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| gorgeous color mosaic |
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| Flat Tops view |
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| Flat Tops view, II |
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| Sam and Sarah looking like bandit sawyers |
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| Sam (in a word: rugged) |
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| Sam and Sarah looking at Anna's photoshoot pics |
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| Sarah (yep) |
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| I commissioned this altar on which to display the bodies |
July 19
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| sweet return to the van |
July 20
We spent this rec weekend in Moab, Utah - total landscape change from Colorado (and climate shift: it was much hotter than we were used to), but very familiar to me. (Except for the geology. New Mexico, sadly, doesn't have cool rocks on as large of a scale as Utah.)
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| cowboy camping in Moab |
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| desert landscape reminding me of home |
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| breakfast at Peace Tree Cafe |
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| quirky little sculptures on the street corners |
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| Sean, Yitzi, Anna, and Diana (waiting for the rest of the crew) |
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| starting out on our hike through Arches Nat'l Park |
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| the red rocks made me feel like I was on Mars |
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| delicate arch |
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| Raven |
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| Raven and Sean (our crew leaders) |
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| Anya |
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| Sean |
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| crew under the arch |
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| we went to a farmers market + free concert in town after the hike |
July 21
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| hiking through the desert, heading for a slot canyon |
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| river crossing |
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| there was a lot of splashing through the river since it was along the trail |
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| lil toad! |
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| so cute |
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| canyon sunlight |
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| Sarah and Anya |
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| there was a waterfall at the end of the canyon |
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| desert oasis |
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| more lil toads! |
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| so fat and cute! |
July 23
Week 6: another backcountry week, but we didn't hike out until the second day.
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| twinning Tupperwares (+ Nalgenes) |
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| back to work (but still taking advantage) |
July 24
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| in the aspen grove (on the hike up) |
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| group gathering |
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| planning for our trip to Denver after the season |
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| practically a full skeleton! |
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| Bailey Lake |
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| (cont.) |
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| another perspective of Bailey Lake (coming back from the work day) |
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| Sarah, Sam, and Anna (such weirdos) |
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| in case you couldn't guess, our campsite was at a lake |
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| breathtaking |
July 25
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| we had to hike up from the lake to another campsite |
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| reminds me of the broken door in Monsters, Inc. |
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| trying to tackle this aspen with Yitzi |
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| scoping out the trail and looking for trees (we didn't find any) |
July 26
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| in the morning light, the algae looked like ice on the lake |
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| another view (Swede Lake) |
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| more of the Flat Tops (on my way down/heading back to the van) |
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| that river winds almost *too* perfectly... |
July 27
Made it to another weekend; we camped outside of Buena Vista and hit three small towns in central Colorado: Leadville, Buena Vista, and Salida.
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| campsite in Buena Vista |
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| some probably wanted to hike the mountain in the back, but Anya convinced me to climb the boulder by our campsite |
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| inside Melanzana, a local fleece shop in Leadville |
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| our breakfast stop |
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| a very interesting claim |
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| love these murals |
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| I stumbled upon some tiny houses in a RV park and got a tour! |
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| more murals |
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| Leadville |
July 28
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| different town, more murals |
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| Buena Vista |
July 29
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| smoky red sun (we switched from our BV campsite to one near Salida) |
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| yet another town, yet more murals |
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| deer chilling in someone's front yard |
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| (cont.) |
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| Salida |
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| picnic in the park - the tree kept me dry from the rain |
July 30
July 31
We had to hike up to one of our campsites for our last hitch (eight days instead of two separate four-day hitches with a three-day weekend), but it wasn't backcountry because some Forest Service people drove our stove and massive cooler up the trail for us.
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| looking upon the Gore Range once more |
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| our kitchen's under the tarp |
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| we hiked back down to go to a free community dinner in Silverthorne |
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| ...and hiked back up again to our camp (smoky sun returns) |
August 1
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| our wedge breaking was just one of many bad-luck things that happened |
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| tents in the evening light |
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| setting sun |
August 2
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| Sean and I tackled this massive tree (took seven separate cuts to move it all) |
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| if only they'd taught us which berries were edible... |
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| Sean single-bucking |
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| this picture doesn't capture how the texture feels, but it tries |
August 3
The following pictures were taken by Raven on our very unproductive Friday. It rained in the morning, and, despite monsoon season, we'd never worked in a constant drizzle; additionally, we had to hike out almost two hours to get to the last few trees on the trail, so it was more commuting (and whimpering about being cold and wet) than actually working. We had fun, though, and it turned out to not be such a bad day in the end.
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| Anya |
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| Sam |
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| the cut log ended up on another log and formed a pretty good seesaw |
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| I wonder if seesaws were invented by the original crosscut sawyers... |
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| can't take your PPE off even to have fun, kids |
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| Sam and Anya |
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| Anya (according to Raven, this was her crazy look) |
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| Sam |
August 4
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| interesting skull (and other bone) across the road from our camp |
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| finally found Lost Lake |
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| the antique tool of our trade |
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| weird Dr. Seuss-esque blooms |
August 5
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| the Sunday morning rain finally let up |
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| Anna, looking cute as ever |
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| Diana, Sam, and Anya |
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| return to Boulder Lake (coming full circle) |
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| this moose was foraging near our van (and we couldn't really go until he left) |
August 6
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| looking over Dillon Reservoir |
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| top to bottom: Diana, Yitzi, and Anna |
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| last sunset over the compound |
August 7
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| clearing debris from a to-be trail |
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| Anna, Sarah (lying down), Sam, and Diana in this cool teepee we found |
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| hardhat lineup |
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| last-day-of-work pants-signing party |
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| Sam, Anna, and Yitzi being crazy |
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| Diana |
August 8
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| a beautiful morning to wake up to after our last night of cowboy camping |
August 8th was derig: basically, we had to unpack and clean up and put away all our group gear at headquarters (so, just a giant chore day). Once we were done with that, it was on to Denver! Our initial plan was for Anna and Sarah to go to the rental car place, then we'd all drive down to the city. However, it turns out large cars can't be rented out to drivers under 25, so Sam called his aunt, who lives in Steamboat Springs, and she let us stay at her house that night (and even made breakfast for us the next morning).
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| twilight in Steamboat |
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| hanging out by the Yampa (waiting for the car that never came) |
August 9
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| morning balloon sighting! |
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| saying goodbye to Sam |
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| the art at Rootz Cafe |
After lunch in Steamboat, the rest of our crew (minus Sam) caught a Greyhound bus to Denver.
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| in the city after our long bus ride |
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| we made it! |
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| finally in Denver, bitches |
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| dusk views from the hotel |
August 10
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| daytime views from the hotel |
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| Anna, Yitzi, and Sarah (who I shared the hotel room with) |
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| Yitzi and Anna |
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| the capitol building |
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| Yitzi checking it out from afar |
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| we decided to see it from the inside, too |
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| finally got vegan Boston cream donuts! |
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| met up with Diana and her friend for lunch |
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| reflections |
We had talked, as a crew, getting tattoos in Denver, but Anna ended up being the only one who did that - she didn't get a crosscut, but her aspen is pretty cool!
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| aspen ankle tat |
And that concludes my summer on trail crew! It was a crazy, somewhat surreal experience that I am happy I did, even if it was miserable to wake up in a cold tent (or a wet sleeping bag) and hike for miles to get to work. I am so happy I got to bond with people I wouldn't have met otherwise, and it was surprisingly fulfilling to do work I wouldn't normally find myself doing. I know I swore up and down I'd never do trail work again, but... maybe I would. Or, something else like it, anyway. I've realized I'm kinda into work "trips" where you live with a small group of people in community housing (or tents, which became community housing - we did manage to squeeze the seven of us into Anna's Half Dome 2+ one night (not for the whole night, though; but it was an... interesting experience)) and bond over the different projects you have to do, as well as living together 24/7.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Since there's no official Pic a Day, there's no telling when the next post will be, but stay tuned and stay on your toes. (You never know when I'll go on another photography frenzy.)
