East Session 1 - Northwest Youth Corps
Transcription
East Session 1 - Northwest Youth Corps
Dear NYC’ers, Now that the winter is settling in, we can all look back at the times we had this summer through these journal pages and reflect on those times we had. These journals reflect a small part of what the experience was about, written from your perspectives. Through them, it will remind you of and experience which you never had before and an opportunity which not all have a chance to partake in. Completing a Youth Corps program brings with it a certain sense of accomplishment that can only accompany spending time in the woods with 11 other strangers who then become something of a family. You forged friendships, scraped knees and fingers together, and marveled at the work that a small group of dedicated people can do when working in harmony. Although not all times out there were perfect, I get the feeling that, in the end, lives were changed as well as the landscape where you found yourselves each week. Thank you for continuing the legacy of Youth Corps and keeping the Legacy of NYC alive in the forests we call the Pacific Northwest. The next generation of NYC’ers will have the shoulders of giants to stand on – yours. All the best, Joe Waksmundski Youth Corps Director East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: William Hough CREW COLOR: Red WEEK # 1 PROJECT NAME: South Fork Trail Maintenance NATIONAL FOREST: Payette RANGER DISTRICT: Krassel Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. Since our crew has two week back country project, we were not able to go to our weekend site which was a bummer…but, instead we got to work all weekend and we were able to get farther on our trail work and brushing, which made me feel pretty good that we are getting farther. Written By: Austin Gonzalez Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? For our project this week, we are continuing the trail work and brushing that we started last week. We are located somewhere in the far outskirts of McCall. We are doing the project to make it easier for the horses, mules and hikers to come back to this isolated place. Also to have oodles and oodles of fun! Written By: Austin Gonzalez Wednesday – Describe your crew’s goals for a week. By the end of this week, our crew wants to do some serious trail work heading in the other direction from camp. Also, we probably want to learn how to do stuff better; as in organizing, efficiency and self- determination. This is just a guess, but I am pretty sure we also want to get to know each other better; which will work better once Finn gets his voice back and everyone starts yelling more, and when we come up with some creative nicknames. Work Harder, Yell Louder! Written By: Alex Schulte Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. This week our crew learned how to dig trail and brush, we also made many rock structures. Most importantly, we learned how important dedication is, and how everyone suffers when even 1 person breaks dedication! Gah! Written By: Alex Schulte Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. 4:00- Good Night Moon. I don’t know where we’re going but we’ll get there soon at this speed. We’ve made it our objective to reach camp by the end. And all around the sediment, the bends in the trail become clearer and sharper With the sun. The ones on projects swing through the rock, leaving trails of rubble akin to delinquent’s bedrooms. The hoes clear out the debris and we are left with steady hinge and angle as far as the eye can see stretching more than a mile. After a while, the flat rock edge of earth is a treadmill, and we are pushed backwards against our will, Correcting and perfecting our meandering creation. Branches fall in the trail’s vicinity, Rocks removed, rocks broken and strategically placed, we are moving camp. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholders, and our eyes are sparkling in the midday light. We have not seen many more welcoming sites. Written By: Finn Udall East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: William Hough CREW COLOR: Red WEEK # 2 Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. Last weekend our crew went to a weekend site in McCall. We hung out with Orange Crew, which is very boisterous. On Saturday we either went to the lake/hike or on an old-timey adventure. Then Parents came and brought a ton of food, a lot of cookies, which was epic. Then on Sunday we began driving to our project site where we commenced to be cursed by an angry mountain demon. Written By: Alex Schulte Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? For the remaining three weeks, our crew will be restoring Horse Heaven Trail in the Boise National Forest. Our goal is to restore 6 miles of trail. We will be repairing drainage dips on the trail so that it’s not covered by water, and putting in rock structures where needed. By restoring this trail, horses and motor cyclists will be able to use the trail in an easier manner. Written By: Kim Diep Wednesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. Well oh my where to start. We only got to work 7 hours then hike out. Due to a “Crew member” Then we drove to Idaho City and called Desi, then drove to Boise to the grey hound station to drop off a member. Then we drove a little ways till William said “hey Russell is it but?” Don’t we don’t have an oil cup? So Then we drove to get a New oil cup then back to the other NYC rig. Written By: Austin Russell Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. This week our crew learned how to deal with stress, loss, and a lack of spoons. I believe we will soon learn how to defeat the mountain demon and break our streak of ill-luck. We have learned to stick together in the face of challenge (Hell’s Canyon!) Also we learned how to dig drain drips, but in due time we will learn how to hike 8 miles in a day with a smile which will far overshadow the feeble drainage drip. Written By: Alex Schulte Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. This week, our crew had trouble climbing the mountain and doing the water ways right. When we started climbing the mountains, a lot of us stopped most of the time and it took longer than what was wanted. When we made waterways, we made them too steep and a little short. After walking the mountain a little bit however, there were no stops, besides the water, and we finished much faster than before. We have done well on our waterways, with them actually being the right size and not too steep. Written By: Haley House East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Grey Pickett CREW COLOR: Orange WEEK # 1 PROJECT NAME: Boundary Creek Trail Maintenance NATIONAL FOREST: Payette RANGER DISTRICT: Weiser Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. We had a fun weekend, we played hacky sack. Then we were separated on different groups four color crews were: Red, Orange, Yellow, and Blue. We learned how to set up tents and stuff at orientation. We had a flat tire that we had to fix at the gas station. We think Red crew did something to the trailer tire (NOT REALLY!) We also beat the other crews on trailer. I was over whelmed when I got to the camp. Written By: Marcus Alves Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? This week we are working in Cambridge and we have to hike two miles to work, my crew is building trail and trimming brush. The brush has to be 8 inch off the ground and away from the trail. We have come far by building trail. We have been building on this trail for two days. Written By: Skyler Freeman Wednesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. The main goal for Orange Crew is to complete 2 miles of the Boundary Trail in Payette National Forest. We have completed about a mile of the trail, but we are speeding up, and I think we will finish by Friday for sure. On Tuesday we completed about 2400 feet of trail, while on Monday we only did 800 feet, the goal is 1800 feet each day, some are a little behind, but with the momentum we have been gaining, we will finish. Written By: Ben Colwell Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. During the week each morning we go over different safety tips, called safety circle. We covered a number of tips including tool safety, fire safety and other ways to keep yourself and your crew safe. We also learned how to properly use tools and build trails. Since this is our first week we have learned a ton of new rules and set-ups. The crew as a whole is still working on mastering any and all rules but we are very quick and work well together. Written By: Tanner Garretson East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Grey Pickett CREW COLOR: Orange WEEK # 2 PROJECT NAME: Invasive Species NATIONAL FOREST: Adams County Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. We made multiple store stops, loading up on sugar, coffee, and bad food. Afterwards the Orange crew made its way to Ponderosa State Park where we took showers and got rid of most of the dirt on our bodies. We met up with some of the other corps members and played Frisbee. After a night of little sleep and pointless crew competition, we awake, made breakfast, and drove out to our new site. Written By: John Teinert Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? We are cleaning up Mediterranean sage in the town of Council, Idaho. We are cleaning up the Mediterranean Sage because it is an invasive species and it spreads really easy. It is a noxious weed that no one likes. When it dries it turns into a tumble weed and drops seeds everywhere. Written By: Josh Willard Wednesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. This week, The Orange Crew is removing the invasive Mediterranean Sage from the area surrounding Council Idaho. The goal is to eventually remove all of the individual noxious weeds from the area but as our crew cannot do this in our single week on this project; our goal is to beat the previous crew on site, who completed one hundred and twenty acres. We would be super stoked if we could complete one hundred and forty acres by Friday. We also strive to stay focused as the work we are doing is very boring and our minds tend to wander as do our eyes. Even with all of this, our crew’s main goal is to do the best job possible. Written By: Didier Hepker Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. This week, the orange crew learned how to remove Mediterranean Sage and how to grid an area where they are found. We learned why invasive species are harmful to the environment and animals. Mediterranean Sage is an invasive species and is poisonous to animals and to humans who try to eat it. Written By: Tyler Walsh Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. One challenge we had this week is keeping a straight for sage (Mediterranean). Another challenge we had was working with each other because we don’t bond very much in the last week. The new crew members are a little shay but they are good crew members. We accomplished by working together to be better to make a better community. Written By: Marcus Alves East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Grey Pickett CREW COLOR: Orange WEEK # 3 PROJECT NAME: South Fork Trail Maintenance NATIONAL FOREST: Payette National Forest RANGER DISTRICT: Krassel Ranger District Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. At the weekend site both Orange and Red Crew split up and mingled for the Rec trips. One group went to the historical town of Roseberry outside Donnelly, and then explored a Farmer’s Market and British car show in McCall. The other group took a store stop, and then went to Ponderosa State Park for Frisbee. After the Rec trips, both groups reconvened at the weekend site in time for parent weekend. Written By: Connor Grant Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? This week the Orange crew is in the Payette National Forrest working on a 6.5 mile trail where red crew spent the last two weeks working on the same trail. Why we are here is because the trail is in bad need of repairs mainly because bikers and pack mules use the trail. Yesterday on our first day back on train we did 1800 feet in length which was cool! Written By: Tyler Walsh Wednesday – Describe your Crew’s goals for the week. Our crew’s goal is to finish a section of trail by smoothing it out, making a hinge and leveling out the trail to a zero percent grade, ultimately making a trail as pleasing to the eye and easy on the books that one would sell his own grandmother just for the privilege of walking on it. A goal that is slightly easier to measure would be 1200 feet per day, with some successful rock projects along the way. We’ve also set some smaller goals, like having 30 minutes or less in the morning from when we wake up to when we’re on the clock. This is not really as much of a goal as it is an expectation. Written By: John Teinert Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. The newest crew members Josh and Connor learned how to dig trail. We all learned how to write resumes. We also learned about rock structures, how to make perfect cut banks, hinges and how to level tread. We learned how to restore trail. We also learned about Marcus’s life. Written By: Josh Willard Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. This week and next, Orange crew is back country on the south fork of the Salmon River. The country is very beautiful, but contains many dangers. The land is infested with snakes, many of them dangerous and the water is swift. We see rafters almost daily; we aren’t completely cut off from other people. The trail we are working is made of granite soil, and was worked last year by an NYC crew, and more was done this year by Red crew. We have just reached the point where the NYC crew ended last year. This makes the going fast and easy, giving us hope for a finish in the next few days. Written By: Didier Hepker East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Grey Pickett CREW COLOR: Orange WEEK # 4 Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. This weekend, since Orange crew is back country, we had a day off on Saturday. We did a few seeds, and then listened to Josh’s personal history. After late morning, and an early night on Saturday, we got up at the usual 5:30am Sunday Morning. Packed up and moved camp 2 miles upriver to provide much easier access to the worksite. After separating personal gear from crew gear, we covered the backpacks with tarps, than went to the worksite for a rainy four hour day. Written By: Didier Hepker Tuesday – The knowledge that this is our second to last week looms over us all. There is much talk of graduation and “what are your plans with the money?” While it is comforting to look ahead to such things, we must be focused on the project. We are closer to the end of the session but it should not take us off task. Written By: John Teinert Wednesday – Patriotism galore for Orange crew today, as it is the 4th of July! After a hard day’s work with interwoven patriotic conversation and interjection, we Americans have settled in on a scenic sandy flat just by the river. We are like the pioneers who founded this great country. Through adversity and sore feet we press on, nay, we conquer on, plunging into the beautiful wilderness of the Payette National Forest. As our expedition nears completion, we reflect with prideful eyes on the work completed. What lies ahead? Few know, but it matters not, for the conviction of the great American eagle soars in our hearts. We draw strength and resolve for the knowledge that we live in the greatest country on earth. Long live the red, white and blue! Written By: Nick Orr Thursday – These last two weeks my crew has made a lot of memories. I had a great time hiking in. It was a very good challenge for all my crew members. The crew built about 3 miles of hard trail. We moved camp on Sunday and we all loved our new location by the river. John took his guitar back to where we stayed and that made a great time. Our crew saw a rattle snake; we had to back off for a couple minutes. On the hike out my crew was fast and strong about everything. We got back to the rig and enjoyed all the great food. We then went to bed and now we’re having fun. Written By: Skyler Freeman Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. During our 2 weeks on the South Fork Salmon River Trail, we worked to improve the cut bank and tread. One of the most major problems we faced was a collapsing section of the trail near a waterfall. We needed to collect rocks to build a wall to support the trail. We also had a problem with a gravel fall we were forced to climb the hill and pull gravel down and use it to fill the trail after finishing. We had to put cribbing along the bottom of the trail to keep the gravel from falling. During the entire two week protect, We completed, brushing and tread, about 2.89 mile of trail. Written By: Ben Colwell East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Grey Pickett CREW COLOR: Orange WEEK # 5 PROJECT NAME: Jack Knife Trail NATIONAL FOREST: Caribou National Forest Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. Since both Blue and Orange Crew leaders were both on their day off the two Rec trips had to go out separately. The trips consisted of a store stop and a trip to the beach. After the Rec trips we held the crew Olympics, which included events such as the hold 5-gallon relay and time &planting. Orange crew ended up winning every event of the Olympics. Written By: Connor Grant Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? We are digging a primitive trail on the Idaho-Wyoming border. This trail hasn’t been touched 1988, and is needed by Basque and Peruvian Sheep herders, horse riders, and hunters. We plan to make passage easier. We are doing mostly brushing and mostly just seeing where the trail goes. Written By: Didier Hepker Wednesday – Finish the project. We finished our final full work day today. The end is in our sights, and we all feel it beckoning us to its welcoming arms. We are maintaining a state of awareness while also keeping our eyes on the fire. We know that land cell phones and mattresses and easy accessible sugar is very close, only just out of our grasp. Yet we know that we will miss each other as well, and the past month we have become very close. Written By: John Teinert Thursday – Desolate, and beautiful Trees whisper in the morning Giving praise to the sunrise Silence Leather gloves, leather boots Cracking as I amble to Breakfast The scent of Jasmine in the air The sheep calls The dew falls On a moment in time, his moment Work awaits Written By: Nicholas Orr Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. Trying to get the project done in 3 days and 3 hours but we got done in 3 days 8 hours. We also drove for 5 hours Thursday and we are going to finish the trip on Friday. We finished the trail which is cool and finally got the whole session. Written By: Unknown My Most Challenging Day at NYC Was… Probably when we started that first day, the thought that this was going to last a month was hard on me. Written By: John Teinert Hiking out of the back country site @ Payette National Forest, my toes were killing me! Written By: Nick Orr Hiking out from backcountry for two weeks. Written By: Skyler Hiking out of the worksite on the first day of work. Written By: Ben Colwell First day! Everyone else had a week’s experience under their belts and I was starting new. It was a little overwhelming. Written By: Connor Grant Leaving the Payette National Forest; my feet felt like they were on fire. Written By: Tyler Walsh I didn’t have a challenging day. Written By: Marcus From Now On I Will Always… Do what need to be done first, and then later slack off. Written By: John Teinert Appreciate small beauties in life and strive to get outside as much as possible. Written By: Nick Orr Be more out there, help when it’s needed. Written By: Skyler Push myself to do things fast and well. Written By: Ben Colwell Work harder, be faster, and live stronger. Written By: Connor Grant Push past pain. Written By: Tyler Walsh Work hard to get things done. Written By: Marcus One Thing I Will Always Remember: I met and became good friends with a lot of people I never would have met without NYC. Written By: John Teinert Friends that I made here. Written By: Nick Orr Everything that happened during NYC. Written By: Skyler All of my experiences during Youth corps. Written By: Ben Colwell Everything… just the whole experience is so memorable. Written By: Connor Grant All the new friends that I made. Written By: Tyler Walsh Is meeting the whole crew. Written By: Marcus At NYC I Learned… Describe 3 things you learned from your NYC Experience. How to encourage others, appreciate the simple tasks, and how to forget time. Written By: John Teinert Knots, cooking skills, how to dig tread. Written By: Nick Orr Leadership skills, working skills, be active. Written By: Skyler How to dig trail, How to enjoy the little things, and how to work harder. Written By: Ben Colwell Work Hard, appreciate simplicity, and the fact that time is arbitrary. Written By: Connor Grant Pain is to be ignored, knots, and to work harder. Written By: Tyler Walsh To work hard to get things done. Written By: Marcus My Three Favorite NYC Experiences Were… Olympics! Everyone was in a great mood and we all felt closer afterwards. Swading the second week with Orange crew and the rec trip to the McCall waterfront. Written By: John Teinert Hanging w/ everyone on the beach on the 4th of July, first day of work where I learned so much, hiking into the back country. Written By: Nick Orr Enjoying the beautiful views in the backcountry talking to a lot of good people and friends, and making a rock wall in the backcountry. Written By: Skyler Meeting so many new people, learning all about the places we’re working in and everyone’s strong laughing. Written By: Ben Colwell Meeting the crew, Independence Day, and crew Olympics. Written By: Connor Grant Olympics, learning about tread and seeing new parts of Idaho. Written By: Tyler Walsh Seeing more of Idaho, crew Olympics, and meeting the crew members and leader. Written By: Marcus East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Don Yarbrough “Thor” CREW COLOR: Blue WEEK # 1 PROJECT NAME: Adams County Weeds 2012 Employer: Adams County Weed Management Sunday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. This weekend we had orientation. We discussed what we would be doing over the next five weeks and safety precautions we could take. We broke into four groups where we rotated and talked about life at NYC (tents, tools, safety procedures, etc.) We met with a stranger and interviewed them and presented to the group. Then we played a fun game called birdie on a perch. Next we got back into a circle and discussed the main reasons of why we came here. The next day we were assigned to our crews and got packed and ready to go. When we arrived at our campsite we set up camp and got everything prepared for the week. Then we played a game and had Seed for 2 ½ hours, where we wrote our crew contract, now we are doing our chores. Shortly we will go to bed and begin our working lives at NYC! Written By: Levi Monday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? I’m in Idaho. I’m pulling foreign shrub-like weeds called Mediterranean Sage. It’s extremely hot out; the sun is cooking us. I plan on being here the whole time, but right now is really really hard because I am homesick. I’m looking forward to the next project because the work is boring. Being here opens my eyes to how close I am to my folks. The group seems to be getting along well. Our first day of work went well because everybody got along and the work was easy…Except the heat! Its crazy that week 1 is already nearing being done and I’m looking forward to week 5. Written By: Colter Norris Tuesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. The sound of light rain on the tent made me apprehensive about getting out of bed this morning. But it stopped, thankfully, and turned into a beautiful, if warm day. We were slightly late, so our punctual leader declared our punishment to be many, many pushups. Pushups, hiking up a giant hill, up and down, up and down, drinking water, gallons it seemed, was our whole day. It was a good day, working hard feels great, especially when you’re not sneezing. The view was spectacular, the conversation enlightening and the food delicious. After a chilly dip in the creek and a game I’m ready to eat sleep and conquer tomorrow. Written By: Pixie Wednesday – Describe what your crew learned this week. I think it would be appropriate to say that our crew in the first few days we’ve been together has learned how to be very efficient, between being rushed out of our camp at like 6:00pm driving to the ranger station (information center) and waiting out a thunder storm then driving back and setting our camp again so we could work the next morning and having fantastic team mates and fearless leaders I can say that I haven’t had a crew like this before. Written By: Kali Campbell Thursday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. But it could have been, would have been worse than we could ever know. Today was the definition of the sound of silence. As we lined up from point A to point B, taking the path of least resistance, thunder roared (aka Don “Thor” boisterously kept us in line with his mighty voice) In case nobody picked up on it, we did a lot of singing today. Dinner is about to cut me off, but it’s ok; because I am so temped by this food (Magical Food!) Written By: Bernard East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Don Yarbrough “Thor” CREW COLOR: Blue WEEK # 2 PROJECT NAME: Pike Creek Trail Rehab Employer: Burns BLM Monday- Describe what your crew did this weekend. Well we left our site to go to the weekend site. When we got to McCall it was pretty late. So we helped w/ putting up camp. Saturday we went on rec trips. ☺ We even had a snowball fight. Then got ready for our next site; we had a long ride to Oregon. When we got there we set up camp in this desert like ghetto place which was really windy, and now were sitting here chillin and eating. Written By: Unknown Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? Well week 1 flew by quickly, now here we are week 2 almost half way done already. We started off the week with a very hard bag toting hike thru a desert canyon, this week is going by very fast, and I’m sure next week will go by even quicker. I think it’s safe to say we all wanna go home and be with the people that matter most. The people we love. This work is way better than pulling Med Sage. Written By: Colter Norris Wednesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. When we started this week we quibbled with each other. But on day 3, of the project we have grown together, also our work goes onward steadily, our squabbling at each other has gone down and we all hope to grow from this experience both mentally and physically. I hope that by the end of this week, we are gonna be able to work and not shout at each other. Written By: Unknown Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. This week we learned how to create some hella good trail in the Pike Creek Draw; everything from bashing the earth, to wailing away at sage brush. The progress our whole crew has made surprises me so much. This job has Med-sage beat in everything from the work we do, to the feeling of success I get at the end of the day. Written By: Justin Graves Friday – Describe you crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. Being on a 2 week back country trip sucks only because there is no shower to look forward to on Friday. But the gorgeous work place makes up for the matted hair and stench wafting from the boy’s tent. Then the hike down to the bus was phenomenal. What are men compared to rocks and trees? We then had an amazing adventure in the desert and running around like lunatics. Camping under the stars with a sweet fresh wind brushing my face while snuggled contentedly in my sleeping bag with Derf the pillow pet made for a lovely sleep. In all, Friday was good because the work was fulfilling, the friend’s funny, and the view unreal. Written By: Pixie East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Don Yarbrough “Thor” CREW COLOR: Blue WEEK # 3 PROJECT NAME: Pike Creek Trail Rehab Employer: Burns BLM Sunday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. We worked a 9 then after that we hiked out. We went to fields and ate milkshakes from heaven and breakfast. We slept under the stars and Thor read to us then we hiked to our site in amazing time. Then we chilled and now we are eating. Written By: Unknown Monday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? This week we are cutting trail in the most beautiful canyon ever. The job site is the same as last week. We are cutting this trail in hopes of preserving the natural beauty of the Pike creek Draw Written By: Justin Graves Tuesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. Our crew’s goal this week is to finish up a reroute on the Oregon Steens Mountain National trail. We are currently knocking it out like a pro and when we finish that we will be moving on to another trail that is near our original camp so that’s our goals… Written By Kali Campbell Wednesday – Describe what your crew learned this week. Do you ever wonder if ants get tired or if their little ant legs get tired scampering up rocks? Ants are quite a bit like corps members. They get up and work and don’t stop and go” Why the heck am I dragging around the big dead grass hopper again?” They just work off the basic instinct that if they don’t the colony will be a bit worse off. We know that if we don’t work, we will be a bit worse off. (a.k.a. we will get fired and have no money) So, in the grand scheme of things I suppose that if we are like ants, and ants are smaller than even my smallest toe and rocks are mountains to them. And we are so much smaller that the planet, stars, the universe. Than it doesn’t really matter that much that I didn’t get any mail. Written By: Lisa “Bernard” Garrard Thursday - Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. Well we are kicking some serious trail. We also did a lot of QC but I personally love you all and I think you all are doing great and now we are eating. Written By: Quincy Hurley East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Don Yarbrough “Thor” CREW COLOR: Blue WEEK # 4 PROJECT NAME: Dog Daze Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. Mandy is in denial about life. In her mind, she woke up in a bed, went for coffee, and didn’t see any weeds all day. In reality she woke up at 4:45am, ate an everything bagel with everything on it, and spent the next ten hours looking at weeds. Meanwhile, Don insisted that “retaliation” is spelt with an “I” like “Ritaliation”. Also, Cody Kodiak bear face tried to feed everyone the horrible- horse- poison –death- plant that kills unicorns and babies. Don had a “case of the Mondays” The End… Written By: Lisa, Mandi, and Levi Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? Today we continued our forward attack on the hounds-tongue. We continued to play unfair work games such as “Contact”, “Pogo” and “4 is the magic number”. Don seems to enjoy giving us some of the hardest words ever in contact. I feel like today was a better day than yesterday and that we really got some work done. Written By: Justin Graves Wednesday – Describe you crew’s goals for the week. Our goal for this week is to rip up some hounds tongue! Which personally I think we are doing awesome at doing so! Especially today, I was dubbed water fairy today, and forced people to drink which made most people more aware and less irritated with each other, which is fantastic! We barely missed any! Winning! So happy! ☺ Written By: Kali Campbell Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. This week we learned that Don cheats hardcore and doesn’t play well w/ others. Also that he looks like a Pez dispenser and can’t spell. We learned that we don’t need family and fireworks to enjoy the 4th. I think that from now on we will keep a better eye on our dinner so that for the next week we don’t have to eat food that tastes like Apollo’s calluses covered in mustard. But most of all we retained that Grey Pickett is a week Man! Written By: Lisa “Bernard” Garrard Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. This week was very interesting. We looked at the ground ever so slowly, serving Unicorns. A lot of us were getting anxious for the 5th week. I believe we had an overall good week. Potatoes sound good☺. Written By: Unknown East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Don Yarbrough “Thor” CREW COLOR: Blue WEEK # 5 PROJECT NAME: Boundary Cr. Trail Maintenance NATIONAL FOREST: Payette National Forest RANGER DISTRICT: Weiser Sunday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. In the beginning Don said the hike shall be in miles and there shalt be seven of them. He also shortly stated that the drive shall also be seven hours. Don has a thing for seven on this day; which is, ironically, the 8th. The drive was at most, 2 hours. The hike, approximately ½ a mile. We welcome Garrett the strong today and say farewell to Allison the spoon. Cody the bear face chills ant the Don never leaves. Written By: Lisa “Bernard” Garrard Monday – describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? After a long 2.5 mile hike, we went on to work a full day. We worked on 2.1 miles of the trail today. Now, I am sitting eating Nutella, just took a drink of soy sauce to get salt back in me. I am still slightly exhausted. Over all, we brushed a strong amount of trail. Written By: Justin Graves Tuesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. Well, this week started out great. We brushed 2.1 miles of trail on Monday out of a 2.4 mile trail. Today we treaded 1.2 miles. Go Team! Our goal for the week is that by the end of tomorrow that we finish the other 1.2 miles left. But I think what’s really driving us on is the idea of using a cross cut. Oh Yeah! “Go Blue crew” How r you doing? Written By: Unknown Wednesday – Describe what your crew learned this week. There’s something special about working in the woods, about living with and loving complete strangers for 5 weeks. When I think about my time here, with my first crew, I wonder what course my life may have taken, or their lives, if not for meeting each other. We’ve all made an impact on each other whether we realize it or not. I’m greedy for more time with them! I don’t want to leave this group of people who’ve become family. From the opera singing crew leader to the buffest boys and most cool girls (not to mention the coolest rovers ever!) We’re the most epic crew in the whole universe. Written By: Pixie Thursday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. This last week felt like a day. It went fast but was way fun. Trail works the best and this was the best last week I could’ve hoped for, we accomplished so much! We did 2.4 miles of trail and brushing done in 3 days. I love may crew, we have rough points but everything always worked out. I’m going to miss all of them so much. Written By: Mandy Welty My Most Challenging Day at NYC Was… Probably crew Olympics day, both of my feet were cracked open and bleeding on the bottom, I was in a horrible mood. Written By: Lisa “Bernard” Garrard The most challenging day was after I talked to my parents after the Steens. I wanted to go home very bad. Written By: Justin Graves Parents visit, Saturday. They brought my little brother. I miss him so much. Written By: Mandy Welty My most challenging day while doing NYC is thinking about going home. I don’t want to go back. Written By: Steven Robeson The most challenging day of NYC for me was either the day I showed up I always knew someone here but not this year I felt so lonely… or first day of last week it was so hot and going uphill with water I could barely breathe… Written By: Kali Campbell The most challenging day at NYC is when a crew member left cuz it brought back tons of memories and it was really difficult. Written By: Quincy Hurley Hiking up the mountain on the Steens project, first day. Every step felt like it would be my last. Written By: Pixie First Day… I didn’t know what to expect. Written By: Levi My Three Favorite NYC Experiences Were… Enchi-pie, getting a ridge from Patty, and Daily spit-offs. Written By: Lisa “Bernard” Garrard Great bus rides, interesting week old Enchi-pie, great leaders help. Written By: Justin Graves Trail work in Payette National Forest, bus rides, personal histories of my crew members. Written By: Mandy Welty Busting 2.4 miles of trail in 3 days, telling jokes, making new friends. Written By: Steven Robeson Thinking things that were completely not funny were hilarious and everyone screaming down the trail persuading me to keep going while laughing my face off. Written By: Kali Campbell 1. Meeting all these great people 2. Wonderful Rovers! 3. Everything w/ NYC. Written By: Quincy Hurley 1. Don and I spitting. Especially when he spit/drooled all over his beard! 2. When it snowed during 3rd week. 3. Getting Don’s honest opinion about me. (Evals) Written By: Unknown Traveling, learning skills, being more self-efficient. Written By: Levi At NYC I learned… Describe 3 things you learned from your NYC Experience. Never Fill the Dutchy, Quincy will do anything for $5.00, Ok, I’m going to pogo. Written By: Lisa “Bernard” Garrard Great work ethic, work well with others, overcome challenges. Written By: Justin Graves 4 is the magic number, work hard, I can carry a back pack bigger than I am. Written By: Mandy Welty 4 is the magic number, how to build a good switch back, how to get up and work 3, 10 hour days. Written By: Steven Robeson I learned that east is hecka more hard core than south. Written By: Kali Learned about trail, about myself more, more environmental. Written By: Quincy Hurley 1. That I roll my eyes a lot. 2. I love hard work, especially when everyone else is doing it to. 3. That there’s different forms of leadership Written By: Pixie There a lot of cool people in this world. Written By: Levi One Thing I Will Always Remember: I want a brass grubber! Written By Justin Graves Cody walking up to a super tall weed and started shaking it saying “shut up! Shut up!” “why Cody?” Cody – just like a baby… JUST KIDDING!!! Written By: Mandy Welty Some of the site’s we seen. Written By: Steven Robeson Pushing myself harder than I ever have. Written By: Kali The People! Written By: Quincy Hurley Getting letters and care packages, that was amazing, especially getting pictures in them. Written By: Pixie My new friends. Written By: Levi From Now On I Will Always… Shut up Don. Written By: Lisa “Bernard” Garrard Judge trail as I walk it. Written By: Justin graves Avoid PB&J sandwiches. Written By: Mandy Welty Work Hard. Written By: Steven Robeson Cherish the time that I have with people. Written By: Kali Leave no trace! Written By: Quincy Hurley Listen to much more diverse music! ☺ Written By: Pixie Become closer to family. Written By: Levi East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Claire Abidog CREW COLOR: Yellow WEEK # 1 PROJECT NAME: Noxious Weed Pulling NATIONAL FOREST: Ochoco National Forest RANGER DISTRICT: Lookout Mountain Rd Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend Well, today we went on an 8 hour drive to somewhere in Oregon and me and Ty dug the latrine when we got here. We worked on that until free time. I played guitar while others played cards. Camp set up was fast and efficient. We got to a safety analysis from our contact and went over it before everyone got into chores. Written By: Tim Cowan Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? Today war was declared on hounds tongue. The hounds tongue is a noxious weed that travels on the bodies of cattle. It is an elusive foe and most cunning. The week takes a similar form to the form of natural plants, making it hard to root out. Despite the formability of Hounds tongue, yellow crew prevails pushing back the infestation and saving ponies everywhere. Written By; Anna Ward Wednesday - Describe your crew’s goals for the week. This week yellow crews goals are to be safe, get to know our crewmates and help our contact Lori in the removal of hounds tongue in order to protect the horses and elk from eating it while they graze. Also we have made it a goal to impress our contact by getting through each work site assigned to us done faster and more efficiently. Written By: Mykeal Moats Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. Day 3: Hound’s Tongue Apocalypse The sun beats down upon us as a great flaming tyrant. Great casualties were suffered on the water and hound force’s sides. Our lessons must be learned quickly in the face of the oncoming hordes. We, the yellow knights, learn to value our provisions. Without water there can be no war. Skill with tools is valued highly: we learn to lay waste to our foes with cruel efficiency. Heavy crossfire is often inflicted upon the innocent townsfolk these devils hide amongst. None under value the importance of the knowledge needed to smite only the ranks of evil. Their blood is on our hands. We hope only to survive our next encounter. Written By: Paul Cantrell Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. Our “Destiny” has been set out to annihilate the Hounds Tongue to save what’s left of the Oregonian Horses. This week we have had four people get stung by bees during our vengeance on the hounds tongue. Today’s battle was the gods sent out a ginormous killer bee to use the element of surprise by stinging Ryan the fabulous our great brother in battle. Tomorrow we are going to be in a hurry to destroy the rest of the hounds tongue and wrap up the rest of our base to head back to our headquarters. Written By: Ainslee Mcintyre East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Claire Abidog CREW COLOR: Yellow WEEK # 2 PROJECT NAME: Jackknife Creek Trail Rehabilitation NATIONAL FOREST: USFS Caribou- Targhee National Forest RANGER DISTRICT: Soda Springs/ Montpelier Ranger District Monday – describe what your crew did this weekend. After our fantastic, into the dead of night drive, the mighty, mighty yellow crew got to catch some “Z’s”. We then had a day off in which we went to the beach! We didn’t swim however, we “water recreated” and played with the wildcats, Frisbee that is. The day went so fantastic it blew my mind! The rest was well needed because Sunday morning we drove 12 amazing hours to the middle of nowhere; Wyoming to start our next project. The first night was pretty exciting. We had a gopher crawl into our tent scaring me half to death and causing me to punch my Middleton buddy waking him from his slumber. Written By: Ryan Hoyt Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? This week yellow crew is 5 miles from the Wyoming border. It’s so close you can see it. We will have a wonderful week filled with learning trail skills and fighting off evil trail gnomes. Through the dehydration and heat we will learn to blaze sexy trail across this great land of (almost) Wyoming. Written By: Tanner Graham Wednesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. Today on the Wyoming/Idaho border we fight for territory vigorously smashing our way through the dangers of the Bald Mountain Trail to please our contact. Thirst is subtle due to our stretches of hydration. This trail seems impeccable but not to the forces of the yellow submarines. With the help from Claire goddess of trails and Pamela goddess of control this trails time is running thin. Written By: Micheal Simmons Thursday - Describe what your crew learned this week. Today we courageously fought off the cowardly Wyoming/Idahoan Minerals and the malicious sage! Like true Viking warriors! They are currently beating a hasty retreat to their petty set up they call their “homeland”. As we rest our true Viking warrior muscles and eats a super Viking dinner. Our wyomidahian soil they know little of how much their puny, petty, pathetic, little existence is coming to be extinguished by our mighty, mighty, yellow Viking tools to make way for your tremendously overpowering trail. Written By: Ty Smith Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. Once upon a time there were 11 dwarves with the beautiful snow Claire. While the 12 of them rested in the valley below the evil trail queen devices a plot for above. The 12 came along way since the beginning of the era. The evil queen has sent out difficult obstacles such as the bushes of never more, the army of skeeters, and the orb of fire. Luckily, poison apples have not arrived yet. This week we have become greater friends due to our retribution of words. Our brave dwarves and snow Claire now suffer from the effects of the mighty bleach dragon. To be continued. Written By: Micheal and Destiny East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Claire Abidog CREW COLOR: Yellow WEEK # 3 PROJECT NAME: Jackknife Creek Trail Rehabilitation NATIONAL FOREST: USFS Caribou- Targhee National Forest RANGER DISTRICT: Soda Springs/ Montpelier Ranger District Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. The yellow crew, injured by their exhausting battle against the forces of nature, traveled home Friday night. The next day became a time of restoration for our troubled forces. After this, the yellow crew awakened this morning with a new found strength. Our battlements advanced to the trail faster than ever. The fight was long and hard. The enemy was strong and left us with a few injuries consisting of lethal Bee venom and wrist injury, yet successfully the yellow crew advanced the trail. Written By: Tim Cowan Wednesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. The past two days have been challenging. Almost done with the trail, we strive to get through all the weeds and stumps in our way. Our goal is to finish this trail by tomorrow and show Desi we are better than we lead on. Despite our ignorance our trail is turning out great and for that we shall be proud of ourselves and of each other. We have all been sick and have had allergies since we got to the Wyoming/Idaho but we haven’t let that get us down. We are strong. We are stubborn, we are hard-working, and we keep it real and are yellow crew. All for one & one for all! Written By: Ainslee Mcintyre Thursday – describe what your crew learned this week. This morning we woke up on time like true Viking warriors. Throughout the workday the yellow Viking warriors destroyed Wyomadaho soil to make tread. Yesterday the mighty yellow Vikings expanded their Viking warrior like craniums. Our Viking like teachers were Mykeal (Helga) and Anna (aka Anna) Because Anna is already so awesome. Written By: Ty Smith East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Claire Abidog CREW COLOR: Yellow WEEK # 4 PROJECT NAME: Porphyry Trail Rehabilitation NATIONAL FOREST: Payette RANGER DISTRICT: Krassel Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. This weekend yellow crew was by themselves at the weekend site. We got to hang out with LDP 4 in Idaho City. It was pretty great. Written By: Tanner Graham Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? This week and next week we are working the Porphyry trail. We will be brushing, lopping, doing rock work, and making tread. We have 5 miles of trail to perfect; all of it switchback. The trail is in one of Idaho’s most beautiful landscapes the Payette National Wilderness. It’s gorgeous! The hike in to where we are camping is about 4 miles all completely flat. Tim who owns a farm near the trail head has offered to pack in some of our gear for us. Yes! Written By: Anna Ward Wednesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. Out in the outback of Payette National Forest, the energetic yellow crew is heading off to destroy the mighty vegetation over lord and take out his evil rocky minions. We must keep drinking our energy juice to stay strong and defeat the veggie monster. The delicious berries are tempting to us all but we won’t be defeated that easily for we know what power they possess. Written By: Ryan Hoyt Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. In the continuous fight against the evil trail queen; fighting off her minions the boulders of treachery and the despicable hedges of the central corridor as we have learned the power of inslope to conquer the dangers set upon us. Porphyry trail shall be the final test for the 11 dwarves and snow Clair to truly earn the evil queens respect. Written By: Micheal Simmons Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. The hike to our campsite was 9 miles but took us 6 hours to get here. We started LOD’s this week and as far as work goes we have gotten really far, it’s coming along pretty well. Can’t say we have worked 9 hours a day like we have the past few days. There have been a few rocks in our way but with all the hiking our legs and arms have gotten pretty strong! Our challenges get defeated with every lop, chop, and scrape. Yellow crew is doing our best to make this trail worth the hike or ride. 3 people have fallen but none have been hurt so that’s great. Graduation is next weekend so we get to show off all our muscles. As tired as we all are we make the day pass. Written By: AJM East 1 2012 CREWLEADER: Claire Abidog CREW COLOR: Yellow WEEK # 5 PROJECT NAME: Porphyry Trail Rehabilitation NATIONAL FOREST: Payette RANGER DISTRICT: Krassel Monday – Describe what your crew did this weekend. This past weekend yellow crew had their day off backcountry. Three strong souls hiked out to get items forgotten. The rest of the crew stayed at camp and had an entire day of p-time. The path to the rig was shrouded in mystery with a possible rattlesnake attack at any curve; yet spirits were high. Written By: Tanner Graham Tuesday – Describe your project this week: Where are you? What are you doing? Why? Currently we are in the Payette National forest rebuilding trail and making it beautiful. Today went by pretty slow and we had a few problems that we had to face. These events were quite dramatic but we weathered the storm… both literally and metaphorically, like true Viking warriors! Written By: Ty Smith Wednesday – Describe your crew’s goals for the week. Our crew’s goal is to try and conquer 6 miles which we may not conquer. But we shall try as hard as we can and also get as far. We have to fight the heat and to keep hydrated. The week is almost done and we got really far and we are working faster than the first trail. Written By: DM Thursday – Describe what your crew learned this week. The biggest lesson our crew learned this week while digging exquisite trail was respect. Respect for ourselves and most importantly our crew mates. After experiencing a long day that was filled with insults, gossip and hatred brought on by exit mentality of our whole crew a storm came just in time to give us all a chance to reflect upon our actions and put new standards towards the future. Written By: Mykeal Moats Friday – Describe your crew’s challenges and accomplishments this week. Our crew successfully hiked out 4 miles one hour less than when we hiked in. We beat out the evil powers of the dehydration monster and stayed perfectly healthy. We managed to pack/unpack everything quickly to get on the road the same day (Thursday). We, the yellow crew, slept in Donnelly and ate an amazing dinner. On our way to Weiser, we saw blue crew and had an amazing lunch in Council. Big clean here we come! Written By: Ryan Hoyt From Now On I Will Always… Realize the inevitability of a worse alternative and appreciate life. Written By: P.C. I will always pay attention to my actions, and try to humble myself a lot more. Written By: T.C. Work to my fullest potential no matter the circumstance. Written By: R.H. I will always work to my full potential. Written By: T.G. From now on I will work harder. Written By: D.M. I will always think about how my actions will affect others before I do. I will push myself to my limits and work to my full potential. Written By: A.M. Push and challenge myself in all that I do. Written By: M.M. I will always push myself to the limit and watch my actions. Written By: M.S. I will always be more aware of the environment. Written By: T.S. I will try to get in a way that prevents regrets. Written By: A.W. One Thing I Will Always Remember: The feeling of intense pain acquired by exertion while exhausted. Written By: P.C. The way I was able to look at life from a different angle which changed the way I think about a lot of things. Written By: T.C. Hard work will not kill me! Written By: R.H. I will always remember to cherish the grubber and treat it as a god. Written By: T.G. One thing I will remember is how funny my crew was. Written By: D.M. The way we all got along, we all sang together, all the funny things and the way we all worked together. Written By: A.M. My crew and all our good times. Written By: M.M The effort and dedication put towards the job and a safer environment. Written By: M.S. I will always remember the skills I learned from NYC! Written By: T.S. The mind holds more power than the body with it you can overcome exhaustion, pain, anger, etc.… Written By: A.W. My Most Challenging Day at NYC Was… During the final hike out I spent some time contemplating things I would rather do. Written By: P.C. After making a stupid decision the prior night, it made the day very challenging. Written By: T.C. The 4 mile hike killed me! R.H. Trying to find a peaceful medium between myself and the crew. Written By: T.G. The 4 mile hike. Written By: D.M. After making a decision that put my whole crew in a bad place and getting on everyone’s nerves. Also the 4 mile hike into back country. Written By: A.M. Our first 4 mile hike into back country. Written By: M.M. Everyday probably due to new challenges set forth to me. Specifically probably my L.O.D. or even the 4 mile hike. Written By: M.S. My most challenging day at NYC was when we hiked 4 miles into the backcountry. Written By: T.S. My most challenging day was at the beginning of the fifth week there was a lot of gossip going around. None of it that I know of was about me but it put me in an uncomfortable situation hearing it made me angry I was afraid to say something; which just made me angry at myself. That day I was at a mental low point. Written By: A.W. At NYC I Learned… I learned that it is possible to get along with practically anyone, get along with practically any food, and live when you feel like dying. Written By: P.C. I learned many useful survival skills and camp skills. Also the importance of unity in a team. Written By: T.C. Respect, Teamwork and Patience! Written By: R.H. To respect my crew, leadership, and integrity needed to save ponies. Written By: T.G. I learned how strong I am. Written By: D.M. I learned how to kill deadly plants, save horses, leadership skills, integrity, and faith. Also how to build trail and confidence in myself. Written By: A.M. I learned skills I will have forever; how much I can handle. Written By: M.M Great Trail skills, how to build myself mentally and physically. Written By: M.S I learned how to leave no trace, tie a few knots and integrity. Written By: T.S. I learned that limits are created by us. That respect is one of the most important things you can have and that some things are necessary and should just be accepted. Written By: A.W My Three Favorite NYC Experiences Were… Finishing our final hike out with carriage of gear equal to my weight. Listening to the deranged ravings of Tim and Ty’s dehydrated minds on one hike after work. Discussing the infinite probability that our universe is virtual based on computational limits while deliriously hiking. Written By: P.C It was awesome to build trail in awesome scenic places. It was awesome to look at like from another angle, and it was awesome to learn everything I did. Written By: T.C Getting Stung in Prineville, work can be fun, and meeting Claire, Garret and Allison. Written By: R.H Hiking through the Payette, getting to know my crew leaders, challenging myself. Written By: T.G. Getting to know crew members, working, and the singing. Written By: D.M Building trail, laughing and singing with my crew and building character. ☺ Written By: A.M Working on our trail on top of the mountain, singing with the crew on bus rides, 4 mile hike. Written By: M.M Working by best, socializing with a new crowd, seeing the great things the world has to offer. Written By: M.S My favorite 3 experiences at NYC was I when I learned predator and prey, hiked out on Thursday, and my first weekend site. Written By: T.S My 3 favorite experiences at NYC were competing Pamella doing trail. Despite losing I felt for once I was satisfied with my work. The first hike in with a full five gallon, the first one made me realize that boundaries are more evident outside ourselves. My third favorite experience was the whole 4th week despite all the difficulties everyone started to let go and be themselves. Written By: A.W.