So yet again it has been way too long since I've posted and now it's time for my last entry about my year in the Nevada Conservation Corps. The last time I posted was about a third of the way into the summer, and I had just found out that one of my members quit. It turned out it was just at the point in the season that it was too late to hire someone else, so I was down a member for the rest of the summer. I was sad to see her go because she was a hard worker and I liked her, but the rest of us were still able to get a lot of work done for the next few months. There were many moments of frustration along the way though, and I started to burn out faster than I thought I would, both with leading the crew and with chainsawing. Having additional responsibilities was good most of the time, and I liked being the one who got to plan out the project and make decisions, but there were times that all I wanted to do was work by myself but I couldn't always do that because of the leader duties I had. I also didn't think I would get tired of chainsawing since I went into the summer loving it so much, but the monotony of the projects we were doing and the lack of the more fun technical cutting on bigger trees made it not as fun as it could have been. I still enjoy chainsawing but I'm glad that I'm taking a break from it for a while.
So overall it was a good summer and I learned a lot and had some great experiences, but I felt like it was a good time to move on when it ended. Now I've been in Florida for about a week visiting my mom, and being back in "civilization" again, especially an area as developed as Orlando, is making me feel some culture shock. I miss the wide open spaces of the west and getting to sleep outside most of the time. Even when I was in the city out there, either Vegas or Reno, there was a finite end to the city, unlike here where the towns just all meld together into endless miles of development, and I could see mountains not very far outside the city, so I knew that not very far away was public land where open space was easily accessible to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. And it's so easy to get into a routine of rising with the sun when you sleep in a tent than when you sleep outside; it's taking me longer than I expected to adjust to eastern time because it's hard to wake up early to get myself into a new schedule. So it's taking some adjustment to get used to the east coast again, and I didn't realize how much I would miss the west and the NCC lifestyle until I left. I could definitely see myself going back out there for another job, I felt very comfortable there out in the wilderness.
And now, as promised, I'm finally posting some pictures from my summer.
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| My whole crew during orientation. |
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| Reno! |
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| Wide open spaces at our first worksite of the summer. |
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| The road up to our campsite. |
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| Sunset from the hill next to our campsite |
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| Yosemite! View of Half Dome from Cloud's Rest |
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| Yosemite Falls |
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| Half Dome |
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| Sunset over Lake Tahoe on 4th of July |
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| Lehman Caves at Great Basin National Park |
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| Hiking up Mt. Wheeler, the highest peak in Nevada, at Great Basin National Park |
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| View from the top of Mt. Wheeler |
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| Bristlecone Pine tree at Great Basin |
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| Johnson Lake at Great Basin |
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| Crater Lake! |
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| We got to swim in Crater Lake! Best swimming experience ever, even though it was cold. The water was so clear! |
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| Cool volcanic rock formations at Crater Lake |
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| Waterfall at Crater Lake |
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| More Crater Lake. The water is so blue! |
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| The view in the other direction wasn't bad either |
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| Wildfire we saw on our way back from Crater Lake |
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| My last picture of the wide open spaces of Nevada near our campsite the last week |
So now that this chapter of my life is over, I'm getting ready to move onto the next. On September 19 I'm leaving for Germany to visit my sister, and after that I'm going to travel around Europe as much as I can with the money I have saved up. I've been waiting to do this for 2 years now, and it's finally happening! I want to keep you all updated on what I'm doing there but given my lousy track record with this blog I'm not sure another blog is the way to go. Maybe I will just do email and Facebook updates. Let me know if you want to continue being updated either of those ways. Thanks for keeping up with my adventures on this blog! Also, please check out
this link to see how you can help me make my trip to Europe even more awesome!
