March 31, 2011

Today is Thursday!
So far I've had a pretty exciting week! But before I tell you about that let me share a little bit about the weekend that came before it. You see, last week I was stuck in a cubicle working on reporting. So Chris (my roomate) and I busted out on Friday afternoon and headed south on 15. Our first stop was a really good Mexican restaurant in Barstow, CA called Rosita's. The decorations on the wall were kinda weird, like a Mexican version of Disney animation but with potato characters. The food on the other hand was quite good. They served a super hot sauce along side their salsa and chips in case you needed to make your appetizer a bit more exciting. Two Tecates and bean salad later we were on the road again. By the time we got to Victorville, CA it was already dark. There wasn't anything noteworthy there anyway. On to Los Angeles! I was kind of excited about seeing this famous city and all the streets that I had grown up being exposed to in movies and television. Hollywood Blvd: check. Sunset Blvd: Check. Santa Monica Blvd: Check. We didn't linger long and headed northwest of the city to Topanga State Park (yes, like the girld from Boy Meets World!). However, upon our arrival at the park which is tucked away inside of a high class subdivision, we found the gate locked and no way around the tire destroying spikes in the road. So eastbound we went to Angeles National Forest! Seems really cool right? Well, driving around a National Forest in the dark and coming upon a state prison: not so cool. After we drove around the road that meandered through the strange trees and rolling hills we found a great patch of dirt to pitch the tent. It just so happened that this patch of dirt was right next to the Forest Service Fire Station parking lot. Oh well. We were greeted Saturday morning by a raven fervently alerting every other creature in the vicinity that there was red tailed hawk in nearby. The red tailed hawk also greeted the morning with its skreeching call. It was a thrill to pull open the tent and see the forest in morning light. We were in dense forest, surrounded by bird sounds and cloaked in a fine mist. The vale of water droplets in the air briefly covered the hills, and then allowed you to glimpse them as they gently blew around. It was like being in the Smokies again. We spent most of the day wandering around the forest, taking lots of time to study the flora that seemed so foreign and other worldly. All of the time that I spent identifying plants back East was wasted on an entire different ecosystem. I didn't see a single plant that I recognized. Yet, it was intoxicating. I was entranced by the complexity of the flowers and the delicacy of the leaves. I was baffled at the scale of the trees and the rigidity of the thorns. This place was magical.
There was a hill near a stream that had eroded to expose the rock underneath. It crumbled into small pieces, as if it were held together by nothing more than will. Between the cracks succulents grew, and to amazing sizes. High up on the hill, well out of range to safely reach a crew of succulents held fast onto the vertical grade. Some of these unreal plants exceeded two feet in diameter and had multiple flower stalks.

After a full day's hike we decided to head to the ocean and finally get to sink our toes in it. Westward bound again we came to a small state beach. This park area looked as if it had been quite an amazing and popular place thirty years ago. But, today this place was rundown. Everything was locked up, the parking lots were empty, and the hobos had set up camp. There was a running trail that ran between the dunes and the parking lot that seemed to be very popular amongst bikers, runners, and walkers. However, no one seemed to linger in the park. They followed the trail in one end of the park and out the other, as if to bigger and better sights. I moseyed out onto the beach, which was covered in smooth stones that seemed to pulled straight out of a river bed and placed perfectly spaced in the soft sand. As I made my way down to the water I noticed a distinct odor: death. I glanced up and down the beach and noticed flies buzzing about me. I followed their trail and found a carcass well deteriorated right in the middle of the beach. At first glance it took on the shape of a fish, about four feet long and almost leathery with lots of large holes in it. Yet, there were bones. In fact there was a large vertebrae about the size of a dog's. Upon further inspection, sure enough, fur! This must have been a sea lion! Welcome to the Pacific, mind the carcass.

That night we cruised back to downtown LA to find the music scene I've been hearing so much about. I couldn't find the names of anything exciting on my dying Iphone, so we hit up the first bar we could find to maybe ask the local folk: So and so's Tavern or something like that. Turns out this 'tavern' served nothing but bud light and other assorted travesties so we hightailed out to the next bar, which happened to have two hundred some odd awesome handcrafted beers from around the world. Needless to say, we ended up spending too much time there 'world travelling' and found our best option was sleeping in the car.

Sunday morning was filled with hangover hilarity as Chris got to see that burrito he consumed the night before again, only this time spattered across a gas station parking lot. From there we headed back to LV with a newfound sense of accomplishment for surviving our unplanned adventure and excitement for the next one.

I was going to talk about this week though! I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow when it actually ends. Night!

March 21, 2011

Today is Monday, actually I've had the day off! Woohoo!
My roomate Chris and I decided that it would be a great use of the day to go snowboarding.

I really really needed a way to let loose and blow off some steam after a rough week. Chris and I were planning on running up to Zion National Park, but between the weather and the cost, it just didn't seem like a good idea.  So, a Monday morning after a heavy snowfall? Snowboard!
It continued to snow all day, which was awesome.
We were shrouded in a cloud of wisping snowflakes and clouds that would only allow light to cast on the surrounding mountain peaks for a few moments and quickly close the sun out again. The falling snow created this surreal, three dimensional environment, cloaking distance in a grey mist.
Learning to snowboard was actually pretty easy. It was definitely easier than everyone I've spoken to made it out to be. I learned pretty quickly (I'll leave out the stories of me tumbling down the mountain over and over again).

Catching up: March 17th

So, I realized today that I haven't been posting anything on here! Oh dear!
Well today is:
Thursday March 17, 2011.

Catching you up completely would be pretty much impossible so I'll stick to the highlights.
I've been doing Wilderness monitoring for the Forest Service, National Park Service, and BLM. So far I've been to Lovell Canyon, Wee Thump Joshua Tree, Gold Butte, Bridge Canyon, Nellis Wash, and Spirit Mountain. These places are each unique and very important to our nation for historic and natural values. Last week I attended the inagural National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance Confrence and got to speak with higher ups in the agencies, and people representing Friends groups all across the country. Overall, this is proving to be an eye opening experience.

I'll try to make more detailed reports from now on, and actually keep them up to date.
Cheers!

Backlog: Jan 19

January 19, 2011

Wednesday

So today at work I got to see a presentation of wildlife photography from the various Wilderness areas around Clark County. I also got to participate in a few of the activities that are facilitated to school kids around the county: dots on the wall, picture sort, and word pyramid. Dots on the wall consisted of 6 posters hung on the wall, each with a statement like ‘I can state 3 reasons Wilderness is important’ or ‘I believe Wilderness is worth protecting.’ Each participant gets 6 stickers and places his/her stickers on a continuum under the statement of agree to disagree. Picture sort had a series of pictures and the group was asked to place them into two categories Wilderness and non Wilderness. Word Pyramid: each participant received a sheet of paper with a pyramid on it, and a set of small pieces of paper, each having a word on it like fresh air or hunting and fishing. The participants were asked to place the more important pieces at the top of the pyramid and the less so farther down the pyramid.

We then went through an entire lecture on interpretation techniques, and even role played some methods for dealing with problem kids.

Then we spent a long time working on the menu for next week’s hike.

I had a beer, sorry this is blunt. I’m tired and don’t feel like writing.

Backlog: Jan 13

January 13, 2011

Thursday

First day of ‘WFA’ training took place in the Lovell Canyon. Overall a pretty draining day between listening to way too much information being thrown at me and just being really long. The Red Cross’ WFA training has turned into a 2 day WFR course with a limp. It is too fast and too dense to really be beneficial to anyone. There is not enough practice and too much lecture to really be retained by anyone. IT IS DANGEROUS. I did basically the same course over the course of 8 days and got to practice for long periods of time each day. This course is crap.

I miss Kat a lot. Knowing she is close, the soft sensation of her skin under my fingertips release so much serotonin in my brain that I am having severe withdrawls from not having her here everyday. It gives me a sinking, almost panic feeling when I consider doing something significant or dangerous without having that immediate sense of reassurance. I am in a constant state of stress. It takes most of my effort to keep composed and put the group first. I wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear several times today and last night. I have a lot to gain from being here but I think they would be better off without me somethimes. It is hard to sleep. Kat is my home and I want to go to her.

We spent the day sitting in a circle in what used to be a camping spot down a forest service road. It was covered in broken glass of greens a browns scattered amongst the old rifle cartridges. We were surrounded by beautiful mountains. Off in the distance was Mt. Charlston and the Mummy. Joshua and Juniper trees surrounded us as well. Those mountains are truly breathtaking.

Backlog: Jan 11

January 11^th, 2011

Tuesday

Today was the first day of ‘work.’ I started out the day waking up several time before my alarm went off because my toes were aching and numb from the cold. I was curled up on my sleeping pad in the corner of my tiny downstairs room in Northwest Las Vegas. I didn’t purchase a sleeping bag before I moved out here so I’m trying to make due with a fleece liner. Needless to say when the heater is left off and the temps get down to 29*F, the basement is frigid and I am a popsicle. -- I spent the last three days looking for an apartment and living out of a hotel room with three other guys. That got old really fast. We’re trying to keep the cost of living down by using heating and lighting minimally. – I tried to start out the morning with a hot shower to rouse my spirits, but after several minutes the water continued to be icy cold. I spent the rest of the morning huddling around a warm coffee mug, trying to take in its lifting vapors without searing my tongue and lips. A five minute walk gets me to the office, this house is in a great location. I can also walk to the grocery store and probably to goodwill too.

Most of the work day consisted of listening to Dr. John Hiatt tell the story of Wilderness, the Friends of Nevada Wilderness and lots of interesting tidbits along the way. Honestly, it was a sensory overload kind of day. I learned a lot about Clark County and some of the Wilderness areas around here. I also learned about the kind of work that I’m going to be doing in the coming months: Baseline Wilderness monitoring in areas that have NEVER been monitored by the BLM, USFS, FWS, and NPS; Raising awareness of the Wilderness areas surrounding Clark County among elementary, middle, and high school students around Las Vegas; and Restoration planning and implementation. All of these things are super exciting. I can’t wait to get out into the desert and see places that have rarely been seen, teach kids about the amazing opportunities they have around them, and to get my hands dirty and restore some illegally created ‘ways.’

We spent a little bit of time talking about some of the natural occurrences that shape Southern Nevada, especially fire. Lightning starts a lot of fires around here and I’m going to be wary of both.