ATV's finally
We had an all forest work day to kick off the beginning of
the season. We didn’t get started until
late because while we were all together, management took the opportunity to get
in some mandatory training. The admin
section was responsible for the food and the rest of us were split up into two
teams. My team consisted of Recreation
(where I work), one of the fire teams and the California Conservation Corp or
C’s. If you will recall, the C’s are the
kids who tent camped next to me for a few weeks and bathed in the river. They have moved further upcountry and this is
the first time I’ve seen them. Our job
was to move some fire rings in a campground, rebuild a wooden fence, paint the
bathroom and cut down some hazard trees.
We didn’t get there till about
10:30. It took about an hour to move all
the logs and equipment a mile down the trail.
We had to use a chain saw to cut each log from the old fence, then
replace them with the new logs. Of
course by the time we got everything going, it was time to stop for lunch. We had to drive to the other work site, but
apparently no one knew where it was. We
literally spent an hour driving down horrendous back country wilderness roads
in a caravan of 3 forest service trucks and a large passenger van. We finally found the other crew and just sat
down to eat when the people we left behind to watch our equipment started
calling, where are you! We made it back
to our work site just in time to pack up the equipment and call it a day. So the only thing we actually accomplished on
the fence project was to move the new logs out there and cut down most of the
old fence. I’m not sure how many trees
got cut down and I don’t think many fire rings got moved, but the bathroom did
get painted so it wasn’t a total wasted day!
In the end, we probably actually worked less than 3 hours. But it was nice to see the kids again and I
had a good time. Of course we let the
kids do all the heavy lifting, but I did move a lot of logs and I’m tired!
I finally got to do some ATV patrol. Josh and I went out for the past 2 days. The first day we rode for about 5 hours, it
was a blast. He’s much faster than I am,
so I told him to go ahead and wait for me when he got to a turn. There are a lot of trails out there and it’s
easy to get turned around. We visited
one campground where some musket enthusiasts were shooting. Some hikers came by and the shooters told
them where they were shooting so the hikers would not get hurt. The hikers were total idiots and on the way
out, they used their jeep to drag a huge tree into the road, blocking the
campers in. The campers were able to
clear the road and all we could do I take a report since the hikers were long
gone. People can be so stupid! We didn’t see anyone else on ATV’s but we did
make contact with several other campers.
The next day we had to put in 3 signs.
This area is so rocky, we didn’t think we’d get the first sign in. We had a hand held auger that was perfectly
capable of digging a hole, except we were on a lava bed. Josh kept hitting rocks that would rip the
auger right out of his hands. After moving
3 times, the 4th time was a charm and we were able to get the sign
in. The 2nd sign gave us
problems because the auger wouldn’t start.
I tried digging with a shovel, but the rocks were just too much. I barely made a dent before Josh was able to
coax the auger into starting up. The 3rd
sign went in like butter, the ground was nothing but dirt. In fact, I had to go find some rocks to put
in the hole so it would stand up. We
were finally able to start patrolling about noon, but Josh forgot some safety
equipment and had to go back to the station.
We unhooked the quads and I stayed with them so he could get in and out
faster. By the time we got on the road,
we only had about 3 hours. We passed a
field of Mules Ear that smelled like sage.
There were acres of the stuff growing on the hillside and the smell was
almost overpowering, but in a good way. It
was beautiful. We also rode over a huge lava
bed that looked like a moonscape. We were
following a trail and it was sheer luck that we found it again on the other
side. We did make contact with some motorbikes,
we were all on the same trail system, just going in different directions. I was a little nervous on some of the trails
on a quad, I wouldn’t take a motorbike there in a million years, but these guys
were good. One had a camera mounted to
his helmet, I would love to see that video.
There are some campers near me who look
like they've set up a small village. There are at least 4 big tents, a shower
tent and a food tent. You can camp in
the forest for 14 days and they’ve been here for 13 days. The law enforcement officer or LEO went out
on Sat to let them know she was keeping track of how long they were there. They told her they just got there. She kindly said she knew that not to be
true. They said OK they would leave the
next day, Sunday. She then came to visit
me. While we were talking, Brutus begged
to get in the truck. I took a picture of
the newest Stanislaus National Forest’s K-9 unit. We
sent it to her boss. As I drove out today
(Monday), the village is still there. Another example of stupid people. Do they think the LOE won’t come back and
ticket them? They must not know that 2
employees pass them twice a day.
I went for a 6 mile hike yesterday. It’s the same trail I had to walk my bike on
a few weeks ago, with really long steep hills.
It’s not much easier even without a bike and I was tired by the time I headed
back. I basically made a loop down the
road then back along a little trail along a sluice, carrying water for PG&E. The trail was very narrow with the sluice on
one side and a very steep hill on the other.
Everything was just fine and dandy till I came upon a dead cow. It looked like it had only been dead for a
short time because it hadn’t really started to decompose, lucky for me. But the problem was, how to get around
it. It was too big to step over and it
was taking up most of the trail. I finally
decided there was room for my foot between it and the concrete wall. Worst case scenario, I jump in the water
rather than fall on the cow. I made it
around and kept going. I didn’t see any
obvious injury on the cow, no idea how it died.
All and all, a very nice hike but exhausting because of the terrain.
When I got home I was so looking forward to a shower, but
first I had to do some hand to hand combat with an army of ants who decided my
bedroom would be a great place to build a nest.
There were several dozen of the huge black ants and almost everyone had a
piece of something in their mouth, I presume nest building materiel. I can’t use bug spray because of the birds,
so I got the immense satisfaction of killing or maiming them one at a
time. They were coming in through my
roof vent and several were trapped up there when I closed it. I drowned them with soapy water. My neighbor had the same problem, but I caught
mine in time, she had thousands. I probably
had less than 50. I needed to vacuum anyway…
Today I had the follow up appointment with my podiatrist. Even with the MRI results, he has no idea
what’s wrong. He said it could be planter
fasciitis, involving a more narrow of the 3 bands. I told him I already have that and this pain
was different. He offered me an air boot
or physical therapy, really because he doesn’t know what’s causing the pain, so
no idea how to treat it. Time to get another
opinion. I might try physical therapy in
the mean time, in part because it can’t hurt and in part because he annotated
that I should have a foot massage. If the
DR orders it, I must need it right Tri-care??
I need to fix this problem because even a short 6 mile hike really hurt
after the fact. So, now I have the rest
of the day in lovely down town Modesto and I intend to make the most of
civilization while I’m here! On the
agenda, taking home chili from Wendy’s for a co-worker. Not the same co worker who is apparently stiffing
me for the $20 worth of Indian food bought 3 weeks ago. I’m sitting at the Vietnamese place eating
lunch and enjoying all of my phone’s 3G’s worth of hot spot internet access and
drinking a sonic cherry slush. Next I’m
going to Trader Joe’s with a list from a friend and maybe a run thru Cosco
before stopping at the Super Wal-mart and 76 to fill up on $3.85 diesel vs. the
$4.49 at home. Then I start the 2 hour
drive home.
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