The small crew of middle school GUTS girls peered over the side of North Fork Road. Though they all lived within close proximity to Glacier National Park, many of them had never been inside the Park before. They were on their way to Logging Lake Trail to conduct Huckleberry Surveys, led by Glacier National Park Service’s Volunteer Program Assistant Carolyn Clark. This would be one of the final projects the girls completed during their week-long MCC Middle School Expedition in Glacier. Carolyn was great about breaking up project work with fun, informational lessons on the geography, vegetation and animal inhabitants that made the park their home.
The North Fork of the Flathead River sliced through the valley below. “That’s the clearest water I’ve ever seen,” one of the girls said.
“Who knows what kind of tree this is?” Carolyn asked, motioning to an enormous, downed tree on the side of the road. “It starts with a ‘p.’”
“Ponderosa Pine!” the GUTS Girls chirped.
“Right! And can you tell me how old it is?”
The girls surrounded the massive tree, counting the rings of the trunk. Over the course of the week, they had learned to identify several types of plants, trees, animal scat, and birds. That morning, their crew leaders, Jordan and Joe, brought them to the West Lakes Office just inside the west entrance of GNP for a short training on conducting huckleberry surveys. They learned to identify the plants based on several factors, including angles of stem growth, berry placement, and leaf shape.
“Remember,” Carolyn said, “you have to identify multiple characteristics. Lots of plants have purple berries, or spikey leaves, or red stems, but only huckleberry plants have all of these features.”
Last February, MCC Youth Program Manager Carolan Coughlin and her youth development-driven friend, Gen Bennett, introduced the Girls Using Their Strengths (GUTS) after-school program at Columbia Falls Junior High. The YWCA first established GUTS to provide a supportive environment for girls to explore their inner strengths through wilderness adventures and community service. The program was a hit.
“Columbia Falls doesn’t offer much afterschool programming,” Carolan said. “When we talked to the school counselor, she said she would do anything to make this program happen, so there was some need there.”
For nine weeks, the girls met for two hours every Wednesday to complete community service projects, engage in team building activities and participate in group discussions on bullying, gender norms and healthy relationships. It was revered as a huge success by the participants, their parents, and the school counselor, who reported that, thanks to the program, many of the girls saw themselves as shining stars for the first time in their lives.
“It was important for us to connect the girls with their own personal power,” Carolan said. “At the end of the program, we held an affirmation circle, and it was so cool to watch them say and hear positive things about one another. We knew we wanted to get them back together for a week-long Expedition.”
In mid-August, GUTS participants came back together, as a crew, in Glacier. They re-stained pit toilets, parking barriers, picnic tables and benches at the Logan Pass and Avalanche campgrounds. They pulled weeds at Glacier’s Native Plant Nursery. They engaged in fuels reductions and fire mitigation around park headquarters. At the Logging Lake Trailhead, the GUTS girls took the time to stretch and discuss safety while hiking in the wilderness with their crew leaders. They paused to pull spotted knapweed at the trailhead.
“Are you pulling weeds of your own volition?” crew leader Jordan asked. “I’m so proud I could cry.”
The crew hiked along Logging Lake Trail, stopping every fifteen minutes to record latitude and longitude coordinates and search for huckleberries. The data they collected would help the Park Service identify the seasonal progression and location of huckleberry plants. While they hiked, they talked about projects, the upcoming school year, and how much fun they were having. It was clear that the girls were forming a sense of place and purpose in the park.
“The work sites mean a lot to me,” one girl shared. “I know that we made a difference. GUTS pushed me to work hard and build up both my mental and physical strength.”
“I learned that it is important to take care of nature,” another girl said. “It means something special to me. I want to do MCC again!”
When Carolan and Gen introduced the program last February, they were concerned about getting enough participants. Now, less than a year later, they are offering the program again at Columbia Falls Junior High School, and it is projected to nearly triple in size. MCC will lead two GUTS crews – one sixth grade crew and one seventh grade crew – and they are expecting 15 sixth graders and 10 seventh graders to participate.
“We would eventually like to run multiple GUTS programs all over the Flathead Valley,” Gen said. “That’s the twinkle in our eye.”
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The GUTS program is one of several school-year programs that MCC offers youth in various Montana communities, in conjunction with schools and local nonprofit partners. Growth of the GUTS program is dependent upon donor funding.
Luke Fisher, Radically Transparent – Making it Ok to be Who you Want To Be
August 2019
When meeting Luke Fisher, one cannot help but be put at ease and to feel welcomed. Luke’s smile illuminates a room. As one of MCC’s Senior Youth Crew Leaders out of the Central Divide Region in Helena, Luke helps youth to be themselves.
Luke grew up on a small farm in central Indiana, producing organic corn and soybeans in a family very much involved in their community. Inspired by an upbringing where giving back to the community was important, Luke pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Philosophy and a Masters Degree in Environmental Justice, from Indiana University.
Luke’s mentor in a Philosophy Logic Course encouraged Luke to teach. At age 19, Luke began training colleagues to be academic mentors. For Luke, it did not matter if one did not know the subject, whether it was biology or business. Luke believed that the key to being able to talk to anyone was to know how to lead. One does not need to know everything there is to know about a complex subject, rather one needs to know where to refer others to find the resources for the information needed. This is where Luke learned that being a leader entails being ‘radically transparent,’ meaning being honest, genuine, and intentional. This is Luke’s mantra and Luke has made it an instrument for growth in all that surrounds.
Luke first joined MCC in 2018, as a Youth Crew Leader out of MCC’s Western Wildlands Region in Missoula. It was there that the MCC Leadership Development Program provided the opportunity for Luke to combine two passions - teaching about leadership and about the outdoors. Luke has been instrumental in this second season with MCC, as a Senior Youth Crew Leader, in training incoming Youth Crew Leaders in the Central Divide Region and in ensuring that Youth Crew Leaders and Youth Crews are well supported.
As a member of the LGBTQ community, Luke’s ‘radically transparent’ mantra has been an important tool in helping create a space for youth crew members to break down barriers that prevent them from being themselves. Luke explains “Youth can be very guarded because of the swift judgments rendered by their peers. When I come into the picture, I am ‘radically transparent’ and proud of who I am without making others feel uncomfortable or isolated.” Luke jokingly describes creating a threshold for youth to say, “I am ok being me as long as I am not as gay as him!” which creates an environment that lowers shields and welcomes all to be themselves. As one youth crew member said, “Just seeing you be yourself helped me feel fine being myself.” Luke has helped create transformative experiences for participants in MCC’s youth expeditions by encouraging an environment that supports understanding, communication, and respect for all people.
The Moosebird Crew on Hitch in the Payette National Forest
By Jackson Crawford
July 2019
The Moosebirds spent eighteen June days bucking trees and brushing the trails along the Rapid River and two of its tributaries - Copper and Paradise Creeks.
The Rapid is a protected Wild and Scenic River with exceptional water quality situated in a deep valley between Hell’s Canyon (the Snake River) and the Salmon River.
The headwaters for Copper and Paradise Creeks begin at the foot of the Seven Devils Mountain Range beneath Monument and Black Imp Peaks, flowing down to meet the Rapid and eventually join the Salmon twenty five miles north.
Historically, the area was roamed and tended by bands of the Nez Perce tribe, but is now rarely visited by anyone outside of a few outfitters that bring elk hunters through the canyon.
Stock animals packed in the gear and food, and the group was able to completely clear the three trails of 91 fallen logs.
Crew members spent their down time picking morel mushrooms, trading stories, and playing Dungeons and Dragons around the fire.
On their final day, the Moosebirds were able to hike out fast enough to hit the road and spend the night camped at Weir Creek Hot Springs in the Clearwater National Forest.
Last February, MCC Youth Program Manager Carolan Coughlin and her youth development-driven friend, Gen Bennett, introduced the Girls Using Their Strengths (GUTS) program at Columbia Falls Junior High geared toward sixth graders. They were hoping to recruit six girls for GUTS, so when 30 sixth graders signed up, Carolan and Gen knew they were on to something good. With only 10 available spots, they asked the girls to complete a simple application.
“Why do you want to be in GUTS?” the application asked. Answers included “I want to feel better about myself and my body.”, “I want more skills in case I ever get stranded in the woods.”, “I want to know all the abilities I am capable of.”, and “I’m getting teased at school and I want to learn to be strong.”
Carolyn and Gen were deeply moved by the girls’ responses. “We had one girl telling us that the main male role model in her life didn’t think girls were strong, so we thought, ok, these girls can really benefit from this program.”
The YWCA established GUTS to provide a supportive environment for girls to explore their inner strengths through wilderness adventures and community service. When Carolan was asked to develop consistent afterschool programming for MCC, she reached out to Gen who had volunteered with Missoula’s YWCA GUTS program. The YWCA agreed to partner with MCC on the conditions that GUTS be rooted in a local Montana community and that the program remained true to its curriculum with an MCC-enhanced spin. After adding more outdoor and service elements, Carolan and Gen decided to introduce GUTS to Columbia Falls Junior High.
“Columbia Falls doesn’t have that many afterschool programming opportunities for sixth graders,” Carolan said. “When we talked to the school counselor, she said she would do anything to make this program happen for their sixth graders, so there was some need there.”
GUTS met for two hours every Wednesday after school for nine weeks. Carolan and Gen crammed as many activities as they could into those two short hours. The girls built and painted signs for their school garden and hiked around the public parks. During spring break, they went on a longer field trip to Glacier National Park where they learned how to snowshoe, identify animal tracks and light a Whisperlite stove. Group discussions revolved around problem solving skills, healthy relationships, bullying, and gender norms. The girls began opening up to one another.
“We overheard some parents making plans for their daughters to hang out outside of GUTS, so we knew we were developing a supportive little community.”
During a weekly check-in, Carolan and Gen learned that one participant was being bullied at school. “Another GUTS girl saw it happening and approached the bully and said, ‘She is my friend and you can’t talk to her like that!’ It was amazing to hear that the other girls were taking her under their wing.”
Every lesson was building up to the final GUTS meeting, where Carolan and Gen took the girls on an overnight camping trip. They set up camp south of Swan Lake and were asked to remove a massive tree that had fallen across a trail. The girls, who were trained to use handsaws and axes, set to work, hacking away at the tree. “These little sixth grade girls were wielding axes; It was super awesome! One girl said, ‘I didn’t think that we were ever going to finish, and I was really low, but then, we did it!’”
After triumphantly removing the tree – which the girls affectionately referred to as “Grandpa”- they built a campfire and cooked dinner. The next morning, they went for a hike and reflected on the previous nine weeks before returning to Columbia Falls. The GUTS program may have come to a close, but the girls had developed confidence that would stick. “I’m very shy,” one girl said, “but I have a strong me inside.”
The participants’ parents were astounded at the change they saw in their daughters. Some parents mentioned how their daughter’s personality was flourishing, and how much more confident they were, and were making new friends.
Carolan and Gen held a debriefing session with the school counselor. The counselor reported that GUTS had positively affected all of the participants’ lives, but one girl particularly stood out. “The counselor told us that GUTS built a community around this girl. For the first time, she saw herself as a star, as the best version of herself.”
Carolan set aside a week of MCC’s Middle School summer programming to bring the original GUTS girls back together. They will spend the week camping and completing trail projects in Glacier National Park. After experiencing the success of the MCC YWCA partnership, she hopes to expand to two crews at Columbia Falls Junior High this fall. Ideally, Carolan would like to see GUTS implemented in communities all over the Flathead Valley.
“GUTS provided a place where these sixth grade girls could be who they are. They’re at this in-between place where they’re still kids, but they are quickly becoming adults, and that’s a hard place to navigate. It’s neat to see how smart and kind they can be. I can’t wait to bring the girls back together!”
Governor Bullock Visits with MCC Middle School Crew
July 2019
On June 13th, Montana Governor Steve Bullock joined students serving with MCC’s Middle School Youth Program in Helena to celebrate the completion of projects to reroute area trails and build accessible picnic table pads at Prickly Pear Land Trust’s Tenmile Creek Park.
MCC’s week-long Middle School Expedition engages youth from across the state in building knowledge and skills in leadership, communication, teamwork, citizenship, stewardship, and hard work as crews engage in service projects, including trail maintenance or habitat enhancement. Students address real-life challenges and complete projects that make a difference in their community.
Governor Bullock thanked the crew for their hard work over the previous week and spoke to them about the importance of public access to and conservation of public lands. The crew gave Governor Bullock a tour of the work they completed and recruited him to help stain the accessible picnic tables to wrap up their week-long program.
“Introducing students to conservation early, especially in a hands-on way, can instill a lifelong dedication to protecting Montana’s clean air, clean water and our public lands,” Governor Bullock said. “I’m positive our future leaders have the passion and leadership to make decisions that will protect this great state and honor generations to come.”
Our Big Sky Watershed Corps members live and work all across Montana. Here is a passionate description of the culture and lifestyle of rural America - Petroleum County in Central Montana written by Laura Nowlin, the coordinator for the Musselshell Watershed Coalition, which hosted its first Big Sky Watershed Corps member in 2013. Our BSWC members provide critical capacity to rural areas. Now hosting its ninth and tenth members, the MWC has come to rely on the fresh perspectives and energy that BSWC members bring to their projects. These members live in Winnett, where local residents now know about the BSWC program and members are a regular part of the community.
Photo Credit: Levi Nowlin
Reprinted from www.PrairiePopulist.org, by Laura Nowlin, January 23, 2019
I have read several stories recently that make life in rural America seem pretty dismal – the population is aging and decreasing, everyone is poorly educated and addicted to drugs, and the land is either not accessible to the public, or it is being destroyed by crops and cows. I wonder how much time those journalists spent in rural America before they wrote those stories? Any places that matter take a time investment to understand. Well, I haven’t just visited the “flyover” states, I live here – five generations of my family have lived in the same central Montana county. I can’t speak for all of rural America, but I can speak about this place and I would like to challenge the stereotype.
My husband and I have two children and we chose to raise them in rural America. We left good paying “regular” jobs to live and work in the country. We read a lot of children’s books and one of our favorites is Horton Hears a Who. I think often of those Whos and how they united to yell as loud as they could, “We are here! We are here! We are here!” for someone to hear them.
There aren’t many of us out here – 500 people in all of Petroleum County. We are spread out, and we work full-time jobs, sometimes several jobs. We are mostly farmers and ranchers, teachers, and local government staff. We are not journalists, marketing directors, or graphic designers – it is hard to gather together to be loud enough to tell our own story. But, we have a story to tell. It’s not perfect and there are improvements to be made, for sure, but it is not so dismal as you might read in the New York Times. We love where we live, we work with our neighbors to keep our communities going, and we care about the land and our livestock.
Photo Credit: Reba Ahlgren
WE ARE HERE: WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT THE LAND
We are here, we have been here, and we would like to stay here. The Northern Great Plains – the grasslands and the breaks – are our home. We live on the prairie – an unforgiving, wonderful, crazy place. My great-great aunt used to say, “This country takes and it takes, and then, in one year, it gives it all back.” Mother Nature offers up the most inspiring moments, and the most devastating, and when you live with the land, you experience it all. You develop an appreciation for the land that comes from shared experiences.
And those experiences are shared with your neighbors as well. You develop a bond with those people stronger than can be described. It’s a bond that when there is a death in the community, 300 people attend the funeral – the only space large enough is the school gymnasium.
Most of us in rural central Montana are lucky enough to live, work, and play where our homes are. We think we are the luckiest people on earth and we would like to share it with anyone who wants to come visit. But, we want you to understand it when you come. In our little slice of paradise, we get 13 inches of precipitation per year. Santa Fe gets 14. The average for the United States is 39 inches per year. So, unless you are from the desert southwest, we are going to look a little bit like a desert. We all know that the majority of this precious precipitation needs to come from April to June to get everything growing. So, when you come to visit, ask how much rain and snow we’ve had and when it came so you can understand if we are having a wet or dry year – which makes all the difference.
We are passionate about our land. This includes the public land where we graze our cattle and the private land that has sometimes been in families for over 100 years. Most of Petroleum County is grassland or the Missouri River Breaks – land that is not suitable for growing crops, so instead, most of us raise cattle.
Photo Credit: Laura Nowlin
The grasslands evolved with grazers. The two are codependent on each other and the grasslands need a large herbivore grazing it just as much as the cattle need the grasslands. When a cow grazes, she chomps off part of the plant, which allows it to regrow. When a plant does not have the opportunity to regrow, it becomes decadent – old growth dies and clogs out any chance for new growth to happen. The wildlife, such as deer and antelope, don’t graze this old, dead grass. Cattle hooves break up plants and create litter that covers the ground – this catches water and also helps plants to regrow. And, finally, cows poop and pee – the best form of natural (and free!) fertilization out there. Grazing is part of the whole system that enhances both the soils and everything that is below ground, as well as the grasses and other plants above ground.
Ranchers provide, “ecosystem services.” This means that when we use good land management practices, we provide benefits to the land from which all of society benefits. Healthy grasslands, which can be achieved through cattle grazing, provide ecosystem services like carbon sequestration, water filtration and water storage, open spaces, and wildlife habitat. The beauty of using cattle to graze the grasslands is that they can be managed to address the needs of the land. For example, a noxious weed infestation can be grazed at a certain time of year to get it under control. Where build-up of plant material has happened, grazing that build-up can keep fire danger managed to a more natural level. Studies of grassland songbirds have shown that some of these birds need short grasses, and even prefer bare ground, at certain times of the year. Ranchers can graze their cattle through pastures on a rotation that benefits these declining bird populations.
Ranching on public lands saves money for the government. The Bureau of Land Management spends $2 per acre for the lands that ranchers use, but it spends $5 per acre to maintain ungrazed land.
But, don’t take my word for it – come to see these things for yourself. We welcome you to our private lands. Just because they are private, does not mean that they are inaccessible. A neighbor once told me, “I consider myself fortunate to have private land and consider it my responsibility to offer access to it to those who are not able to have their own.”
Photo Credit: Reba Ahlgren
WE ARE HERE: WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT OUR COMMUNITIES.
“I don’t think that people understand how passionate we are about our communities,” one of my neighbors recently told me. Our tiny community of 500 (ages 4 months to 102) volunteered 8,736 hours in 2018.[1] These hours were spent on county commissions, town councils, school boards, conservation district boards, ambulance, fire, search and rescues, sheriff’s reserve, and on and on. Imagine serving on an ambulance crew when you know that most of the calls will be for someone that you know.
We are part of the two percent of the population producing food for the other 98 percent. Tax dollars support farmers and ranchers through cost share programs that help provide range improvements for both livestock and wildlife. These best management practices not only help ranchers with risk management, but also contribute to making food everywhere more affordable. These tax dollars amount to less than ½ of 1 percent of the total US budget.[2] In Petroleum County alone, our 105 agricultural operations produce enough beef to feed 127,745 people for one year.[3]
We are passionate about our children. The Winnett School is a Blue Ribbon award-winning school. The school’s food program has also won awards, and, most recently, local ranchers have begun donating beef to the school so that we know where our children’s beef comes from. The high school graduation rate is 98%.
Photo Credit: Laura Nowlin
There is also plenty to do. My children take guitar and piano lessons in Winnett on Mondays, they play basketball on Tuesdays, they go to “Kids’ Club” at the church on Thursdays, and they are 4-H members – and they are only six and eight years old. When they aren’t busy with social and school activities, they help us on the ranch. They have put out and picked up miles and miles of electric fence. They are learning about hard work, caring for animals, and nurturing the land by getting outside and doing it. Come visit and you too can do some fencing.
When you do, we’ll take you to the school. Grades kindergarten through 12 are all under the same roof. The Technology Education teacher will show you his 3D printer, plasma cutter, welders, and wood shop. You’ll see the school-community library with computer and internet access for patrons. Come on a Friday or Saturday night and you’ll see the gymnasium packed for basketball games.
Since 2010, our community has grown by 5.9 percent, which is more than Park and Ravalli Counties in trendy western Montana. There are young people returning home, and new people coming to the area, at a high rate. This is something that I hear about in our neighboring communities as well. Winnett and the northern part of the county have fiber optics. We have access to the highest speed internet of anyone in the entire United States. When you visit, you won’t have cell service, but you can stream any YouTube video that you want (well, not any, but we can talk about that when you get here).
Photo Credit: Brenda Brady
WE ARE HERE: WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT OUR FUTURE
We are a tight-knit community that cares about the land and each other. We are busy with our businesses, volunteering in the community, and raising the next generation of people who will steward the land, provide food, work hard, and contribute to something larger than themselves. Come visit. Don’t just drive through or stop for lunch, really visit. We are happy to show you our land, our ranches, and our communities. Then, maybe you will call with us, “We are here!”
If you would like to visit a ranch in central Montana, contact the Fergus /Petroleum County Extension Office at 406-535-3919 or [email protected].
Laura Nowlin is a wife and mother of two, working, living, and playing on a little piece of paradise in central Montana, north of the town of Winnett. She and her husband ranch. She is also a part-time coordinator for the Musselshell Watershed Coalition. Between the two of them, they serve in seven community groups. Laura is a board member of the Winnett ACES (Agricultural Community Enhancement and Sustainability).
Back in 2012, Tim Brogan was serving on an MCC Crew in Idaho when he smelled smoke. His crew had set up camp at a campground in the Sawtooth National Forest and hiked five miles to their backcountry work site every day. The crew was equipped with a radio and called the Forest Service to determine whether or not to evacuate; they were advised to ask their direct supervisors. Out in the middle of Idaho, miles from civilization and completely out of range to contact the MCC Billings Regional Office, they looked to their crew leaders for help.
“Just seeing my crew leaders’ faces, I realized that their priority was getting us to safety,” Tim said. “They decided to get us out of there, and when we made it back to our campsite, the USFS had just started evacuating the campground.”
Tim attributed the quick reaction time and adaptability of his crew leaders to the MCC Leadership Development Program. “MCC has this incredible ability to develop leadership. It’s remarkable. I don’t think either of my crew leaders had a leadership role up until that point in their lives, but I truly felt comfortable and safe with them.”
Tim was finishing up his bachelor’s degree in environmental resources when he first heard of Montana Conservation Corps. MCC seemed like the perfect fit for someone naturally drawn to understanding the balance of environmental welfare and societal well-being. Tim applied to be a crew member out of Billings, Montana. Within two weeks of graduating from college, he was moving across the country.
The first lessons in team-building came before the program even started. Montana was a whole new adventure for the suburban Connecticut boy. With only a car full of the essentials and no idea what to expect, Tim reached out to a fellow crew member in hopes of finding a place to live. “I remember when we got to Billings, this woman who loved the AmeriCorps program let us camp in her yard until we found a place to stay. That was the first small example of how crews figured everything out together. You become so close with your colleagues because of that culture.”
Once the season began, Tim was continuously amazed by his crew’s ability to solve problems resourcefully. When instructed to build intersecting fence lines, the team put their heads together to pull off the difficult project. “No one on the crew had ever done anything like that. After we finished, I was blown away; it looked great and we were complimented about it afterwards. That demonstrated the impact that a small group of people can have if they all dedicate themselves to the same values - especially the MCC values of stewardship, civic responsibility, and being engaged citizens.”
When the season ended, Tim felt empowered to dedicate his life to service. “I remember one of the biggest takeaways from the AmeriCorps pledge is to take action when faced with apathy, and that’s something that still sticks with me. Rather than getting disheartened that my life wasn’t quite as adventurous as it had been, I knew I just had to try a little bit harder to find a way to make an impact.”
Tim worked in several seasonal positions including serving as an interpretive guide on the Appalachian Trail, then taught for Nature’s Classroom, an East Coast-based outdoor education program. He developed an interest in healthy living and personal development. Eventually, Tim launched his own brand called Top Self Development. He is a motivational speaker who addresses health issues while also organizing community service activities and events. “Working with MCC, I learned about being a service to the community, but what I really want to do is facilitate human connection. I can teach people the importance of how to take care of themselves.”
When he isn’t organizing events, Tim is manning a podcast, creating, editing and positing videos on YouTube, updating his blog, and encouraging his audience to live their best lives. He recently reconnected with Crew Leader Miranda Lipes, aka the Uprooted Foodie. You can check out their two part video on all things AmeriCorps and living a happy, healthy vegan lifestyle here.
“The experience of MCC was so essential to my trajectory that I can’t imagine my life without it. It really did change my life.”
Our Stoves Broke And Ash Fell From The Sky But Honestly We Did Just Fine
by MiMi Genheimer
I lay in my tent on the first night of our last hitch, thinking about how to articulate my current lifestyle while looking up at the stars in the dark wilderness sky. The next day the smoke will roll in, obscuring the layers of ridges rising to the horizon, and my tongue will still be tied. I want to give you the smells and the way my body feels after the workday; I want to show you camp life and waking before the sun. How can I capture the hours spent in my own thoughts or with my trail family or in the simple rhythm of swinging a tool?
Pack rats eat holes in my shirt on the first night, and I meticulously hang my possessions in a tree every day that follows. We spend our time working with our project partner, a Forest Service retiree who is still finding ways to live in the backcountry of the Kootenai. Each morning when I wake at five o’clock, a slight turn of my head affords me a view out into the sky; I watch the orange and blue sunrise saturate and then fade into early morning light.
There are so many inside jokes within our crew now, and they insert themselves frequently into our conversations. We are building water bars and drains on the trail during these first days. Sent on our way without a pull saw, we make do using our personal knives and the axe head on our Pulaski to strip the wood before we lay it in the ground. On the trail my mind drifts about, eventually tugged back by the angle of the trees above my head or the probing motion of an inchworm on my arm or a loose rock that catches my foot.
The days move by, but time is not smooth. The summer season is ending and our crew is mentally exhausted.
On the second day our Whisperlite stoves malfunction and we eat cold dinner. Everyone groans when it is only six o’clock and we already want to sleep (some do). Those of us who remain keep ourselves busy with card games until eight o’clock; then we go to bed. We are packed down the ridge after four days, and back up a new ridge onto the Skyline Trail just outside of Troy to brush and saw. Our packer is a man I won’t readily forget: gregarious and good-humored, full of stories and a love for the experience of life. Our transition day is long, and there are no good places to camp when we reach the work-site. Eventually a place on the ridge is selected and we all spread out to try and find ground that will not move us off our sleeping pads when we lay down.
During our first evening, the nearby fire grows from four hundred acres to six thousand. The sky is thick, a warm fire-breeze periodically slogging through camp. We can look directly at the orange-pink sun – no one is entirely comfortable. On one of our workdays temperatures climb close to one hundred degrees, but eventually they drop enough to make me zip up my sleeping bag at night and feel grateful for the rainfly that keeps the wind away.
The trail is much longer than anticipated, so our final day runs long as we push ourselves to finish. Three sawyers, three swampers, and somehow no one throws a chain. Morale improves as we all begin to feel the bitter-sweetness of the end and each night is filled with laughter and reminiscing. We bicker and tease like family. We are family.
I fall asleep reading each evening except one, when I am so exhausted I fell asleep before I could reach for the book. My pants are stiff and covered in smells of sweat, dirt, and gasoline. I wash my face each evening, but the rest of my body is irrevocably smelly from doing the same hard work in the same dirty shirt for days on end. For so long I have been pooping in the woods, eating oatmeal and couscous, and forgetting that most people see their own reflection countless times in a day. I forget about chairs and light switches and running water. Each day after lunch I slip my sweaty helmet back on my head and put on ear and eye protection and worn down gloves.
The more work we accomplish, the longer our hike back to camp is each day. The same trail is walked two, three, four times. On our last day of work we reach a steep meadow filled with fireweed and tall grasses. We are in the sky but unable to see through the smoke, although the presence of elevation and solitude surrounds us. The feeling of finishing the trail is a triumph as much as a curse of exhaustion.
On the next morning as I hike back to the rig, each step brings me closer to the worries and complexities of my life outside of hitch. Instinct divides me as I feel a horrible aversion towards civil life coupled with a deep need to shower and eat fresh vegetables. I take my time on the way down, singing tunes to myself while I pick thimble berries and talk to butterflies. Even as I do these things, I know how the world I am returning to will roll its eyes at my childlike activities. But what good is work in the wilderness if we do not eventually emerge, gazing about at the fact that we are part of Nature’s thread, not observers but rather hands and minds and societies that thrive when in symbiosis with Her? What is this work without awe and wonder and kneeling in the dirt?
