"Incredible"

Last night I returned from 10 days of field training. The first 4 were spent with the whole conservation department building trail. It's incredible how much we were able to build in just a few short days. I say short because there were only 4 of them, not because the days in and of themselves were not long. We got up at 5:30 every morning and worked until 5pm. It was long and hard but also so great. We transformed a line staked through the woods into a trail with the right tread width and slope and all the other correct dimensions that would be impossible to spot if you had not spent time trail building.

Directly after those 4 days we went straight to 6 days of Environmental Education specific training. We hiked a fair amount but that was not our main objective. Our objective was to practice teaching lessons and learn from each other. We discussed readings about education, talked about crew dynamics, and everything else you could possibly think of. It was not only great to learn from my peers and see their leadership techniques but it also gave me a chance to brush up on my backcountry skills and I feel a lot more ready now than I was before. We shared many many laughs and really got to know each other. It's bittersweet because from now and into the summer, we may never all be together again.

Right before we came back we were given the skeleton itinerary for our ROCS trek. Sarah and I still have lots of planning to do but it's going to be "incredible."

Today is out first day off since we got here on May 20th. I'm looking forward to spending more time with my fellow EEs and I'm stoked to get the summer started. It was so weird to come back into base yesterday and see that crews had already arrived. Today was the first day that crews went out, summer is really here.