Step 14: Sun, Rain, Vomit, Needles and Sleep

The good times keep on rolling....but not without the bad.
7am departure once more on Wednesday February 17th. Although not without some slight changes. A fencing project which left on Monday for Lake Mead took our normal van, which left us with a Toyota Tundra which towed the trailer with our gear and carried 6 people as well as a 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis (the Boat) which also carried 6 people. Upon departure, our supervisor for some reason picked me to drive The Boat to the canyon. While everyone else was jealous and surely wondering what I had done to earn the honor of driving this luxurious vehicle, I knew it must have been because ACE heard how good I was at driving vans and rental vehicles to and from meets. In addition I assumed that I was probably the most experienced driver for someone having never owned a car out of the group so why should they not have picked me?
After handing me the keys they then inform me it has some issues. Like, it needs to warm up a lot to to lift up and engage the air suspension. Well hell if I know what "a lot" means when it is 15 degrees outside and how do I know when the rear end has lifted enough? So I used my best judgment and after 10 minutes I told my crew of foreigners to hop in so we could take off. I start backing out of the driveway and don't realize there is a big curb and fly off it bottoming out the air suspension, which does not lift up again. Uh oh. The car is still running so off we go to meet up with the tundra which is picking up supplies.
We arrive at the supply house and I inform my supervisor of the suspension issues. She is concerned, but with little other options she asks if I think I can get us to Grand Canyon. I tell her with me behind the wheel there is no doubt in my mind we shall be fine. So off we go for another Grand adventure in the Canyon.

On the way I get a chance to familiarize myself with our new crew members whom are volunteers from other countries. We have from Sweden, Tobias and Love (pronounced Loova). From Germany there is Moritz and from Scotland Michael. All 4 were handpicked from the 50 current volunteers as the most hardened and capable of handling the rigors of Grand Canyon work. And they looked it. All are well built European mountain men eager to move some big stones, such as atlas stones from the worlds strongest man competition. For example we get to camp and on the 1st work day when asked who wants to hike up 4 miles to the rock crusher Tobias answers in his thick and rough Swedish accent, "i vill crush stones." When we explain it is a machine that did it he was very disappointed that he would not be crushing the stones with his bare hands. But alas, all enjoyed the work tremendously and I have not seen harder working people than Swedes. Moritz and Michael worked hard, but their ceaseless joking often interfered. On day 2 Moritz learned the American phrase "to cock-block." While he struggled at first to use it correctly, he finally seemed to get the idea while it was raining on day 4 making work difficult when he exclaimed, "the rain is cock-blocking my work!" We were all very proud of him. We played cards endlessly at night after work. They loved crazy 8's, and bullshit and especially Egyptian Rat Screw which I taught them.

The Work
So yeah, the trip was a huge success in the fact that we learned a lot in the way of dry stone work (although with the rain it was often very wet and muddy stone work). We got a lot done crushing stones and laying crush along certain sections of trail, building rip-rap cobbled ramps on the steep switchbacks, and building retaining liners out of huge stones. Each day, one of the interns would take a turn being taught how to create rip-rap. This was fascinating, but extremely time consuming, physically demanding work and certainly tested your patience. On the first work day I did not learn the rip-rap, but rather spent all day rolling the huge stones we would be using for liner rocks down the hillside. I'm not sure if there is a job in the world that is more fun than rolling boulders down the side of Grand Canyon. On the final 2 work days that I was not learning rip-rap or rolling boulders down the canyon-side I was installing liner rocks which was also very enjoyable, but frustrating in the mud and rain. For the mathematically inclined you may notice I have now listed all the days I worked, but they only add up to 4, while there should be 6 on an 8 day hitch. While the most reasonable explanation for this is laziness, it is not the case...

Not for the faint of heart
On Sunday, the 4th work day, all started normally. Ate a tasty oatmeal, raisin, granola mixture for breakfast. Got my stretch on. Had a nice morning hike to the work-site which was being deluged with rain/sleet and began installing liner rocks. However, about this time I started work I noticed something was not right inside me. My stomach was churning and I felt weak, and we all know I never feel weak. Yet I continued to work until our first break. I had zero appetite or thirst for water. Not good. Then just at the end of break it hits me and I scramble quickly up the hillside to a sheltered spot before being tormented with diarrhea. Being determined to finish out my section of liner I focus on getting to lunch which I do successfully, but get very little work accomplished. I finally go to my supervisor and explain the situation. We discuss, and finally agree that I shall go back to camp and rest the remainder of the day so I shall be good to go the next day. By the time I get back to camp it is nearly 2. I have had little food or water since breakfast and have had 3 bouts of diarrhea. I try and stomach a slice of bread and water, but 10 minutes later I am vomiting. The vomit/diarrhea 1-2 punch continues to knock me down until 5:00pm when they return from work. Expecting to find me all better my supervisor is not pleased to see me bedridden as I am. She tries to get me to have gatorade against my pleas that it will make me vomit. I concede to have some, and then she concedes that I was right when I vomit 5 minutes later. At this juncture she goes to the ranger station and they tell her to bring me right away. So she does, and I go. The backcountry ranger on duty I find out is extremely experienced and a trained paramedic so at least I feel I am in good hands. After explaining my symptoms throughout the day they take my vitals and it is discovered I have a body temperature of 93.2 degrees. Not what any of us wanted to hear. The ranger then informs me that she is going to give me an IV. She goes about getting this ready with her assistant at which point I tell her I am somewhat extremely terrified of needles. She assures me not to worry and there is no one better than her. She looks at my veins and exclaims how wonderfully big they are and how easy it this will be. She begins and I look away. Quickly I realize something is amiss as something I assumed should have taken very little time with my "wonderful big veins" is taking a bit too long. I look down and see she is having issues sticking it because my "wonderfully big veins" have wonderfully thick walls and there is a wonderfully powerful valve that she is stuck on. I start to pass out at this and upon coming back to my senses realize I have begun vomiting and the assistant has been forced to run and get me a bucket. Luckily the drama is finally over. They shoot me up with IV fluid and nausea and diarrhea drugs and they put me to sleep.
The next morning feeling better, but completely exhausted, my temperature is back up to 97 degrees, and I am able to stomach some food and water. Over the next 2 days I just slept and prepared to be ready to hike out Wednesday. Based off the fact that 3 other of my crew members came down with similar but not as severe of symptoms following my illness the ranger surmised it was a contagious viral infection that I got. Although how and where I picked it up will never be known.

I am now back in Flagstaff feeling almost 100% again and ready to enjoy my days off before going back to the canyon next Tuesday for hopefully a more healthy adventure.
Pictures. Here are a couple but check out the whole album for more. You will notice a series of pictures from a storm. Probably the most incredible weather yet. Simply spectacular. Little waterfalls popping up everywhere and you will see one large one that appeared across the canyon.

From Grand Canyon #3 February 17-24

Buddha Temple surrounded by clouds.

From Grand Canyon #3 February 17-24

I did the lower 3 quarters of the outside wall.

Step 13: Back to the Canyon

So we returned from San Diego on January 31st and would leave for the Canyon February 2nd for a 9 day trip. This gave us one day to do laundry, pack, eat some real food, rest, and go out on the town. We left at 7am from our apartment with a new supervisor named Lamai. Her boyfriend is the national park service supervisor for the project we would be working, which was nice as we were treated very well. The top part of the trail was still in bad shape from the storm and had a lot of snow on it which meant the mules would be delayed another day. In turn we had to carry down our first 2 days of food as well as stove and fuel. This added some unwelcome weight to our packs and some people decided to skimp on their breakfast and lunch food and this was a decision they would soon regret. The hike down was much quicker than our last trip to the Canyon because we were much more familiar with the trail and we didn’t have to rescue a hiker with a broken ankle. This doesn’t mean the trip was without incident. After we had gone down about 1000 vertical ft and had our first break we headed off back down the trail. While most of the snow was behind us there were still some large accumulations in spots where the sun did not shine. I was walking a ways behind our assistant supervisor CJ who packs a lot of extra things and his pack is all catawampus. This and the fact there were soft spot in the snow did not mix. He hit one such soft spot and sank up to his calf sending him off balance and over the edge of the trail. I came around the corner to find him 20ft down the side of the cliff. Luckily he had landed in 2 feet of powder which cushioned his fall and saved him from what would have been some serious bodily injuries otherwise. I scampered down the side of the steep slope and helped him get his gear which was now spread across the hillside back up to the trail. He was shaken up to say the least, but luckily unscathed. We continued down the rest of the trail making it to camp with no more unwanted excitement. (although I had some excitement of my own as I tested fate by doing handstands on the edge of the canyon, see picture)

From Grand Canyon february 2nd to 10th

The storm had also changed the color of the river dramatically. (see pictures for this as well) Sadly we had tuna mac n’ cheese for dinner our first night which I struggled mightily with, but at least I got it out of the way in the beginning of the trip. I settled in for my first night sleep expecting nothing but visions of sugar plums dancing in my head. This could not have been farther from the truth. Around 11pm I awoke with a start as I felt something crawling over my legs on top of my sleeping bag. I kicked violently and then I heard whatever it was quickly run away. Having opted to safe weight I did not pack my tent, but only my rain-fly and ground cloth. This meant animals could visit me throughout the night as they pleased, and this is just what they did as the scavenged for food that they hoped I had left beside me. So each night between 8pm and 12am I dealt with the comings and goings of ringtail cats. While you may see from pictures of them they are quite cute, they were hardly conducive for good sleep. I won’t be going down without my tent again soon.

The 2nd day was my birthday. While we did nothing terribly exciting besides some cyclic maintenance work, it was a very nice experience to celebrate my birthday in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. At night we went to the Canteen to get some hot chocolate. We made friends with a gentleman named Ryan who was traveling solo back across the country. In the time it took us to have one hot chocolate he put back 4 tecates and proceed to inform us of his travels to Hawaii. On our way back to camp he decided to unload a burden on us and tell us he slept with a married woman while on the island. We said our farewells and bid him a safe and prosperous journey back to the east coast. While I had no cake or candles with which to blow out on my birthday this did not stop my ability to make a wish. My co-worker David was kind enough to light hand sanitizer on fire in the palm of his hand while Alison sang happy birthday to me and then I took my time thinking of a wish and blowing out the flame in his hand.

Going into this trip we were all bummed we would miss the Super Bowl. However on Friday we learned this would not be the case and the employees at Phantom Ranch would be setting up an internet connection for us to view the game. So on Sunday we all(NPS crew too) ended work early and had an quick early dinner so that we could head to the Super Bowl party. They had a great selection of appetizers for us as well as drinks for us to enjoy while we watched the game. Sadly because of our location the feed was not great and would often pause in the middle of plays. This almost made the game more suspenseful as it would pause when the ball was inches from the receivers hands and we would all scream at the computer for him to either catch it or drop it depending on what side we were cheering for. This got old though after a quarter or so, but we stuck it out and it was still nice to watch the game, even though the Colts lost.

As for the work we did it was much like the last project here. More cyclic maintenance and lots of work on the rock crusher and laying gravel on the trail. There was a noticeable improvement in the quality of our work this time as due to our increasing experience and confidence in what we are doing. By the end of the project we had repaired 4800 ft of trail and crushed close to 10 tons of rock with which we laid down over check steps on 500 ft of trail creating a gravel ramp rather than knee jarring stairs. All in all it was a huge success and the NPS crew was eager for us to return again.


The best part of the trip was the weather. As I hope my pictures capture we had quite the show each and everyday as the clouds would rest on the Canyon’s edge and creep over them threatening rain and snow each day depending on where we were working. Once I was caught in a white out snow storm up at the rock crusher that forced us to end work early. 30 min later and 1500ft lower there was not a cloud in the sky and I was in a t-shirt applying sunscreen. A surreal experience. The rain also made it possible to see the quality or lack thereof of our work. Places which were constructed well looked great while places that we made mistakes became rutted out overnight. This was an invaluable learning experience that only nature could teach.

From Grand Canyon february 2nd to 10th

So now I have enjoyed the last 6 days off with Becky, but am eager to return to the Canyon. The NPS crew has been so impressed with our work that we will be taught how to do rip-rap stone work. Rip-rap is extremely durable and highly resistant to erosion, but is very labor intensive and is a kind of artwork to get it just right. It is essentially making a jig-saw puzzle with 100-200lb stones without a picture to look at. While I have seen them working on it, I really have no clue what to expect, but am eager to give it a try. I shall return on the 24th at which point I shall inform you all as to my success or lack thereof with rip-rap.
a few more pictures. see the album for all of them

From Grand Canyon february 2nd to 10th

amazing scenery and weather

bathroom with one hell of a view

Bright Angel Creek confluence with the Colorado River. on the first trip the colorado river was the clear blue color, but the storm as changed it to a chocolate color

Step 12: Catch up with blogging: Cleveland National Forest

I am finally getting back on track with my blogs. It has been non stop since the snowstorm cleared. Between January 18th and February 10th we had just one day off work, I have had the past 6 days off since returning from the Grand Canyon on the 10th but have been entertaining my guest Becky who was kind enough to bless me with her presence.

So now I shall tell the tale of my trip to the Cleveland National Forest and the next entry will be from the Canyon. I am sure I have forgotten many things by this point but will try and cover the important things.

We left for San Diego on Monday January 18^th. We made the would be 10hr drive in 12 hours because of Los Angeles traffic. The reason it takes 10 hours to begin with is because company policy mandates driving no faster than 65 miles and hour and in California you must drive 55MPH with a trailer. Our lovely campsite was situated at the top of a ridge at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac on a glass covered piece of dirt. Aside from all the broken beer bottles in our campsite and the suburban neighborhood down the hill it was a nice place with an awesome view. Each night we were treated to amazing sunsets. We had a few nights with rain and a few showers while working but for the most part the weather was very warm and sunny with temperatures in the 70’s which felt like 90’s compared to Flagstaff.

The main goal of this trip was to brush a 2 mile corridor where a new trail was to be constructed by us over the coming 2 years. However day’s 1 and 2 consisted mainly of classroom type stuff where we learned about trail theory, design, construction and maintenance. We learned how to use clinometers to measure the steepness of slopes as well as the use of a variety of tools. The last part of day 2 and first part of day 3 we constructed a 200ft section of trail from scratch so that we could put into practice that which we had learned during those first 2 days. The rest of the week we cleared all the brush so that even if the residents decide to take away our flags marking the trail it will still be visible.

Speaking of the residents we were lucky enough to have some interesting interactions with them. On night 2 one local resident showed up in his big truck around 10:30 when we were all in bed. He was clearly drunk based off his incoherent mutterings and cussing. He started shining his flashlight in our camp and started yelling something. Our supervisor got out of his tent and confronted him. This stranger did not like this and continued his tirade and threats to call the police because we were trespassing. After calming trying to talk to him and explain to him that we did indeed have a permit our supervisor ended up calling the cops himself. As soon as the stranger found out the cops were actually coming he got into his vehicle after throwing around some of our equipment and sped off to avoid the cops showing up when he was drunk. We had recorded the gentleman’s license plate number which we relayed to the police and they went to his place the next day to assure him we were indeed here legally and that if he disturbed us again he would be arrested.

Our next incident with some locals came on the 2^nd to last night when a car full of high school stoners showed up at 4am blazed out of their minds and trying to get into our trailer because “they wanted to see if people were in it so they could save them.” Our supervisor once again got up from his slumber and had a somewhat nice discussion with these hooligans who when they found out he was from the east coast said he should try to “cali-herb” so he could “get a new perspective of reality.” After politely declining the hooligans took off so we could finish getting our sleep. While these occasions were exciting and funny to look back on, they were not very enjoyable at the time as it called into question the safety of our campsite and the fact that a minority of the residents were not pleased we were making this new trail which would increase traffic in their neighborhood. The majority of people however were extremely cordial and fun to talk with.

Now for the highlight of this project. On day 5 I was clearing a section of trail with my Pulaski and came across a large root-bowl. Upon excavating this, I found a huge Jerusalem Cricket residing in this hole. Being very familiar with this scary looking creature from my experience at the Plant Factory I was not scared, but rather excited because I knew that everyone else had probably never seen one. I proceeded to show this bug to my co-workers Casey and Mari. Casey thought it was cool, while Mari was freaked out. I played on this fear by telling her it was extremely poisonous, and much like a brown recluse a bite was sometimes fatal and at the very least would eat away at your skin. This terrified her to know end, and at the same time Casey realized I was bullshitting her and even though he had never scene one decided to go along with me and tell her that he knew all about them as well and that they could grow to twice this size and were very aggressive and dangerous. Mari ran away and Casey and I laughed histarically. While this was as far as I planned to take this trick, Casey told our supervisor Sam who loved what we had done and proceeded to gather everyone on our crew together and tell them to be extremely cautious of the deadly Jerusalem Cricket.

Fast forward to the next day.

Around 11am Sam comes to Casey and me and tells us he wants to play a trick on everyone and pretend that I got bit by a cricket. We both love this idea and decided that at 11:30 I will start screaming and carrying on as if I was bit. So 11:25 rolls around and wanting to make this realistic I cut a hole in my glove and then stab my wrist with my knife in two spots to draw a little blood. Everyone is spread out over around 200m of trail and I am at the back. 11:30am. I start screaming and cussing and running along the trail towards Sam who does an excellent job of being the responsible supervisor and lays me down, treats me for shock and calls over Casey who is EMT certified. At this point everyone on our crew is highly concerned for my life as they all know how serious the situation is after their crash course lesson in the infamous Jerusalem Cricket from the previous day. Casey pretends to call 911 and reports back that a helicopter rescue is not possible from our location because of the steepness so I will have to be carried 2 miles up the steep hill to our camp. At this point I have reported I am feeling dizzy and numbness in my whole arm. Sam informs the group they will have to carry me up the hill and without question they spring into action to assist me. They pick me up and they proceed to carry me up the hill to safety. About 100ft later Sam tells them to put me on the ground which they do and I realize the joke is finally up. So I spring up and run off laughing while Sam and Casey are doubled over cracking up. The other 6 people are in shock and it takes them a while to realize that it was all a huge joke. They are so relieved that I am actually ok that they give me hugs rather than hit me as I thought they would do. The whole thing was a huge success and if I don’t land a job as a park ranger I may just try my hand at acting…

So there you have it. Our trip to San Diego was a huge success. I learned a ton, had plenty of fun and got a lot of work done.

Step 11: Back yesterday and going out again tomorrow

So we got back to Flagstaff last night after a 10 hour drive(took 12 to get there). Unpacked, cleaned equipment, and I have done laundry today. Now we leave tomorrow at 7am for the Grand Canyon where we shall be for 9 days. Not enough time to post a bunch of pictures or recap the trip. But it was a good time indeed.
here are a some pics though

enough said

view from the top of our worksite

working away

each day ended like this

waterfall we hiked to on last day