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.