Just back from an 8-day backcountry spike. 

Oh. My. Gosh. I have never seen so many mosquitos in my life. Most of you know, I'm not one to be bothered by bugs, but sometimes on our breaks - the only time we sat still for more than 30 seconds - I would start feeling slightly panicky to see hundreds of mosquitos all swarming around me like zombies waiting to take my blood. I ended up wearing my rain jacket and a head net over my hard hat, but still the number of them was astonishing. You could slap your leg once, miss half of them, and still have five dead mosquitos. And the sound of them! That was enough to drive me crazy. I hope I never have to go through that again. 

If it weren't for the mosquitos (!!!!SO MANY!) it would have been a perfect spike. We hiked in with power movers - basically motorized wheel barrows - 6 miles and got to a sixty-year-old log cabin. That was basically our base for the week. We had a pet mouse. We used the power movers to move around tons of dirt and redo the trails. It was hard, hard work. 

So, a word about the mule deer. It's not hunting season yet, so they basically react to us like we're trees. Only, they're salt starved from the winter, so they hang out around camp to - yes - lick our pee. Once of the guys at our house said one came up and started licking the ground before he was even done. Awkward. 

Well, people are leaving. We're going on a road trip with our six days off, then back to the MAC for a week. Yay! 

Another chill weekend

As this summer goes on, I'm getting progressively more tan, toned, relaxed, and less concerned with taking showers. I also tend not to sleep in my bed. I prefer the couch on the porch of the double-wide trailer. It has a nice view of the front yard, lilac bushes, and our tree swing in the giant tree in the front yard - plus you can hear the Entiat River from there. And it's not so incredibly hot. 

Team dynamics seem to have changed this week - we're getting to know each other better, which is both good and bad. People have just been lethargic this weekend as well. I think it may have something to do with an epic tournament of flip cup we played the other night that entailed 4 games with two cups each per game... nah, that's probably not it. Hello, family. I am of age, in case you've forgotten. :)

Yesterday one of our team leaders (after the epic flip cup game) got up at 5:30 and got second place in a 5k in Chelan up by the lake. So we went to celebrate with him and spend some time playing frisbee in the water and having a sun-drenched picnic. It was a beautiful day, with awesome people, good music, and good food. 

I finally got food stamps (since I quit a job that paid me more than this one - which technically pays me nothing - I got them a month later than everyone else). Which at first made me feel bad until I realized that I can use them to support local, organic farms and businesses. Mmm local chocolate covered cherries. 

Then today four of us went bouldering by the side of the road a few miles away. I can't wait to go again. It's really satisfying to try something over and over and finally figure out how to get up to the top. I really want to get more into climbing. 

Weeellll, I guess that's about all I have to say for now. Here comes another week!

floatin', spelunkin', climbin', cherry-pickin'

The last two weeks have been really fun! We went back to the Mount Adams Center (MAC), where we had training, for part of the six day weekend. It was really fun, but not the same without everyone there. I got to spend quality time with my friend Kate, though, when she forgot her ID and couldn't get into this bar. I stayed out with her, partly because I was tired of the big group thing. It's nice because with so many people around, it's hard to get one-on-one time with people.  

One day while we were there a few of us went and explored the Dead Horse Cave, which is one of the many lava tubes in the area. We went in one entrance because the entrance people normally use is SO small that we were afraid we might not be able to get through. As we were exploring, we started to hear water running, and eventually found the Dead Horse Creek, which runs through the cave. It was so cool to see a creek running through this cave! It had so many littler creeks branching off that there was lots to explore. Then Baxter, the guy who had been there before, realized that he knew where the other entrance was. So we ended up pulling ourselves up onto a ledge so we could "butt-scoot" through a tiny hole that was so small we had to keep one arm pinned down by our sides. Baxter was so excited that we connected the two entrances - he'd been in there nine times and hadn't ever been able to do that. 

This week we did some front-country (car) camping and more brushing. Nothing new there. I like the work weeks. 

This weekend Megan, one of the girls from the MAC, came up to visit. She's from Calallen, and did her graduate studies at UT. We took everyone tubing on the Entiat. Lindsay and Rachael, my girls, had never been and were freeeeaaaked out - they hardly let go of my tube. The first half was really fun, but then the rapids started. It was a really bumpy ride, and we ended up getting out early and walking down the road in our bathing suits to get back home. A couple of the girls hitchhiked back - people around here are really nice. And I'm sure the fact that they were two attractive girls in their bathing suits helped. 

Yesterday we went to Wenatchee and on the way back, we stopped to pick our own cherries from this farm on the side of the road. When we told them we were with Americorps, he said don't worry about the money, pick as many as you like. I ate soooo many - they're so good all warm from the sunshine. 

Speaking of - it's like 100 degrees here. I thought I was running away from the heat. 

So much more. Ugh, I have no time. I wish I could have time to sit and really put thought into what I'm writing but I'm always slightly at the mercy of my team. Today we have to go grocery shopping and do laundry.

I'm in shock that it's already been more than a month. I'm having so much fun - I'm definitely looking into either being a team leader next year or maybe doing another program similar to this. I figure I'm young, I won't always be able to hike 50 miles in a week and do ten hour work days on top of that, might as well take advantage of it. Not to mention the people! And the scholarship money...