I figured that with all the time that I spend in the woods and how much I appreciate a well-maintained trail, that the least I could do was put in one day of hard-work.
After a 5:15am wake-up (I am NOT okay with this) I found myself among friends for the drive down to Mt. Rainier. I was feeling great about our day, until I learned how hard we were going to have to work. I suddenly wanted to be back in bed with my hubby.
None the less, the inspirational volunteers from SCA and my talented co-workers/friends from OR helped to get me feeling good about the days adventure.
For some reason the idea of digging a hole sounded like fun to me, so I elected to work on the crew that was going to dig a 8' x 6' hole down to bedrock to place the bracing supports for a new bridge on the Wonderland Trail. Turns out that I really enjoying swinging a pick-axe. I earned the name "pickmanic" for the day.
Here is the spot where the digging began.
Our hard working team consisted of Libby and Amanda ( two extremely hard-working and really cool volunteers from the SCA), my favorite Jeff Greenwell, the "Shoveler" himself Brendan Scanlon, Finance VP and wild-girl Audrey Hicks, and Chris Parks (Jeremy's awesome mom). Here we are hard at work.... who I am kidding... I am not working, I'm playing with my camera.
Jeff is a slacker... and a ham. Look how that hard hat glows.
When the digging was done, we all climbed in it and went to sleep. Actually, we were pumped about the evening of camping under the stars that OR was financing.
Jeff is so proud of our hole.
I hereby elect Brendan Scanlon as the champion of the OR camping trip. Not only did he drive all the way to Enumclaw (which is no-where on the way to Mt. Rainier) to get everyone lunch, he shoveled huge river cobbles for 6 hours straight, made this extremely colorful and very delicious greek dinner, and then played the guitar and sang for us all night around the campfire. What a guy!
I love Coke. She is one of my favorite people on the planet. She apparently had gotten a little frisky last time she was at Mt. Rainier and now she is starting to show with her "Falafel Baby"!
On Saturday, everyone had their own agenda. I ganged up withe Candice, Coke and Teresa for a short hike up to Comet Falls. We became very nervous when Coke pointed out that we were about to enter (insert scary music here) THE WILDERNESS!!! We got scared and drove home instead.
Okay, so we didn't drive home, but we were still scared. Can't you tell? Candice.. there is a fly on your head.
There are tourists with camera's everywhere up here. Sheesh.
I don't think I have a bad photo of Teresa. She is so photogenic. And just look how sweet Candice is...
Yup, here is my mandatory self-portrait in front of Comet Falls.
All in all, it was a beautiful weekend, spent with good friends, doing good for the environment and enjoying some of the best of the PNW. Yet, another sucessful weekend for yours truly.
No comments:
Post a Comment