WHITE WATER RAFTING DOWN THE ARKANSAS RIVER!

Yup! That's right! A bunch of us did that yesterday and it was AMAZING! I got to sit in the front most the time to paddle and we were having a blast! Many laughs. My team leader Rachel described me as having my mouth wide open pretty much every time we hit a huge rapid! I can't wait to post the pics! Four more work days! I think we get to go home early Friday morning. PLEASE PLEASE! I mean it's been great and all, but I am ready to get back to a bed and showering on a regular basis. I pretty much only shower once a week. I am also coming home to Chicago Aug 22 until the 28 because I just feel the need to be home with family, etc. Then I will be flying to Phoenix to visit my friend Katie Graham for the weekend! Hopefully transition goes by fast and I can get some ISP hours in! 33 more to go! I can't remember if I wrote this last but my next project is in Crossville, TN and I will be working on the Cumberland Trail for 9 weeks! The project ends Nov. 7th I believe and Graduation is on the 19th! So much for that little update.....until then..

Hiked a 14,000 ft. Mt, building campsites and not showering....

Pike's Peak from a far


So let's back track a bit, the SOS kids ended up not coming down to our work site..apparently our director said "NO" so that was unfortunate, but since then things have been interesting and a little bit more rugged. For the last week we have moved from Pike's Peak highway to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The nearest town is West Cliff and I am currently visiting another town 57 miles away, Salida. Cute little hippy towns everyone keeps saying. So since we have moved more than 50 tons of rock, and endured the 30 to 40 degree weather at night and in the morning, we have switched to hot days with many many flies and digging lots of dirt in order to build our campsites. We are putting in tent pads, fire pits, and building stairs with rocks leading to the sites. Our tents and kitchen where we stay are much closer together now. The drive up to our site is actually very very rocky and quite amusing while in a 15 passenger van! We even have to cross a creek in the van to get to our campsite and there is no bridge. I payed $5 yesterday to take a shower at the West Cliff Inn. And yes I have been basically showering every week, although last weekend I took a solar shower (still not considered a real shower) since you only have so much water to use. Our sponsor Eric is no longer with us, but Bruce is now kind of like our site supervisor who has been leading us in constructing these campsites. One day I spent a whole morning and afternoon measuring and cutting the timbers we are using to layout the tent pad. We continue to see tons of fat chip monks and dear, but now marmots. Cute little beaver-like looking animals that live at high altitudes. Last Tuesday we took the whole day to hike up to a 14,000 ft. mountain called Humboldt Peak. We have been camping at around 9,000, so you can imagine it was quite a hike. We started at 5:30 am and I made it to the peak by 11:00, left around noon and made it back to our campsite by 3:30ish. I was so sore the next day, that's for sure! And my left knee did not exactly take it well going down the mountain, so I'll be visiting a doctor finally during transition week in Denver...nothing too bad to worry about, it only acts up when I run and hike a lot downhill, which is hard to avoid when you've been doing what I've been doing. A few days ago we also got a new teammate from the fire unit. So now there are 10 of us for the last two weeks of our project. I head back to Denver on the 16th.

Last pic taken leaving Pike's Peak
Approaching the SangresRise and Shine 6:00 a.m. hiking up to Humboldt Peak

Hiking up Humboldt Peak

Team pic at the Lakes before some of us break off to hike to the peak while others stayAlmost there....

At the Peak 11:00 a.m.!
Marmots! So cute!
Alden and I on the Peak

Disaster Call, loose four teammates, finish first project!

It's Wednesday and Hurricane Dolly has hit South Padre and Brownsville, Texas. Four of our teammates, Andy, Carrie, Mandy and Liz were the top ranked disaster for this round on our team and were picked up yesterday and driven to Denver. They flew out sometime this afternoon to San Antonio as well as one of our other unit teams to stage for the hurricane. I know it got up to a Type 2 and winds were up to 120, but after it has hit land it has gone down to a 1 and I'm not exactly sure of the damage...I've just been getting frequent text message notices from Drew who actually has a computer at hand! I'm at the library now. I hope the hurricane isn't had and that my teammates get to come back. It was really weird today not having them here, especially since I'm close to the three girls that had to leave! So yea we are all a bit bummed about it. But, today we finished working on the gully! It's completed! So we went to a different gully and worked on that for a little bit. We did a lot of EC matting (Erosion Control) where we lay down grass seed, bio sol (sp?) and put this blanket like stuff over it so that the seeds don't get washed away. Today was my first time actually driving down the peak! I'll be driving up to it after some of our teammates finish he their laundry, etc. Of course I go straight to the computer. Anyways, the project has been going well. Tomorrow some of my teammates from Round 1 and 2 will be visiting with their SOS teams and leader. I think Jerry and Jess are on it at least. So that will be exciting. Yesterday we also drove up to the peak as soon as we heard that our teammates had to picked up for disaster, got a picture and a donut and enjoyed the amazing view. When the SOS (Summer of Service) kids come tomorrow we will also be going back up to the peak with them. I believe that includes 10 corps members and 30 SOS kids. Friday Eric has a cool hike and some surprise set up for us. I'm assuming it's food! Yay! So much for that. I'm dirty, haven't showered since Sunday and pretty much neither has the rest of my team! You sure do get used to it. At least we don't sweat as much...as much as I had been sweating in New Orleans....that would be a different story! Ha! Ciao Ciao!

Flowers we found and learned about on our hike that are only found on Pike's Peak



Our final destination on our hike! The mining cave

Hiking
more rocks..

Part of the hike we did Thursday

Working in the gully, filling it with rocks
Our progress
Alden, me, Nicole, Liz, our sponsors Eric and Bruce in the background and Rachel Ladd, my new TL in the green
Some of our little friends
We take lots of breaks after moving huge rocks

The hill we hike up every morning to the top of the gully, our work site
Resting after hiking, ohhhh altitude!
Making a trench for the water the flow in and avoid destroying the wetlands with sediment
After 30 minutes of hail on our first day of work!
The view from our worksite

First day arriving to our campsite, this is our brightly colored rain gear (oh and I'm wearing my personal raincoat underneath!) It was chilly out and rainy for the first hour we were there, but quickly let up and then the sun came out!
Lizz setting up our tent
One of the views from the peak we live on
Sunset!
Our fire pit and kitchen in the backgroud

Another year older...

Yes yes I just turned 23 last Friday. Weiiiiirdd! Time sure does fly by. Anywho, my birthday mostly consisted of work, which was passing rocks in a line into piles that eventually reached the gully. All day that's all we did was move one big piles of rocks to the next to the next. By the end of the day we were all so looney, even our sponsors, but we had quite a lot of laughs and were happy it was Friday. These weeks seem so long when you wake up so early and go to bed by 9pm! Then we had to pack up our campsite, which took a couple hours, drive to our site for the weekend, and then some of us went out for fast food because we were too tired to cook. So I mean kind of an uneventful birthday, but oh well. The team got me a big cookie though and sang happy birthday at our site as well as giving me a bag of s'mores goodies, a funny bird hat, some hair clips...of course, and some candy. So that was thoughtful. Apparently Mandy and Carrie were going to wake me up early that morning, but just couldn't force themselves to do it once they were up. It's hard getting out of your sleeping bag in the morning when its 30 degrees, that's for sure. We also got to go on a really cool hike Thursday morning/afternoon to this cave and old mining area led by Ranger Barbra. She told us a bunch of crazy stories about people getting struck by lightning on the summit, etc. Next weekend we plan on actually making it up there! Some people want to hike it..I haven't made up my mind yet. This Wednesday Eric is going to take us on a cool hike!

So it really hasn't been too bad living in the woods so far because we do have bathrooms, water, and a hot water spout for washing dishes. However, next half of the project when we are in the Sangres building a campsite from scratch we will have water brought to us and have a WAG BAG as our toilet..which basically means a bucket with a seat on it that we'll probably have to empty every day. GROSS! I really dread that part..oh and we have solar showers. It's a bag that we will with water and leave in the sun all day long. Andrew and I have been the only people to use it so far, and it wasn't too bad. Good thing I cut my hair right before this project! We will also be at 9,000 ft. for the second half of the project so it will be warmer! It's pretty cool taking a shower outside though, I'm not going to lie. I use the tree branches as my towel hanger..ha.

Well on with the pictures, they speak better than words..oh and I have a lot of them!

We lift boulders all day!

ROCKS ROCKS AND MORE ROCKS! This past week we have been camping and working on Pike's Peak Highway for the Rocky Mountain Field Institute. Our sponsors are Eric and Bruce. I wake up by 5:45 am Monday-Friday and begin hiking up the mountain to our worksite by 7, that is after we do our stretches at 6:30. Too make this short since I don't have a whole lot of time left on the computer, we fill huge gullies with rocks that have formed because of the sediment that is washed down and destroying the wetlands to decrease the velocity of the water from storms. I can't wait to show you all pictures. We work til three, cook our own food in the fire and on camping stoves. This weekend is the "race to the clouds" so we have to leave and camp at a different site just for the weekend, but then we return for one more week. After that we leave to a different area for the last three weeks of the project! sweet and short, there ya go! My cell works in the mountains! Call if you wanna know more!

Chi-town pics

Home sweet home!
Reminded me of N'Leans
View from the Swissotel
Navy Pier from the Swissotel

View from my room in the SwissotelDrew and I downtown after eating at Carnivale, one of my favorite restaurants in the city.
Fourth of July table at Aunt Joyce's and Uncle Kevin's.