YOSEMITE-II BACKCOUNTRY TRAIL CREW
JUNE 2005 MONTHLY OVERVIEW
KIVA VIGIL, BACKCOUNTRY TRAILS SUPERVISOR OVERVIEW:

Hey everybody! It’s us! You know, the Yosemite II Crew. Yeah. So, how’s it going? How’s the summer been? Had any barbecues lately? Our summer’s been slightly tremendous. I mean, we don’t really want to brag, but it has been quite the bee’s knees. What? You don’t believe us? Well, listen to this:

First of all, the seasonal temperature has been warming up quite nicely. Most people are no longer wearing every stitch of clothing they brought just so they can walk to the kitchen in the morning. Of course, Mama Nature has kept us on our toes a bit with a couple of rain storms but our sunny dispositions haven’t dampened one bit. With many of the garment layers off, you notice how much weight people have lost. Kinda one of those work-your-tail-off, high-altitude-mountain-living side effects. What are you gonna do?

Since we just mentioned working, why don’t we segue over to that topic? It’s one of our favorites. Of course it’s going well. All of us have been doing some efficient trail maintenance, displaying our mad skills developed over the previous weeks. Cottonwood Trail: Done. Miguel Meadows: Done! Smith Peak: Done! Aspen Valley: Done! And to top it off, trail maintenance hasn’t been all that’s going on out here. No Siree! The landslide retaining wall near O’Shaunessy Dam has been completed, providing a stable, rock solid pathway for countless human, mule and horse feet. And we worked two days at the Crane Flat Campground, preparing it for the imminent arrival of copious cool clever campers. But that’s not all! How about when part of our crew worked at White Wolf, using grip-hoists to help repair a damaged sewer line, gripping like a bunch of grippy grip-faces?! Or when we found a remote section of trail all but disappearing from the face of the planet from the spearing onslaught of white thorns. What did we do? Did we run back to camp and cry like little bambinos? That’s a big HECK NO! We hiked in some food, slept at the work site and busted…straight busted…that section out. Even crossed a mildly ominous river when we were all done. So how does that grab you?

The Yosemite II Crew respectfully apologizes for the passion and sheer joy for work expressed in the previous paragraph. We just ask the reader out there to understand that this is not a groovy self-actualization program. Please read on!!

Of course, what does every trail crew member want to do after blowing through a couple of thousand calories at work? You guessed it! Go to class, obviously. We garnered great effort and focus and completed our mission statement. It has been humbly included in the rear of this august publication. Don’t feel pressured to skip ahead and peruse it immediately. It’s worth the wait. We all sampled each others taste at our music class and played an indigenous hose-stealing game. Stevie Lynds, (Yosemite, 1992), NPS Foreman, rock-climber, and all-around tough guy, lead a climbing class that brought the whole crew to new heights. (Make appropriate groaning sounds here). Andrea Carapary (Backcountry Trails Crew Supervisor—Yosemite, 1996 & 1997), presented a wonderful natural resource curriculum over the course of 2 nights and 2 days. Our crew has become much more adept at making people lose their lunch with abdominal thrust maneuvers thanks to ‘Super Safe’ Tim Esquivel (Inyo, 1985 & Backcountry Trails Crew Supervisor—Yosemite, 1996 & 1997), Yosemite NPS legend and CPR/First Aid Instructor. And rounding it all out was Mike Elliot, who provided coursework in a tiny little thing called wilderness survival with 18 hours of heart pounding intensity.

And now a paragraph with a bit of a somber tone. You’ve been warned. The last week of June found the Yosemite II crew ripped asunder with half the crew hiking to their new home on the Illilouette Creek. The remaining portion of the crew stayed at Hetch-Hetchy through the July 4^th weekend before moving to Merced Lake. As we’re pretty sure you are not holding the original of this document, space has been provided for you to splash water on the page in a pale approximation of all the tears cried over THE SPLIT. O.K., now pull yourself together. We all knew it was coming and plan to meet on some exclusive, all crew weekend hiking shenanigans. We miss not being a whole crew, but within all challenges come opportunities and we’ll be making the most of what we got. So stop crying! Right now!

Well that’s basically it. The whole kit and caboodle. The meat and potatoes of the month of June. A bit of dessert is all that’s left so enjoy. And we’ll be checking in, in about a month. Toodles!

Hello! We already told you about our curriculum two paragraphs ago. Pay Attention!

There have not been any changes this month, but Kiva is sure acting a lot weirder.

Two members of the crew have been experiencing some back pain but are taking care. Another member of the crew prevented himself from nose diving off a cliff by making good use of his tailbone.

We’ve had a few guests show up in our camp and our crew has strived mightily not to freak them out. Linda Weaver showed up from Redding to see Chris Lerman (WEB / CCC Alumni—Redding) and Holly Barbush (CCC—Redding). Britney and Chris Asbury from Magalia swung by to chat with Ian Franklin (CCC—Fortuna). Jenna’s twin sister Terra and friend Danya came out for a weekend of hiking. The mother of esteemed CCC Trail worker Steve Yune (CCC—Chico), visited with Steve’s brother, Foreign exchange brother, and grandma. The crew happily made use of Mrs. Yune’s willingness to provide tobacco products. Lest you get a wrong impression of us, she was re-compensated. Armind Ramamoorthy (Yosemite I, 2003), drove in and said howdy to Kiva and all the N.P.S. people he knew. Uncle Walt Castle, former Animal Packer Foreman of Yosemite National Park stopped by to see John Knotts. Peter Lewis hiked in with the crew to Illilouette Creek and helped set up camp. Thanks Peter. The Yosemite II crew heartily extends much love, high-fives and big thanks to our guest instructors Andrea, Tim, and Mike. You guys are right on!

N.P.S Sponsors – Can you pick out the newest additions?

 ILLILOUETTE CREEK     MERCED LAKE

Doug Matheson  (Yosemite, 1997)   Stevie Lynds  (Yosemite, 1992)

Brandi Bosch   (Yosemite, 2001)   Ben Herbert  (Yosemite, 1995)

Edward Corona (Yosemite, 2001)   Jodie Wiesman (Stanislaus, 1999)

Rob Harrold  (Yosemite, 2004)   John Ruder  (Yosemite, 2001)

Amanda Atkinson (Yosemite, 2003)   Paul Fredland  (Inyo, 2002)

PRODUCTION:  

Trail Maintenance: 

   Aspen Valley Trail  -- 5.5 miles

   Miguel Meadows Trail -- 3.0 miles

   Smith Peak Trail  -- 5.5 miles

   Kibbie Lake Trail  -- 6.0 miles

   Cottonwood Trail  -- 1.0 miles

   TOTAL:    -- 21.0 miles   

Multi-tier Retaining Wall: 

   Hetch Hetchy   — 462 square feet  

   White Wolf Sewer Lines — 110 square feet 

Other:  Crane Flat Campground  -- 150 campsites cleaned

  White Wolf Sewer Lines --7 days drill anchor pin holes & setting rigging to set sewer pipe

 QUOTE OF THE MONTH:  

   "DARN IT! I’M NOT VERY GOOD WITH QUOTES!" ---Ryan Wells.

Putting one foot in front of the other

Like a machine, our breath carries us

In a chaotic structure

We come together

Day in & day out

We move separately

Step by step

Breath by breath

Ache by ache

With no real awareness

Of the distinction between sweat & tears

Laughter & cries

Our minds are awake

Our bodies rhythmically moving in time against  gravity

That fickle force

We ask ourselves as we struggle

Why are we here?

Silence, a pause

Then we look down at our bodies

Uniformly situated here in the present

And realize

We are no different from the mountains, dirt,  creatures, vegetation

From each other

The clay of our bodies meets the clay of the  earth

That bonds us together

Like shoe goo on a torn redwing

In exhaustion

Through blurred vision

We see no distance between ourselves

At last we are one

No gender, religion, race, or opinion could  separate us

The backcountry is our mission statement

The experience, the crew

The crew the self

And the self undiscovered

With fewer assholes and the bullshit left behind

We allow the challenges to teach us patience

The hunger to show us strength

The forces of nature to teach us humility

We are here to live, work, grow, learn, love, and  understand

The trails build us

We come for ourselves but stay for each other.