KINGS BACKCOUNTRY TRAIL CREW
JUNE 2008 MONTHLY OVERVIEW
Meggan Gehring, BACKCOUNTRY TRAILS SUPERVISOR

On June 3rd, with a huge sense of accomplishment after completing our assignment to construct a new trail along South Taylor Creek, we loaded up our belongings and headed over to Jack Herr’s house to celebrate our time well spent on the Klamath National Forest. We scarfed down hamburgers, made homemade ice-cream with rhubarb sauce, and danced a jig in his garden while USFS trail crew member Kelley Jones (Klamath ‘07) played the banjo. After much merriment, we reloaded our rigs and headed south on a two-day journey to Kings Canyon National Park.  We had been invited to spend the night at CCC Director David Muraki’s house. After six hours of travel, we arrived at the Muraki  home – a trail crew sanctuary. After meeting and greeting all in attendance: Mark Rathswohl, Brad Duncan, David’s wife Judy, sons Scott and Mike, and Sacramento Local Corps Director Andy Liebenbaun we set up camp in the backyard like a traveling circus. Now to the fun stuff. There was a swimming pool, gigantic trampoline, badminton, basketball, x-box and internet, a beautiful home with a wonderful toilet, National Geographics, newspapers, foosball and football. There was take’n bake pizza and sparkling apple cider, fruit salad and nice conversation. To top it all off we watched the Celtics win the first game of the playoffs while consuming  Judy’s homemade raspberry brownies and ice cream sundaes. Our morale bursted at the seams. It was like Christmas meets Birthday party of our wildest dreams. We were rested, clean, entertained and very well fed. In the morning I had to peel the crew away. Reluctantly, we packed up the circus and waved goodbye, practically tearful, watching David’s wave in his driveway grow smaller and smaller.
After many hours of travel, up and over the central valley, we finally reached our long-awaited destination. As though the Sierras were made just for us, our spirits and motivation soared as we entered the granite gates of Kings Canyon. Jaws dropped over the vistas, many an “Oh my God” exclaimed as we took in the spectacular first views of our new home.
Arriving in Cedar Grove with new country to explore and new sponsors to impress, our season felt like a new beginning, as if we were starting fresh yet wiser and much stronger. We spent our first week in the front country with our new foreman Adam Zamastil (Kings Canyon ‘03), sponsors Steve Donnelly (Yosemite II ’00, Inyo ‘02, Kings Canyon ’06), Bobby Zekanowski (Kings Canyon ‘07), and Edlyn Clevenger (Kings Canyon ‘06). We were busy, heads reeling with new information, CPR, First Aid, many miles of hiking and maintenance up steep canyon walls, physical conditions, orientation, and ergonomic lessons. Wow!
The following Monday we found ourselves loading our packs and driving around to the northwest side of the park for a two week backpacking spike through Tehipiti Valley. Tehipiti would be our first real backpacking experience. No turning back now, this was it. Unloaded, packed, and ready we started off in the afternoon to our oasis in the valley. Upon reaching the top of Son of a Bitch (section of trail rather than the figure of speech) we peered down the 3000 ft drop off the ridge side. Our eyes followed the river that snaked through the valley, and up to Tehipiti Dome, which loomed like the Grand city of OZ, towering  prominently over the land. We were here to pay our homage with hard work, for low pay, under miserable conditions. We made our way cautiously down the tedious trail with steep drop offs and reaching our base camp with the greatest view of the giant rock. TehipitiI Dome was our guardian as we battled an onslaught of mosquitoes, rattlesnakes, thistles, and the shadowy presence of a mysterious bear which kept evading us. After two very strenuous weeks, through many  trials and tribulations, and running low on food, we completed yet another goal:   we cleared 15 miles of trail stretching from the park boundary to Simpson Meadow.  Only question that was left was how long is it going to take to get back up that Son of a Bitch, and onto our next challenge.