STANISLAUS BACKCOUNTRY TRAIL CREW
AUGUST 2007 MONTHLY OVERVIEW
Meggan Gehring, BACKCOUNTRY TRAILS SUPERVISOR

Let us plant dates even though those who plant them will never eat them. We must live by the love of what we will never see. This is the secret discipline. It is a refusal to let the creative act be dissolved away in immediate sense experience, and a stubborn commitment to the future of our grandchildren. Such disciplined love is what has given prophets, revolutionaries, and saints the courage to die for the future they envisaged. They make their own bodies the seed of their highest hope.    –Ruben Alves

Overview:

In August we took ownership of the Emigrant Wilderness. Emigrant Lake now feels as if it belongs to us. The theme of the month has been about recognizing and reflecting on the positive transformations that have taken place throughout our season. As we contemplate what is in store, we thought a lot about time and change and, we realized too that the sky over the lake at sunrise was a slightly different color every single day and wasn’t that beautiful? The realization of our individual metamorphosis has made us even stronger and brought us closer together as a crew. We praise the beauty in ourselves, our crew mates, and our overwhelming surroundings.
            With rock bars and rocks, not as heavy as they once were, August has revealed how much we can accomplish as a crew. With our ever improving skills, along with a determined focus, we managed to complete several projects.  The trail along Emigrant Lake has never looked better and we have adorned her with multi-tier wall, rip-rap, long stretches of causeway, and many rock retainers.

Curriculum:

The center of attention for Augusts’ curriculum was the production of our crew newspaper, The Lever and Fulcrum. Everyone’s hard work and dedication during class hours and on their own time paid off tremendously – we now have an extensive newspaper to be proud of. Crewmember classes included Mike Butler’s portrait drawing class which provided many laughs as we engaged in drawing each other for our newspaper profile pages. Milton Alcon gave us an evening of music appreciation and Amber Mullins helped us relax and stretch our sore muscles with her Yoga Class. Mark Spencer, environmental scientist, provided us with a weekend environmental class which was the highlight of this month. The crew engaged in games and skits while learning about the natural history of our universe and planet and how to be better stewards of our planet.

Odds and Ends:

            Visitors were plenty this month and much enjoyed. Amber’s boyfriend Keith stopped in and showed his prowess with rock work. Moore’s family and “special lady friend” Terri were around for a bit. Kathleen’s family came bearing treats just in time for crew Halloween where they joined Edward Scissorhands, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy around the fire. John’s friend Jody swung in as well as Meggan’s friends Aaron and Joe. Last but not least, we had visits from both Tessa and Peter who left us with an interesting harmonica solo with a Jamaican Jig. Very entertaining.