INYO/TRINITY BACKCOUNTRY TRAIL CREW
MAY 2008 MONTHLY OVERVIEW
KARLSON HUBBARD, BACKCOUNTRY TRAILS SUPERVISOR

May was the month the Sinity Alps Crew became comfortable. Our guards were let down a little more. Our bodies adjusted more. And our minds settled a little more. Things became routine and the irregular became regular. We finished May with much room for improvement in the areas of community, camp and work, but we also finished May knowing we had improved much already from April.
We relocated our base camp in the middle of the month from Jones Beach and the loud ocean, to the southern part of the Sinkyone Wilderness at Usal and the stagnant forest. We continued our brushing of the Lost Coast Trail and the crew hiked the 24 miles of the trail that runs through the Kings Range one weekend.
With the end of the month comes our readiness to leave the Sinkyone and move into the Trinity Alps Wilderness. We’re ready for the tough trails that lie ahead.  Before we left the Sinkyone, the crew came across an injured woman who had severely broken her ankle.  They heard he cries for help, and they came running.  After extracting her from the hole she had fallen into, they managed to carry her to safety.  The true colors of a crew can come out under pressure, in the time of crisis or emergency. Everyone  on the crew thought about someone else’s needs before his or her own needs. They instinctively worked together and cooperated and looked out for another like they’d been living together for 20 years. It was a magical moment, a beautiful thing to witness. Now, if we can only continue that the rest of the season.

CURRICULUM:
Conflict Resolution, the Christmas Flood of ’64, Redwood Trees, Weekend Backpacking Survival tips, Community Relations, Kite Making and Kite Flying, Soil Erosion, Spanish Day,  and Game Night -  these are a few of the things May’s curriculum were made of.

ODDS AND ENDS:
Thanks Larry Notheis for helping us permanently end conflict on our crew.
Thanks Tessa for bringing us our final crewmember (Allyson from West Allis, WisconsinI).
Thanks State Park Maintence Work Carlos Alvarez (Stanislaus ’02) for your help.
Good-bye Charlene Knight.
Thanks Larry Evans (Klamath/Sequoia ’84) for the food.
Thanks Peter Lewis for the gum.