YOSEMITE-II BACKCOUNTRY TRAIL CREW
JULY 2007 MONTHLY OVERVIEW
DANI NELSON, BACKCOUNTRY TRAILS SUPERVISOR

Overview

July has gone by in a series of ups and downs that spin us topsy turvy and sometimes just right. Much like a circus carousel, the crew is comprised of many colorful characters. Some of us move up and down. Some of us are stuck in place. But we all go round and round together and that’s where the magic is.

This month we really settled in at our camp along the trail to Cloud’s Rest. We spent our waking hours installing many deep seated rocks into the Forsyth Trail and also had the honor to welcome CCC Director David Muraki and a group of guests into our community for a very special visit. Our camp gave us comfort, the rocks did their best to generally frustrate people and the VIPs created just the kind of sudden upheaval that does a crew good during the midseason. We also did plenty of Backcountry style celebrating. Lalo Elenes, Russell Greer (Yosemite II 2002) and Kevin Short all had Birthdays. We had 80’s/Pirate Day on the trail and the crew created the ultimate holiday: Thanksoweenmas. Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas all wrapped up into one day of glorious gluttony.
Most important of all is that the YOS-II crew is healthy, happy and we keep on truckin’.

Curriculum

This month we’ve been mostly focused on our crew newspaper and shirt designs. That’s not to say that we haven’t also had time for some great corpsmember classes. Ceferino Ceja taught us how to express our dreams in Spanish, Kallie Mahon taught us how to make hemp bracelets, and Annie Bertheaud taught the crew the basics of geology.

Corpsmember Perspective:  by Davis Wahl, Fortuna CCC Center

How do you sum up July? Let’s see, rockwork, and uh…rockwork. Let’s talk about rockwork. Rockwork is hard. There’s like, these big rocks, and you put them in the ground. But they have to be strong and they need to touch each other in the right places. And if they don’t, you have to take them out of the ground. Again and again and again. But sometimes they fit into the ground real good. That’s a nice feeling, until something isn’t quite right and you have to take them out. That sucks. Also, rocks like to crush your fingers and bones and stuff. That also sucks. But man, all that hard work sure is rewarding.

Odds and Ends

The Yosemite II Backcountry Trail Crew would like to send out a huge thank you to the incredible group of people who came out to our camp for the VIP trip. Dean Glenn, Tim Ludington, Dave Kari, Johanna Gehres, Manny Guerrero, and Laurel Boyers from Yosemite National Park. David Muraki and Jessica Locarnini from CCC Headquarters. Matt Bettenhausen Director from the Office of Homeland Security. John Ianders reporter for CBS TV Sacramento. Rosie Cereceres Executive Assistant for 76th District Assemblymember Lori Saldana. And a huge thanks to Peter Lewis for being a great event coordinator.