Puppies, and kittens, and kids, Oh My!

          Our first week in Fort Davis has been quite exciting! Grand Companions Humane Society is absolutely fabulous for us and the animals. This forward-thinking shelter is all about loving every single animal and getting them ready for home life. The animals are not kept in cages, but in the offices of the staff, with the ability to run free throughout the facility; how cool! The Grand Companions staff is also super welcoming of our team and really eager to teach us as much as they can about animal training, psychology, and interactions. This past Saturday me and two other team members went to the park for our weekly adoption outings. Here are some pictures of the puppies, kittens, and cute kids who came by to adopt them!

Goodbye Already?

           Our five weeks in Big Bend National Park have been some of the most beautiful and peaceful weeks of my life. I didn’t know I could, but I have fallen in love with the desert. I have found myself curiously awestruck by the thriving life in a place that appears so dead and empty. Every bug and plant seems to have a story of epic survival. Whether it a beetle who has built an armor of cactus thorns for protection or a flower blooming beautifully in a hole in a rock the size of my pinky, a day in the desert never went without a fascinating moment.

          I am incredibly sad to be leaving this place but now understand how important it is to make the effort to see those places in the world that are less traveled. That still untouched by human hands has greater beauty that anything mankind can ever create.

          My final thoughts on this project are the things I have learned to appreciate here in Big Bend:

1.       Water

2.       The night sky

3.       The will of survival

4.       Cell phone service (I have none in the state of Texas apparently)

5.       The therapeutic effects of family game nights

The whole team on our first day in the park

Working at a new border crossing, thats Mexico right behind us!

On the new Lone Mountain trail.

Where to next? We are on our way to Fort Davis, TX to work with the Grand Companions Humane Society.

Hard Workers

                So what exactly are we doing in Big Bend every day? Well, our biggest and most important project is beginning the construction of the new Lone Mountain Trail. Not only is this trail the first accessible trail straight out of the park’s main visitor center, it is also the first mountain biking trail in a national park, an issue that has been highly debated for several years. Being the first people to ever work on the trail, we get to experience the rawness and beauty of the untouched desert. Throughout our work we have observed a multitude of wildlife including thumb-sized beetles, scorpions, black tail rattle snakes, banded racer snakes, rabbits, javelinas, deer, and many more.

                A regular work day begins at 7:30am with a team ‘stretch circle’ which includes 15 minutes of exercises and 15 minutes of stretches. Leaving at 8am, the team takes the 20 minute drive to the trail head. There each of use grab a pick-mattox, McLeod, handsaw, and loppers, strap on our day packs and hike out to our ending point of the day before. As with my project first round, the farther you work on the trail, the farther you have to hike to begin work, meaning we were hiking out an hour by the end. At noon we get a half hour lunch break, then back to work until 4pm. Upon returning home, dinner is made immediately and as the sun sets (around 9pm) most retire to our tents for the night.

The whole crew!

cactus flowering on the Lone Mountain Trail