Photo Contest

          Hey everyone! There is an AmeriCorps photo contest that I have a submission in and would love if you all could vote and help me win! There is a 2000 cash prize which, of course, would go straight to schooling. Here's the link the the submissions page, then type in 'Morning Light' in the search box and there's my pic! You will need to make an account with challenge.gov but they are a totally legitimate site and wont spam you. please vote! thank you all and love you all!

http://americorpsphoto.challenge.gov/submissions

Back to Arkansas

          And this time to Hobbs State Park - Conservation Area! Three years ago the northwestern region of Arkansas experienced a devastating ice storm, killing many trees in Hobbs State Parks forest. Now these dead trees are starting to fall, everywhere, including popular trails and roads throughout the park. SUN 5s mission: chainsaw over 2000 dead trees in 5 weeks. A daunting task you say? Not for an AmeriCorps NCCC team! Our team knew the project would be purely chainsawing and that's exactly what we did. Nine team members and three park staff hiked up to six miles each day toting chainsaws, gas and oil, tools, and lunch; felling an average of 100 trees each day. Now this was fabulous, for the first 5 days, then the work really started to take a toll on, no not the strong Sun 5 team!, but the chainsaws. Unfortunately chainsaws aren't meant to be used six hours a day everyday for five weeks. So some of use were taken off chainsaw duty while the saws were brought to the shop. One of the large projects that need to be done around the park was brand new signs for the entire park. Well, the moment park staff found out I was creative, the task of painting every sign in the entire park was given to me. Don't worry though, i would much rather be sitting in a workshop painting then chainsawing in the woods. And it proved to be a wonderful final couple of weeks of AmeriCorps. Working in the workshop all day allowed me to become close to the park staff, an absolutely amazing group of people.



Chainsawing bad-asses



berries! not blood...



completed sign number one... 1000 more!





Sun 5 plus Seth, Al, and Anita, the main park staff whom we worked with



          So what about life other than work? Well, our first weekend the whole team was invited to a catfish fry on the lake where we met several park staff and their families. A couple weekends later a teammate and I spent the weekend hiking and camping in Devils Den State Park with some non-AmeriCorps friends of ours. Oh ya, and our home, a three story log cabin in the middle of the woods, totally rocked!

spelunking

Devils Den hiking



scrapbook page from fish fry

BUGS

          My favorite part of Kansas was... the BUGS! I found so many fascinating creatures in the forests of Kansas that I decided to dedicate and entire blog post to it sooooo, hope your not squeamish!

The Countdown Begins.

          Twenty five days. That's how many days until I walk across the stage and become an AmeriCorps alum. Crazy huh? I'm excited, scared, and sad that this chapter of my life is so close to completion. I have a lot more to talk to you about on the subject, but I'm sure you all want to here what I've been doing for the past two months! Yup, its been that long since my last post!

KANSAS
          Well, let me just begin with something Ive learned, Kansas is a fabulous state. Really! From May 7th to June 14th I lived in Junction City, Kansas, on the banks of Milford Lake. Our project sponsor was the town of Junction City who asked us to help them build a brand new city park. Longtime residents of Junction City, the Hellands, donated 54 acres of their land to the the city so the city chose to build a new park to be known as Helland Park. It was up to us, AmeriCorps Team Sun 5, to build all the trails in the park, as well as clear and 'beautify' the land for use. While working in the city, the local Milford Lake State Park allowed us to use one of their campsites to live. Our campsite was beautifully perched lakeside with modern day amenities in short driving distance; a perfect place to disconnect from society and immerse oneself in the landscape. I'll let my photographs tell the rest of the story:

Our lakeside campsite; also known as home

Erica Smith helps clear brush for a new trail

Carissa Hanson chainsaws as the morning sun peers through the trees

The team stands proud as a new trail is named after them!

a completed section of trail that winds along rivers edge

The city thanks us with a great party and free steak dinner!

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