Goodbye Cascades...Hello Chewelah

We have just relocated to Chewelah, WA to finish up the job that was started in Republic months ago.  It's nice to have a change of scenery, to be closer to Idaho, and although the weather has not been too hot, it's better than being cold in a tent while it's raining in the Cascades. It was nice the last couple of days there, however, this being the last morning waking up @ Snow Creek:

I am currently drinking a refrigerated Alaskan Winter Ale after taking a hot shower, cooking real food, and drying my boots inside a room at the 49er along Highway 395 just East of 49 Degrees North, a place that I know quite well from the great days of riding there as a young skier and snowboarder.  For at least the next couple weeks, and after working outside in Pacific Northwest weather living in a tent for months, it's god damn nice to be sleeping in a bed.

I had a roommate the last two weeks in Roslyn: Sasha.  My 12 year old Labrador joined me on my journey West:

Over the years her rear legs have become rather decrepit, and she cannot jump into the car anymore(or make it up steep stairs half the time), but she impressed me time and time again with her enthusiasm for the outdoors and wonderful company.  She hasn't been camping with me in a long time because of her lack of mobility, so it was great to see her out and about.  She can't maneuver too quickly, or run too fast, but she was having a blast in the forest!  Never a whine, and always on the watch.

 We have about 8 more days of solid work to do here in North Eastern Washington to finish work for a deadline, and although I know there is a time crunch, and I am getting all my work done, it's Fall and it's a great season to check out the surroundings. 

I have been constantly looking for Chanterelle Mushroom.  I have yet to find any, but I know they are out there and I'd love to cook some of the fungus up for dinner one of these nights.  

I have also been on the look out for  Bull Moose.  It's mating season for the largest member of the Deer family, and the Bulls can become quite aggressive and territorial in the fall.  Yesterday I kept hearing a large crashing noise in the distance, like a tree falling down in the wind.  However, there was no wind, so I kept my 'hoots' howling, not knowing what was around.  As I was doing a plot of trees far from the first area that I had heard the noises, they came once again, much closer this time.  Once again not see anything,  I kept moving on.  Finally, as I was walking between work points, I literally almost walked into a very large Bull lying down in the brush.  From 15 feet away, this great forest herbivore was the largest animal I had seen all summer by far and I cautiously stepped backwards without saying anything.  I honestly don't know what to do when confronted with an animal with virtually no predators.  After staring at me for a good couple of minutes, he lumbered off, with a rather large limp coming from his rear legs.  After surveying the area where he was laying down, I determined that the moose was either very old or hurt, for the noise I heard earlier must have come from when he hunkered down onto an area of mostly dead snags and branches, not a typical soft grassy area that moose would typically bed down on.  Something was definitely wrong.

Today I must have smelled very good to those mating season Bulls, for two of them walked right to me!  Hearing a lot of commotion up the hill from me, I quit what I was doing and checked out the area.  Sure enough, a large hairy black animal was coming towards me, very loudly.  It looked just like a bear in the brush, so I started yelling at the mammal.  He kept coming towards me, so I backed off, and finally out of the brush a huge bull was in my face!  Again, I cautiously walked backwards never taking my eyes off of him, as he stared me down.  He eventually walked off, and I snapped a couple of photos:

 Two hours later I heard this bull grunting at me from across a creek bed.  He was making all sorts of noises towards me...

The summer has flown by.  Although I have had a great experience, gotten in pretty good shape, and enjoy living on the land, it is getting more and more tough to get outside every morning to work.  I just picked up a new snowboard, am looking at a condo on Schweitzer on Monday, and snow is flying all over the west.  I can't wait...

Due to road closure...I do get Labor Day off, kind of.

I have had the past four days to myself in camp.  The other guys went separate ways for the Labor Day weekend, and I was left to try and finish up the Western block of our work in the Cascades.  It was very peaceful waking up without hearing the other guys making coffee, and BS'ing about the day ahead.  It was also extremely relaxing coming back 'home' and just being by myself; popping some PBR's, making some eats,  reading my books, and strumming the guitar.  I was under the impression that working on my own I would slack off without motivation from the other guys...definitely not so.  I cranked out a lot of work, spending 8-9 hour days in the woods, and I got a lot of sleep.

This morning I woke up at about 8AM, took a Snow Creek bath, made some coffee(and packed extra because I knew it was going to be a long haul) and hit the road to get some work done.   I had to take a new route to access my work zone, and it was unbelievably beautiful:

After taking some photos, I drove about another mile where I thought I would be taking a left and heading to the stand.  I came upon a Tacoma Watershed Gate, and got out of the Jeep with my special key, and the key didn't work!  I drove over an hour along rocky roads to get to work this morning, just to be turned around!  I couldn't believe it.  I wasn't about to walk 3 miles more, and THEN walk 5 miles in the forest on tough terrain to get the job done, so I turned around, needing gas and headed to camp, and ultimately here,  a cafe in Cle Elum to write.  At least I was able to drive to an amazing spot to check out the mountain landscape.

In other news...I stopped by the 'ghost' town of Lester on my way home from work a couple of days ago.  There are a few houses still standing, littered with random pieces of furniture, paint cans, and light bulbs.  Not much else.  The place had a somber feeling to it:  obviously run down, everyone who lived in this gorgeous spot in the heart of the Cascades forced to move for the Tacoma Watershed, and the place is ultimately shut off from the outside world because virtually no body can access the whole area without a permit since 9/11.  The only people I have seen past the gate are men looking for their elusive bull elk, and they all ask 'How in the HELL did you get your car back here?!'.  All I tell them is that I'm privileged, and that they sure aren't looking in the right spot for elk, for they are hiding about 6 miles in the hills from here(which they are).

I did find one last hold out, however:

Lastly, I will leave you with what I see almost everyday up here.  You might find it hard to believe, and completely random, but I actually come across a lot of party balloons.  A LOT.  And every time I find one, I hold my own private dance party.  This party was pooped on by an elk shortly before I arrived.  I partied anyway:

Back to the Cascades

Summer is waning over here on the West Side of Washington.  I have been accustomed to sleeping with out PJ's in the tent the last couple of months, but last night was a cold one...The changing of the seasons excites me; we still get to enjoy very warm, sunshine filled days, but get to cool off at night with sub-50F temperatures.  Fall is getting her autumn colors on, and Winter is trying on some new gigs to get ready for the mid-October snow dumps.

I am currently camped out on Snow Creek just below the Pacific Crest of the Cascade Mountains.  It is a great little site with water access and a great fire pit.  After being on the Reservation with little water access and a fire ban, these amenities seem like 5-star accommodations.  Much of our work is to the West near Lester, WA,  the 'Best Ghost Town' in Washington, but we cannot camp near the railroad town due to a ban on Public Access for the Tacoma Watershed.  Luckily we have keys and limited access to the areas for work, or else I'd be having to do a lot more walking.

The terrain is becoming more and more difficult with every day we move work towards the West:  40 degree slopes with large cliffs along with a lot of creeks and ravines proving difficult to cross at times.  Although it makes for longer and more tiring days, it provides me with amazing views of the Cascades and Rainier:

Although 'WILD' life in the Cascades is rather minimal, I did run up on a herd of elk, something I haven't seen in years.  Crazy seeing 50+ head of elk running in front of a Jeep.  Other than that, just the occasional deer and bear scat littering the woods.

I will be @ this spot until we are finished with the current block of work,  then heading back towards Cle Elum, WA, and on to the mountains just East of Chewelah(maybe up near 49?!).  Until then, I will be enjoying Jake's Foil Bake:  fresh sausage, carrot, onion, mushroom, bell pepper, potatoe, and spices wrapped up on the coals once a week, and 'enjoying' the every-other-day dip into the frigid Snow Creek(because I feel that every naked dip in that cold s.o.b. will create an extra powder day to come):

Tastes grow with age...

    

Whew!  Finally getting that hot summer that everyone has been hoping for!  Mashing through thick brush wearing Carhartt’s and a long sleeve shirt in 85F sure makes one drink his Camelbak with earnest, oftentimes refilling half way through the day.   The underbrush is starting to turn a little yellow, the bees are coming out in full force, and the Huckleberries are ripening. 

 

We moved camp to the very Northwest corner of the Colville Reservation about a week ago.   It was a very gorgeous drive with large cedar trees lining the dirt road, awesome granite cliff faces, and Hall Creek running along the south side of the drive.

With every 100’ of gained elevation, it looked, smelled, and even really felt like I was back home.  If I didn’t know where I was, I would have thought I was 2 miles south of Canada at the tip of the panhandle of Idaho on my way to skinny dipping at American Falls. 

 

After setting up camp at what could have been the now defunct Shoe Tree, I went to work.  After an hour of very thick brush, I found my first ripe huckleberries of the season.  Knowing that a co-worker was a few hundred feet away hard at work, I yelled out ‘HUCKLEBERRIES!!!!’  and started getting my fingertips and lips purple with the fresh berries.  Since I had been working everyday for about a week and a half, I decided to look for more of those sweet hucks and took the day off to enjoy this new(although it felt like I’d been there for years) wilderness.  In about an hour, I picked enough huckleberries to last me(and the guys in camp, who were elated upon seeing the beauties) until today(about a week).  

 All of this huckleberry business got me thinking…I used to HATE going picking for those gorgeous, pleasurable, and tart orbs that bears, and humans alike, love for their taste and health benefits.  ‘Mommio’ used to tell me before bed at the Lake that I HAD to go berry picking with her in the morning, ‘bright and early, Timmer.’  GUHHHH, ‘why me? I don’t even like those nasty things!’ I’d say, as there was always my brother and ‘Daddio’ to go as well…I guess she liked my company better I’d like to think.   For a young kid at the Lake with so many fun things to do on or around the water, the last thing I wanted to do was go out in the woods to rummage around looking for gross huckleberries.  Somehow she’d get me to go out with her and our chocolate lab Tess to pick away at her secret spots anyway.  Tess loved it:  being off leash, running around, and actually eating the huckleberries right off the bush that you were picking, ‘GET OUTTA HERE, TESS!  This is MY patch!’   

 After years of despising picking with Mom, I finally started getting the itch.  It went from asking Mom if’ that was enough yet?’ (NOPE!, another GALLON!) to ‘ I found a JACKPOT!’   Soon enough I would be craving huckleberry pies, my Mom’s wonderful huckleberry bread with her homemade jams, and getting a Daiquiri at one of the many establishments around Priest Lake. 

 

I now have my own ‘secret’ huckleberry spots all around Priest Lake that I won’t tell anyone about(for if I did that, I’d have to kill them), and now have a new spot in the Colville Wilderness that will always be mine.  Huckleberries also got me to thinking:  I am definitely taking my daughter picking next week, whether she likes it or not! 

 

Anyway, after a wonderful day off to collect and enjoy myself, the rains came pouring down up in the mountains like a monsoon and I was very glad that I chose wisely and let the Huckleberry madness take over for a day.

The REZ

I just made the move to the Colville Indian Reservation just south of Kettle Falls, WA and West of Inchelium, WA.  The other guys I have been working and moving along with since the Cascades gave me a heads up before I headed over via phone conversation, 'It sucks, you should just stay home.'

Each designated campground in the area runs about $20 a night with an outhouse and no water if you are a non-member of the Confederated Tribes, so the guys set up camp in one of our stands about 10 miles west of Inchelium.  Here, we pay nothing as it is on Forest Capital Partners' land, but again, no water, no real suitable campsites, and you must pay a fee to obtain a fire burning permit.  It's hot, muggy, buggy, and 'primative' to say the least compared to previous living situations.  The boys were right, it sucks.

Unfortunately the town of Inchelium is stereotypically 'Rez Life', consisting of very poor 'indigenous' living in down-trodden homes with broken down cars everywhere,  cigarette cartons and beer cans all over the roads, and stores with poor selection except for beer and liquor(they were out of gasoline at the pumps).   There are a few properties along the way that are very clean and up kept, but overall they don't do the town much justice.  I took a few Northwest Native American Studies and Anthropology courses in school and know a lot about the history and situations the people are in, but man, this area is in a lot of hurt.

The land we are working on is very beautiful, however.  The south facing slopes are mainly arid with tall grasses and ponderosa pines, while the north facing slopes are scattered with hardwoods, western larch, and doug firs.  The brush is high in most places and tough to hike through, and the mosquitoes horrendous.

Though the hot weather, poor conditions, lack of water and resources are downers, camp the surroundings always brings some joy to the job(besides the cashola!).  I brought a guitar this time around to plunk around on and sing songs about mosquitoes in hell, we tell stories about our day, drink boxed wine and 16 oz. High Life, and generally talk poorly about the situation in an amusing tone.  It's tough sometimes livin' on the Rez, but there's always the idea that hey! we signed up for this, luckily it pays very well, the views are spectacular, and the company is great:

Summer? Is That You? I'll be your huckleberry...

After many rainy days and nights, summer has seem to hit North Central Washington!  What a relief, as I was getting tired of wearing smelly boots that weren't quite dried out enough from the day before.  The flowers are blooming all around the forest, the ground is drying up, and pollen by the nose-load is falling off of every Ponderosa and Lodgepole Pine I come into contact with, plugging up my whole system.  I even saw some budding Huckleberries on their plants today, a welcome sign that summer is getting here!

 I took a week or so break from the woods, visiting Sandpoint, the Moyie River, Missoula, and Priest Lake.  It was great to see friends, family, and take a brisk, yet refreshing, dip into the Lake....FINALLY.  As usual, the boat broke down with me behind the helm, lah-di-freakin-da.  Hopefully it will not be gushing gas out the carburetor when I visit for the Fourth...

Before, and after the mini-vacation, I have been seeing and encountering much wildlife.  Not grazing deer, no rabbits, but large bears, and cougar sign almost every day.  Once again I found myself in a large thicket, and a cub came rushing at me through the bushes.  GREAT.  I lost my voice that day because of all the 'HOOOAAAAh's' and 'HEEEYYYOOOO's'  letting those overgrown trash collectors where I was.  The next day I came upon a fresh cougar kill....DOUBLE GREAT.  I went up to a large Douglas Fir to measure, and right behind it was a fresh, not-eaten AT ALL, half-way buried fawn.  To make it official, there were cat claw marks up and down the tree.  Another day of losing my voice!  Since these incidents, I'm glad I am out in the middle of nowhere, because I'm sure people would be getting sick of my constant 'WHOOOOP's' and 'HI-KI-MINI-I-KI's' rummaging around in the forest!

Today I came upon an unlikely visitor in the road (it looked like they flipped her around the corner, after a night of slamming Keystone's that were littered all over my access road):

After the fourth we will be heading to the Colville Indian Reservation for another part of the current job we are doing.  I will miss our little campsite, and our 'Grandpa' Al visits...

May Showers Bring June Flowers

Here's some photos of wildflowers I came upon today in the woods, enjoy!

Surprise!

I can't remember when it rained so much at the beginning of summer.  The days of sunshine have been wonderful, but to a small extent.  After a few hours of cranking out some good work, it seems the sun just throws in the towel and lets the thunder, lightning, hail, and downpours soak me clear through to my underwear.

There haven't been too many exciting animal encounters this week, just some goofy deer.  Does(plural doe?) come up behind me while working and scare me, while yesterday three adolescent bucks walked through camp like they owned the place!  Coyotes have been coming pretty close to camp as well...

As I was about to chow down on my third helping of Bratwurst for the evening, a co-worker said I was driving up the road in my Volvo!  Turns out it was the lovely Kalee-Wobs making a surprise visit to camp for the night with Sasha in tow!  It was perfect timing, for if she would have come 30 seconds later, she wouldn't have been able to have the third brat, which was still piping hot and topped to the gills with mustard!  It was wonderful to see both the girls, as Sasha is going into the vet tomorrow to have one of her 'love lumps' removed and I will not be able to attend(THANK YOU KALEE!).  We enjoyed a few brewskis, and then headed to what I call the 'condo' to retire, as, once again, it was pouring rain.

All in all, a great week for getting work done(except when I high-centered the Jeep 8 miles from camp) and some good rainbow watching in between the storms.  Let's hope this whole summer thing kicks in soon...

This rainbow came in just as the girls rolled in:

G.D. S.O.B's

Whew!  It's been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks, hence, no blog.  Well, here's those weeks in a triple-peanut-shell length!  Hopefully I won't bore you.....I think you'll enjoy it 'til the end.

The Randle Project ended on some great notes.  I ended up working with the other two guys stationed @ the ol' Randle Motel and we got some great, quick work done to finish up the job.  We finished the project early, so it was nice to make a surprise trip back home to Idaho.  Here's an old growth Douglas Fir we found on the last day of work,  a whopping 98" in diameter:

Coming home for a week was great;  spending time with Kalee & Sasha helping out her parents move,  heading to Nolan's cabin on the Thompson River in Montana, and getting to hang out with my brother and family @ our cabin up at Priest Lake for Memorial Day Weekend.  It was great letting my body rest up before heading to the new project just outside of Republic, WA.

I had been through Republic years ago with the 'Old Man' heading towards Tonasket and Omak for soccer games as a kid, but never remembered it very much.  All that kept coming to mind was my Dad saying 'Don't make eye contact with any locals' as we drove through because of all the Aryan Nation business going on...  Pretty sure things have changed.  Republic is a bustling little logging/prospecting town in the heart of North-Central Washington.  There seems to be a lot of history in the Natural Resources realm, and everybody is more than happy to help me out.  It's really in some gorgeous country; rolling hills, snow covered mountains, and little streams everywhere. 

Casey(one of my co-cruisers) and I made camp @ the Ferry County Campground about a mile out of town.  Hotels around here aren't cheap like Randle, and this camp has showers(a major plus during tick season).  It is run an old school logger named Al.  I've never heard so many 'son of a bitch' and 'God damn's' in my life, God damn!  He is probably around 70 years old, and has lived and ran the camp since it opened in 1994.  He likes to say, 'I didn't want the fucker, God damnit!  My Old Lady wanted it, so we got it, and she passed two God damn years later of the God damn cancer, and left me with the son of a bitch! God damn!'  The place doesn't get much business(besides our first night, not a soul has showed up), so Al(lonely I am sure) comes over every afternoon when we get off work and talks our ears off, ALWAYS finding a way or excuse to come over(he drives his Mastercraft lawn mower over and leaves it in the middle of our camp, leaves his weed whacker,  etc.)  He has some great stories of being thrown through bar windows, shooting himself in the foot, shooting bears, and getting rowdy with the boys back in the 60's.  It's nice to hear his stories because a lot of them are from when he worked as a logger in and around the Pack River Valley, Priest Lake, and Priest River, of which I can relate and get some words in with the old son of a bitch, God damnit!

The woods out here are much different than the Cascades.  Although the trees aren't as plentiful, there is a lot of brush to hike through.  The country around here is much like Eastern Washington and North Idaho, arid and full of Ponderosa Pines, huckleberry bushes, and such.  The woods are cleaner(no trash), and full of wildlife, unlike the Cascades.  It was rare to see animals on a daily basis on the last job, but here, it's rare not to see anything.

In four days I saw(or saw sign) of 4 bears, a moose cow and her kid, countless deer, turkeys, grouse, and other little critters.  The second day I was out, I drove up on a big black bear sitting in the road.  Later that afternoon I was up in a stand for a couple of hours working, and came back to the Jeep to find a momma bear and cub had cruised right by the Jeep(I am glad I didn't encounter them):
Baby Bear:

Momma Bear:

The next day was full of surprises.  I was not alone at my first plot.  A moose cow and her kid were right where I needed to be.  Knowing that moose are ornery sons of bitches, God damn, I let them know I was around, and they finally walked off.  I then got a scare from a grouse who flew off like crazy, which she was in the right, as I was about to step on her and her soon-to-be offspring:

Finally that day, as I was coming into one of the darkest thickets I had seen so far, I saw a skull and bones that still had blood and tissue attached.  Walking around off-trail, you see a whole lot of bones and signs of animals past.  Usually they are bone-dry, but not today.  So my instincts kicked in, and I kept my eyes and ears open.  A little close to the plot were two VERY fresh and large bear scat with flys still buzzing.  Second warning.  I didn't see anything, but that's because I couldn't see further than 20 feet in there.  Finally, as I found my plot and was writing out my reference points on tape, a very large grunt followed by stomping around...I dropped my pen and tape, grabbed a hold of my 'piece' and very quickly got the hell out of there.  Sounded like he was about 20-30 feet away, but I couldn't see the son of a bitch, God damnit!  Last thing I want is to intrude on a big bear's territory in a place that was both troublesome to get in, and out of.  Lucky for me a couple of plots later, with adrenaline winding down, I ran into a patch of morel mushrooms to take my mind off of earlier. 

Sorry for the length this post, it won't happen again, as I've finally found a nice little internet cafe in Republic.  I'll leave you with this son of a bitch, who likes to camp out right on my access road from time to time.  He's a a stubborn one, whom I always have to drive around, as he sure as hell isn't moving, God damnit:

Argh! Republic Internet!

Tried to blog today...finally. I have some new stories and pictures, but, alas, the Internet at the cafe was down( and I don't want to type on my phone). Maybe tomorrow!

When The Going Gets Rough...

Everyone has their good days, and their bad.

It wasn't raining.  It wasn't pouring.   'Turns out the old man staying in the room right behind the headboard of my bed snores.  A lot.  He also chain smokes and hacks up a lung when he wakes up @ 5AM every morning.  That's how today started.

The wonderful weather just wasn't cutting it, either.  The first half of the day seemed to drag on; tree plots in awkward places, along with poor judgement on my part of how to get to them.  Usually by noon I have at least 8 done.  I had 5.

Once I finished my first group of plots of the day, I was to move on to what I thought were greener pastures:  easier terrain, less trees to measure.  On top of a mountain, what could be a better start to the rest of the day?

Well, the road to get towards my new spot was snowed in.  I now had walk about 1.5 miles in the snow to get to where I needed to be. 

The new stand was literally at the top of Mt. Huffaker(see earlier posts, it's where the waterfalls come from).  After trudging through the snow, at last, a glimmer of hope!  Luckily it was gorgeous outside and I had an unbelievable view of Riffe Lake and Mt. St. Helens:

(It's tough to see the view in the photo, but Helens is left of center, and Riffe is right..you can click the photo for larger version.)

After eating lunch with this view, I was on my merry way.  I measured a couple plots when the terrain became insane very quickly. I soon found myself scaling a cliff trying to get to my next point on the backside of Huffaker when it hit me:  I'm in the middle of no where, by myself, no body knows where I am, and I had gotten myself onto a loose rock, mossy cliff with a 60 foot drop below me.

I had wondered when I would feel like this.

Then, when my mental bearings were just starting to roll around in my head, hanging on by a poor foot hold, I turned around, and BLAMO:

The biggest cock and balls I've ever seen.  A 40' behemoth!

It goes to show that no matter how bad of a day you are having,  how lonely you feel, or what has you wishing you weren't where you are, that there's always someone or something to give you a little chuckle in the end, and help you on your way.

The day ended with a stroll through the snow to the Volvo, and a drive back down to the motel.  On the way I snapped this photo of where I was earlier, on top of this mountain looking at a big, giant...:

Lower Elevation Cascades Are WET

Yesterday I received a crash course in walking in the mountains, in a raging downpour, with no trails.  All.  Day. Long.  If it weren't for my waterproof shell and pants, I would have been soaked from head to toe.  Speaking of toes, my 'waterproof' GORE-TEX boots did not fair as well:  I was hiking around for 6 hours in what I call 'soakers'.  *shlosh shlosh shlosh* all doo-da-day. 

It didn't help that I was in an extremely rugged area, either.  Long, very steep slopes with cliffs half-way in between plots I was trying to get to, and raging creeks by the half-dozen that I had to cross(another reason my boots were sopping) were the norm.

Waterfalls were fitting for a wet day:

This is a picture taken from where I parked my car.  My tree stand for the day was right below these falls:

Best part of yesterday?  Today:

Note to self:  buy new boots.

New Job=New Blog

Jobs are just work until you find something that doesn't feel like a chore.  I have worked in many places, worked with many different types of people, and just plain worked for work's sake.  I've stacked boxes in the trailer of a truck for a gigantic world shipping company,   programmed thousands of external hard-drives for the MAN,  tore off sheets of dirty bedrooms to put on new, white, 'clean' sheets for hotels, and washed so many dishes my cuticles are red and peeling constantly.

There has only been one job field have I consistently been attracted to:  food and beverage service.  I started working @ Elkins Resort as a dishwasher when I was 15.  This was the start of it all;  the camaraderie, drama, great food, alcohol, food fights, drugs, responsibility, social activities, and best of all: if you were good at it, you could get a job ANYWHERE.  I have held almost all job titles in a restaurant from North Idaho to Portland, OR, and I'm proud of it. 

However, there comes a time when one needs a little change.  I want to start making a living.  Actually SAVE some money, use my brains that my parents thankfully gave me, try a job that I trained for @ University for 7 years off and on(and graduated!),  and to try something different..at least for the summer.  I'll still bum the hell out of a ski hill in the winter time!

I  am currently sitting in a hotel room in between Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier on Highway 12 in Washington.  I just finished my 4th day working just outside the Gifford Pinchot National Forest as a Foresty Technician.  It's great:  I wake up @ 7AM to make coffee and eat some cereal, pack some trail mix and an apple, and drive 10 miles to a tree stand.  I walk around in some pretty rugged terrain taking measurements of trees(I won't bore you with the details) for about 6 hours, and then head back to the hotel.  I think of it as I am literally getting paid to hike around in the wilderness. 

Adjusting to life on the road will be tough.  For the most part, I do most everything by myself.  I am here for another 2 weeks, and then I will be near Republic, WA until mid-October.  I already miss my lovely lady, my daughter, and my Sasha-poopy-dog.

So, with the new job, comes the new blog.  I entitled it Things I See In The Forest in that I will include musings and pictures of my experiences in the forest.  I figured it would keep me busy on the road, and give me a chance to share the experience with everyone else.  Here's a little guy I came upon today: