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: