Life as an American Pack Mule

Over the two weeks of crew leader training we all accomplished a lot but most of all, we all became Americans. We may have all been legal citizens but our project sponsor, Doug, made us all Americans. After treating us to a cook out, he brought out his glock and his Winchester 308 and taught us all how to shoot. I am now a more well rounded individual. According to Doug, I'm a natural. Doug is a law enforcement officer and land manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife who blew off part of his right pointer finger with an M-80 when he was thirteen and now lives his life by the saying "safety first but fun is a close second."
In a whirlwind of odd weather from dippin dots falling from the sky to waking up to a quarter inch of ice on our tents to blistering hot days we worked for Doug. In Hot Sulfur Springs, CO we improved an existing fishermen's trail running along the Colorado River with boardwalks, bridges, and a french drain. We met Jack, Jack, and Juniper the resident mules and horse. We camped on old ranch land resembling a junk yard and ooooh-ed and ahhh-ed over beautiful sunsets.
Week two of field training had us relocated to Radium, CO population 9. There we dug ditches, hauled materials a couple miles up a running irrigation ditch, and worked on one of the most incredible and butt clenching work sites I have ever seen. The boards on a twelve inch catwalk over an irrigation pipe sixty-ish feet in the air needed replacing. The cradles that hold the catwalk are only stable when the catwalk is in place, there was nothing anyone could do for you if you fell, and DOW employee, Blake, did an excellent job of cutting catwalk boards to size with a chainsaw while balancing on a cradle. It was awesome.
Half way through training I was assigned an Assistant Crew Leader. Matt from Minnesota played college football and only eats meat, potatoes, butter, cheese, and ketchup. His father cooked him a pound of bacon for breakfast every morning in high school. He is in charge of crew meal planning. I haven't been able to talk him into trying spinach yet... Maybe if I put a bunch of Ranch on it... I already tried butter