Sometimes while working back country with a crew I hate my life. Sometimes when my pack weighs more than half my body weight, and I can't stand up straight or even lift my pack by myself, and I look like a combination of cro-magnon man and Quasimoto, and every step is a delicate balancing act relying on my trekking poles and luck of proper foot placement, and I am so exhausted that I want to puke, poop, and pee all at once I hate myself. Sometimes I hate myself for thinking I am indestructible, for thinking that this job is fun, for being a crew leader, for stepping up and packing in that extra 15 pound tool or bag of rice that someone much bigger and stronger than me could have taken, for somehow ending up with the heaviest pack on my crew even though I am definitely not the biggest, strongest, or best hiker. But then I stop a moment in my delicate cro-magnon Quasimoto trekking pole balance, I breath in the fresh air, I look around at some of the most beautiful wilderness in the United States, and I love my life. HOT DAMN! I get paid to explore and live in some of the most awesome places on Earth! Can't beat it.
This last hitch took place in Lincoln National Wilderness Area on the South Fork Trail #19 in central New Mexico. It was my crew's first back country experience as a crew. We had the usual ups and downs... at 8,000 feet the aspen leaves were changing colors, it was below freezing every night, our water source was near our camp, our gravity filter stopped working, our crew members got to learn how to cross cut, we didn't make sure we had handles that properly fit our saw, the scenery was beautiful, our hike to our work site was killer, the scenery was beautiful, there were yellow jacket hives all along the trail.. and so on. All in all it felt good, and I came back to Tucson to a beautiful weekend of dancing in wildflowers, potlucks, vegan spanicopita, free yoga, and a community clean up.
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