The Beginning.

Well, in reality this post is more of a catching up than anything. I have been living up at the USFS (United States Forest Service if ya didn't catch that) Steliko Work Center, my home, for almost a month. Our living quarters consist of a double wide trailer that was the former bunkhouse for the Hot Shots (read-badass wilderness fire-fighters). We have used office partitions to create "rooms", the accommodations are more than adequate really. 5 of us are now in the trailer, 2 in separate rooms, and 3 of us sharing the main area. We only have 2 bathrooms, sinks and toilets only, so we share our cooking and showering areas with the hotshots in their newly located bunkhouse, just a few steps out our door. Of course, the hotshots have been gone for weeks, fighting fires in N. California.

So far the job has mainly consisted of waiting, waiting, and waiting for the snow up in the high country to clear out. There is still quite a bit waiting for us up there. Last weekend we made our first trip out into the Glacier Peaks Wilderness Area, and a few areas had about 3 to 4 feet of solid snow still, not to mention we were barely above 5,000 ft and the mountains surrounding us were quite a bit taller. That isn't to say that we haven't done anything. I have hiked trail carrying a chain-saw, taking care of the larger trees that have fallen across the trail since the last season, contacted many users and made small talk, just getting my face out there, and basically enjoyed the time necessary to acquaint myself with this wonderful area of the northwest.

Apparently this is a very popular outdoor-recreation area in Washington, the majority of users seem to be from the "west-side", or Seattle area. We luck out and get scattered clouds when Seattle gets rain all day, although there are constant winds buffeting us from the West. Then there are the mosquitoes. Wow, they are horrible. We have been cleaning and developing some awesome granite boulders tucked off the road just 10 miles up from our 'house', and we never forget the DEET anymore. I have never seen so many mosquitoes, I'm talking hundreds, millions even, swarming about. I have probably 4o bites on my legs, bites on my face, arms, hands, feet, anything exposed. I even have bites on bites. But don't worry, as soon as we get a few 100 degree days they will die off........only to be replaced with biting and black flies, which we can look forward to getting stuck in our eyes, mouth, etc. Hahaha, definitely something new for me, having to deal with tons of bugs, just have to order the nest for my tarp shelter.

My bosses are awesome, my boss Mason and I were actually at the same Grateful Dead concert it 1994 at Portland Meadows, granted, he was a bit older than I, but small world huh? Randy McLandress, the head honcho out here, is also a great guy, I think he might actually know my old boss from Tahoe, who worked for the FS out in Wenatchee 30 or so years ago, I'll have to find out. I've exhausted this for now, what more can I say, it is wonderful, beautiful, everything and more than I could ask for. Cannot wait for my bike to get out here!