With only four more days remaining of my summer internship in Lassen, I am amazed at how quickly the summer has passed. My time spent in the woods confirmed and elevated my love for the outdoors, and has further prepared me for more adventures.
Today, our last off-day until I depart for home on the 11th, I spent preparing for the long journey home. Between having my oil changed, cleaning out the whole inside of the van, and catching up with friends back east, I've left myself little time for updating the ol' blog. Fortunately, I am able to type a bit, and update you on some of the exciting occurrences in my past week or so. Last Thursday afternoon, after a week of working with two cool Forest Service employees from Oregon, we departed for South Lake Tahoe for a couple of days. Putting in seven straight days of 8-11 hours granted us two much-desired days off. Evan invited us down to his place at So. Lake, with plans to travel to San Fransisco for the Phillies v Giants game. Last minute, however, I opted to stay in Tahoe and get some riding in while Andrew and Evan headed to San Fran. My decision was well rewarded; the cyclists mantra "always ride" has yet to fail me.
Thursday night we headed to Meyers, a small town just south of the lake where some of Evan's friends live. Dan and Jeremy were planning a group ride the next day, and so of course I opted to join. Friday morning, after a quick breakfast, we geared up and drove to the trailhead. After negotiating a rather rough and tumble dirt road, a short half hour climb up yielded 10-11 miles of unbelievably exciting downhill. The trails in Tahoe are simply incredible. Flowy, rocky, technical; rock gardens with fantastic obstacles and drops slowly yeilded to smooth, flowing berm turns which twisted through pine stands so fast it shoots you out dizzy with exhileration. There were plenty of drops, jumps, and great rock features, many of which were above my comfort level. While I managed a few features, these trails are the type that only become more fun as you work out your lines and dial in each jump, drop and launch.
Saturday morning, Jeremy and I decided one ride only wet our appetite (mine especially), and so we headed out early to tag Mr. Toads Wild Ride, one of the most famous trails in the country. Offering even more spectacular riding, Mr. Toads also balances its ridiculous rock gardens and technical drops with smooth, flowing singletrack. Perhaps the best part about both endeavors was the ending point; right in Dan and Jeremy's backyard. This unbeatable setup makes shuttle runs especially easy.
Heading back to the park after Mr. Toads, we arrived somewhat late around 10:30, and began the next weeks work. Fortunately, it was only four days of work; unfortunately, bees saw to it being a less-than-perfect work week. Before leaving for Tahoe, I was stung in the chest on Wednesday. That was the first time I've been stung in about 8 years. It wouldn't be the last. This past Tuesday, as we were taking a repeat photo, a bee decided it would sting me in the right forearm, completely untaunted. As angry as I was about this odd twist of fate, I had no idea that the next day would carry with it even more poor luck. While measuring a tree I felt what could only be another sting on my left shin. Almost in disbelief, I raised my pantleg to find a bee hanging, dead, from its stinger on my leg. While my mind processed this, I was consecutively being stung on my right shin in nearly the exact same place. That's right, four bee stings, one week, three different days/locations. After nearly a decade without a single sting. Coincidence? Bee Conspiracy? I'll let you decide. All I know is I'm swollen in three out of four limbs and quite bee-paranoid.
In other current events, their has been some serious wild-fire activity recently. A thunderstorm managed to ignite several small fires in and around the park, one of which has grown significantly. The fire is near Snag Lake, where we spend three days backpacking. Listening over the radio to the fire crews is very interesting. Wildfire fighting differs significantly from that of structure fires; it is near impossible to put out a wildfire. Instead, management tactics usually entail strategically setting another fire which will burn upslope and meet the wildfire. In this way, when the fronts of both fires meet, they have nowhere further to spread as all the fuels already have been expended. Fire crews backpack into the wilderness and work fast to make a fire line, utilizing as many natural barriers as possible, before setting the back fire to spread up to meet the main fire. If I had more time, I could better illustrate this specific fire with maps, however I believe we must shortly aquire our provisions for the week and begin the long re-route to the park (the main highway is closed due to wildfire). That's all for now, will upload a plethora of photos when I have a chance. As always, thanks for reading, farewell until next Tuesday.
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