Progress Reports from the Field

Hitch Six brought the Rands crew to a milestone in the DRC season, reaching the midpoint of our time in the Mojave as well as the last hitch in cooperation with the Transitional Habitat Conservancy (THC) . A move to a new campsite North of Freemont Peak provided breathtaking sunrises which a few hours later melted away the chilling January mornings.

After only two days of restoration the work plan was completed, leaving the crew to revisit all of the polygons to monitor the sites for restoration effectiveness. Equipped with our rugged Dodge Ram 2500’s the Rands crew set out to visit the 16 THC polygon land parcels where restoration had closed incursions as part of a multi-crew effort in conjunction with the Jawbone crew. In the process the crew had the opportunity to visit a number of areas where only Jawbone had completed work, invigorating the spirit of adventure or as the crew would say, “ ‘sploring”.

Rands found ways to make the days of long, jostling, and sometimes hair-raising commutes to the incursion sites enjoyable. We even discovered some curious desert souvenirs along the way.

73 Effectiveness Monitoring points later and the Rands crew completed the monitoring component of hitch and work in the THC was in the books. Evaluating restoration provided insights into how the work fared over time and ultimately validated the months of hard work. The analysis required the crew to take a step back from the paradigm of restoration and see the sites as components of a greater area and envision OHV traffic from a different perspective. While the work in the THC took the Rands crew away from its home in the Rands Mountains Management Area , it provided new challenges and strengthened the work skills in different terrain and vegetation.
As the crew packed up camp and made its final trip to California 395 on Fremont-Peak road the story of the Rands 2012-2013 was half written, with great anticipation to return “home” to the Rands area and the opportunity to work with the other crews at the All-Corps hitches.

This hitch started out by meeting our work skills instructor from the frozen depths of Maine, Karl. He taught the team about the proper use of tools and their functions. We learned about grade on the trail and how to lay out and flag a new trail. We set up camp and made bomber dinners. After our newly acquired knowledge of trail design and layout, the following day we got to sink our teeth into cutting some new trail. Over the following 2 1/2 days we cut 987 feet of new trail. For some of us we worked harder than we knew was possible. The weather was a tad warmer than the previous week but the wind threw in a little excitement factor. We saw some great wildlife which included a short horned lizard. At the end our week our work skills instructor taught us proper tool maintenance and care. We packed up camp and headed back to the warmth of Phoenix. Thus concluded the team's first 4 night camping trip. All were excited for the elusive yet glorious hot shower! Till next time!

This hitch started out with some shuffling. The recent rains flooded the area where the team planned to do pole plantings. We took an education training trip to BioSphere2 near Tucson,AZ. We learned of and witnessed 5 different controlled biomes within the facility. The following day we went to Table Mesa, north of Phoenix, and did some restoration work illegal jeep roads. No one was going to pas through there once we got done! Finally on Thursday the waters had receded and we made it out to River Bend in the Agua Fria National Monument to do our pole planting. We went above and beyond and planted all 95 poles (trees) in one day instead of two. We camped at Aqua Fria,which for many of these Phoenicians turned out to be one of the coldest camping experiences. Fire, long horn cattle, coyotes, and the frost were our friends for the evening. On Friday we packed up and headed back to Table Mesa to plant 98 more trees along a sensitive restoration area along the river. We also put a fence around these poles, as cattle and OHV traffic tend to hinder restoration efforts in this area. The team band, Brown is in the Dirt, also hit the song writing hard and is looking to add new songs to the debut album forthcoming. Till next time!

HITCH PERFECT

Hitch 6 could not come soon enough as Wild Corps began work out of the long anticipated Palm Springs district office. Not only is Palm Springs the closest office to our humble abode in Yucca Valley, it also offers stunning views, outstanding weather, and (debatably) the crew’s favorite vegan restaurant—Native Foods. Before heading out into the field, we spent two days at home preparing for the spectacle that will be the All-Corps Olympics, aka hitch 7. To prepare the other Ridgecrest crews for the games, we bestowed upon them the first film to have ever been nominated for 21 Oscars in the genre-bending phenomenon entitled “The Invitation.” [See below for exclusive behind the scenes shots.]
This hitch, the DubCee had the privilege of doing trail rehabilitation in, yes, I am not kidding, a ZOO. The Living Desert Zoo & Botanical Garden in Palm Desert offers the surrounding communities access to thousands of diverse desert plant species, miles of beautiful hiking trails, and sand cats. In case you didn’t know, the sand cat is like a regular house cat, but with a boxy head and stocky legs, and two million times cuter. While not kicking and screaming because we could not have one of those sand cats for ourselves, we were using our McLeods and rock bars to polish up some of the washed out sections of the 3.5 mile Wilderness Loop (Eisenhower Trail Wilderness Loop)
Historically, the Wilderness Loop has been a popular hiking destination among the Palm Desert community; built about fifty years ago by a group of Boy Scouts with questionable trail building decisions, the trail has long been suffering from heavy erosive forces. So with clear eyes and full hearts, we put our bodies to work to turn severely cupped trails with 2 foot high berms into the sweetest trail you’ve ever laid your Asolos on. From backfilling to backsloping to outsloping to sauerkrautsloping, the Wilderness Loop will now hopefully stand the test of flash floods and heavy use. While the implementation of knicks will help with non-erosive water runoff, the installment of steps will mitigate berm build-up as well as improve safety for the public. I bet your Grammy could even hike this trail in her flippy-floppies.
On the home front, we were fortunate enough to stay at the Ritz-Carlton of all Forest Service campsites: the (read in your head like an old British woman, think Judy Dench in Skyfall) Ribbonwood Equestrian Campground. While previous hitches have involved camping under large power lines in the Palo Verde Mountains Wilderness, or a different set of large power lines in the Chemehuevi Mountains Wilderness, Ribbonwood had a stunning array tables, fire pits, and yes, again, I kid you not, a bathroom with hot showers. Although most members only indulged in the controlled deluge once or twice, we were grateful for the option, and forever thankful to those kind BLM souls who convinced someone to let us desert rats sleep on their fine soil.
The inauguration of the President coincided with Wild Corps’ inauguration of The Green Monster, an animal whose picture should be placed on the walls of every government building right next to the big man himself. The Green Monster, to all ye front country folk, is a large 10-man-Army-Surplus-Arctic tent that can very comfortably fit 4 people in the cold desert night. After the whirlwind rain-dance required to set up the Monstruo Verde under the leadership of DRC pro Matt Duarte, Wild Corps rejoiced in a week long inaugural ball that involved a hearty buffet of peanut-based dishes, Joni Mitchell’s “California” on repeat, and philosophical discussions about the mythology behind the Celtic cave-dwelling creature Anna Kendrick Lamar.
Some other highlights of hitch 6 include: opening up one’s pup tent to a snowy winter wonderland after working in the hot desert sun the previous day, Kettle brand Honey Dijon chips, sand cats, dried mango, the wonderful Canadian woman who called us “Angels” for improving the Wilderness Loop, all the other Canadian women who commended us for our work, aaaand sand cats.

Wild Corps Peace Out
SIDEWINDER aka Scottie

I love the crew I work with. We’re made up of a bunch of like-minded folks from all across the country who have a shared passion of the great outdoors. Luckily another thing we have in common is the ability to get trail weird. You may ask yourself, “What in tarnation is trail weird?” I’m sure other subcategories of labor-induced weirdness exist as well. Restaurant weird, retail weird, farming weird - they all accomplish the same thing. It’s a sort of coping mechanism used to lift spirits among a crew when times get tough.

Our days start off upbeat for the most part, but after lunch the weirdness usually starts to take hold of us. People get tired physically, and restless mentally. When you combine these traits you are left with an opportunity for greatness to ensue, should you seize it. Someone starts speaking in an amusing accent. That evolves quickly into the entire crew speaking in that same accent. As we tire of our new voices, our minds wander. People start asking questions that they consider to be deep and thoughtful, but to anyone outside the crew would sound like the ravings of a lunatic.

“Hey Guys! If you had a magic water bottle divided into four sections, that could each contain four separate liquids, all of which having an infinite supply, what would they be?”
We generally take these questions with the utmost seriousness. It’s as if we believe that if our answers are witty enough, and our justifications sound, that we would turn around to find that magic water bottle on the ground behind us.

Another symptom of getting trail weird is temporary aural ignorance. Often, a member of the crew will experience a momentary lapse in conversation, but not in their subconscious. After a statement is registered as a sudden thought instead of part of a conversation, it is often blurted out as the same exact words that were uttered in the first place. I guess we just wouldn’t be ourselves if we didn’t repeat ourselves.

One of the greatest side-effects of getting trail weird is the boost in morale that it brings with it. There are always more things to accomplish around Lake Berryessa, and getting trail weird has helped us to tackle an enormous amount of work in the last few weeks. After returning from our winter break, we completed a loop trail hugging the shore of the lake at the Smittle Creek Day Use Area. The trail is a 3/4 mile jaunt with minimal grade changes and a wide tread. After completing the new loop, we maintained a large section of the Smittle Creek Self-Guided Nature Trail. During the first week back, we also took a grip hoist rigging course. Our newest endeavor is at Markley Cove, where we are improving the water access at roadside pullouts along Route 128.

So next time you find yourself wandering the shores of Lake Berryessa, if you come upon a group of dirt laden, overall wearing, tool wielding trail philosophers with muddy boots and big smiles, slowly approach and say something strange -just don't be surprised if we manage to make a conversation out of it.
-Andy Heller