The goal of the SCA/USFWS Trails Inventory program is to provide the Fish and Wildlife Service with a comprehensive and accurate inventory of all trails on USFWS sites across the country. This is certainly an ambitious project as there are over 600 USFWS sites nationwide. This project will take us to every corner of the country, to high mountains and low deserts through bayous and fjords. We are all extremely excited for this opportunity as it provides the chance to perform an important service to the USFWS, expand our own knowledge and expertise, and experience many different parts of the country for the first time.
Hitch 1, New Mexico
Mike Mullaley and Christina Perdos inventoried 9 refuges and traveled over 3,000 miles in their first hitch on the Fish Tracs Corps. They looped through New Mexico, cut across the panhandle of Texas and explored western Oklahoma. Both self prescribed lovers of the Southwest, they left New Mexico with exceeded expectations and many places to come back to. They handled high winds in northern New Mexico and the Texas panhandle; soothing themselves (and their bent tent poles) over red and green chilies and sweet, sweet barbeque.
They were pleasantly surprised and worked hard in Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Indiahoma, Oklahoma. They hiked through canyons and boulder fields where they expected there only to be flat grasslands. Christina saw her first Bison.
Other high points of the trip included a weekend in the Gila Wilderness to hike through forests and into cliff dwellings, a visit to the Grand Canyon…of Texas, and an armadillo sighting. It was a very strong start for the pair.
