Hitch 1: Cattle and Bobcats and Bears, Oh My!

We have a job! The BLM has approved our grant and we are so excited to learn that we get to spend another seven months working and playing in the Mojave. This hitch, while we were waiting to hear from the Regulators, we had the wonderful opportunity to spend ten days working at the Kern River Preserve, which is managed by the National Audubon Society. Over the ten days, we modified and removed a heckuvalotta fence (One heckuvalotta is equal to 4939 m: 965 m removed and 3974 m modified).

Besides our fence work, we also removed one buncha invasive ragweed from the Preserve property. The Audubon folks were excellent hosts, and invited some other guests for us: one bobcat, two bears, ten horrible ants, many deer, cattle, and a bazillion mosquitoes. Though we were completely unprepared for the mosquitoes (what are bugs?! No bugs in the desert!), the abundance and variety of wildlife was quite a treat. Another treat was getting to spend a day with the Preserve Naturalist, Alison, touring Sequoia National Park, bear watching, and getting to hear a bit about the history of the Kern River Valley.

Of course, there were a few hiccups – what would Hitch be without them? Sometime around Day 4, our seitan turned to a nasty-lookin’, vomit-smellin’ disaster, and we also had some pesto pasta with fingernails-also-known-as–edamame-shells. Oops! None of this bothered us much though, and despite Emily’s near-death experience with kidney disease and/or an allergy to trees, we had a wonderful hitch. We are proud to announce that we will finally be out in the ‘Bone next hitch and boy, are we pumped about it!