Umatilla National Forest 4 - Summer 2010

The fifth hitch started off with a bang - the crew hastened to the cabin to roll out the red carpet. Meanwhile, Jarrod and Rich rode in from Troy, Oregon with Kevin Martin, the Forest Supervisor, Kate from the Pendleton office, Larry Randall from Walla Walla Ranger District, Ron Hassel, SCA Trails Director and Sally Ferguson, SCA Partnership Representative, to show off the work.

Once everyone arrived at the cabin, it was steaks all around and an evening around the creek - campfires not being allowed due to the fire danger... It was a privilege to have everyone tour the project and leave the crew with such positive feedback on the "summer of lopping."

All good things, however, come to an end, with the special guests all leaving on Tuesday morning after a super special breakfast. Then it was back to clipping lots and lots of small branches.

Six new (horse sized) check steps grace the trail where it was very washed out, and a stone retaining wall has been rebuilt to support the trail.

Stats:
6,150 feet of brushing, six check steps, 45 square feet of rock wall
1 new horseback rider (longer stirrups needed), 15 pounds of steak on the barbie, 10 pounds of potato salad down the gullet, 75 gallons of water sweat

What Sisyphus learned long ago is still relevant today. When a rock twice your own weight is merely inches from its balance point, every bit of your strength and desire to succeed is what makes it go over the edge, but it’s difficult to recall Sisyphus dealing with hornets on both elbows and another hornet, who was fairly adventurous, that made it all the way up his pant leg.

250 square foot rock wall, 472 aphids inhaled, 24 hornet stings, 5 boxes Annie’s Mac N’ Cheese, 4 packets of Zatarain’s resulting in 1 upset stomach, and two nights in a new home: all to learn that if a tree falls in the middle of a wilderness, you may not be able to see it, but it certainly makes a sound.

Stats:
250 square feet of wall
2600 feet of trail brushed
50 fingers and 50 toes, all accounted for

There are always a few essentials you can easily pick out of a pack. They lay between the binoculars you were too exhausted to use and the wind-up LED lantern you realized you wouldn’t need when you passed out 7:15. There are the basics, of course. The pair of work pants that could stand alone after digging the pit toilet on day one, the toilet which was not completed until day 3. There are the gloves that began gathering holes on yet another rose bush on day 4, the straw hat that began to fray and curl on day 1, and the shirt that has seen and lost a few battles with a spry can of salmon. All of which create an aura of repugnance that blasts out of the pack when it is taken off the mule’s panniers and rifled through.

However, there is one item that will never be found in that pack. Most times it gets carried in and out without anyone knowing. The only time it is ever seen is when you straightens out your back after taking down yet another hawthorn tree. It is the stare that everyone carries with them. When you let out that big breath of air, look up the trail as it curves around the bend, smile, and think “this time tomorrow, where will we be?”

Stats:
6200 feet of trail brushed out
Three rock slide areas reinforced
Approx. 100 square feet of rock cribbing
Nine pounds of cheese

Ryan Hughes recently graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in English and has since been unsuccessful in working his way into the business world, so he figured he might as well disappear into the backcountry. What better way to prove his worth to the business world than tackling bears and having staring contests with Big Horn Sheep?

In addition to his troubles finding a full-time position that is the least bit related to his coursework, Ryan has realized that he enjoys the fulfillment of exhaustion received only by physical labor, and thus has decided to devote himself to the natural world that has fascinated him for all of his life.

Ryan has also held a strong passion to spend time in the Pacific Northwest and is extremely excited to have the opportunity to travel to paradise and work to keep it that way. Who knows, he may never leave.

Hello, my name is Natalie Horvath and I am a second year student studying wildlife science at Hocking College. Currently residing in the beautiful rolling hills of Southeastern Ohio, my love for the outdoors has expanded over the years along with my passion for the rich deciduous woods in which I have been brought up.

I don’t have a specific path in which I wish to take my career, although I forever wish to work outside doing manual labor for something that I care and believe in, whether it be in the wildlife or farming field I do not know. There are many things that interest me and take up my time, but the majority fall under vegetable gardening, biking, hiking, camping, hunting, foraging, reading, cooking, fermentation, yoga, and drinking good beer.

I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio by Dennis and Jennifer Horvath alongside my older brother, Zach. Dennis is the manager of Design Homes, while Jennifer is the director of the Dayton District Academy of Osteopathic Medicine. Zach is a French major from the Ohio State University, and is currently working out in Wyoming. I am looking forward to a summer of hard work out in the woods of Oregon/Washington, and I hope you enjoy watching our progress.

A native of the desert of southern Idaho, Jarrod Ball was recently transported from the land of constant sun to the slightly greener (albeit much wetter) climate of western Washington. He transitioned from watching the outside world from his office window for fourteen years, to wearing a backpack for over 200 days a year.

Since unchaining from the desk, Jarrod has tussled with tundra in Alaska, wrestled with bitterbrush in Oregon, sweat in the New Jersey woods and started avalanches in Washington. This is his third season with the Student Conservation Association, with whom he has led crews with high school students and professional trail builders.

Between backwoods stints, Jarrod returns to his home in northwestern Washington to do laundry, pet the dog and have dinner with his two teenage children and wife.