Tank tops, shorts, and flip flops were worn. Winter coats were left at home. It was light out after dishes. Flowers bloomed. Spring had sprung in Grass Valley! Grass Valley? What was the Kiavah crew doing in the Grass Valley Wilderness, you ask? We were playing Bananagrams, cribbage, and Settlers of Catan. We were learning how to Double Dutch jump rope and how to set up two Green Monsters joined at one of the doors! We also finally got to experience gorgeous sunsets every night (in Kiavah the sunset is blocked by mountains) and saw a gopher snake and a huge flock of migrating birds. Camping with the Grass Valley crew was a blast and we got to help them welcome Adam, their new member! In between sunsets, games, and learning new wildflowers the fourteen of us built two kilometers of fence along the wilderness boundary in Grass Valley. Mr. Matt Duarte—our outstanding program coordinator—came to visit, learn how to Double Dutch, and teach us how to fence. For Kiavah it was a refresher course, but for Grass Valley it was new material. We worked with our respective crews for the first few days: Kiavah constructed the quarter mile section of fence farthest from the road while Grass Valley worked on the section closest to the road. Finishing the first section and the middle section were joint efforts; working with members of the opposite crew was a learning experience as we sought to find a common process of fence construction. Upon completion of that initial kilometer of fence we moved to a new work site and began building what will be a three or four mile fence. The Kiavah crew is looking forward to our SEEP day next hitch! SEEP is the Sand Canyon Environmental Education Program, designed for area 4th graders to learn about water conservation in the riparian ecosystem of Sand Canyon in the Owens Peak Wilderness. Sand Canyon is the perfect juxtaposition of an aquatic system and the dry desert ecosystem; we also cannot wait to get back to Owens to see how it looks covered with wildflowers! Until next time, Molly for Kiavah
