There are those who believe in superstition and those who do not. There is no way to tell what is correct, but one thing is for sure, what can go wrong will go wrong. Unfortunately, Connor’s accident was merely a domino in a series of emergencies, and more than one member of the crew claims superstition is to blame. At 5:30 on Saturday morning, Chaz broke his shoelace, which at the time was just glossed over, but it was in fact a bad omen. Once the snap occurred, a chain reaction of bad luck and problems arose. After the trip to Yreka, which included multiple excursions to Walmart, we headed back to Klamath National Forest. Due to safety and practicality, Connor was forced to stay in Happy Camp for the remainder of the hitch, which also meant that he would be returning to San Diego County on Friday. Alas, the crew hiked back into Kangaroo Springs, a day and a half after leaving, fatigued from the whirlwind, without a member, and definitely disappointed. We thought the worst was over, but during the night, Chaz began to feel nauseous. He threw up multiple times and felt just as bad in the morning. Where the sickness derived from nobody knows, but it soon spread to everyone on the crew. Chaz stayed back in camp to rest while everybody continued to work on the far side of Rattlesnake. The next day, the decision was made to remain at Kangaroo. Andraya was having feet issues and Chaz was still under the weather. Then, in the middle of the day, Erin and Chris both began to feel sick, which similarly resulted in puking. Despair was progressively overtaking camp. Dinner was skipped and everybody went to bed. The next day, Andraya and Kirstin began to feel nauseous as well, but luckily the rest of the crew was on the mend. Additionally, Bill arrived in the morning with his horses and mules. The day was slow once again, but preparation for the hike out was underway. Bill brought extra horses and mules, which allowed Chaz, Andraya, and Kirstin to ride out of Kangaroo. It was a unexpected, but pleasant, surprise. Meanwhile, Chris and Erin decided to hike all the way down the mountain into Seiad Valley while the rest of the crew left with Bill. This seemed like a good idea at the time, but it ended up creating another fiasco. The hike out with Bill was interrupted midway by hale, rain, and lightning. The trip was wet and cold, but successful. However, Chris and Erin were stuck in Seiad with no knowledge of our whereabouts, and the weather made the wait very stressful. Nonetheless, at 8:15 p.m. the crew was reunited, and all fears were vanquished. We stayed the night in our always helpful, amazing agency contact Laura’s warm house where we were treated like royalty. Now, we have a few days off to relax and prepare for our last week of work.
Thanks, Laura, Brandon, Dave, Peggy and Chuy.
