Hitch nine was a blast for the Grass Valley Crew welcoming a new crew member Adam Kinnard, hosting the Kiavah crew Kiavah, and Matt Duarte (a.k.a “Knife”). They all did an extraordinary job of helping us block off some incursions and finish some fencing. During the first day of work Grass and Kiavah beasted two incursions like the beasts they are. OHVer’s ain’t got nothing on Grass and Kiavah. Then during the rest of the hitch the two crews worked together to finish a 1 kilometer stretch of fence and started the greater part of a 3 kilometer fence line. Fencing jobs divvied up among the members include sighting out the fence line, constructing H braces, running fence wire, pounding T posts, clipping the T posts to the fence wire, and inserting stays to the 4 lines of wire. The first fence line fence was completed under the tutelage of Matt “the Knife” Duarte. His fencing expertise helped the two crews overcome the challenges of the Grass Valley Wilderness terrain. The work for second fence line started out slow for both of the teams due to the challenge of sighting out a straight fence line over enormous creosote bushes. Although the bushes were challenging to work around, the two teams’ perseverance assisted in overcoming this difficulty. At the end of the hitch the two teams planned to do their two EE’s on the northern boundary of Grass Valley Wilderness, so they could see the wildflowers in that area. But, as you may know things don’t always go smoothly in Grass Valley, and one of the trucks required a tow (déjà vu again) . So, the truck was towed out right before we were going to leave the field, again. This put somewhat of a damper on our day, because Cat, Will, and Lizzy had to stay back to wait for the tow truck while the rest of the members got to see the wildflowers. Thanks Cat, Will, and Lizzy for sacrificing for the teams. Welcome to the crew Adam.
