Volunteer Day: North Twin Lake and Sparks Lake
Deschutes National Forest
Bend, OR
Things I learned (or relearned) today:
1.
A 5:30 (unintentional) wake-up call is too
early, no matter who or where you are. Even worse when camping and very little
sleep was had. And the 6:00 (intentional) wake-up call was just as bad.
2.
No journey is complete without at least one
wrong turn. Three or four is maybe a bit much, but it happens.
3.
I actually enjoy hiking – except when it is up
very steep inclines. I’m way too out of shape for that crap.
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| Breakfast These are the lucky 3 who got to spend the first 3 days of the trip in my van. They all busted their butts on the trail head, this teacher is super proud of them all. |
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| Half the Crew. For our day of service, we split the big group into two smaller groups. This was our half about half way through our hike/clean up. We had to get a picture of us all in front of North Twin Lake. It was a beautiful hike. |
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| Happy Trails. Taylor was great on the trail, most of the time hiking way ahead of the main group. We're always having to reign him in. |
4.
It takes a lot of people to keep parks running
and clean and safe for people to enjoy. We got to help clear and clean up a
trail around North Twin Lake. It was great watching students go for the tools
of the trade; it felt kind of like a personality test, each tool matched the
individual perfectly. I started with loppers to cut back brush from the path,
but my most used tool ended up being my camera to take pictures of the crew
sawing through logs, cutting back brush, and using axes to clear the paths. My
two high school girls Jayenell and Christina started off by using trash claws,
but soon handled the hand saw with ease. It was awesome.
5.
It’s important to find something you love and do
it with everything you have. We worked with an individual who started working
in Deschutes in the early 80s, and it was so clear that he loved his job today
just as much as he loved his job almost 40 years ago. He was lovely, even if I
had to carry heavy logs for him.
6.
My upper body strength leaves something to be desired.
Heavy logs. Enough said.
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| It takes a team. Some of the logs we moved to help with stream restoration took two people, some took the whole group of 7. We were buff by the end of the day. |
7.
What happens today truly impacts things for
years, decades, centuries to come. We’ve been told stories today and yesterday
about natural events and disasters that people are still working on fixing
today. We moved logs, branches, and brush into what used to be a road that
floods frequently from the stream that leads into Sparks Lake. The work we did
will keep the water from flowing in a direct path and hopefully keep it from
harming the surrounding meadows.
8.
Lakes fed by mountain streams are COLD. Not
ideal swimming conditions, but enjoyable nonetheless.
9.
One of my favorite parts of trips like this is
the face time I get with my students. This evening when we had some down time
between swimming and dinner, they taught me how to play a card game called OG,
or Original Gangster (I think there are other names for this game, but I don’t
know). It was so much fun being the student for once, having them come along
side me and help me out. Also, it became very clear that I am far too competitive
when it comes to games – I was calling them out on cheating and when they
didn’t follow their own rules. I was fine with loosing, but I wanted them to
win fair and square!
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| Nature at its best. Jayenell and Christina take a breather by the stream we were helping to restore. If you look in the top left of the picture, you'll see the logs and brush we moved into the old road to keep the stream from getting out of control in the meadow. |
10. There
is always enough time. I think this is going to be important for me to remember
on this trip. We have so much to do and so many places to go that I sometimes
get tunnel vision. Most of the truly important experiences are the ones that
are unplanned and personal.
--KT
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