This week on crew we had two returning crewmembers from session one, Paul and Caitlin, and then four new crewmembers, Tyler, Logan, Sara, and Christian. The hike in was mostly downhill, a nice change from session one’s hike in, and six miles. However, the workweek was grueling. The crew had a six-mile section to cover and no matter which way you walked, it was always uphill! The first workday we worked about a mile away from camp, widening the corridor so hikers don’t have to weed-whack their way through, and clearing drains.
That morning the crew worked in some light rain, thought the afternoon proved to be nice, with mild temperatures. Tuesday, the crew worked three miles away from camp under the only some partially blue sky. Though of course, it did rain that evening after dinner.
Wednesday was the real test though, in the morning we hiked out all the way to Derek’s Knob shelter, a six-mile hike, and began working back to where we had stopped the day before. The weather stayed nice most of the day, raining on us as we worked for a short period in the afternoon. Then after working, the crew had to hike back to camp, the most grueling part of the workweek!The hike back was, of course, up hill, though it was made better by our constant complaining and Tyler’s made up words as we played the game Contact. The crew didn’t end up getting back to camp until 6:10 that evening, so we enjoyed a shorter
Which was really nice because it started raining around 10 in the morning on our last day of work and did not end until around midnight! The rain and wind were caused by tropical storm Cindy, which lead to a restless night for most of the crew. The next morning the crew was up early and the hike out was achieved pretty quickly, as we were all ready to dry out and get warm, an interesting thing to be wanting in the middle of June!
