I'm not sure what day it is, might be Monday, but that word doesn't mean much anymore. Back from the first hitch out in the Payette wilderness of Idaho, with six other people. The only six within 50 miles. Cars, roads, tires, 9-5's, and the slice of hot apple pie in Boise seem like flashes from years ago, but it's only been a week. I like my new planet; the sun welcomed me with a gift of blisters on my ears. I popped them with dirty fingers. Time out interruptions. Reflections in oral form, written soon. Falling off...
Everything's fine. It's been 8 days now. 8 days without a shower, joining a new family. Today I hiked back 8 miles through dense backcountry Idaho with a shovel and axe in hand. I can feel my body becoming stronger, leaner, but my mind is falling off track. I have no concept of time, and all the time to think about it. The following are guidelines:
The sun's up, I'm up.
Work starts, I start working.
We eat.
Work ends.
Dark out, we sleep.
This is the most relaxing, wonderful lifestyle. My reflexes are sharpening, animalistic. I use all five senses constantly. My beard has grown to the point that I can run my fingers through it. My hair feels like straw, and my mind always wandering. Work the hardest, regardless. There's no music out here so we sing. We sing and scream and laugh and tell stories and fart around the campfire. We lunch in the most beautiful, scenic places I've ever seen. I try to shake myself from this dream regularly, but it's all real. It can be absolutely silent here if you stand still in the right place. Walking through fire-charred stretches of lodge pole pines everything becomes clear, and calming. Simple. Things live, and things die, and nature ahs a perfect handle on the balance. The burns are not suppressed here, but left to run their course, leaving behind a mosaic of life and death, seemingly chosen at random. Either it was time to burn or it wasn't, and if it wasn't then they just keep on living.
I've had days filled time to play with reality, stories, songs, and maxims, but right now I feel so scattered, excited, and entranced by the amount of living, true living I've been doing here that I'm struggling to form cohesive thoughts. Maybe this experience is indescribable. I'll stick with that until the words show up.
I can, however, describe my new family. It began with seven Student Conservation Association volunteers (SCA's) signed up to clear trails in the Payette National Forest outside McCall, Idaho. The two that I shared a bus ride with from Boise to McCall have left for duty on the South Fork of Salmon River (Sam Bass, 19 from Texas going to school at Amherst in Mass. and Tim Blake, 23 a photographer from New England) Tim had a glistening bald head, and deep eye sockets set close together. His dramatic eyebrows clashed with a pair of lips that drooped at the corners as if pulled down by a string.
That leaves the family of five and two rangers, four of us will remain here at Chamberlain station while the other three are flying out to Cold Meadows station on July 3rd,let's begin with them.
Anna Sharar, 22, CA
10 lbs. of hair, never without a smile, fitting snugly into the Californian stereotype. Vegetarian, dreadlocks, fair trade, organic Q-tips, etc. Always up beat, with the biggest heart in the group. I admire the hell out of both here and Kalyn for coming out here to chop and saw.
Kalyn, 18, WA
A sweet girl with a round face and shiny cheeks, stout, strong limbs, and a semi-rebellious stud in her nose. We celebrated her 18th birthday out in the wilderness. I think that out of the groups her experience will have the most dramatic effect, but I'm not sure of an example or really how I came to that conclusion. A bouncy girl with a love for cold streams.
Mark, 25, OH (Cold Meadows Station Ranger)
A modern day Jack Kerouac. From hitch hiking to Giardia to "riggin' up a mean knot," this fellow has a story for everything. The bright blue eyes twinkle before a punch line, looking out through a pair of old glasses. A chipmunk like smile twists itself into shape through a red steel wool beard. It'll be a shame to see him go in July, I've already learned a lot from him.
Chamberlain Crew
Dave Hammer, 22, MN, Station Ranger
Dave will become our immediate supervisor after July 3rd. By supervisor I mean a fourth player for cards, Frisbee, drinking, and shit shooting. Dave, along with Big Sam is an outdoorsman. Hunting, fishing, and wandering the woods since diapers. He played hockey, and has hunter in Africa, and isn't afraid to tell the stories a few time, to make sure you caught the details. Hockey was his sport of choice, he couldn't spell to save his life, but when his front two teeth, slightly smaller than the rest, come sliding out from behind his gums in a smile, you can't do much but smile right along with him.
Josh Lobe, 22, Mebane, NC
Dark haired and quiet, with long arms, full lips, and a pair of piercing blue eyes, that seemed to stand out stronger as we all became dirtier. His soccer background lent to his strong hiking, and trail endurance. He never began a complaint, but was willing to chime in if someone else did. Always thinking, always humming, and literate in French. A true thinker in a perfect environment for thinking. We connected on the Wu-Tang Clan and Hong Kong cinema, and he seemed to open up a bit when it was just the two of us. A bit of a cynic, but not to the point of being obnoxious or a downer.
Sam Zahner, 21, Perryville, MO
The true good ol' boy, and the definition of a gentle giant, at 250lbs 6' (weighed in at 199lbs. at the end of the summer). Sam doesn't tan, he burns, and his scalp shines deep red under a wisp of white blonde hair and eyebrows. At first glance you might think redneck, and leave it at that, but Sam is well read, and open minded, with a good set of values. Fishing, hunting, drinking and cards are on the top of his list, and Idaho was a perfect fit. Probably the most genuine guy I've ever met, and a hell of a trail food chef to boot.
More to come, letters to write, but for the time being I needed to write myself. Fragments, no pictures, beards, and hard laughter. Impossible to draw anything concrete from it now, but that’s not what I'm after. I'm taking this day by day, enjoying every minute of it. Drifting, and the only thought that comes to mind is that I was born to do this.
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