bears, orcas, hiking, crew leading...

Hello!! Long no post, let me try and think about everything I've been up to...busy time of year, that's for sure! I guess I'll start with my most recent adventure: a weekend of backpacking in the North Cascades! We hiked out about 6 miles, set up camp, jumped in the river, sunbathed on a bridge, then hiked another 6 miles to see some glaciers. That evening we were attacked by mice as we tried to eat dinner and relax...as you can imagine, I was kind of freaking out as the mice were running around at our feet, and running along the logs we were sitting on. Eeeek! Once safe and sound in the tent, it was a very lovely evening, until the next morning when things got exciting again...while walking along the trail back towards the bridge by myself, I stumbled upon a bear!! Yep, a big black bear, very near to the trail...we looked at eachother, I freaked out inside, he turned into a bush, and I quickly walked/lept down the rest of the path to the bridge, where I stayed until Isa magically appeared to rescue me and walk me back to camp. Crazy!





And on to another unforgetable animal enounter...I went on a weekend getaway to San Juan Island, because we heard that orcas had been seen there all week. We sat out all day Saturday, from 10-6 and didn't see any whales, left for an hour to go get a pizza, and sure enough they had passed by while we were gone. Go figure. But then the next morning we arrived at the same spot about 9 am, and the show had already begun!! There were 2 pods, about 60 whales, jumping and cartwheeling, and surfacing all around us!! For about a 1/2 hour we watched then, and had 2 large groups swim about 50 feet in ront of us, along the shore...it was amazing! Dream come true, for sure :)






As for hiking adventures...the end of June, I decided to go out on my own and tackle once again the dreaded Mailbox peak. I did this hike back in the spring with Isa and Gina, when there was still snow, and it was the most steep and painful hike I'd ever done...not quite sure why I decided to put myself through that again...turns out I was dying after less than an hour, and about to give up, when I am greeted on the trail by my friend Laura (and her bf)! We are friends from high school, and she had been living in WA the end of last year, until she moved to California. Turns out she was in Seattle for the weekend, and happened to be doing the same hike :) It was crazy...and with her company, I made it to the top!


Went on another great hike with Isa and my former coworker, Kym. Out to Annette Lake, where we were eaten alive by bugs. Other than the bites, it was stunning.



And one other trip we did a while back, with Gina as well, was to Lake Quinalt on the Olympic Peninsula. No hiking that weekend, just swimming in the lake, sunburn, the "world's largest spruce tree", campfires, and ice cream cones :)





I guess that leaves my final update to be about my new job as crew leader! I am really loving it...I feel like I have 5 children, and I constantly worry about how to keep them happy, and safe, lol. It's a lot of fun to see the magic sparks as they connect, and learn to work together...we've still got a ways to go, but that's part of the fun! And this is in fact our last week in Seattle before 2 week on Mt. Rainier!!! Plenty of time for bonding then :) Last weekend I got to attend a Wilderness First Aid class down in Portland...it was really interesting, and useful (other than almost getting knifed by my practice partner! eeek!). And another quick/funny story about that trip...I got pulled over for running a yellow light, and the cop gave me my first sobriety test ever! Of course I hadn't had a drop to drink, but the test took forever, because apparently my eyes have this wacky condition called nystagmus, that makes them shake and look like I've been drinking and/or on drugs. Pretty cool, huh? haha...

And the sad/happy ending to my current position is that I will have to leave my crew come September...the crew leader I replaced will be back with a healthy arm to take over, and I have since been hired again by EC to be a crew leader for the ECG program! So I will switch programs, and start at the beginning again...this program runs Oct-Aug, but is essentially the same as what I did last year with ECI. I will get the full 4 weeks training this time, and start with a crew of just nationals for 4 month...then get internationals in Feb. I am so happy to be able to stay on with EarthCorps!!!

I'm exhausted now, but that's the latest :)