June & July part 2 of 3
You've been tracking bats all day, walking through meadows of poison ivy. You've never seen this much before. The high points are clear of the ivy, but they are clear of everything and the sun beats down hard. 90+ degrees. Your energy is up though, because you managed to find at least one of the bat's trees. Your out of time for tracking that day. We have to meet the others at the boat dock. They've been taking gear across the once river turned lake thanks to the handful of dams. We call it an island, but it's not. It's just that the best way to get there is by boat. You arrive exhausted but excited for our adventures. Throw your pack in the boat, the others respond to your greeting with a faint look at you, and not a word. Their faces red, their boots covered in mud, their morning has worn them down. Cross the water, the breeze is refreshing, for a moment it erases the morning and you almost feel as if you are starting fresh, but the next thing you know you are lifting your pack with your camping gear and hoisting two 10' aluminum polls over your shoulder.
Why are you wearing shorts? You never wear shorts, but you assumed the trail would be relatively clear and not covered in some sort of nettle. Plus you were told the trail was incredibly muddy. The mud is higher than your boots. It suctions your foot as it sinks in, as you try to pull your one foot out, the other is sinking in further. You balance the polls as you weave through the trail, over fallen trees, freeing yourself from mud you get stuck in berry brambles. After a mile or so, and a couple of creek crossings, dropping the netting gear down at the junction, you set up your tent further down one fork of the trail and across a creek. Tie your food up away from the bears. There is no one else around. Just the 5 of you. Incredible. But your legs start to burn. Try to cool them by jumping in the creek. It feels good for only a moment. It's too late, the next morning after netting, you'll awake to your legs covered in a rash. A mixture of poison ivy, other plant rashes, mosquito bites, chigger bites....and other unknowns. But for now, the sun is getting lower and we have nets to set up. 7 of them. You volunteer to do the creek nets, the water feels soothing. The nets are up, with only a bit of delay. An aggressive bear. It crosses Dylan's path, so close he can smell the bear. The bear huffs and growls. Dylan yells and smacks things together to scare the bear off. The bear is hesitant at first, only after some time does he stomp away. We catch our Indiana bat. This means tracking in the morning after carrying everything off of the "island." Next month, you'll be back to do it all over again. Just three of you, plus hiking a few miles out to do a plot.
Do a plot? The second half of summer we add more things to do. Keep netting, tracking, but now go to all of those trees you found and measure, identify, record key characteristics and count the trees within a 17.8m radius. Plus each tree your crew has found, you must do a random plot for. You have your UTM coordinates for the location and you must hike to those coordinates. Sort of like a treasure hunt, except instead of gold you get a dead tree and some other surprises along the way. It's like you are in Goonies, all sorts of obstacles. So replace gold with minimum wage and people trying to kill you with hornets trying to kill you. Oh and replace Baby Ruths with protein bars. Ok, so maybe it's not really like the Goonies at all, but it's an adventure.
...to be continued
Why are you wearing shorts? You never wear shorts, but you assumed the trail would be relatively clear and not covered in some sort of nettle. Plus you were told the trail was incredibly muddy. The mud is higher than your boots. It suctions your foot as it sinks in, as you try to pull your one foot out, the other is sinking in further. You balance the polls as you weave through the trail, over fallen trees, freeing yourself from mud you get stuck in berry brambles. After a mile or so, and a couple of creek crossings, dropping the netting gear down at the junction, you set up your tent further down one fork of the trail and across a creek. Tie your food up away from the bears. There is no one else around. Just the 5 of you. Incredible. But your legs start to burn. Try to cool them by jumping in the creek. It feels good for only a moment. It's too late, the next morning after netting, you'll awake to your legs covered in a rash. A mixture of poison ivy, other plant rashes, mosquito bites, chigger bites....and other unknowns. But for now, the sun is getting lower and we have nets to set up. 7 of them. You volunteer to do the creek nets, the water feels soothing. The nets are up, with only a bit of delay. An aggressive bear. It crosses Dylan's path, so close he can smell the bear. The bear huffs and growls. Dylan yells and smacks things together to scare the bear off. The bear is hesitant at first, only after some time does he stomp away. We catch our Indiana bat. This means tracking in the morning after carrying everything off of the "island." Next month, you'll be back to do it all over again. Just three of you, plus hiking a few miles out to do a plot.
Do a plot? The second half of summer we add more things to do. Keep netting, tracking, but now go to all of those trees you found and measure, identify, record key characteristics and count the trees within a 17.8m radius. Plus each tree your crew has found, you must do a random plot for. You have your UTM coordinates for the location and you must hike to those coordinates. Sort of like a treasure hunt, except instead of gold you get a dead tree and some other surprises along the way. It's like you are in Goonies, all sorts of obstacles. So replace gold with minimum wage and people trying to kill you with hornets trying to kill you. Oh and replace Baby Ruths with protein bars. Ok, so maybe it's not really like the Goonies at all, but it's an adventure.
...to be continued