There are very few times in life where you can get the feeling that I have right now. Today, I was scheduled to be an alternate ranger, which meand that if somebody could not take their crew out, I would have to fill in. Unfortunately, not enough rangers were unavailable to take out a crew, so I spent my day in the SAC (Staff Activities Center). I was writing a couple postcards to friends back home when someone came in looking for me. I had a job to do.
A man needed to be escorted to the top of the Tooth of Time ridge. I was the only available alternate so I took the job gladly. This adult leader was coming in on the last day of his trek. He was supposed to go to Philmont with his son, and they had been planning for a year and a half to go together, but on the day they were supposed to leave, he had to have an emergency surgery and could not go. He had his bag packed already, but he had to drop off his son at the airport while he went home. His son had no hope that he would go to Philmont with his father.
Until, on the 11th day of his expedition, the man showed up at Philmont and walked into logistics, trying to find a way to join his son for his last day of hiking. Logistics thought the chances were slim that he would get out there and apologized, and said that they wouldn't be able to get them to Tooth Ridge Camp. However, as this man was leaving, someone else in Logistics told him to go to the Ranger Office, thinking that someone there could help. Sure enough, that person happened to be me. So we left the R.O. at around 4pm, and we started hiking up to the top of Tooth Ridge. We got there about an hour and a half later and I told the man to stay a few paces behind me. I went up to each crew and said, "Hi there! What expedition number are you?" looking for the man's crew. Finally, at 6:45 and with the last crew I saw, I approached them and said, "Hey, are you 61*-*?" (censored for privacy reasons). They all nodded. I then said, "I've got something for you," motioning behind me. He came from behind a tree and the camp all gasped, and I could see his son's face light up. Seeing that just made my day. After all of the extra flights, the bus trip, and finally a hike up to the base of hte Tooth at 6 o'clock at night, had finally reunited this man and his boy.
It's days like this that make me glad to work here. One of the mottos of the Ranger Department is "Change lives" and that is exactly how I felt today. It's been a month and a day since I've left home, and I have about a month and a half left. My home crew arrives in just a few days and I'm pretty excited for them. Unfortunately, I'll have to wrap this up. I'm about to reach my time limit on the computer. I'll see you guys later.
Pat.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
It's been a while
I've been pretty busy down here in NM, and the internet hasn't been working too well, so here is a new post that will cover the past two weeks or so.
Headed out on my training trek and got trained and whatnot. Got back 6-06, visited a town called Taos, (pronounced like Towson without the last two letters) and spent a little bit too much money. Then a few days later, I got my first crew.
This crew was from Denver so they were already aclimated to the altitude, rather than the sister crew who was from Florida. They lived real close to where Maggie and Greg are, so when I mentioned a few places, like the Red Rocks ampitheater, they knew what I was talking about. It was a really awesome crew to have to start off with. THey were very similiar in the way they acted to my crew last year, so I know they're going to have a good and successful trek.
One of the ways I know they're goona be great is the fact that dinner was screwed up two days in a row, and they were able to laugh at what happened. They kept a positive attitude, listened to what I had to teach them, and promptly acted when, on the second night, they lost their dinner on the ground of their campsite. I had them sign my bear bag (which I think I make all my crews do) and then I went on my hike-in day with another ranger who was going the same direction. We were trying to catch the early bus back to base so we booked it, going about 7 miles in an hour and a half. However, we missed the bus by ten minutes and had to wait for the next bus three hours later.
I was supposed to pick up a crew yesterday because I got sick with some kind of virus. I didn't want to get any crews sick the moment they went out onto the trail, so it's work days for me until 6-19, when I pick up my next crew. Oh well.
Still no bears, still no mountain lions, but I need to go because we only have half an hour allowed on the computer and my time is running out. Will update again soon the moment I can.
See you all later,
Pat
Headed out on my training trek and got trained and whatnot. Got back 6-06, visited a town called Taos, (pronounced like Towson without the last two letters) and spent a little bit too much money. Then a few days later, I got my first crew.
This crew was from Denver so they were already aclimated to the altitude, rather than the sister crew who was from Florida. They lived real close to where Maggie and Greg are, so when I mentioned a few places, like the Red Rocks ampitheater, they knew what I was talking about. It was a really awesome crew to have to start off with. THey were very similiar in the way they acted to my crew last year, so I know they're going to have a good and successful trek.
One of the ways I know they're goona be great is the fact that dinner was screwed up two days in a row, and they were able to laugh at what happened. They kept a positive attitude, listened to what I had to teach them, and promptly acted when, on the second night, they lost their dinner on the ground of their campsite. I had them sign my bear bag (which I think I make all my crews do) and then I went on my hike-in day with another ranger who was going the same direction. We were trying to catch the early bus back to base so we booked it, going about 7 miles in an hour and a half. However, we missed the bus by ten minutes and had to wait for the next bus three hours later.
I was supposed to pick up a crew yesterday because I got sick with some kind of virus. I didn't want to get any crews sick the moment they went out onto the trail, so it's work days for me until 6-19, when I pick up my next crew. Oh well.
Still no bears, still no mountain lions, but I need to go because we only have half an hour allowed on the computer and my time is running out. Will update again soon the moment I can.
See you all later,
Pat
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