June 27th, Day Seven – Through Coldness, We Prevail

Camping thermometer showing a temperature of 40 degrees, taken in mid-morning.

I awoke at first light before anyone else. One would think that after completing my first year of college I would be anything but an early riser, though perhaps my body was still two hours behind somehow with the time zone change. I got out of the tent and changed into my work clothes. Today, the thermometer read 28 degrees. I was cold. You don't understand, I was FREEZING! I caught up to writing in this journal while everyone woke up. The sun was not out and made for a depressing start for the day. If there was one day that coffee would make this morning better, today was it.

We ate breakfast and went to our work site. I spent the day with three other Arrowman de-rooting a pine tree about thirty feet in height and 3 feet in diameter. This was indeed a project. We took to our cutter-matics and pick-matics. We dug, we dug and we dug. Every time we dug around a major root and cut it, we found another one just beside it. A typical root would take about 15 minutes to a half hour to get through. That entails someone constantly swinging a cutter-matic or axe over and over again. Tedious work is an understatement.

Removing excess dirt from the trail.

We took a break for lunch around mid-day. Afterwards, Chris jokingly kicked the monster of a tree that we were trying to de-root and fall. Little did anyone know that when he kicked it, it would actually move. Immediately, a pregnant pause overcame the crew. We shook off our awe and united to push the tree down. As a team and brothers, we pushed down the tree with cheer and fulfillment. We have accomplished our goal! I tell you, this scene could have been in a sitcom. Though, this was simply the beginning of our work with the tree. Our next step was to remove the branches, cut it up and finally move it to act as support for the trail.

A tree-filled view of where trail is being developed by OA Trail Crew.

In the afternoon, Philmont Program Director Mark Anderson came to pay us a visit and say hello. It was great to see his enthusiasm with the OA Trail Crew Program. After he left, hail and thunderstorms seemed to be on time and overtook the rest of the day.

When the worked day ended, we got some more water from our water source like was always did. This time, however, the spigot seemed to have lost its pressure. We followed the water line (which was conveniently above the ground) all the way up to its source. By all means, this was not a simple task. This evolved to be a rigorous hike up a mountain that took us through twists and turns. At the source, we found a leak in the line and used duct tape to temporarily patch it up. Our hike to find the leak lead us up to an old miner's cabin. It was a great view! We had a chance to overlook the trail we were building and to see where it would eventually end.

Old Miner's Cabin.

We got back to our campsite and built our last fire at campsite. For dinner, we had seasoned pork chops with mushrooms and rice. We somehow managed to have too many pork chops! No one went hungry after this meal. We finished cleaning up and sat around the campfire. It was a cold and extremely foggy night. The visibility was only 20 feet, if that!

We had our nightly dose of thorns and roses by the campfire and went to sleep after a long day.

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Revised 6/02/2006