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Team Splice tackled Paria Canyon.
A 9day back country project just with a new supervisor Diana and project partner Steve from the Grand Canyon Trust. Both were fantastic to have join the team.
I did not keep a diary so will retell some events.
First day we hiked 13kilometers into the canyon as it got deeper and deeper and almost impossible to get out. Jason, Adam and Matt helped us carry the food and herbicide through the water that would come up to my nipples. Then they turned back, to go to the car cause they couldnt get a permit to camp there. They were a great help for us.
We were introduced to our back country toilet, it consisted of a bucket that we sat on and then went in a trash bag, there we 3 poops per bag and the third person would have to tie it up and put it in a zip lock bag, and put a new bag in for the next person. I got really lucky it wasnt until about day 4 I had to change it. We had to start doing 4 per bag as we were running out. We then carried out 5 dry bags of poop, pretty smelly.
We worked from 7am to 5pm everyday, cutting down Tamarisk and some Russian Olive trees, all by hand either with a small saw or a big saw, I changed to a big saw after a couple of days and kept it as my baby, and then later in the week I put a new blade on it, that was pretty spectacular. The work was fun, but very repetitive with no variety. It was very dense bush, always getting scratched or whooped in the face and lots of sneezing cause of the dust. And lots of bugs. Im very happy I have seen all the animals I hoped to see out here.
South Rim - Tarantula Spider, Tom Cat, Squirrel, Elk, Raven
Parashant - Coyote
Paria - Rattle snake, Tarantula, Coyote
We had no fruit and very little veg, but apart from that the food was really good. We had 240 tortillas, something like 3 a day each, we all thought that was heaps, and we didnt want to carry them out so I would have 6during the day and 2with dinner, and we only had 3 left by the end.
We didnt take tents, so every night we slept outside under the sparkling stars and milky way. I didnt expect to be sleeping outside so much here in America, I thought more animals would come and get us but nothing has happened yet. I love sleeping under the stars, I try and look at them as long as possible until falling asleep.
During our 10hour work day we had alot of things to keep us amused. We played alot of would you rather, we sang songs. the others talked about movies and music. The most used word on project was "Fromage" it came about when we were in Sedona I believe. We were saying cheers with our drinks up and Rudi thought we said Cheese and then someone said Fromage. It has stuck really well and can be used at anytime and the word came mean anything so its fun making a sentence and replacing a word with fromage.
My warm up stretch was squat and trust again and brought the pelvic thrust (cross country boys will know that one) and the banana dance that we did a few times. "Bananas unite" "Jump Bananas, Jump Jump Bananas" "Peal Bananas, Peal Bananas" "Go Bananas". I love it, thanks Tim for sharing that one with me.
I did a little exploring with a little rock climbing, almost got out of the canyon on our last night but pretty sketchy, I havent been that scared in awhile. The rock was brittle in some places, earlier in the week I was coming down and then rock snapped off and I fell, lucky I was pretty close to the ground.
After work we would run along the sand and jump into the water, it was pretty cold but really refreshing. It was such a wicked spot to spend 9days with 10 people that get on really well.
We would all be going on another project in a days time but they took us off it cause we didnt have enough time to recover between projects, especially this one it was pretty draining, im smashed now. But I wanted to still go on the project. So I have tomorrow off and then off on a 4day project doing more fencing. The other 7 have 9days off before there next project.
Im off to dinner with the Crew now. I really will miss working with these people it has been a wicked time and Dianna fitted right in like one of us which was awsome.
P.S. I forgot my camera so will get others photos and put them up next week.
- comments
Jeff Beeler Heh, Ed. This is the first time I have peeked at your blog. Where can I read about your wonderful week at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona, and our trip to Phoenix? Did you include the ***** lunch at Sam's and the breakfast at the hotel?