As the sun sets behind the US Forest Service Dillon Ranger District office, one crew member lays down on the cement, knees bent, arms open, eyes closed, breathing deeply - it is the evening of day 7. Two more lie down beside her, surrendering to a moment of rest while another dances around them, making them laugh despite themselves.
When we first came to Dillon eight weeks ago, we were all fresh legs and eyes. Our schedule dictated that we spend our first two hitches and our last two hitches here, crosscutting beetle kill in the Eagle's Nest Wilderness with USFS Rangers. There couldn't have been a better way to see our growth as individuals and crew members than to return to our roots in the district where we began.
Our growth as a crew came through these last eight days of work, the least of all in numbers or project goals, but with the equal attention and grace we have collectively learned to bring to moments of ease, flow, joy and hilarity that alternate with the moments of tension, frustration and struggle. We diverse as we are we have helped one another develop ability to move efficiently through cutting lodgepole as well as conflict, to navigate not only trails but one another's boundaries in the microcosm of life that is RMYC, and to have the courage, the perspective and the power unlocked within ourselves to bring lightness to any storms we are faced with. May the effects of this season of self-development continue to show themselves down the line in each of our lives and may we hold this space we have created together as a reminder that we, like nature, contain infinite possibility to grow beyond perceived limits.
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