Some may say that the only beauty of an eight day hitch is the six days off, but i would argue that the true value of those days was within them. Being at the work site for so long forces your body to acclimate to ten hour days and each one seems to pass quicker than the last one. Although most of our projects this week could feel repetitive-there were only 3 jobs: shoveling, picking, and mcleoding- there was one recurring event that made waking up each morning worth while. While our legs might disagree, the gradual waking of the sun renewed the steep hike to our work site something to look forward to, looking out over the mountain tops from our freshly back sloped trail, my first thought pertained to the numbness of my digits, then after that I began to think about how few people get to experience a sunrise hike, or even a sunrise every morning. Although ten hour days can feel daunting and sometimes impossible, I know that if I had stayed home I would never have been able to appreciate ( or work for) the feeling of the sun on my face after a cold breakfast. I know just as well that I would never have felt such a warm rush of purpose as when a hiker slows and looked me in the eye to say "thank you".
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