So it's monday again we pack our bags for a back country hitch, we meet the project partners from the forest service and hike back into the work week. We're back at East Troublesome fire, a huge burn area from 2020. This week we will reinforce water drains across the trail to make sure the ash doesn't clog up the trail system next time it rains.
As we hike down the steep ridge with our 50 pound backpacks on, I ignore the beautiful landscape around us. I don't see the vast valley and snow capped peaks ahead of us, I don't hear the song birds all around us . In my mind, I'm hundreds of miles away from Boulder, CO. I'm dreaming about what my friends and loved ones are doing. How the weather is there. I reminisce about the past, before RMYC and how happy I was then. I dream about the future, when the season is finally over and how happy I will be then. All my friends will be back together and I won't have to sleep in a tent anymore. But wait a minute isn't this my dream summer, wasn't I so excited when I got the confirmation email saying I got the job on the high alpine crew with RMYC? Deep down I know once I'm back in Boulder and all this is over, when I'm surrounded by exhausts and people and the burdens of our society again, I'll want to go back to the forest. I know I'll miss the backpack that is now dormant in my closet. When I
get into the confinement of an office job, I know I'll want to swing a pick, and move a fallen tree and to sing and joke and laugh with my crew. And yet I can't shake the feeling of sadness. I can't trust that I will return to my people, but that I should appreciate the moment I'm in. I always want the things I don't have, and it casts a shadow on the amazing experiences I've had out here. To be honest I didn't think I would have such a hard time out here. But I hope I don't let time pass me by. Look around my friend, listen and smile.
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