Where did the summer go?
It passed peacefully and in spectacular fashion from my view in the High Sierra mountains in California, is where it went.
It was peaceful from the hours of 4:30 PM to 8:00 AM, at least. Within the workday hours, this particular slice of the John Muir Wilderness in Sierra National Forest would experience periodic and sometimes frequent bangs, clanks, and chatter as the Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) JMT crew was hard at work. I was the leader of this crew of three members: Carla, Briseyda, and Max. We were joined by our trail lead, Liam, a U.S. Forest Service seasonal employee who spent six months in 2023 working on the rocky switchbacks up Mount Whitney on Inyo National Forest (he knows rocks, and our project had rocks).
The Crew. From left to right: Liam, Carla, Briseyda, Max, Ben
Our crew spent a total of six weeks this summer living at over 10,000’ out of a base camp a few hundred feet off the John Muir/Pacific Crest Trail, 3 miles south of Selden Pass. The goal was to move a section of trail less than a quarter mile long out of a beautiful meadow so it may be restored and reduce the human impact on this fragile ecosystem. In just five weeks in the wilderness, our small-but-mighty crew completed the reroute - we left 50 feet on either end of the reroute incomplete so hikers are not confused before the meadow trail is restored and officially closed off next year. With our remaining week, we repaired a 60 foot section of trail that was so eroded that it had become a two to three foot trench.
Without getting too into the nitty gritty of the work, our days were comprised of some work with dirt - “treading” - and a whole lot of work with rocks. We moved by hand and with steel rock bars rocks ranging from tens to hundreds of pounds that were either in the way of the future trail or were being used for one of the 18 rock steps we built by hand. We swung sledge hammers - known out west either as single- or double- jacks - to make big rocks smaller - “crushing.” Who would have thought one could spend a summer getting paid to do what prisoners are sometimes made to do but in a spectacular place?
Every week we received a resupply of food and mail via mule. Outgoing mail traveled by mule as well!
Before beginning trail work in early July, I spent nearly two months in training for the season and got to travel all over the state of California to learn about living in the backcountry, the various trail tools, how to construct a proper trail, how to identify and fix problems with existing trails, and how to operate a crosscut saw (old fashioned steel saw with two handles - no motors). It felt like a long time to be training, but perhaps I arrived with a good amount of relevant experience and perhaps the nature of this corps world, as they call it, is less efficient than some other programs out there.
Why did I spend my summer doing manual labor not making that much money? Well, while in Yellowstone this past winter I decided to make a commitment to pursuing the journey of becoming a park ranger. When I was getting ready to leave the Park in March and started applying for government jobs, I learned that all of the summer seasonal ranger jobs had already been posted and filled for quite some time. The next best way I could spend my time to bolster my experience for this journey, I figured, was getting a job in an adjacent but related field.
I received an email from the SCA about an interview while traveling in Central America in April. Knowing very little about the organization or about the opportunity (I had been applying to dozens of jobs), I interviewed with a few coordinators at the SCA just one day after receiving the email. During the interview, three things about the job stood out: I would spend two months in the backcountry, the project is on the John Muir Trail (which I had hiked with my dad and Scout troop), and the contract dates perfectly aligned with a family reunion to celebrate a great uncle’s 100th birthday and the wedding of two really good friends - both key events for me.
Over the past few years, there have been several periods of time during which I felt a lack of direction, this spring being one of them. Know thy self, a summer of manual labor did not sound appealing at all to me but I took the aforementioned standout details as strong signals from the universe that this was meant to be. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. Was it a great experience from which I learned a whole lot? Yes, and that’s all we can ever hope for.
With over 45 days totally off the grid this summer, I had plenty of time to ponder and contemplate life and sit with the present and future. Moments of clarity often came while sitting or laying in my hammock overlooking Boot Lake and the mountains that made a remarkable backdrop. I had built up the idea in my head over many years that the pinnacle of my own happiness would come only when I was living a rugged life outdoors. I realized that being outside is a priority for me and I am pretty comfortable living and operating in uncomfortable circumstances but it’s not my pinnacle. I realized that I appreciate a bed and access to the people I care about, and living in the backcountry for weeks at a time makes some things important to me more challenging.
It was easy to think without mental clutter while living in paradise.
While I did not reach any groundbreaking conclusions for my path forward during this summer season, I did become more clear on certain things and grew more at peace with the reality that I cannot do everything. I am blessed to be surrounded by joyous and high achieving people and frequently feel excited and pulled in various directions by their own gravity. This means I am sometimes distracted from my own truth and spin the wheels without moving anywhere. It feels obvious to write but being present is essential. And sometimes simply taking a step forward is all we can do, even if we don’t know where we’re going yet.
In short, trail work is not my future and I likely will not move into the woods for the rest of my life, but I did meet some pretty cool people and felt happy back in a leadership role and feel more confident moving forward in pursuing the park ranger journey. I don’t know if becoming a park ranger will be the right move for me, but I feel confident now that by seeing this process through I will gain more clarity and won’t have to question the what ifs had I never started down this road.
Thank you, as always, for reading! Bring on the fall, baby.
-Ben Grannis
#EyesUp
