Update from the field from our fearless leader, Greg Williams

This was another busy week for me coming off of the Epic. It started with a call from Henry at around 6:00am on monday - his truck blew up and he was waiting for a tow truck on Hwy 395. Henry has been leading a trail crew on the Pacific Crest Trail north of the A Tree and wanted to make sure his crew knew the situation and was not worried about him not showing. He called me again on tuesday afternoon and was headed into the backcountry after rebuilding his motor, twice. Apparently the first time something wasn't quite right, so he tore it all back apart and got it running. Damned resourceful kid! It's great to experience someone so young with his priorities straight and pride in his work.

After sending in invoices and reports, i managed to escape the radiation box and check in on the crew working on Granite Gap. Jayson Hale is heading up this crew and they are doing a fantastic job of building stairs and constructing rolling dips. Granite Gap Trail connects Silver Lake with the Pacific Crest Trail and is located in Bucks Wilderness. The trail was in very bad shape when we got there and now it is one of the nicest trails on the Mount Hough Ranger District. The Forest Service has given us rave reviews on the work and we can all be very proud to be a part of this. It looks like the crew will wrap things up around the the 1st of October, which is just in time for Jayson to report back to Olympic training camp in Park City, UT. Jayson is an Olympic snowboard racer and for a young man is pretty squared away. It has been a pleasure working with him and being able to enjoy his work. Jayson also worked on the Long Lake Trail with Erik, repairing the landslide, so working with rock puzzles seems to be his pleasure.

After walking Granite Gap i headed over to see my brutha Troy Morrisson at Bucks Lakeshore Resort so that he could buy me a birthday beer. Bucks Lakeshore is the site of the post work party for the National Public lands Day event on September 25th. While i was enjoying my PBR at the bar we watched a bald eagle snatch a fish from an osprey. very cool!

On thursday i escaped the office again to meet Joel Osofsky, Recreation Tech on the Feather River District. We walked a section of the PCT from Duck Soup Pond to the Quincy LaPorte Road. These weekly visits allow me to do layout for Henry's crew, which is working just south and about a week behind us. I think Joel just likes to get out of the office, although he claims he is learning a lot from me and looks forward the walks. These trail visits are taking their toll on my new truck. The truck only has 10,000 miles on it, but it drives and looks like it has 100,000.