Taking a Walk On the Wild Side
Another week has passed at the Summit and things are still crazy around here. There is an organized chaos happening here everyday and I am never tired of what I have to do. I've started becoming fond of setting up dining flies just because it is improving my knot tying skills. In my free time during the regular work day, we have one to two hour "siestas", which involve chilling in the staff lounge and sleeping on the recliner sofa.
One of the many things I have noticed since my first day on the job, is the wildlife all around me. On most days when I get up, there is a herd of deer outside my tent window grazing on grass across the gravel road. I'll always run into this one deer and her fawn at least two times during the week. In all honesty, my father could care less because he is still out to get revenge after a six point buck smashed into his Honda Pilot six years ago. Besides the deer, there is a bountiful amount of fish in the camp lakes and many colorful swallows, finches, even owls ( I saw some sitting in a tree during the day on Tuesday) fly around the local campsites with no tents in them. The only annoyance on property are the june bugs and horse flies. I've already gotten bit by a horse fly while taking a hot shower in campsite C1 and it hurt like crap.
For my day off last week, I had breakfast and decided to go on a hike up to Big Zip, the zip line which stretches more than 3/4 of a mile across Summit. The hike was very steep, but eventually I reached the top. After casually talking and joking with the operators, they hooked me up to a harness and pushed me down the line. Immediately, I was going at least 70 miles per hour resulting in two adrenaline tears to escape from my eyes. With my ride at an end, I decided to go mountain biking. I had no training, so the bike shop set me up with an instructor named Calvin. Calvin was a very interesting person. He was working at the Summit for the summer, but during the rest of the year, he plays american football in Berlin, Germany for a European league. Once finishing my basic training, I hit the green trail which holds may trees and winds through a ropes course called Action Point. Next week, my plan is to hike the Sustainability Trail which goes all the way up to Garden Ground. It is a five mile trail and it will probably take me half a day to do the trail to and from my tent.
As for my Saturday last week (yesterday), the Base Camp staff spent most of the time working on setting up dining flies for Venturingfest. Once we were done rearranging some fire pits, we called it a day and decided to spend the rest of the day at Summersville Lake. Summersville Lake is located just 10 miles north of Fayetteville in Summersville and is five miles wide. The lake was man made from a rock filled dam and has a flooded town at its bottom. The lake is also a great place to go climb on cliffs and jump into the cool blue water. Our group took a secret entrance at Williewell Road. From there, we moved through the brush and down a very steep and rocky hill, until we found ourselves at a beach filled with trees and rocks. We hung around the lake until seven and headed back to the Summit where everyone crashed for the night.
Today, has been most eventful. Today was the starting day for Venturingfest and already the Venturingfest staff have been so nice to us. I was given a council commissioner coin from the director of Venturingfest, Jim Lynch. We also have received free pizza and small rubber ducks to annoy all the other staff members. We also have been given pins with the Canadian flag on them from a scout crew from Canada. Most surprising of all, we have a crew from the small nation of Trinidad and Tobago visiting us for the week. Tonight, we kick the celebration off with a concert featuring my camp director as the lead guitarist. Until my next post, stay fresh!