I've Been Everywhere

Another week has come to an end. I believe this marks week six here at the Summit Bechtel Reserve. This past week has been busy than most. On the work aspect of the past week, the Base Camp staff have started to take down and clean up dining flies and tents in site C2 where most of all of Scout Camp is located. Next week, we are expected to deep clean the program areas and finish taking down tents and the last three dining flies. I still have to do tie dye duty for the next two weeks, but I am saddened by my time here at camp is coming to an end.

As for my days off, it was very fun. On Tuesday, I went to Low Gear Mountain Biking which involves campers biking up steep hills and coasting all the way down. On Thursday, which was a particularly wet, the Summit hosted a mini winter job fair for employees. At least two ski resorts in Colorado showed up and encouraged a good amount of Summit Staff to come join them for the winter as either a lift operators or as ski instructors. There was also a keynote speech by the first Summit employee on the history of how the Summit was created. Apparently, during the Eighties, the property used to be a coal mine, but then it was eventually bought out by the Bechtel family. I also spent a good amount of time on Friday rock climbing at Boulder Cove and paddle boarding down at Aquatics after taking down 5 dining flies. After putting away fire rings, my boss decided it would be fun to reveal some secrets of the Summit to my other coworker and me. Deep in Base Camp Foxtrot, there is an old cemetery for old coal miners and other workers. These people in the cemetery were so poor at the time, they didn't even have enough money to have a tombstone. Instead of tombstones, there were blank rocks. It was really eerie to walk around the cemetery because there would be times in which one could tell if they were walking on a grave or walking on regular ground. Friday evening was a celebration of Christmas in July. Everyone bought gifts and we had a white elephant gift exchange. I got a flint and steel fire starter as well as some waterproof matches. As for the gift I gave, I bought a CD of the 70's band ABBA, just because we were required to get something either worthless or useful. I chose to go for something worthless. Still, one of the camp staffers is a huge music fan and took the CD with joy.

Saturday felt more of like a week in and of itself. I had made plans with another staff member who chooses to stay anonymous. We had made plans to go explore the mysterious conservation area. I got up early and took a UTV to head to breakfast where I met the other staff member. Together, we got in the UTV and headed to the East end of the Summit property. There was a whole lot to see in this conservation area. Not only did we run into a herd of deer, we also ran into a squab of turkeys. Taking one of the roads, we reached the farthest point of the property, the grey water reclamation center. The place looked abandoned, even though all of Summit's water is recycled through this center. We then walked drove off the beaten path and ran into some huge puddles, steep hills, and a view of the New River Gorge. It was quite the site to see. When we got back to camp, everyone else had ditched camp to go to Morgantown and Charleston. I was a bit annoyed everyone left, but I feel like I deserved it since I was in the conservation area for so long. The rest of the day, I did my laundry and ventured out to the Order of the Arrow circle located in the woods near Base Camp Alpha. When everyone came back from their day of exploring Morgantown and Charlestown we all decided to head to the old railroad town of Thurmond at night and started a campfire next to the New River. We spent the night telling stories and jokes. I didn't get back to my tent until 2 A.M. in the morning!

Yesterday, we all had a meeting on the new groups who were going to attend the camp for Appalachian Adventure for Sunday through Tuesday. After the meeting, one of the staff members family offered to feed us a traditional Mexican dinner. They made tacos and spaghetti alfredo with some carne. All of it was fantastic. Near the end of the feast, we hit a pinata which tossed out Tootsie Roll candies. Now, I am in my last week. I know it will be a great one because I am going Whitewater Rafting Friday morning. I'll have more details on my excursion coming up next Sunday.