Day Sixteen, Seventeen and Week Three Reflection, Final Thoughts

It seems like just a few days ago, I was finishing up classes and getting ready for this project, and now I am done with it. Even though it is the end we are going out with a bang, with lots of excitement on Sunday night and Monday morning. Around eight on Sunday evening I was in the Wise center and someone said that there was a forest fire, so we went outside and could see a plume of smoke rising from the woods. As it turned into the next day, I awoke early to see if there was any assistance need, as there had been around fifty firefighters there in the evening, and five of them had stayed overnight, and then they were all coming back the next morning.

A few minuets after this picture the whole lot was filled with emergency vehicles 

Luckily the night had not been windy, in stark contrast to the day, where it had been very windy, so the fire did not spread too far, and it was contained. We have not been allowed to go back up to the site with out an adult, and Dave Pilla has been taking kids up to check to make sure that nothing has sprung up. What can happen is the fire will burn into root systems, and it can spring up a few days after it seems a fire has been put out. It seem as though everything is good, but he will continue to check every so often. 

There is virtually no underbrush, and it is a bit strange walking around the site

I have been doing some work wrapping up my project, getting it to a point I feel comfortable leaving it. I think that I have left a fair amount of work, and that even though I did not get something laid out all the way up to balance rock, I think there is enough proposed trail to last a long while. 

Chris Rodgers donated his time and did a lot of chainsaw work

I am sad to be ending my project, but I think that it has been a good experience, and I need to move on to my next adventure. All of the trail centric stuff I have been doing has inspired me to do some long distance hiking, and I would like to do a section of the Appalachian trail, or the Long Trail in Vermont. And then college would also be an adventure I guess. 

I found more lady slippers

For a final reflection we had to write a little paper, so if someone desires to read it, here is a link. Final Reflection

Critter Cam

As a final critter cam, here is a little chipmunk I found today. 

Another small animal that was not too happy with my proximity to it

I have had a lot of fun writing and reflection on my exploits over these past few weeks, so thank you all for reading, and I hope you had as much fun reading these as I had writing them. 

-Ethan