2018 People of Big River Field Class

7/21/18           Today was the last day of the trip, which meant no more sandwiches for lunch, I would be reunited with my bed, and I could eat all the fast food I wanted. But I mean, it's no big deal. I didn't even notice it was the last day til last week. I woke up before Jessica did her usual walk around the campsite, banging on the tents, screaming at us to wake up. She didn't really scream but everybody always seems to be screaming when you're waking up.           We then went to visit Grand Coulee Dam, where I heard an announcement on a speaker about a tour that would start soon, but I blanked it out because I also heard that the starting place was an entire eight minute walk away. We didn't do the tour, so I was saved from the walk, and I had already visited Grand Coulee Dam before, meaning that I still didn't know very much about it. It was pretty fun struggling to play a song about the dam on the marimba that was there, and I also had a flashback, wh

7/20/18                 Today after we ate breakfast, Priscilla, Amelia, Caleb, and I started skipping rocks on the river next to our campsite, when all of a sudden we started throwing big rocks at each other, or at least at the water when we were next to it. So no, we didn’t really throw rocks at each other, no matter how much fun it would have been. I’m still not sure how the rock/water war started, even though some said it was me which makes a little sense, but it was pretty fun. And I won. Obviously.                 We later met Clinton Desautal, a firefighter, who obviously loved what he did as he said that it’s a good job because there’s always new stuff to learn, even if he has been doing it for eighteen years. He also said something that I could relate to, which was about how he was also a broke college student who survived off of Top Ramen, except that I at least try to eat some microwave burritos every once in a while. Another man who worked with him is Lance Lelone, who

7/19/18 This morning, we got to meet Lucy, who was a Traditional Cultural Preservation Officer. She was pretty cool because she was really nice and loved what she does. Lucy led us to the Okanagan Museum, which was small but it had some interesting stuff in there. One thing I really liked was a section about a writer named Mourning Dove, who told coyote stories. An interesting thing she said was, “Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission.” I can’t explain why I liked what she said, but I just did. There was also an open book by Mourning Dove in a glass case so I only got to read one page.                 Something impossible happened today when we were eating our lunch. I was eating my second sandwich when all of a sudden, I no longer wanted to eat it. I wasn’t full and I was still hungry. I was pretty confused for a minute when I finally realized that I had lost my appetite. Interesting. This has never happened before,

7/18/18                 This morning wasn't a very good morning for me because the dog that had been hanging around our camp was attacked by three other dogs. Some people named him Buster, I named him Will because it was a cooler name. Either way, I hope he’s okay because I saw a woman from another camp putting some ointment stuff on his wounds. I later saw him laying down and resting so hopefully he gets better. I didn't even say goodbye to him, but it's not a big deal, but I will miss sharing my chicken soup and sloppy joes with him.                 We then went to some RV park, where I could already feel the heat that would kill us as the vans started to park. I set up my tent as fast as I possibly could because although we were promised a trip to the store if we set up camp and ate dinner, I only did it really fast because I cannot be bought over and I’m a responsible person or whatever. There was no shade available because there wasn’t any trees around. But hey, a

7/17/18                 We got to go to the Kalispel Tribal Fish Hatchery today, and guess what we saw there. We saw some fish. I liked how Jason, the Fish Program Manager,  talked about how the fish that weren’t wild, were spawned there, then moved as they got older and bigger, and used for research experiments, such as trying to test out fish ladders. The fun part about that place was when Omar, Damaris, Jessica, and I decided to have a challenge, which included putting our hands into super cold water that had a lot of small fishes in it. Jessica quit first, then Omar also took his hands out, so the adults quit first, because Omar still likes to act all professional like an adult, which kind of bothers me a little bit, but he doesn’t know. I think. Anyways, it was about 6 minutes when we had to move to the next spot, so Damaris I were still competing. Jessica told us to take our hands out of the water because it was time to move on, but I pretended that I couldn’t hear, so I even

7/16/18                 Today, we got to walk around different places, where George showed us the places that would be either burned or logged down, as he talked about the prescribed fires and wildfires. I thought it was interesting when I heard about what he did, which made sense, as it was so the trees could grow back better, and they wouldn’t be fighting each other for resources. It was pretty how when we were listening to him, but I forgot about the heat when something that looked like a small bee but was apparently a fly, flew onto my hand. I tried blowing him off, but it immediately flew back to my hand and started moving around. My interest grew as I blew him away probably like 10 more times, and he still acme back to me, to which I admit, I actually grew quite fond of him. When it was time for him to leave, I felt like a part of me was missing, but I decided not to dwell on it. I will miss the bee-looking fly thingie bug. I never even got to name it.               Anyways

7/15/18               This morning was the first morning that I actually woke up comfortable and warm, without having to struggle and fight for the warmth. After breakfast, Jim, Warren, and Francis came and sang a song for us while beating on a drum. We all got to take turns beating on the drum while they sang a song, and while I didn’t want to at first, I think I got the hang of it as I just listened to the song. It was pretty cool, and I wish I could understand what they were saying, but it was pretty fun helping to beat the drum.               So it had been around two days that we had gone without eating sandwiches, and I honestly missed them. So I did the right thing and only made two, one of turkey and the other of ham, stacking them and eating them together. It was all going good until Omar did the unthinkable and not only put mustard in his turkey sandwich, but grape jelly as well. When I asked him why, he said something about not wanting to make a boring sandwich or some

7/14/18               Today was the day that we finally got to go home. But not really. We left our Campground from the Deschutes National Forest campground around 7:30 a.m. and eventually stopped in Tri-Cities to do laundry. We were so close to home yet so far. I tried not to think about my bed, or my fridge, or my dogs that were less than an hour away.               While we waited for our clothes to wash we went to the Dollar Tree, where we had like 20 minutes left till our clothes would be finished washing, so I felt pretty pressured to find something quick. With the little time I had left, I found a laser pointer to mess with Omar, Pablo, and Junior. I also bought myself a bag of peach rings because I had only eaten two burgers and a couple granola bars earlier. I don’t know how long we stayed at the laundry mat, but I think it was around two hours, which I probably should have used to walk towards Mcdonald’s, which according to Siri, was an eight minute wa

7/13/18               This morning, I ate my first breakfast that wasn’t made up of cereal or bagels. We actually got to eat bacon, eggs, and potatoes. Sadly, my morning seemed to be going a little too well, so then the turkey and ham decided to be jerks and run out. But I was able to make my last sandwiches out of bacon, eggs, and cheese, meaning that I got to eat a different type of sandwich for lunch. Nice.               We then met Tom Walker, a Fish Biologist, who supplied us with tools that I once again forgot the names of. We walked to Goose River, where we were tasked with loosening up the ground on the shore that was covered in rocks of all sizes. The point of doing all this was so that the ground could be covered in soil and mulch so it could be suitable for trees to be planted in. I’m not sure if we did alright or not, but it was pretty fun thinking that eventually the place would look nicer covered in trees, instead of rocks.               One of t

7/12/18               This morning, the Heritage and White Swan students had the option of doing trail work or vegetation surveys. So I obviously chose the option that didn’t sound boring. Then Omar did the unthinkable and decided to choose the boring option and go with the vegetation surveys. So today was the day that my friend Omar became an adult. I don’t think I even know him anymore. His eyes seem so dull and he has this aura around him that reeks of responsibility. It’s scary. I just hope he recovers soon and that it doesn’t happen to me.               Anyways, when we got to the spot where we were to start on the trail, we met Jessie Larson, a Trails Technician. She provided us with handsaws and all kinds of tools to cut trees and branches. I say this because I don’t know any of the other tool names, even if I was there when they were mentioned. When we started walking on the trail with our sunglasses and work helmets on, we got to cutting the thin trees

7/11/18               This morning was probably the closest I have come to waking up warm so far, but unfortunately I had to wake up. But I made the mistake of waking up around 10 minutes late as I was just trying to stay warm and rest my eyes, and I accidentally fell asleep. Although it wasn’t noticeable that I had woken up, I was wide awake because I thought I had slept for half an hour or something. It reminded me of my earlier school and work days.               We visited the Redmond Air Center, where we met Mike Gomez, who works for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He didn’t have an interest in firefighter but got a summer job firefighting while he was attending college. Now he created the Hotshot Crew and provides fire training for wildfires. This made me wonder about whether I will ever change my mind, which sounds kinda scary as I am hoping that I am sure of what I want to do, which so far I am, as I can’t see myself doing anything else, yet I am trying to keep an

7/10/18               Although we spent most of the day driving around in the vans today, we did get to go to Lyles Falls Fisheries, which was super cool to visit. While we were there we got to see Shaun Bechtol show us the fishnet building, where they use hydraulics to trap the fish in the river and lift them up along with water in the building that had a 40-feet hole. Then they poured water into it so they could jump into a slide leading to the trailer where they inspected them. I had a pretty good spot looking straight into the slide, as I could see the fish jump into it and flop their way through the water. In the trailer, we got to see Shaun inspect the fishes and tag their fins, take a genetic sample from their tail, and put a small tracker in them. I thought the idea of the tracker was cool as it is meant to keep track of the fish in the area and make sure that they are doing alright and to be aware of the places that they travel in their lifespan.              While we

7/9/18            Today we went to the White Salmon Field Office, where we met Jeanette Burkhardt. She showed us the White Salmon River, where we got to see raft boats go through there, but unfortunately they didn’t go through the crazier and possibly a little dangerous yet fun looking side where there was mini waterfalls.              Then we also got to see where Condit Dam used to be as construction started in 1912 and finished in 1913. It was taken down in May, 2013, but it was collapsed slowly over a year because all the sediment would kill all the fish downstream. So I thought it was pretty cool when she talked about how they rescued the fish that were downstream and moved upstream so that they wouldn’t be harmed. I never thought that there was so much to learn about the fish in the river because I thought most of the important work done with fishes was in the ocean.               At Underwood, we got to meet Chief Johnny Jackson. When I heard his story of how he was tr

7/8/18               My two sweaters and double pajama pants were not enough as I kept on waking up in the morning, struggling to keep myself warm in my sleeping bag. I thought it would be much better as this was the first time I had slept on an air mattress while camping. I realized how wrong I was as I found myself just wishing for it to be time to wake up so I could finally warm up. When I finally hid myself in my sleeping bag and I was somewhat warm, it was finally time to wake up, but I still wanted to get out of there. We started off with a hike up a hill, with a trail that was a little steep and full of dirt. By the time I finished dying halfway up, I kept going and we finally made it up to the hill. It was pretty worth it as I got to Mt Adams from a better view and it felt super peaceful, especially with all the trees around us.   When it was finally time to go down, although I forgot whose idea it was, but we started

7/7/18 Today I went to sleep around 4 am and woke up at 6:30 am. I went to sleep so late because I was packing and I decided to watch The Last Jedi movie on Netflix, as I hadn’t seen it in theaters when it came out. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I started to feel super sleepy as we waited to leave from Heritage University. Then it was time for us to see a presentation by Jonalee Sequeochs, who talked about the climate change issues that could affect Washington. This made me realize how serious the topic was as although it may not be a direct impact on our environment, even a small shift in the climate can greatly affect the environment, which would be bad for the crops grown in Washington, eventually leading to the jobs based off the agriculture in Washington. That would suck, especially since Washington is known for its agriculture. I eventually fell asleep in the car, but the van hit a bump, and I hit my head on the window so I decided I didn’t need to sleep anymore