Coronados/Ladybug Trail

Dylan, me, Matt, standing on Pride Rock

Cliff uses his machete to chop an onion

Mountains lit up by the sunset

Clouds coming in. Ladybug Peak is the pointy peak just before the clouds.

Alligator juniper bark!

Alligator juniper

Creek in the deciduous forest area

mountains in a lower elevation, no snow.

A grass-like relative of yucca sliced my hand. After failed attempts of using steri-strips to keep it closed, super glue saved the day and my ability to work

storm rolling in over the peaks

storm clouds! Hail!

higher elevation on the trail = snow

gate to Angle Orchard

Cliffy the sawyer!

We shall saw at a higher elevation! There!

DIELANx5!

mountains in the distance pop up out of flat land

higher elevation = pine forest

a snag over the trail. Considering how to best take it down.

manzanita 

butterflies at 8000ft?!

     This past spike, we were sent to the Coronado National Forest. We camped at 5000ft, and our trail (Ladybug Trail) ran from 5000 to over 8000ft. It was beautiful--at 5000ft, we were in a desert area. The trail then went down into a valley of deciduous forest, and then past the desert area into a snowy pine forest. Absolutely amazing!
     I learned many new things this week: certain wounds can be healed with the aid of super glue; sometimes it is okay to fall asleep on coworkers in the car (thank you Cliff); my work gloves are too big for me; butterflies exist in places you'd never expect; day 9 of a camp/work spike = joyful delirium; a machete can be used as a pocket knife; I actually CAN survive 9 days without peanut butter; "widowmaker" is a term used to describe a large, dead branch precariously balanced on other tree limbs; working around the sounds and smells of chainsaws reminds me of being a kid out on Kerr Creek; the five greatest rappers of all time are DIELAN DIELAN DIELAN DIELAN DIELAN; I can eat more hot peppers than Cliff; power muff; there are tons of books I must read; I am the youngest person on my crew; Shari and I have special immunity to all the sicknesses going around CREC; Pride Rock exists in multiples; I miss the crap out of classical music.
  
     I am a lucky, lucky person.

At the shop, each person has shelf space for their hardhat/protective gear. Each boss makes a label for each crew member. I expected something like 'Lucy "FOOLISH IDIOT WITH BIG HAIR AND AN OBSESSION WITH MEN, RUMI, AND PEANUT BUTTER" Zai,' but was pleasantly surprised to discover 'Lucy "ZEN" Zai' printed as my title.