Life Here

Today was the second day of the second week of real, actual trail work. I feel I am getting into the swing of things, falling into the routine, and liking it more than I even thought I would. The days are intensely scheduled. Wake at 5:30. Eat breakfast around a campfire. Morning chores. Physical training, including ten different kinds of crunches. Hike to work. Work. Break for lunch. Work. Hike home.

It probably sounds worse than it is. Truthfully, it feels more like I am playing. All the hiking is great, and makes me feel great, and clears my head. And the work itself is fun- swinging picks through thick roots, breaking down dead branches with my hands, chopping foliage that blocks the trail.

But the best part of the day is the evening. I always get my second wind on the hike home, and book it the whole way. Getting back to camp, sweaty and dusty, the creek is the only thing on my mind. We have a great girls-only bathing spot, complete with a huge rock to sit on and water slightly warmed from the nearby hot springs.

After a bath and a change of clothes, I return to camp each evening for some of the best dinners of my life. Tonight, for example, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, we had tacos with shredded chicken, Spanish rice, and sopapillas with honey. We also swung at a pinata made out of branches and duct tape, filled with candy bars.

The rest of the evening is mine, to read, and write, and sit around the campfire and talk. That, in a nutshell, is my life here. I live my life outside, I look at mountains and wildlife everyday, I bathe in a creek and sleep in a tent and do laundry by hand in a plastic bucket. And I love it.