John dropped me off with the trail crew in Spirit Lake Idaho on Sunday. The crew is retired smokejumpers. They parachuted down to fight fires as a summer job when they were in college in Montana. We drove up to the Priest Lake Experimental forest for a week of work. I cooked. The men worked on making new signs, sanding and staining the benches in the amphitheater, clearing trees from a trail, power washing a deck and restraining it and clearing and putting up new signs in the Ponderosa plantation, making a new sign post for the sign by the road and more. Sprucing the place up for the 100 year celebration in the fall of this year. http://www.fs.fed.us/rmrs/experimental-forests/priest-river-century-of-science/
The PREF was established 100 years ago, right after the 1910 fire that burned millions of acres of forest and killed many firefighters. At the PREF they researched fire behavior, reestablishing forest after fire, tree pathogens and more. Some of the buildings were built by the CCC, like the lodge we stayed in, built in the 40’s.
The lodge, my cabin
the crew-left corner back, l-r Milt, Carl, Suep, Karl, Tom, Bob,Mike, front row Chuck, Paul, Hank, with Brew ski, Jimmie and Bob, Tom, Bob and Jimmie working on the new signs.
the last sign photo is one of the finished new signs
Bob on his tractor, Milt sanding
Carl sanding the paint of the benches and the finished product. This is kind of ironic-Carl a few years ago painted the benches white. He misunderstood, the white was for the weather station and the stain was for the benches.
Paul making new metal labels for the nursery rows in the second photo, the Ponderosa Plantation so over grown you can’t see the post rows
the cleared rows, Hank clearing the ponderosas
Hank with chainsaw and part of the nursery the crew cleared last year behind him, Mike clearing the ponderosas.
Hank, Mike and Chuck cleared a whole trail earlier in the week, but it was too far from the headquarters for me to go hike it and take photos of them there.
Milt working on the sign post , Milt, Bob and Tom working on the posts
the finished posts waiting for a sign, Mike and Bob working on the door to the shop.
Mike , Paul pointing out missed spots while Carl and Chuck paint.
Chuck and Mike painting, Tom, Chuck, Bob, Milt with the spaghetti dinner.
relaxing after work on the porch of the lodge, Paul and Chuck doing dishes
A bridge the crew built last year on the Crows Nest trail. I hiked it almost everyday between my scullery duties. The flowers were incredible. A sunset.
another relaxing on the porch after work. Milt cutting the NY strip into steaks.
Karl, Jimmie, Hank and Mike cooking theirs, and Bob watching Paul cook his
A new way of repelling mosquitos- a dryer sheet, Tom with his very rare steak.
Mike, Hank, Charlotte, Shaney and John at the steak dinner. We invited spouses to our dinner the last night and Paul, Jimmie, Tom, Milt and Carl enjoying their steak dinner.
Poster hung in the lodge, by committee I think.
During my spare time I hiked and photographed flowers and things I saw in the forest. It is so lush there and the flora is so diverse.
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