One of the most awesome but also frustrating parts of a program like MCC is that no one who isn’t in it will ever truly understand everything this job entails. When I mentioned to the bored-looking gas station attendant who was selling me a weak cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup--and charging me an extra 30 cents for creamers--in Lovell, Wyoming that I was working in the canyon (Bighorn Canyon) for 2 weeks, with six teenagers and just one other adult she leaned forward and told me plainly that she would require hard liquor and not weak coffee to make it through such an experience. While there were moments I felt like just climbing into my tent with the package of oreos Dylan (my Co) and I had successfully hidden from the crew, those moments were few compared to those moments where I was laughing or swapping stories or building some pretty sweet structures with a group of amazing people.
Dylan and I and our crew had the opportunity to work in three different project locations, Bighorn Canyon on the Montana/Wyoming border, Makoshika State Park in far eastern Montana, and in Hayes, MT, on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation working in the breathtaking Mission Canyon. Our crew was as diverse as the locations we swung tools, sweat through our shirts and watched storm after ominous storm roll into. Charlie, from Missoula, is a soccer player and fan of dinosaurs (but NOT aliens) and kept us all laughing and working hard with tireless energy and good humor. Katy (the sassiest 15-year-old perhaps ever) was quick to whip out a witty comment which generally put smiles on our faces, but maybe not as much as her guitar and beautiful singing. Ellen was our returner and Dylan and I both had days where it just seemed to be the right decision to simply swap helmets with her and let her lead the crew as she schooled us on fencing mechanics again and again. Dante was our musical library, and the phrase “have you ever heard of…?” came out of his mouth at least 15 times a day… most of the time no one knew what he was talking about… Justin had seemingly endless energy and challenged Dylan and I nearly every day to come up with enough activity to keep him occupied as he seemed flummoxed as to what to do with that crazy thing called “free time.” Shakayla joined us a week late, and was terrified of all of us (even though we bought her ice cream about 5 minutes after meeting her) but soon she was teaching us all the slang she used with her friends and the term “yaze” which means “lies” or “you’re full of crap” was floating through our crew like we’d all been saying it all our lives.
Everyday we would all wake up at 6:45 to get ready for work and would return from our various projects at about 4:30 to eat ridiculous amounts of Doritos and Sunchips while playing Maui-Maui or Uno before starting chores. Somehow we managed to make more than enough nearly every night and it seemed like Katy and I were always the ones taking a fourth helping of spaghetti or chile or quinoa or lasagna… there was never extra on mac n cheese night. Then we would do Core where lessons about watersheds and knots generated a lot more enthusiasm than those about leadership… go figure. Around 10, Dylan and I would sigh with relief when the crew finally went to bed and we could sleep too.
In just four weeks this group built an historic corral fence, re-vegetated multiple old mining roads, constructed a major re-route involving three switchbacks, two climbing turns and around 10 rock steps, and cut a quarter-mile of brand new trail which involved a switch back that incorporated at least twelve eight-foot logs and a few hundred pounds of rock, 2 ten-foot rock retaining walls and around 200 feet of sheer rock-face where the only tools possible to use were picks and our one sledge hammer. Dylan and I had the opportunity to watch these young adults hammer in railing in spite of blisters and sore muscles, turn huge rocks into gravel, hike steep hills carrying heavy logs for steps and waterbars and guide and direct each other in the art of trail construction after only a few short days of instruction from us. It was an inspiring experience.
Being back in Billings, I am slightly overwhelmed by driving my own (much smaller) car, or the amount of people in the grocery store, or the simple luxury of eating grapes instead of apples, but I also have this weird feeling like I’ve only been away for a long weekend. How did 28 18-hour days turn into the fastest four weeks of my life? Do I really need to pay rent and my credit card bills again already? Does the season really end in only 6 more weeks? I am very grateful for the awesome people I work with who I have only begun to work out this time warp with. It’s a little sad that such an awesome moment in time is only that: a moment. I guess the upside is that we get to do it one more time, and time warp or not, I’m pretty excited.
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