Finally Home

I am finally home, and so happy about it. Going to Vernal, Utah (aka the worst place in existence) for the summer has made me realize how much I love Oregon. Apparently, Eugene is renowned all over the US for being awesome. I would tell people that I was from Eugene, and they would asked, "Is it really as awesome as they say it is?" and I would say, "Yes. Yes it is." (This really is a true story.) It made me want to come home even more.

All in all, I had a good summer. I met some cool people, got some good experience in archaeological survey, and learned a lot about what it is like to work with the government. Though, I don't think I will return to work there next summer. Ideally, I'll be able to find a job in Oregon, now that I have more experience. But as an archaeologist, going away every summer to do field work will probably be a reality.

Now that I'm back in Oregon, I'm moving into my new apartment with Steve. I love the apartment. Hopefully in a few days, we'll be settled, life will slow down and be back to normal. I have almost a month until school starts again, but I still have a ton to do before then. I have to finish my paper for the conference by October, I'm planning on taking the GREs in November, and one of my professors was kind enough to give us homework over the summer. In between these things, I hope to enjoy my summer and Oregon. I still hope to have a bbq in our new awesome backyard.

Well, since I'm back, that will be the end of this blog. I'm thinking about starting another one on this site as a creative writing journal, but that won't be until school starts again. I'll keep you posted. I hope you enjoyed reading about my summer, and thank you for your interest.

I'm no longer homeless!

I’m coming home in one week! I’m so excited. I’ve been here for over two months and I feel like I’m just starting to fathom how long that really is.
I’m also stoked that Steve found us an awesome place to live. It’s a duplex in Springfield by Auzten Stadium, and it has a back yard and a bonus room, which may or may not be big enough for a pool table. I think we’re going to have to have a bbq before the summer is up. Yay!
I’m also excited that when I get home I’ll have three whole weeks of summer before school starts.

Anyway, we just got back from the High Uintahs, again. Since most of the other interns have left now, our crew was just Matt, James, and I. Jeff Rust, the forest archaeologist is the only one left that can lead us on survey, so he was our crew leader for the trip. This is an interesting mix of people, but that is another story for another forum. I was the only one who had to do the trip twice this summer. We were suppose to leave on Tuesday and be out there until Saturday, however, there was some deal with helicopters, or something, and we had to leave on Thursday. I don’t really know. Therefore, we had to cram four days of survey into two days. We discovered this on Wednesday at dinnertime, after having worked our eight hours that day. In order to save ourselves from an excruciating day on Thursday, we decided to go back out on Wednesday evening for another three hours until dark. So here’s how it went: Tuesday we casually hiked up the seven mile trail on the mountain, thinking we’d be there until Saturday, Wednesday we did eleven hours of survey, and Thursday was no less than a fourteen hour day.
The highlight of the trip for me was my argument with Jeff about archaeological ethics. It started with which sites should be eligible for the National Register and ended with the worth of our project on the Carter Road (which I defended tooth and nail).
All in all, however, the trip was much easier than the first time. I think over the course of the summer, I have become more fit, and I’ve acclimated to working at high elevations all summer. The hike up wasn’t anything like I remembered it. But I’m certainly glad to be done with it.

I’m living in Vernal now, because everyone who was living in the Manila house left. It is…interesting, though this is another story for another forum. There is though, cable television and Internet, which is awesome.

I can’t wait to come home and see Steve and Wilson (my cat) and everyone and my new apartment! You’re invited to come visit (bbq, perhaps); you’re also invited to help move. See you soon!

Winding Down

Finally, it's August. I get to go home this month, and it's starting to really feel like things are winding down here. We finally finished working on the North Flank Project, which was a major section of what needed to be surveyed this summer. After climbing five or six ridge tops (some multiple times), traipsing through thick brush, and encountering all kinds of weather (rain, thunderstorms, hail, 1000 degree weather), we're done. We found three prehistoric sites, and checked up on a few sites from previous years. That's not a whole lot, but we were glad to find any sites at all after many discouraging weeks. The rest of the summer should be much easier, as the North Flank consisted of the densest brush, the steepest hills, and the most ridge tops than any other project on the Ashley this year.

The sad news is that we had to say good-bye to a few of the interns, as they had to head back

 home for school. This was the last week for my roommate, Erica, Emily (who will be going to Portland State next year), and Adam. Next week nearly everyone is leaving, including the crew chiefs. So, I'll get to spend my last two weeks here with the Forest Archaeologist, Jeff, and two interns, Matt and James. It will be different.

We're doing the High Uintahs again, and actually, I'm the only one who will have been up 

there twice this summer. We're going the third week of August, and we'll be there the entire week this time. Fun. But, I think it'll be much easier this time, physically, at least.

I've been continuing to look at grad schools. I discovered the web page petersons.com, which is an awesome resource. I found out the acceptance rates of the anthropology departments of the schools I want to go to. Oregon is actually the hardest to get into, with an acceptance rate of 11%, Washington State is 16%(?), and Utah is 48%. I was glad to find one good school with a high acceptance rate, as I am very nervous about getting in somewhere. I'm also now

 going to apply to University of Washington, which is in Seattle. However, their acceptance rate is only 12%. I know I’m not in too bad of shape to get into grad school, but one can't help but be concerned about that sort of thing.

I've been reading The Complete Joy of Home brewing lately, and I'm getting really excited about brewing beer when I get back home. I think the first batch we'll make will be a hefeweizen, then maybe an oatmeal stout. I've missed good beer out here in Utah.

I'm starting to realize, now that everyone is leaving, how much fun we've had, and how much 

I'll miss everyone. My last month here will be very unlike the rest of the summer; so I hope as more people leave, I'll still be having a good time.

Another near death experience

This has been a crazy few weeks. Jamie, our regular crew leader, has been in and out of town due to personal errands, so Derik, a seasonal in his second year here at the Ashley, has been our crew leader. Though that has been a big change, it seems like our workweeks have been more regular. We've been spending three or four days in the field, and a day or two in the office, mostly working on the North Flank, which is just what we call the region were logging and burning projects are going to occur. It has been mostly uneventful, yet difficult, except for some (extremely) bad weather.

One day, we went up a ridge to survey, unfazed of the storm in the distance. By the time we reached the top, the storm was directly overhead. First, lightening struck a little unnervingly close, but we thought it would pass quickly. Only a couple minutes later, the lightening and thunder were simultaneous-- we couldn't tell which direction it came from, and were expecting a nearby tree to have been struck. We then decided it was not worth staying on the ridge top at 9000 ft, and ran down. Then, it started to rain, shortly followed by more rain, then massive hail. We were soaked from head to toe in a matter of minutes and bruised from the aggressive hail. After we got down the ridge top, we had to walk about a mile and a half to the car wearing wet denim and hiking boots filled with water. The water broke my phone, so that I can no longer see the screen well and I lost my sunglasses in the frantic run down. That was not a fun day. We went back to the ridge to survey later that week, and the hail was still on the ground; it looked like snow.

This past weekend, we went to Salt Lake. I was able to hang out with Hannah, and we all went shopping. It was so nice to be in civilization again. Also, I've been especially home sick these past few weeks, and it was good to see a familiar face. Not to mention the fact that Hannah was super awesome and made me a bed with sheets and everything. I haven’t had sheets in six weeks.

It's confirmed, my last day of work is the 28th of August, which is a Thursday. Plan accordingly?

One last piece of good news, I finally submitted my abstract to the GBAC (Great Basin Anthropological Conference). I'm doing an oral presentation of a paper, and a poster to accompany it. The conference will be from October 8-10 in Portland, Oregon. I don't know when my presentation will be yet, but I invite anyone who wants to come see me (I'll need the moral support).

I hope you're having a good summer, and save some fun for me when I get back! I can't wait to come home.

Carter Military Road

I just got back from a weeklong camping trip for a Passport in Time project. Passport in Time projects are fairly common throughout the states. They are basically an opportunity for the public to be a part of an archaeological project. For our Passport in Time project, we had a group of about 25 volunteers with metal detectors to help us find artifacts along the Carter Military Road. The Carter Military Road was used in the 1880’s and goes from Fort Bridger, Wyoming to Fort Thornburg in Vernal, Utah. We have found also sorts of artifacts along this road, including eagle buttons that adorned military coats, wagon parts, nails, tent stakes, coins, and we even found a historic shoe. Our volunteers were a diverse group from around the United States. Many of them routinely participate in Passport in Time projects, and some even come on every Carter Road project, and study it’s history as a hobby—so they knew more about the Carter Road than we did. There were quite a few retired couples; the average age in the group was probably 60. But there was also a father and daughter that came, it was their first time using metal detectors and their first Passport in Time project. All the volunteers were really smart and interesting; one even had two PhD’s (chemistry and I forgot the other). They were more than willing to tell us everything they knew about the artifacts that they found, so they were a lot of fun to work with.  

We left for our trip on Monday morning, and got back on Friday. Our campsite didn’t have any water, electricity, or cell phone reception, but it did have an outhouse. This trip included all the crews of interns, so there were about fifteen of us. Instead of hiding in my tent and reading, as I did in the High Unitahs trip, we all hung out together, played Frisbee, roasted marshmallows, and played cards. On Wednesday, we had a Dutch oven dinner and potluck with all the volunteers. So while I had to go a week without showering, this trip was a lot of fun.  

We worked pretty much from eight to five everyday. One day we were at a site that was in a meadow, with no trees or shade. The volunteers found nearly nothing and I just baked in the sun. So, despite the fact that I was wearing sun block, I was badly sun

burned on my face and my nose blistered. The other interns called me Rudolph, but then they also gave me aloe and a hat. Aside from that day, all the other workdays went well; we found many artifacts, and there was some shade to stand in. On Friday, I gave a presentation with another intern to a group of boy scouts about the Carter Road. They were trying to get their archaeology badge (I didn’t know there was such a thing). It went well, we told them about the history and conditions of the Carter Road and showed them what kinds of artifacts we have found there. The boy scouts seemed very bored, but the counselors and staff were excited.

All in all, it was a good week, though I’m glad to be back in a regular bed and showered.

A near-death episode

This weekend all the crews went camping at the Fremont Indian State Park in Central Utah. This is what we decided to do for fun, even though camping and hiking is part of our job. I know, while I am the first to admit camping and hiking are fun, after doing it 40 hours a week, my ideal off-time would including sleeping in a bed watching Arrested Development. The Fremont Indian State Park was a six-hour drive from our house in Manila (driving from place to place is also another thing we spend much of our time doing during the work week). While I was skeptical of the fun potential of the weekend, it actually turned out great.

The Fremont Indian State Park was the site of the largest full-scale excavation of a Fremont

 Indian village site. Then, someone decided to build a highway through it. So, the State Park was set up (around the highway) so that they could protect the land in a way, and educate the public on the information found, despite it’s being destroyed. There were a few models of pit houses and granaries (storage shelters) and lots and lots of petroglyphs.  

We spent most of the time hiking through the trails looking at all the petroglyphs (lets hope my pictures came out). They were cool; though the problem with petroglyphs in the archaeological record are that you are unable to associate them with a radiocarbon date, due to the fact that they are not in the ground. Therefore, while they are cool to look at, they do not

 quite reach their potential in information value.

I had the most fun on the trip when we were all just sitting around the fire, bonding. We haven’t interacted with the other crew, and it was cool to get to know everyone. I really enjoy the people I’m working with this summer (though, I just met them, ask me again in three months). We played this awesome game called the drawing game, ask me how to play, it’s awesome!

There was also an episode that was somewhat embarrassing and traumatic for me. The stars were beautiful; it seemed as though we could see every one of them. Therefore, at night, we decided to hike up to one of the cliffs to see the stars. Most everyone had hiked up there during the day (not me), and knew that it was perfectly safe (yadda yadda yadda). I hiked up there with everyone, only to find out that we would be on a small plateau of land that was surrounded by cliff on three sides. Because it was dark, I could not see how far down the cliff went; I can only assume it plummeted infinitely. I sat up there with everyone else for about 15 minutes, trying to preoccupy myself with the stars and the idea that I sat in a flat meadow. I did not move; I sat there like a statue. But inevitably, someone behind me would move, a bug would land on my foot and tickle me, 

and I would accidental flick a small pebble off the cliff and watch it forever fall into nothingness. I thought after being up there for a while, I would relax, but I did not. These little things that were happening around freaked me out, not to mention the fact that the cliff edges were closing in on me and the slope I was sitting on grew steeper, until the only reasonable outcome of the situation was that I would fall into oblivion. In short, I nearly had a panic attack. When everyone realized the extent of my freak out, they carefully assisted me down and were very understanding. I was very embarrassed. While a couple people later went back up there to spend the night (since it was perfectly safe), I insist that I nearly died. I don’t think my fear of heights has ever been worse.

Overall, it was a fun weekend. We’re thinking about doing similar trips, though perhaps a bit closer.

P.S. Here's me in my forest uniform. I'm doing something goofy because I don't like my picture taken. But I did it for you.

Daily Life

We’re almost into what we would call a “normal week schedule,” though no week here is “normal.” On our typical day, we leave the house around 8:00 am, and set off to the site we are surveying. We drive anywhere from one to three hours, though, if we’re camping, it’s probably more. We each have our own day pack, which includes the necessities: at least two liters of water, lunch, sun block, flag markers (in case we find something), survey sheets, and much more. We estimated our daypacks weigh about forty pounds.  

Sites are eligible for us to survey if there is a project planned in the future that will disturb the ground, or any other cultural resources in the area. Though we are surveying an area, it doesn’t mean there is actually anything there, or that it will be easy for us to hike. Yesterday, I think (though I’m new), was a relatively typical day, and here’s how it went.

After driving about an hour and a half to our site, we grabbed our daypacks and started hiking. So far, the sites we’ve surveyed have been close to the road (with the exception of the High Uintahs). When we reached the location we were surveying, we spread out into transects. To do transects, we spread out so that there are 15 meters between each of us, and then we walk a straight line, so that all of our paths are parallel. This way, we cover a great deal of area and minimize the potential of missing something. We make sure that we’re staying in that straight line by using both a compass and a GPS. Yesterday’s terrain was particularly horrible. The slope of the area was between about 40 and 60 degrees (at some points I felt as if I was scaling cliff sides), the vegetation was thick, with many downed trees and branches, and we were at about an elevation of 9,600 feet. We battled with constantly walking though spider webs, slipping down steep rock outcrops, and mosquitoes. Unfortunately, these transects were 2000 meters long (just under a mile and a half) and due to the rough terrain, it took us about an hour and a half to finish one transect. After completing one transect, the crew moved up the hill and spread out to do another, and another, and another. We went back and forth along that mountain to do four very long and very hard transects. And though were going back and forth, following the contours of the mountain, it seemed as though we were always going up hill. Despite our hard work yesterday, we found absolutely nothing. We stopped for the day at about 3:30 pm, making it home by five.  We’ll be working in this project area for the next couple of weeks, so this is what I can expect of the terrain. However, don’t think is it what surveying is always like—apparently, our crew is the crew that ventures into the most difficult of environments. We had a guest with us this week from the other crew, and he told us that the areas they’ve been surveying are never that steep, have little vegetation, and their crew leader gives them more breaks. I guess we got the short end of the stick.

Luckily, it seems we’re only spending three to four days in the field. Other days (like today) we go into the office. Today, while we were supposed to be in the field, our truck got a flat tire from the very rough dirt road we were on yesterday, and we couldn’t go without a spare tire.  

After we get home, I usually read, as we have no television. I’m already on my third book of the summer. To hear about what I’m reading, I have a “book review” section on the right side of this webpage. When I first got to Manila, I thought I would always be bored in my off time; I have possibility found too many things to keep myself busy with. Along with reading for fun (once school starts, it’ll be the end of that), I’m studying for the GRE’s, which I’ll take at the end of the summer/early fall (my dad just got me a couple really good GRE preparation books), I’m writing a research paper for the Great Basin Anthropological Conference in October,

 and I’m trying to write more fiction (though with everything else this has fallen in the wayside). Without TV, I’m more productive than ever, and I think I’ll accomplish many great things in my off time.

Sometimes, the three different crews in the internship program come together and do something fun. We went to the drive-in last weekend and saw Indiana Jones and Iron Man. Iron Man is amazing, I highly recommend it. This weekend we’re camping (like we don’t do that enough already…). For future weekends, we have several parties planned, including an Arrested Development party, where we all will pretend we are a character from the show (I’m going to be Lucille).  

Overall, I’m having a good time here. By the time we’re finished, I’ll be very slim and tan. Now having experienced true surveying work with the government, I’ve been thinking more about what I eventually want to do. I prefer excavation and research, and for that, I’ll have to pursue a PhD. I just may be the next doctor in the family, but that depends on many things.