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.

The Great Basin Archaeology Association Conference

The Great Basin Archaeological Conference (http://www.gbac.whsites.net/meeting.html) will be held from October 8-11 2008 in Portland, Oregon (how convenient). They will be accepting student posters, presentations, and papers that are accompanied with presentations. The deadline for the abstract is August 1. I'm hoping to submit a paper on the differences in archaic bone on several sites in the Ashley National Forest. The forest service will allow me to use their data and resources. I'm excited for this because with this paper, I can submit it to the conference, possibility get it published, and submit it as a writing sample for my graduate school applications. All of these things will make getting into graduate schools tremendously easier, so wish me luck! I don't have a whole lot of time, but my intentions are to have a pretty solid draft complete before I leave the Ashley, then polish it, prepare my presentation, and possibly prepare a poster to accompany it. I'll let you now how it goes.

Just so you know, I'm planning to apply to the University of Utah, Washington State, University of Alberta, and University of Oregon for graduate school. All the deadlines are in January. This summer, I'm studying for the GRE, which I'll take at the end of the summer.

Our epic journey.

After hearing that my first survey trip would be in the High Unitahs, I didn’t think much of it. But I soon heard horror stories of a seven mile hike that climbed 3000 ft to the top of a 13,000 ft mountain. Apparently, past interns have gotten lost up there, never to return, and the other crew was worried that we would not all make it back alive.  

While many of these stories were a bit of an exaggeration, many myths have a basis in truth. We left at 5:00 am, with only the essentials: tent, sleeping bag, food, sun block, etc. Fortunately, we had pack mules and horses to carry some of our stuff up (I thought this was really cool, but they didn’t actually hike with us, so we had very little contact with them). 

The hike really was seven miles long, but we didn’t have to climb 3000ft. We started at an elevation of 8,900 ft, and climbed to 10,400 ft. As you might know, the atmosphere is significantly different at high elevations, the sun is much more intense (hence the importance of sun block) and there is less oxygen (making whatever physical activity you’re doing that more difficult). The trail was up and down, so while we only climbed a total of 1,500 ft, we were hiking up more hills than we might have desired. The trail was difficult, as it was a dried up streambed. We fought not only large cobbles that made up an unsteady and uneven terrain, but there were also many sections that still had water running through the trail (I only fell in once). However, after five gruesome hours of hiking, we made it to our

destination, the high lakes, where we would spend three days camping and surveying.

It was absolutely beautiful up there, just look at the pictures and see for yourself. I saw a marmot, so now I can say I’ve seen the animal my jacket and tent were named after. Luckily it didn’t rain, as afternoon thunderstorms are common. In the day, it was nice, in about the low 80’s, but in the night it dipped into the 30’s. Fortunately, I just got a zero degree sleeping bag and a thermorest pad, so I was warm enough.

As tough as the first day was, I think the day of surveying was much worse. To survey, everyone in the crew (there are four of us) lines up with fifteen meters separating us. Then we walk transects (straight lines through the area we’re surveying). It is important to maintain our intervals and direction. This can be difficult if there are obstacles like trees/rocks/cliffs/streams in the way (there always is). In these transects, we basically look at the ground for anything that has been created/modified/transported by humans; when we find something, we fill out forms. We spent nearly nine straight hours surveying on Wednesday, and after our intense hike it, I was really feeling it.

We spent our last day hiking out (it only took three hours that time). Hiking out was much easier, and when we were back to the truck, I was so glad to see an outhouse at the trailhead.

 All in all, it was an awesome trip, intense and hard, but I’m proud to say I did it. When we got back to the forest service office, the other crews were glad to see we were alive, and we did our part to perpetuate the horror stories of the High Unitahs.  

Now I hear that they might send us up there a couple

more times, 

I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Finally here

It is a whopping sixteen hours from Eugene, Oregon to Manila, Utah (a town of 300 people in Northeastern Utah on the Wyoming border), making it, by far, the longest road trip I have ever driven (by myself nonetheless). I decided to spread the trip out over three days, my first night in Pendleton, Oregon where I camped at a State Park campground (by myself), then my second night in Salt Lake City, Utah where I stayed with my best friend Hannah. Honestly, I was amazed that everything went as smoothly as it did. I found a campground before dark, I didn’t get lost in Salt Lake, and my car did not blow up. 

Now I’m at a Forest Service house in Manila.  After last summer, where we lived in a tent for a month and had no electricity, water, or cell phone reception, I was excited to have a bed. It’s a big house, and there are only four of us in it. The downside is that there is no television or Internet, but I’m sure we’ll make due. We haven’t done any survey yet, so I’m discovering how much there is (not) to do at the house. I’m finding that in our off time, I’ll have many opportunities to read, write a few short stories, and study for the GREs. Tomorrow will be my orientation, and Tuesday we will embark on a high elevation survey and backpacking trip (which I am very excited about, so stay tuned). 

It is beautiful; we are right on the edge of Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. It reminds me a lot of Lake Billy Chinook in Central Oregon. I think Steve’s family would love to go water skiing here. There are snow-covered mountains (it seems) in every direction, and the rock formations are interesting. I think I would appreciate Utah more if I knew more about geology. There are signs along the roads labeling the different rock formations and what period they were formed in, though I’m more interested in the how rather than the what.

I think I will have a fun few months. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about anything I’m doing, from whom the Fremont were to how early I have to get up in the morning. I hope you’re summer is as fabulous as mine is; if not, you can live vicariously through me.

P.S. Happy Father’s Dad!