It’s been too long since I’ve last written my thoughts here. So much has happened since my last entry. Perhaps the best way to describe it would be to say its been an “avalanche” of positivity and change. It all started when I packed my life into a 90L duffel, grabbed my pack and my guitar and headed out for the north for my cousin’s wedding. I knew right then and there that I had finally taken the first steps of an exciting adventure. The trip up north through NJ, RI and MA was everything that I could have asked for. I got to see family from all over the world colliding in the humble houses of my New England family. Aunts and Uncles that took care of my brother and I during our stay in France, cousins all the way from Oregon that I only got to see on facetime and Christmas and Cambodian relatives that took us all over Cambodia helping my father find the home he grew up in all collided and it was a surreal moment. The power of a family that stops at nothing comes together is unlike anything else in this world. The house was so crowded that I simply set up camp in the backyard for the whole week. I slept at 10 and woke at 6 to the fresh New England air (yes, it is different) and the sound of wild turkeys (and sprinklers) - it was perfect. The best part of the wedding, hands down, had to be when my cousin and her husband walked out onto the stage to begin their first dance and, instead of having “Ho Hey” played by the DJ, all of my cousins and I ran onto the stage guitar, ukulele and pill bottle filled with golf tees a-blazin’ and sang them the whole song. She was in tears by the first chorus. I don’t mean to be overly sentimental but I think I almost cried playing that guitar haha. After a few delicious Samuel Adams later, a whole lot of dancing and quite a bit of street cred with the cute Boston College white girls, the night drifted away into the misty air. And just like that woke up the next morning at 5am, broke down my tent, packed my car, hugged my family tightly and headed straight for Front Royal, VA.

Just like that I found myself in a small town swallowed by the Blue Ridge Mountains surrounded by the new faces of whom would become some of the best people I’ve ever met (don’t let that get to your heads guys). Those who’ve followed this blog from day one know exactly how hard I’ve been working to get to SMSC and that first night just standing in the middle of my empty dorm I most definitely cried like a little girl. It’s one thing to get an email saying you’ve been accepted to a program but it’s an entirely different thing waking up in the morning, looking across a beautiful campus and seeing the mountains. It’s only been 3 short weeks but I have already been overwhelmed with huge amounts of kindness, learning and adventure. Right off the bat I made a good friend and fellow adventurer named Tyler Robic and hit the AT the morning of our first class. Things pretty much took off after that. There is no short of being in the great outdoors here. The massive campus is gated but so large that it contains its own forest and it’s own pesky population of white-tailed deer. Our day-to-day are a perfect balance of in-class theory/policy and fieldwork and data collection outside in the SMSC campus or on surrounding farms and research centers. There are no words to describe how good it feels to get my hands back in the earth and my mind back in the classroom. For so long I have been yearning to be productive - to have a direction and goal to work towards. The limbo of unemployment and the cutting knife of rejection have made me a humble and grateful man. The people here are good people to say the least. The staff are the kindest, most down to earth professors I’ve ever met. I forget sometimes that I am surrounded my PhD’s and leaders in conservation - they are all so fun and real to talk to. My classmates are from all over the place (OR, CA, MI/NY, VA) and are quite an eclectic mix of people. There is no end, I mean NO END, to the bonding, laughs and adventures we share. I have to admit that even though it’s just week 3 I already kind of miss them all…My knowledge base of ecology and conservation biology is slowly increasing and I am starting to work out parts of my brain that I forgot that I had. I am also making sure to write down all of the street cred that I get from volunteering/ working with the researchers here and I am nursing a beef jerky addiction. Needless to say, there is so much to experience here and this blog will be seeing much more of it before the end of these 4 months.

Finally, I had the opportunity to attempt to hike the Roaring Plains circuit in Davis, WV this past weekend. When they say that West Virginia is the wild and the wonderful they are not kidding. It’s like going back in time every time I suit up and head out there. John Denver was right, life is old there and things take on the air of a simpler yesterday. To put it lightly, the hike was brutal. It opened up with a small field of wild flowers but quickly led to a misty, pine-filled climb along the ridgeline of the mountain. For several hours we climbed upwards across slippery rocks and fairly deep streams - the whole time envisioning the breathtaking plains sprawling in the wind. We eventually reached a fire road that would, in 1 mile, finally put us at the Roaring Plains trail. It was along this calm respite that we realized that we were running low on time and daylight. If my buddy Zach was to get back at home by 2000 we would need to turn around by 1630 latest. Needless to say we began a frantic trail run into the woods. At about 1600 we stopped for lunch and the turn-around. We never made it to the plains but we were 4000ft. up, surrounded my pines and could kind of see the peaks of the Allegheny in the distance - we were satisfied. These were some of my favorite people and I appreciated just being able to get out here. They met up with me 830 that morning outside of Front Royal’s only Target. They drove an hour to get there and the hugs and back slaps were something I really needed. These were guys that, only half a year ago, were complete strangers working with me at REI. Over a couple of hikes and many many fun days at work, they became my good friends. And here we were, Sean holding down the fort at REI, Zach working hard at Enterprise and me going back to school to save the world one tree at a time. It’s cliche but it certainly wasn’t the destination this time but rather the journey and who I made it with. We pretty much ran the rest of the way back home, piled into Zach’s car shirtless, ran over my glasses and blasted Led Zepplin all the way home - it was just as I missed. We will certainly attempt Roaring Plains again in the future, our campaign to press westward won’t stop for anything.

All in all that’s everything that’s been happening lately, in a nutshell and in only 10 photos. Life is strange, that much I know. Sometimes you are drowning in a endless sea of lost hope, and sometimes you are snowboarding down an avalanche of positivity and change. Everyday is an adventure that has just begun and you just need to get yourself out of bed, strap up your boots and make life TAP. 

Here’s to never giving up and trekking on.

Chris