Spike 4: Field Karma, Blizzards and Stir-Frys

Klamath River, CA
Elevation: 4,090ft. 

One by one the team started to arrive. It was Tuesday night and a somber feeling seemed to float around the stuffy cabin. Packing away clothes and food everyone already seemed tired and injured. My back was aching, my knees were shot and I already missed my warm bed. None of us were ready for Spike 4.  Because of the increasing heat wave we were assigned to high elevation fires in southern Oregon’s Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest not too far from Cave Junction, Selma and Grants Pass. Tossing our dirt and sap covered packs into the trucks we assumed our familiar places, powered on the GPSs and gunned it north. 

We stopped in Yreka for gas, a printer and a few provisions and headed west on 96. Turning onto an old gravel road we climbed northwards. As we climbed and climbed the dry chaparral mountains gave way to beautiful meadows and vistas unlike anything we had ever seen before. The temperature rose even as the air thinned and we all already began to grow weary from the heat. The road turned to dirt and we followed the ridge of a great valley. Turning out of the forest we came face to face with alpine meadows and mountain tops the likes that haven’t been seen since the Third Age.

I couldn’t believe our luck. With my hand stretched out the window I embraced the warm, sweet scented breeze and really believed Alan had decided to treat us this week. The campsite we planned to stay at was full so we drove further towards our first plot and set up shop in a mining claim campsite surrounded by posted signs that were alarmingly clear that this was a protected area. Strapping on our packs we began our hike. We would tackle the plot as a 6 person team because of time constraints and had chosen a plot that Alan had placed off of a hikeable road. There was no road. It took us almost 2 hours to get to the site because we had to bushwack up a dried out blowdown. Gone were the meadows and flowing hills and gone was much of the energy I had left. By early evening we had reached the polygon.

“Gods help us, for we are lost”. We didn’t get the plot set up until 1600 hours and by that point we were out of energy and I was running low on water. Plowing through the protocols we gassed it with all we had. The sun was no joke even at our higher elevation. I found myself parched yet constantly sweating. The air was thick and heavy and the ground was littered in blown down snags. We made it back to camp with little light left. Bathing in the nearby creek we gathered hungrily around the stove for Lily’s mac and cheese like moths to funeral pyre. It was Day 1.

We awoke with the sun and birds. Something that books make sound amazing but in reality it’s a pain in the ass. It was Day 2 and our last plot in the Quartz Creek Fire. Our hopes weren’t high which made getting ready and gearing up for the day much more bearable. 

I suppose I should reiterate what it is exactly that we do. We are a 6 person field crew collecting data for a project studying the effect of climate change on conifer regeneration after high-severity wildfire burns. We are sent to old burn sites of various ages and aridity and collect data on the types of shrubs and trees present. This is the only field season that the grant is able to pay for so it’s important that we get ALL of the projected plots before our contracts run out. Which means no breaks. Packing up our samples we hiked back down to the trucks and headed towards Selma, OR and the famous Biscuit Fire. 

It was July 2nd and we were getting dangerously close to the holiday. Camps were getting full for the weekend and people were getting rowdy. The sounds of drunken screams, loud music and barking dogs echoing off the valley walls would be a part of our nights for the next 3 days. Waking up to the sounds of birds and cell phone alarms I peeled back my sticky sleeping bag liner. We weren’t able to make it to a higher elevation that night and had to try to sleep though noise and through a 80º night. The time was 0600 hours.

The Biscuit Fire burned for 5 months straight. Started by dry lightening on July 12, 2002 it burned a total of 500,000 acres of southern Oregon and northern California. You could see the name thing from space. It was a fire so large and long burning that it provided the canvas for a lot of ecological research down the road. It was a fire that rang a tone in the local ecology community akin to 9/11 (but not as tragic), everyone knew what they were doing when the Biscuit Fire started. It was a fire so big that we would spend the rest of the spike collecting data from plots within it. 

The next day we had a city break. We returned to Cave Junction to rendezvous with Dunbar Carpenter, a personal friend of Jonathan Thompson (our PI) who was going to volunteer with us the rest of the spike. On the way in we stopped by Dairy Queen for much needed Blizzards. I don’t think I had ever been so happy to see a Dairy Queen in my life. Or people and roads and buildings and AC for that matter. Waiting for the Blizzard, Charles and I filled our nalgenes with water form the soda fountain machine and its sheer coldness gave us headaches but god damn were we happy. I ran to the head before leaving for the ranger station and came face to face with my reflection. I hadn’t seen myself for 3 days and I already looked insane.

Having Dunbar on the team was a breath of fresh air. He wasn’t the old, crusty, bitter old forester we thought we was going to be instead he was a cheerful, light-hearted PhD who loved to climb, wore a straw hat and never had anything negative to say. I gotta admit he was the new face and the positive push we needed. 

Day 4 came. To birds again. But this time it came to us after a sleepless night. Drunken townies blasted music and shot fireworks until 0200 at least and like clockwork the sun comes out and the birds start singing at 0500. It took a lot to get into the truck that day. Clothes still soaked and sour from 3 sweaty days. My favorite boots had started losing chunks of their soles to the rugged terrain and the right boot had its side blown out from all the skirting we did on these steep slopes and without the side support it felt like a worn out clown shoe. My face and lips were burnt and my eyes were weary from staring at a bright white data sheet all day and the poison oak was starting to set in. Looking out over the farm fields on the way to the day’s plot I began to think about Laurie again and things never seemed so far away. 

Hiking into the plot we were surprised at how open it was. All around us were the stumps of cleared trees - evidence of the severe logging that happened after the fire. In the distance we could see where our polygon lie and it didn’t look much worse. The slope was steep and the ground was sheer but our hope rose with each step.

Getting to the plot we couldn’t believe our luck! The shrubs stood no more than 2 meters and there was no poison oak in sight! “Alan akbar!” A praise to our wrathful god we would start to use more as the spike continued. 

But a wrathful god he is. Though that night was filled with relief, laughter and our neighbor’s fireworks it would be first and last of easy days for me. From Day 5 till the end it was hell days. Situated at Josephine Campground we set up shop for the last time. It was from here that we would tackle the next half of the spike. It was here that good food, good music and good laughter was had. It was here that our spirits recovered each night and it was here that I realized that despite all the pain and abject suffering I was feeling at these plots I was in the mountains working with earth every day and sleeping under its stars at night. I was out here with the best crew anyone could have the honor of working with and damn it it’s better than 1,000 good days in an office. 

But what good would a journey of tests and beauty and loss be without a hard last day? Climbing into our trusty F250 I assumed the navigator’s seat and grabbed the 1996 forest service map, the only map we had that covered the township ranges of our plots. The GPS flashed to life and off we were for BIS-12. Following Alan’s instructions (Alan akbar!) we kept on a forest road until it merged with a smaller one that would put us on a ridge above our plot. It should be a reasonably pleasant hike down. And then the road ended.

Classic Alan. Gearing up we prepared for the little-over-a-kilometer hike down. Looking around us we could see down into the valley into Selma and, as pointed out by Matt, could just make out the Siskiyou Field Institute. Looking at the sloping hills and low shrubs around us I had high hopes for the plot. But not until mid-day would we learn that we would all leave pieces of our souls in that plot. 

As we descended lower and lower the amount of Tan Oak and hidden snags began to increase. It became difficult to walk and soon we had to grab and pull ourselves through the terrain any way we could. Unfortunately the dominant tree was Tan Oak (Lithocarpus densiflorus). The powder from the Tan Oaks became too much. We all hated Tan Oak. It was just a part of the vegetation that grew in this area but never before had we been in such a dense forest of it. It seemed to be the dominant tree and its fiberglass-like powder seemed to fill the air. 

Descending into our plot it only got worse. Alan (Alan akbar!) had managed to find a polygon void of the small shrubs of the surrounding area and was instead nearly 75% filled with ripe, powdery Tan Oak. 

For the most part we had all stopped wearing our bandanas. 1 because of the intense heat and the need to breathe and 2 because the amount of Tan Oak in our plots were usually a bearable amount. Wrapping my handkerchief around my face I loaded up on data sheets and water and tackled the plot like a silverback in a fiberglass factory. 

Wiping the dust and sweat off of my face I could feel the burning in my throat and eyes. It was like asbestos met fiberglass met pollen met pepper spray. It was bad shit. Looking over at Matt and Kim I saw Matt dead-eyed staring into the plot. 

“Do you think we’re gonna die in here?” 

No Matthew. We will die but not today. 

That night we ate like kings. I cooked up my famous couscous and curry (with 3 vegetables this time and tomatoes on the side) and Kim busted out red wine she had been saving. I don’t think a pot of curry had ever been drained so quickly. As the sun began to set a surreal orange overtook the campsite. It got suddenly brighter until it got so absurdly bright it was like the day had restarted. Matt called it Alpenglow. It was my first one and no picture I took could do it justice. It was just one of those moments that one had to hold on to. And then let go.

Until next time my friends.

Chris

Redwood National Park, 2nd Spike and learning to roll with the punches.

Portland, OR
Elevation: 1,073 ft.

First and foremost, I am alive. I have made it through the second spike of our field season and I must say that things are picking up in pace, difficulty, risk and temperature. But more on that all later, first a flashback to my last 6 days off…

We started the day early in anticipation of the drive. The destination was the coastal town of Arcata, CA and instead of the southwesterly winding road of highway 96 we thought it would be safer and quicker to take I-5 to the east southwards and then to cut across on highway 299 effectively making a box around northern California and our study site. The roundabout path granted us the chance to hit Yreka, Weed, Redding, Whiskeytown and Weaverville; towns we would not have likely ever visited. It also skirted us around Mt. Shasta which was a beautiful sight to drive towards. Snow-capped mountains have become a favorite sight of mine. 

From Klamath River to Arcata the temperature dropped at least 20 degrees causing us to quickly throw on layers before catching lunch at a quaint little Pho place. It’s the mild, misty summers of the coast that has convinced me that my future nest will be in a maritime town. I love the sun and the water and the fact that you can have an excuse to throw on a fleece most months of the year. After the late lunch we loaded up on camp foods at the local organic market, grabbed a few beers at a local brewhouse and gunned it for Gold Bluffs Beach. The next morning was cold and misty. We took our coffee and tea on a large piece of driftwood facing the chilly and endless Pacific. Our plan was to get to the Kuchel Visitor Center for maps and information and then to start our backpacking trip at the southern tip of the park. 

We parked Rhyhorn at the Redwood Creek Trailhead and hiked into the woods. The plan was to skirt the creek southward and to find a backcountry campsite along the gravel bars close to Tall Trees Grove 8 or so miles in. Along the way we passed an amazing variety of flora I had never seen. Endless ferns and towering Redwoods dominate the landscape of the small fog belt we hiked along. It is the uniqueness of this part of the California coast combined with the endemism of the Coastal Redwood that catalyzed the creation of the Redwood National and State Parks. To hike among these giants is to walk in a land successfully and gratefully preserved. The greatest thing about backcountry hiking is coming across random acts of humankind. Or rather, humanhumor.

There are, of course, trials to being so removed, or rather, to being so dependent on common human conventions and comforts that can push you out of your comfort zone. An intact bridge over a narrow drainage way for example.

Pushing onward we finally made camp a little past the Tall Trees Grove on a gravel bar at the junction of Tom McDonald Creek and Redwood Creek. There we set up camp, read, filtered water, ate and slept. The mild trail and the cool creek were welcome comforts compared to the harsh, rugged mountains of our field site and we slept like kings. The next morning we were welcomed by the sounds of birds and the drifting, coastal fog. 

The hike out was much quicker than the hike in. There was little else to see but stopping to bid farewell to trees we had passed on the way in. Once we got to Rhyhorn we resupplied on food, water and clean clothes and, bidding farewell to the trail, gunned it for Fern Canyon.

I will admit much of the motivation to backtrack to Fern Canyon was because of it’s role as a film location for Jurassic Park II. The unique canyon was right off the coast and held enough moisture to be home to countless Five-Fingered Fern. Hiking through its cold waters and staring up the walls and logs immersed me in such a primeval aura that I half expected a Velociraptor to come tearing around the corner. 

In an attempt to place ourselves more northward by the end of the day we hit the road after Fern Canyon and didn’t stop until we reached Crescent City. We didn’t expect the town to be so…tourist dependent as it was. Having just been in Fern Canyon we were surprised and uncomfortable being in the rundown, beach town. Small hotels and motels lined the main street and industrial buildings and dilapidated houses filled the rest of the space. The goal was to get information from the park headquarters located there but it was closed and instead we opted to have dinner at the local Thai restaurant. Though the owners were extremely kind and accommodating, what I had was less Drunken Noodle and more cheaply stir fried, day-old noodles with random leftover vegetables and too much spice thrown into it. Heading back down the coast we aimed for the Nickel Creek campground. It was ideal because it was along the coast and was an easy 1.5 mile hike from the parking lot, the caveat was that it was a parking lot notorious for being broken into - what can you do? We stopped at an overlook for some cell phone signal to call loved ones and to watch the sun set.

The next morning we walked along the beach and bid the Pacific farewell. The rest of the trip was going to be inland traveling northwards into Oregon. The mission was to get to Cave Junction by that night putting us in a good position for our rendezvous with the Medford Interagency Communication Center’s radio technician the next morning. We needed him to reprogram our Oregon-issued Forest Service radios to better work with the californian repeaters of the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains we were working in. Along the way we stopped by pull-off in the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest to do a rainy last hike among the great Redwoods while Lilly got a much needed trail run in (runners, you know). It is truly amazing and humbling to have so many great trees made so accessible by roads and byways. It is amazing and frightening to me knowing that these giants were almost logged to the point of no return and has made me so grateful for all of the hard work conservationists have been doing these long years and years to come to save all endangered members of our world, charismatic or not. I knew in my gut that I was fighting a good fight that may, on the surface, seem hopeful and without reward but that there existed success stories like this and that no one can ever expect a success story if no one is fighting. 

Radios reprogrammed and returned we stinkily and starvingly hit up Medford REI for supplies and Food 4 Less for food and beer for the next work spike. Piling everything into Rhyhorn for the last time we made our way south back to our cabins and to our warm beds. It would be only the third night I’ve spent in a bed since May 21st. 

Now, back to the second spike. First off I have to apologize for this being such a long post, I haven’t had much signal or wifi access as of late and when those are within reach I haven’t had much energy for anything other than reading and sleeping. I have begun to find the glow of a screen tiring and painful and the endless world of smartphone apps (even instagram) to be overwhelming and stressful. Perhaps good changes? Anyways, back to the post.

The second spike of the field season was difficult for me for many reasons. First off we were now on our own. Rob and Alan from Smithsonian and OSU respectively had returned to their usual lives and it was now my teammates and I in charge of the field season. No longer did we have guides or supervisors to turn to when we had questions or to rely on for decision making. With Kristine gone from the team the leadership position fell to me and, not having lead a team formally before I was beginning to panic at the amount of detail that I no longer could let slip off my shoulders. It was a godsend and a grateful blessing that my team turned out to be understanding, supportive and extremely independent. Quickly we turned the decision making to the whole group and became a sort of consensus-based self-governing field crew. The great Klamath Field Crew of 2015 haha. Having received GPS and map coordinates from Alan we packed the trucks with supplies, food and maps and hit the road for the first assigned site of the spike. The destination was the 2002 Stanza Fire.

Ascending up the mountain the roads began to narrow and become unkept. Many places were blocked by downed trees and rocks and some parts had been burned away completely. Using the map and GPS we navigated the turns best we could. The goal was to get us as close as we could to the assigned polygon and to still be near a safe turnaround point, campsite and approach angle. Inevitably we took a wrong road and found ourselves making the scariest 20 point u-turn of our (my) life. With the whole team spotting me I nervously maneuvered the massive work truck against the edge of the drop off. After all was said and done I took my hat off, uttered “Fuck” and took a long piss off the mountain side. 

Once in the polygon we worked quickly to set up the plot running 50m and 30m tapes to form a large rectangle transected into 9 subplots. We set off on working through the protocols knowing that there wasn’t much room for questions and that we were in charge of the quality of the data now. The pressure of this being the only field season afforded by the grant for the study made it all the more imperative that we got this right. Then the thunder came. Being out here in fire country we needed to treat lightning seriously. Having come from the east coast where thunder and lightning roll in from the skies along with heavy rains I had no concept of “dry lightning”. Here in the dry mountains of the west lightning can come suddenly and numerously and without rain starting fires everywhere it lands. As the skies continued to boom the radio chatter began to increase. Lookout planes were being sent to survey the mountain sides and people were reporting their locations. We decided to call it off until tomorrow and made camp at a pull-off along the road. Parking the truck between the road and our circled tents we set off on taking an inventory of the supplies, reading and cooking dinner. The cold winds whipped at us atop that ridge so that we were in long-sleeves before long. 

As the sun set over the distant ridges we gathered close and sipped our beers and ate our warm lentils discussing books, past jobs and the anticipated trials of the rest of the spike. I have never worked in such beautiful and yet rugged mountains and gazing over at the burning sunset I knew that I was in a good place with good people.

The next day we finished the Stanza plot and quickly headed for the next location on our list and promptly finished that one as well. The mission then was to find the Norcross Campground, send two people and the truck back to Happy Camp to rendezvous with our new teammate Charles and to set up camp and dinner. But first I needed to cross this stream. 

If there is one thing to know about me it is that I like to be prepared. Prepared for a test, prepared for a job, hell, prepared for a vacation. I simply need to be prepared. I am ok with doing most any job no matter how unpleasant as long as I know ahead of time what I will be dealing with and can prepare accordingly. It’s why I am the most daring and clumsy when it comes to bushwacking. Trampling blindly I crush through brush, thorns and snags to take the shortest path but I do it with two pairs of socks, thick Carhartt jeans, knee high gaiters, long-sleeves, strong boots, leather gloves, a kool-tie around my neck, a buff around that and over my nose and mouth, a wool buff over my head and hair and a sun hat atop all of that. But no Chacos. That is why all the rest of the day and it’s responsibilities could wait. I needed to cross this stream. After walking up and down the bank several times the team decided the only way across was to either step carefully and surely on the barely exposed rocks or to walk barefoot across it. As my teammates began taking off their shoes and socks I looked desperately at Alan’s instructions (as I didn’t have a great track record of crossing streams barefoot) and it simply said, “cross the stream to the polygon”. The bastard. I took off my boots and gaiters and socks and rolled my thick Carhartts as high as I could. I secured the radio in my pack and began to cross. I rationalized that the worst case scenario would be that I slipped and broke my ankle and then drowned, so as long as I was able to get away without any of that happening I could really see the whole thing as a success. Stabilizing my first step I could already feel the weight of my swinging boots and heavy pack shifting me around. Holding my breath I lifted my other foot and gingerly stepped onto the next slippery, freezing rock. 

As it would turn out Norcross Campground was an exceptional and beautiful campground, likely due to the fact that the fire we were studying had destroyed it and it had been rebuilt. Mainly meant for horseman, it had a few large corals, wide open camp grounds and access to the nearby creek. Since our sites for the rest of the spike were in fires within driving and hiking distance from the campsite we decided to make it our home base for the next 8 days. 

As the week progressed the temperature began to rise. Quickly I was realizing that I couldn’t keep up my usual field uniform and would need to start making compromises between being clean and not getting heat stroke. The slopes and vegetation also began to worsen pushing many of us to our limits by the end of the 10 hour days. The girls had the right idea to take advantage of the frequent stream crossings and decided to hike the second half of the return trip a la undies. 

One of the perks of working in old fires are the views. We work surrounded by old snags many of which could kill us, but are absolutely beautiful. The sheer size of some of the pre-burn trees are astonishing. 

For the most part we were out of the field and back at camp by 4-5pm each day. A pattern began to form where we would start our days 0600 hours to beat the heat, get our plots done as fast as possible and return to camp to process trees collected for stem analysis whilst imbibing hot beer until dinner time. Because of our proximity to Elk Creek we also had the luxury of bathing each night this spike. Another thing about me is that I absolutely need to be clean. Working in the field and hiking and camping for 8 days on end I have started to develop techniques to beating the stink. Moslty baby wipes and Dr. Bronners to be honest. 

Each night was spent with good conversation, good food and good company. To think that we were being paid to work and live out here blew all of our minds. It seemed we all knew exactly how lucky and privileged we were to be chosen for the team and, even on the hardest days, we all agreed with the age old wildlife saying, “A bad day in the field is still better than a good day in the office”! 

Here’s to an amazing team and an amazing summer to come. I have already grown and learned so much from the land and the people I have come to call my home and friends. My perspectives on life is ever changing and my path is ever growing but like I said before, I know I am in a good place with good people. Until next spike and next time.

Chris