Saturday February 15, 2014
15:20

Front Royal, VA - One month has passed since I began my internship here at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and I can say that I have already learned many many things. Perhaps nothing more powerful than my new appreciation for wifi - the stuff is gold. I joke, but truly, living in an old farm house nestled in the woods a mile away from anyone really makes one appreciate the small things. Life as an intern is definitely different than life as a student. Of course everyone knows that but, this being my first real internship anywhere, I had a lot to learn. First and foremost is that I am answering to a boss now. A boss who is none other than Dr. William McShea. Also, I am now working a consistent 8-5 schedule (never less but often more). Being an intern certainly has its perks, however. I am now part of “the other side of the curtain” and am in the unspoken, and probably not even recognized, brotherhood of other interns and researchers. I rub elbows and share bathrooms with researchers every day. I am peers with other youthful, vibrant, determined people working each day towards our careers as the next generation of conservationists. Being near so many Masters and PhD hopefuls really has helped me focus and redefine my goals. I’m still very clueless, don’t get me wrong, but I have become much more confident in my choice to take each step slow and sure. To work each day trying to learn as much as possible, and to never stop hunting for the next wild research opportunity. A researcher I work with put it perfectly, “You’re young and don’t have too many responsibilities, now is the time to go out there and do crazy shit! Go explore and research in the craziest places while you can still handle it!”. Words that made me laugh at first, but very much resonated in my head for days afterwards.

The BiodiversiTree project is certainly coming a long. In only a month we have plotted out all but one of our 35m x 35m plots and have flagged 10 of them. My time is divided between working in the field with our land manager, Kyle Rhodes, and working in the office for Virginia Working Landscapes. I have to say, I much prefer hiking up and down snowy slopes carrying hammers and tapes and rebars than sitting in a quiet office pulling out my hair to teach myself enough excel to only have to redo the file 5 times. Computer work is where the future is, even in conservation, and excel is the most basic tool of all - I’m getting there. 

Living in the Leach House has been a wonderful experience for me so far. The old farm house is secluded but not so secluded that the maintenance team can’t get to us with their plows. It is filled with old furniture and photos from past teams of interns. The rooms just resonate with history and creepiness. It’s like living in a historic building. At times I feel like I should be preserving it - not shitting in its toilet. I occasionally take my DSLR out and explore the area around it. One can easily see remnants of Captain Leach’s farmland. By our pond are two abandoned barns (one of which I think Leach Cat lives in) and along the sides of the house one can see the broken down remains of stone fences. I love the winter but at the same time am eager for the warmer weather. I long to be able to run outside and feel the sun on my skin again. Once it warms up we will be able to clean up our garden and perhaps even grow vegetables. 

Last weekend I flew up to Michigan to visit Laurie. It had only been a month since I last saw her but I already missed her so much. It’s definitely been hard dealing with the distance. This being my first go at a long distance relationship (her third), my 8-5 daily schedule (get up at 7, dark by 6), on average only seeing 5 different people a day (she’s at college) and the lack of social outlet (we have two bars and a bowling ally, no wifi) - it was easy to see why she was doing so much better than me. I admit it wasn’t ideal to cash in my one flight so early in the game but because of her lacrosse schedule and encroaching exams - I had to work around her schedule. I am terrified of flying. For example, when I took off from Dulles in that tiny little plane I held my hands together, closed my eyes and blasted “Let’s Be Still” by The Head and the Heart. My heart was nearly in arrhythmia. There are just too many variables (I would be happy never flying again and driving and sailing the rest of my life if I had the money and time). And to see my darling for the weekend I had to take off and land 4 times in 2 days. I don’t know if she’ll ever understand how much I care about her but I do know that the people unfortunate enough to be in the seats next to me certainly do. All my melodrama and near death experiences aside - flying up north gave me the chance to see some of the most beautiful views of my life. Flying into Chicago at night is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The city is an endless, illuminated grid. There’s really no better way to describe it other than that it looked like yellow Tron. On the other hand, flying into Detroit on my way back home looked like an endless ocean of ice and dark blue water. Flying above the winter storm made me feel like I was gazing down upon the Antarctic…When I touched down in Chicago it was already 2200 and I knew that it was a solid three hour drive back to Holland, MI. I don’t think I can really describe the 2 short days I got to spend with her. She’s good for my soul. Life has always been rather hectic for me - I never seem to think I am doing enough or doing the right thing. My mind wanders and loses itself very often in the mess of my own self-expectation. In terms of Love, I have never fared well. My past relationships have always been the perfect storm of my own insecurities, idealism and, there’s no way around it, terrible women. Laurie has always had this sense about her that I have not found before. She is straightforward, tells me what she is thinking about, tells me how she feels and tells me to tell her what’s on my mind - she makes me talk. She is realistic and always knows how to ground me again when my head gets too lost in the clouds. She is, at the same time, the tenderest person and the hardest person to me. She just knows how to drive me forward. The two days were filled with meeting her housemates, seeing her campus, walking around Holland’s downtown, taking in the Michigan winter and meeting her siblings. I can definitely say I am still in love with the north. As much as she hates it I still very much want to live somewhere where the winters are harsh and the summers are beautiful. Somewhere where the mountains meet the ocean and I can make my future FJ Cruiser really put it’s 4x4 to the test. Perhaps my second favorite moment of the trip was trekking across the frozen beach of Holland State Park with her and gazing across the frozen expanse of Lake Michigan (the first favorite being meeting her family, of course). It was both my first time seeing any of the Great Lakes and seeing this much frozen water. I remember turning towards her and staring into her eyes as the wind and snow blew around us. The snow illuminated her eyes and I couldn’t help but pull her in and hold her. Too often I count my blessings because, to me, nothing ever lasts as long as you want it to. This weekend was half way done, my internship will end, she will soon graduate and sooner than I want we will both be cast again into the next hectic chapters of our lives. And the hard part that I force myself to not think about is the very real possibility of us parting ways. She’s a realist, I am a idealist - there has been a disconnect since day 1 on how we see our relationship and it’s something that simply won’t change. Time can make or break things. We will be doing our wild research all over the world and it’s pretty certain it won’t be with each other. When the time comes that we can’t hold onto this anymore I have to be able to take it. So I held her…But before this tangent becomes completely depressing - I finally got to meet her siblings. I got to meet the brother, sister and sister-in-law I had heard so much about before. We had brunch at her brother’s house in Chicago and it was like walking into a Pottery Barn magazine fused with a bookstore - I loved it. They say when you are with someone their family unconditionally comes along with the package and man am I glad they were so carefree and fun to be around. Fresh pancakes, good music and good conversation is what we had for breakfast. I admit I was nervous that an all out interview was going to happen but it wasn’t at all like I anticipated. They were kind, interesting and interested - it couldn’t have been more perfect. 

All too soon the weekend ended and a week of work went by. The passing storms have been beautiful but tough on us at Leach House. It’s hard to get out of here to main campus without our pickup and the gracious help from the maintenance guys’ plows. Though, being snowed in does have its perks. It gave us a chance to rest and enjoy living in the woods. Something I didn’t expect was how being out from 8-5 really leaves you with no energy (or daylight) to enjoy the simplicity of the farm house you live in. We just get back, eat dinner and sleep. Walking through the deep snow with my camera allowed me to capture some peaceful and beautiful moments of Leach House. The first month here has already taught me so much. I am here till June and fill my spare time with reading, writing, applying to jobs/internships and PBR. I think about her all the time and I think about the future more than I should. She always tells me I think way too much into things and I don’t think she could be more right. I always seem to miss the small things and yet obsess over the little moments - if that even makes sense. But, the long and the short of it all is that I know that I am blessed, that I know life goes on and that I know there is time. She came into my life quite unexpectedly and has shown me so much in so short a time. She has made me happier than I have ever been and has lit a fire in me that has burned away the dusty, old things that have cluttered my head and my heart for too long now. I am becoming a new man with each passing day and I owe her for that.

Here’s to the next steps and trekking on.

Chris

Thursday January 9, 2014
0:00

Today was hands down one of my most eventful wednesdays in a long time. It all started off bright and early; dazed, hungry and blinded by the pre-10am light I fumbled out of bed and into my work clothes. I quickly made myself a tumbler of black coffee and a plate of eggs and hotdogs (I am the picture of health). Today I was going to my friend Tyler Robic’s property to help and observe him carry out his morning chores.

His beautiful farm is in Purceville, VA nestled along the beginning ridges of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The land is unique in that it is a perfect marriage between entrepreneurism and just having awesome animals. The cattle and most of the horses on the property belong to other farmer’s and tenants leasing parts of the land from the Robic’s. The chickens, sheep, goats, cats, rabbits and protected forest all belong to his family. For the size of the land - it’s not too shabby. This wasn’t my first time out here; I had visited months ago with some of our SMSC classmates. It’s always a joy to be outside and, to me, there isn’t anything better than being outside and getting work done. Except maybe eating and sleeping. Aside from the property, the Robic household is a handmade marvel. Redone largely by his Uncle, the house features rich wooden floors (fashioned out of repurposed barn walls) and furniture, large cozy rooms, two fireplaces and leather couches and blankets in every room that can fit them. I felt like I was walking through a rustic edition of a Pottery Barn magazine! Due to privacy issues I felt it wouldn’t be right posting any pictures of their rooms, so instead I posted the view outside of his parents room (4th picture above). Impeccable taste, ingenuity and quality make up their home. 

After getting all of the animals fed we ventured out into the grazing fields to do some recon on a dead cow Tyler spotted earlier that morning. Cause of death was impossible to identify without cutting into the carcass which was completely frozen solid. It was clear vultures made it to the body before us because the ears, eyes and udder were missing. That failed we headed out with his German Shepard and Boxer to check out an old rock quarry his father has been researching. But that’s classified. The real adventure began at the base of the Maryland Heights hiking trail. To get to the mountain we needed to navigate our way alongside the Potomac River, through a creepy town made up of buildings with fake props and exhibits inside and across a railroad bridge. From there it was a flat stretch to the trailhead which then immediately transformed into 3 miles of switchbackless, unforgiving, ice covered elevation. Not one to complain, it was a struggle for me to make it up that climb in jeans and a damn miracle Tyler made it up in his Carhartt overalls. However, the view at the overlook was, to say the least, breath taking. Before us stretched out the historic city of Harper’s Ferry. To our left and right branched out the mighty Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. There was something about the biting, cold air and the crisp, ice covered waters that made the view even more surreal - I felt like I was gazing at a sight similar to ones I will one day experience in the northwest. 

We headed back to the Robic farm for much nourishment and coffee. With a good amount of the day left to burn before the Owl Life History lecture at the Loudon Wildlife Conservancy we decided to break my firearm cherry with a 12-Gauge Remington 870 Shotgun. I must say I severely overestimated the amount of recoil and underestimated the loudness of the discharge. I barely budged but my ears were ringing! We then switched out his shotgun and grabbed a pair of hunting rifles and headed into the woods for some target practice. I used one he was borrowing from one of the animal keepers he volunteers with (the gun I’m firing above). Again I was deafened by the discharge but this time I felt like I had been hit by a flash-bang grenade. My ears were ringing and all I could hear were the muffled vibrations of our laughter. I don’t want to make any statement about whether or not we should be allowed to have our guns - but god damn it if I were to die protecting my family I would want the motherfucker that killed me filled with lead and hurtling towards hell with me. That aside, I have had firearms training on my list of things to do for a very long time. My priority is handgun and shotgun training for home defense and then rifle training for hunting. This was just a wonderful introduction to the shooting world - and I can say I am hooked. 

Hours later and the best damn Chai Tea Latte I have ever had (made by his sister sold out of a wonderful, historic shoemaker building repurposed into a coffee shop) we finally made it to the owl life history lecture. First and foremost, I had no idea it was going to last 2 hours. By the end of it I wanted to scream and kick the shit out of something. I simply cannot sustain concentration in a purely lecture situation for more than an hour. Other than that, I learned so many things about owls I had never known before. I learned that their faces are essentially parabolic satellite dishes, that they had 4 external ear flaps, that they close their eyes and turn their heads away at the last moment before they catch their prey and that can move their heads more than 200 degrees because their eyes can’t shift side to side. The lecture was worth going to. I learned a lot. But, as seen in the last picture, I envisioned an outside class filled with hands on learning. Not a stuffy building, crowded chairs and over 2 hours of slides.

Definitely the most eventful wednesday I’ve had since leaving SCBI. I miss the mountains dearly and I miss my classmates even more. I’m using these last days in NOVA to prepare my gear and my body to head back for my internship. Getting back in shape, fixing my diet and streamlining my gear are my priorities right now. But one can never have too much adventure.

Here’s to being spontaneous and making sure that recoil pad is tight to your shoulder.

Chris 

09/15/13

Week 3 here at SMSC has ended and I feel like I am finally getting a bearing on the pace of things. It’s been overwhelming trying to figure out how to partition my time here simply because there is so much to do. That being said, I still haven’t gone hiking or camping with any of my classmates here. That needs to change. I remember how I would plan a day hike with my friends for weeks in advance and all day at work I would just itch and itch and itch to hit the road and get back out here in the mountains. Now I wake up and barely notice them as I walk to breakfast. Convenience breeds depreciation. On a different note, I am still managing to barely get my school work done and I have fallen behind in running - this must also change. As a last aside, I am trying to make my entries here much more regular. For what purpose I don’t know. As a catalog of my adventures and as a place to put my pictures I suppose. I don’t know exactly how long tumblr will suffice either. Perhaps once I begin truly traveling and living on my own I will invest in a more independent website. But alas, that’s a long ways away from now. More and more I am learning the value of just going with the flow. Not everything needs to be photographed, not everything needs to be shared. Simple really, but believe it or not I have a problem with it. Ok. This past week.

Week 3 wasn’t a very field-heavy week, we went out into the field only once and it was to Blandy Experimental Farm in Boyce, VA to do grassland ecosystem data collection for the Northern Bobwhite Quail. It was an overcast, humid day but something about staring across that flat grassland and trees reminded me of the encroaching fall and how much I was ready for my comfort season. Cold days, hot coffee and hotter fires - I miss them. We were able to fit in an insane amount of activity into this weekend however. Friday night we attended a post-WWI air show complete with vintage planes, cars and lively lindy-hop dance floor. It was something that one simply had to be at. The whole thing took place at Front Royal - Warren County Airport where a full swing band played music to a warehouse full of lively, retirees dressed in full lindy-hop attire. There was a strong presence of respect for our servicemen and there were a fair amount of retirees wearing their old uniforms. What was even more touching was a certain Navy couple who tore up the dance floor. To be honest the experience kind of rekindled an old dream of mine to serve straight out of high school. I didn’t know what branch or what position I wanted to do but I do know that I did, and still do, want to serve my country somehow. There is a deep resonating respect in my heart for the men and women who serve our country. On a lighter note, I was prompted by my classmates to step out of my comfort zone. And by step out of I mean skydive out of my comfort zone. I was pulled a couple times onto the dance floor - one of which the woman singing singled out our entire class out onto the dance floor introducing our school to the crowd and forcing us to dance. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many of my classmates be pulled away by so many dapper grandpa’s. The look of terror on their faces were legendary. More and more I am starting to love this eclectic bunch of ruffians I call my classmates.

The next morning a determined handful of us woke up bright and early and volunteered at The Farm at Sunnyside harvesting mint, paw paws and spice bush berries. There’s something special about waking up and getting out into the field. Getting your hands and knees dirty knowing that what you’re doing is helping out another person. Volunteerism, basically. It was an especially cool day so walking through the dense spice bushes as the fresh mountain air blew through its leaves created a peace I didn’t want to wake up from. This farm grows everything organically and once a week will send some of it’s produce to the farmer’s market in DuPont Circle, DC. One of these Sundays I plan to help them out from farm to market. There is so much to learn and experience in life and anyone can be a teacher. And I’ve been trying toembrace every chance I get.

Finally, today we woke up and helped The Friends of the Shenandoah River State Park with their river clean up. We rowed down 3.1 miles of the river picking up trash along the banks wherever we could find it. Many times I simply jumped out of the canoe and walked across the shallow river bed. The water was clear, cold and gentle and it took the all of me to not just lay back and soak my legs. There were a number of rapids and, though they were harmlessly small, they were dangerously easy to get caught on. The mossy rocks at these rapids are so uneven and slippery that it was easy to suddenly slip into a deeper part of the river. There was one point where Danny and I were coasting and as I took in the sounds of the river and his (amazing) voice singing Misty Mountains (yes, from the hobbit) I saw out of the corner of my eye a completely incompetent Laurie trying to pull her canoe free.

As the days go by I think more and more about how I wish this will never end. I remember during my prospective student tour nearly half a year ago, a student in the class we were visiting told us that he wished that he could stay here forever - while I don’t necessarily want to stay here forever, I now understand what he meant. SCBI, and Front Royal for that matter, is an amazing place to learn and live. The Shenandoah Valley already holds a special place in my heart and this small town has definitely changed my perspective on what’s important and what’s not. Good people, early days, simple pleasures and cold beers - that’s all I need. I’m still getting used to these weekly postings and I can promise you the posts will get shorter, less sappier and more informative - just hang in there.

Here’s to living and learning whenever you can.

Chris

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

 

     Yesterday I had the opportunity to adventure through the northern area of Dolly Sods, WV with my brother in adventure, Sean Lacey. The 13 mile hike was part of a plan of ours to slowly expand our adventures westward, and let me tell you, it was a hell of a first experience. The beautiful wilderness area was nested in the Allegheny mountains and had a variety of terrain and began as a beautiful westward descent towards the center of the valley. We hiked through sprawling fields of low grasses, sporadic conifers, clusters of boulders and fields of blueberries. In the distance we could see a dense forest of evergreens awaiting us. The valley has had a history of war and logging which could be easily seen in the lush forest floors which were densely covered in ferns and new growth. It was as if we were walking through prehistoric times. The cool forest gave way to bright, rocky fields (I deduce this is when we obtained the majority of our sunburn). For a few miles there was no cover but we could tell we were quickly approaching Rocky Knob by the increasing number of boulders as well as the occasional trail maker (Dolly Sods didn’t have a blazed trail leaving us to the mercy of hikers past). Upon reaching the first large rock face (which we presumed to be Rocky Knob) we could see other, larger rock faces in the distance. Fast-forward two more knobs and we reached what we believed to be THE Rocky Knob mentioned in the literature. Throughout the hike we recorded time and elevation at each trail intersection and made sure to note the first two knobs as Tallywacker Knob #1 and #2 respectively. At the base of the peak we set up shop and rehydrated. Once our food had cooked we took our meals up to the top and enjoyed a well-earned lunch and a breathtaking view. I took the opportunity to photograph the surrounding landscape as well as some candids of Sean. Lately I’ve found that I am relying on my iPhone 4s more and more as my primary camera (I can see all of my photography professors cringing). With these hikes getting more technical/beautiful the opportunity is starting to outweigh the quality and I am reaching for my phone rather than unpacking my bulky DSLR. In my opinion, the app VSCOCAM (http://vsco.co/vscocam) is an invaluable partner on these hikes. It’s photo quality is much higher than the stock camera app and its editing capabilities are everything that I need (except I could use a brightness/fill light option) to take quality images. The only photos in this entry taken with my DSLR are the ones watermarked. Anyways, photographic aside aside, I really owe a lot to Sean Lacey. Over the past months he has become a close friend, a valued teacher and a irreplaceable  adventure companion. Aside from basic survival and navigation, he has shown me how to truly live a simple and honest life. He has helped me gain so much experience with the outdoors and has made me a much more capable and confident hiker. Once we finished our meals we prepared for the stretch back home. To do this we essentially needed to complete the second half of the rectangular hike which included more than 4 different intersecting trails, all of which weren’t marked. We had roughly 5 or so hours of sunlight left. The trouble really began with finding our way back to the main trail from the knob. What we took as the main trail was actually the first of many bushwacked trails we would accidentally follow and it took us almost 30 minutes to navigate the confusing terrain. Once we were on the main trail we hiked until we found ourselves in a earthy, red forest. Our biggest error happened when we miscalculated the distance between two intersections on our map and mistakenly thought we were much further ahead then we were. We crossed the river and met a man setting up camp with his dog. We knew that we needed to hike north and cross a second river but the trail and map weren’t lining up. The terrain features quickly became ambiguous and the trail completely disappeared into campground. We eventually came across a woman filtering water and crossed the river there. We completely lost the trail at this point and only had 2.5 hours of sunlight left with well over 6 miles to go - it was going to turn into a night hike. We gave up on the trail and began bushwacking northward until we found yet another stream - this was the giveaway that we were terribly off course. As it would turn out we were surrounded by the stream and needed to u-turn. Crossing the stream again and hiking through thick trees we found the man setting up his tent again and he happily shouted out, “Deja-vu!” which is the last thing any hiker wants to hear when they are lost. He helped us get back on track and we eventually found the trail indicator we needed. With less than an hour of sunlight left and 5 or so miles to go we rehydrated and prepared our headlamps. We would be approaching the bog part of our hike, in which there were of course 2 very crucial intersections, in the dark. To my luck we had a mile worth of bog before the sun set so I was able to figure out the best way to step through them - there is no best way to step through them. By 21:00 we were hiking in complete darkness across the center of the massive valley through swamp grass, thick mud and invisible streams - I was pretty damn scared and completely out of water. The only thing letting us know we were going the right direction was the fact that the mud we were walking through didn’t have grass and the notion that it and must have been formed by hikers. By 22:00 we were on dry land again and ascending up a cool rocky path. I knew we were close to home. Call me over dramatic but I shouted for joy when I shined my PD22 up the trail and a license plate and 2 rear lights reflected back - we had found the damn parking lot. 

Here’s to strapping up your boots and going for it.

Trek On,

Chris

     Earlier this week I had the fortune to hike Big Schloss (Great North Mountain) with my good friend, Sean Lacey. Hands down the 13 mile hike was definitely the most beautiful and rewarding hike I’ve done so far. It took about 7 hours to get to the summit but the weather was cool and forgiving and the switchbacks gradual and calm. We only took about 3 breaks and the first one was at a beautiful overlook of West Virginia. A preview of the amazing scene at the top. One thing I have to say about this trail is that it definitely was the most varied trail I have ever hiked. And by varied I mean there where times where I felt we were on a beautiful, rainy pacific northwest mountainside, entering the African savanna, walking through a Narnia of thorns and bees and crossing the abyss of a himalayan mountain. At the summit of the mountain was the most beautiful view I’ve seen to date. From where I sat I could see the intersections of the blue ridge and Appalachian mountains. To my left was Virginia and to my right was West Virginia. To imagine that I was sitting at the single, measurable, physical point marking the end of the trail on my map was something so mind-blowing and surreal to me. My mind is always moving through frames of relativity and perspective (it’s just the way I see things) and I was simply humbled. I fall in love with these mountains each time I hike. As icing on top of the cake, Sean used his pocket rocket (http://www.rei.com/product/660163/msr-pocket-rocket-backpacking-stove) to cook us up a well-deserved lunch of chicken teriyaki and mango chicken with rice. While he did that I adventured around the summit with my DSLR geeking out the gear junkie side of mine. I have to say, my PAG240-1 Pathfinder (http://www.rei.com/product/805931/casio-pathfinder-pag240-1-multifunction-watch) really pulled through. It not only gave accurate compass bearings but it correctly measured our final elevation at a 2,920 ft. Ok, the company-man side of me aside, and my rambling under control, the hike is definitely a hike I will be doing again. A life spent outdoors traveling, learning and experiencing the simple pleasures is a life I am working on achieving and these are the kind of pushes I need to get there. Here’s to chasing your dreams one mountain at a time.

Trek On,

 

Chris 

   Nearly a week ago I had the chance to hike Old Rag with some co-workers (quickly turning into friends) and my bud Paul. It was, to say the least, extremely fulfilling for me. As embarrassing as  it may be, it was only the second serious hike I’ve every done. Not coming from a very outdoorsy family, I have been trying to catch up! Even more embarrassing is the sheer amount of people that hike Old Rag. Like I said, playing catch up. We decided to hike the 7.4 mile trail counterclockwise which meant climbing the famous rock scramble rather than descending it. This proved to be much more than I anticipated and, between my ridiculously heavy 40L multi-day pack and my ridiculous fear of heights, I did borderline terrible. There were times where I had to hand my pack up to Zach or Sean and then (poorly) hoist myself up the slippery boulders. The bulk of the weight in my pack was my overstock of food and my heavy DSLR. Both of which I was convinced I needed. But through the sweat and cramps there was laughter, good conversation and a peaceful calm I have never felt before. There is a clarity awarded by hiking a good hike. As we trekked the miles and miles I began to think about where I was. Who I was with and where I was going. Not just on the trail but in this day to day life I live. Since joining REI I have met some of the most amazing people I have ever met, and some of the most humble adventurers I will ever meet. I have learned the value of living a simple, honest and clean life. I learned to work hard and to be strong as an individual and as a team. Probably most of all, I learned that life is just too short to say no (except for sky diving, give me some time for that). I’ve been spending my days off either on adventures or volunteering in the community. Balancing a day for “us” and a day for “them” is something I learned from my good friend, Sean Lacey. I have always been an avid volunteer but not until meeting him did I realize just how many ways there were to serve the community. This is a guy that volunteers on a farm,  then immediately goes to donate blood, refuels and showers at REI and then heads off to spend his evening volunteering at his church…This is Sean Lacey. The beautiful thing about all of this was that I wasn’t sitting in my room late at night thinking myself into oblivion. I was blinking, sweating and aching - I was hiking a mountain surrounded by nothing but trees, mountain air and my brothers. When we reached the summit of Old Rag I could never have anticipated the breath taking view. The wind ripped at us across the treeless summit taking away all sounds. Before us spread the most beautiful sea of clouds and trees I have ever seen. It was as if we were on the edge of the world looking at a view only the gods could have the right to see. The clouds floated endlessly into the distance, the trees stood proudly in their sheer numbers. I felt infinite. I understand that this isn’t in any way the best or most extreme mountain range but to me it was an accomplishment and taste of something I am going to be doing the rest of my life. To say the least, my love for nature, the outdoors and the conservation of the only earth we have was refueled and rebuilt with a hard earned perspective…5 hours or so after entering the trail head we found ourselves sweaty, tired and satisfied enough to head home but first, we needed to see the ponies. I cannot wait for the many adventures to come with my beloved new friends.

Trek On,

Chris So

PHOTO DUMP!!!

Earlier this week I hiked Signal Knob with my coworker, Sean Lacey. It was my first serious hike and it was a much needed escape from the day to day. Work has been amazing, family has been good and I’ve been quite happy (gaining weight even) but I just needed to get away from it all. The 10.5 mile hike did the trick. We completed the loop in a little over 4 hours, much faster than the 5.5 hour prediction the website said it would take. The ascents were brutal, the paths were wrought with loose rocks and the view was breath taking…During the hike up we talked about family, friends, martial arts, the outdoors, relationships, volunteerism, boots, packs, knives - you name it. I feel like I found quite a kindred spirit in Sean.  Many cliff shots and a couple of chicken wraps later and I knew that we would make an excellent adventuring team! When we got back to our cars we refueled with some well-earned hamburgers and shakes (milkshakes are, arguably, my favorite food). I was preparing to part ways when I asked him what he was doing next and as it would turn out he was on his way to the Jefferson Memorial to read and write in his journal. I was surprised to say the least. Being someone who writes and reads and occasionally journeys into DC by himself to do both those things one could imagine how excited I was to be invited to join! We ended up sitting outside of the memorial for a good two hours as he wrote and I watched the sunset on the tidal basin barefoot. Can’t really explain it, but it was exactly what a long day’s hike needed as its ending…Hoping for many more adventures to come my new friend!

The other day I had the opportunity to photograph Reston Association’s Clean the Bay event. It was a part of a larger Clean the Bay day organized by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and was a very exciting thing to be a part of. I am really growing fond of Reston. It’s residents, it’s natural areas, it’s vibe. I would have really liked to have grown up there around so many nature and conservation education events. Anyways, the photo assignment was to capture the volunteers in action as they cleaned the shores of Lake Audubon and Lake Thoreou. I couldn’t have asked for better volunteers (not that I really have any say in the matter)! They were all very lively and very funny. The group I stayed with for the most part were a bunch of volunteers from the locally headquartered protective services Triple Canopy. They were a group of veterans and the such and I just vibed with their easy going, straight forward humor. Having been working with veterans at REI I have started having an affinity for the simple, honest, no nonsense demeanors of our servicemen(women). So much respect for what they’ve done and what they are doing…ANYWAYS, the lakes were absolutely beautiful and much larger than I thought. We weren’t able to even get around a 5th of it! As we turned a corner the rich foliage gave way to an expansive, resort-like sprawl of manicured lawns, private docks and shining boats. Just 10 minutes away from my house was this beautiful lakefront neighborhood! I hope to come back again sometime and run/bike around the lake. Reston is my go-to getaway. 

Lastly! Today was the 2013 Post Hunt event in DC! I can’t explain in words how fun this event was. Picture national treasure combined with the lost symbol combined with premium rush and that’s basically what we did! I discovered the magazine at dinner last night and with only a few hours notice I assembled a three man team consisting of: Tim Tolentino (Geography, Transportation), Mason Hsu (Geography, Problem Solving) and myself (I had the map and a bike for Mason). What we thought was going to be an obscure, little known scavenger hunt with an easy $2000 dollar prize ended up turning out to be this massive braniac horde of all the brilliant minds of the DC area. Everyone and their attractive girlfriends/sisters/daughters were there cracking these puzzles that were just jibberish to us. We were disheartened to say the least but we pulled through all 5 puzzles and made it to the final clue. We got everything but two puzzles wrong of course, but in the end we felt like winners. It was the experience and a well-spent day off. Carpe Diem is alive in us and I have no regrets. For our hard work and fried brains we thought it appropriate to end the day at the delicious haven, Shake Shack! I don’t think there isn’t a thing on their menu I don’t want to try. If only I had the stomach and money for it! All in all, it was an amazing week filled with amazing people. Things are looking very positive for me lately and I just have to keep on going. Keep working at REI, keep studying for the GREs and keep living life day by day. That’s the goal, that’s the mission. 

Here’s to days off well-spent.

Trek On,

Chris

     This past weekend I had the honor of photographing Reston Association’s Spring Festival! I never get tired of volunteering for local organizations like this, especially for environmentally focused events such as the Spring Festival. From my pictures one probably couldn’t tell that the event was a huge success featuring numerous nature education games, live music and a nature trail scavenger hunt where kids solved clues at educational kiosks manned by local plant and animal environmental groups. Basically, the event made me wish I had kids so they could be exposed to the overflowing amount of positive, nature loving community I was seeing. I never knew there was such a vibrant eco-conscious community so close to home! The Walker Nature Center was a beautiful complex surrounded by forest and a nature trail. The trail led through the forest to a lake where visitors could fish (if licensed) and kayak. I didn’t even feel like I was 10 minutes away from home! As if the free eco-friendly bags and live music wasn’t enough, vendors provided free information on native plant species. Visitors could then buy native virginia plants from a local farmer (how often we overlook our native plants!). The entire event lifted my spirits and calmed how stormy my mind has been becoming lately. It reminded me that there are good people and good things in this world.

     In other news, TODAY WAS MY FIRST FULL DAY AT REI! It’s been weeks and weeks of sporadic training but today I was able to put in a full 8.5 hours, 5 of which were spent stocking various sections of the camping department. How fitting that the first section I ever stocked by myself would be the water bottle wall. It was the camelback bottle that got me to become more active. It was my camelback bottle that reliably held my water through Cambodia and France…Things always find a way to come full circle. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always for a reason. Alas, cheesiness aside, it was so incredible to return to the workforce. In all honesty, through my aching back and legs and sweat I haven’t been so happy in a long long time…For the first time since I spilled into this shark tank after graduation, I have structure and purpose in my life again. I stocked the hell out of those shelves, I memorized the hell out of all the camping supplies, I politely helped the shit out of those customers! I put in the work and the hours and I went to BJJ tired and satisfied. I missed work so dearly. I may be looking into this too deeply, or maybe not deeply enough. All I know is that I have a direction and a purpose and that I love this place I call work! I love learning about the equipment, I love meeting the customers, I love hearing about adventures and I AM DYING TO HAVE SOME OF MY OWN! I don’t know what I’m typing anymore. I’m sleep deprived from editing pictures and am bruised as hell from BJJ…I just know that I’m finally at a good place again…and that I really am excited for what the future holds…

Here’s to never giving up, and knowing when to let go…

Trek On.

 

Chris

     Today I revisited an old, memory laden trail - the Capital Crescent Trail (http://www.cctrail.org/). My good friend, Tim, and I road the path from Bethesda, Maryland all the way to Washington, DC. In total we covered 26.69 miles in 3 hours and 4 minutes. There was a lot of stop and go in the city but I am really getting a better grip on aggressive city riding. I really have to thank TIm for the invaluable training, I love cycling and traffic was always a big fear of mine. 

     The reason I say the trail is memory laden is because it was the nameless trail from my early childhood memories riding with my father, uncles and cousins. It was the same trail that I revisited in college to do my first stop action project. And it was the trail that I drove to to practice dragon boat racing in the Potomac for my ex’s chinese school. An ex that set up the framework for the impenetrable, trust robbed walls around my heart. Quite a trail! However, coming back to the CCT as I am now really opened up a new opportunity for me. With a newer, more mature mindset I looked at the trail as a closure with a lot of my past demons. As I pumped my legs and (made incredible time ~7 miles in 28 minutes) zoomed past trees and fences and memories I felt like I was finally saying goodbye to these memories. The good and the bad. I felt I was riding ahead and away from the younger me. Riding away from my dad and my uncles and my brother…I felt like I was finally old enough to lead my own trail and to discover my own paths. I felt like I was riding away from every poisonous relationship I’ve ever had. Literally running over and killing every “other guy” (god why is there always another guy). The trip was emotional and physical and amazing. 

     I have to hand it to Tim. He rode a single speed bike, only had a front brake AND was wearing long commuter pants sans chamois. I don’t know how his legs or prostate made it the 26 miles but they did! Riding through DC this time was more intense because I got to lead a couple of times and we got separated a couple of times. There was some seriously legit bus weaving done today! Our first break was at Union Station for smoothies (we discovered milkshakes were a bad idea last time). I saw a photo opp with the station’s hallway’s architecture and pulled out my DSLR to capture the moment. At first I took a test shot to gauge the exposure and then set up Tim centered and posed. As I looked through the pictures tonight I realized I liked the test shot so much more. Touching on the photographic conversation Tim and I had over beers and burgers after the ride, I thought about what makes a picture and what makes a photograph. I thought about photo journalism, I thought about composition, I thought about the rules and how to break the rules. I thought about fine art and I thought about a maturing photographer and I realized, yes, I definitely like this test shot more. Not to be that guy that analyzes his own picture, BUT. I saw the uncentered composition so much more intriguing. Tim is not the center of the picture, and one could argue, wasn’t even the subject. The mix of people at the end of the hallway, the homeless man passing Tim, Tim’s bike and Tim’s outwardly gaze cause the viewer to arc across the picture from the back to the left foreground. Even the overexposure fills the frame with a pure light that contrasts against the gritty, contrasty textures of the hallway’s ceiling and floor stirring yet more intrigue. The only thing centered and uniform about the hallway is the hallway itself and it encapsulates a variety of off-centered, busy subjects, as a hallway should! Both physically and artistically the hallways presents itself as a vehicle of transport for the viewer. Be it to the other end of the hallway to where we locked our bikes, or be it through the silent chaos of frozen action that is this picture. I may be looking too deep into it, but I think Tim, his teacher and my favorite professor would be proud.

     I, of course, had to take a picture of my personal setup. A photographer’s glory is from behind the camera but sometimes I like to let the viewers see a little bit of me. What I’m currently working with is my blue/silver 2012 Trek 2.1 Compact aptly named Tuna.

     After Union Station we decided to ride down to the historic Eastern Market area (hence the strange rhombus shaped detour we took on the bottom right). We ended up getting lost in a sketchy neighborhood, replanning and then ending up at a closed bar. So we gunned it back to the city center and decided to head back to Bethesda for food. It was getting overcast and we were afraid of rain. On the way back I couldn’t help but stop ever so often for instagram opps (@chrissogram). One particular spot had me turning around and calling for Tim to follow me. On the left of the trail was a uniform fence and on the right was a chaotic mess of dying trees and roots. Separating the two was a smooth endless pathway - I HAD to put Tim in the middle of it! What resulted was one of my favorite pictures of the day. A gentleman and his trusted iron steed standing unabashedly between industry and nature. Emblazoned on his chest, a stunning call to all those around him, “For the Greater Good”! Call me crazy, but when moments shout themselves out to me I cannot but help to shout back.

     It was another fantastically spent day with an equally fantastic friend. I am really biking more and more and I have to say that I am loving it (at the cost of my BJJ gym time). My posts have been becoming much more happier and, I have to say I am becoming much more happier. Out of a long drought I have suddenly been refilled with hope and, dare I say it, excitement. Excitement for what there is to come. Excitement for how uncertainly beautiful the future is. 

You get what you make of it.

Trek On,

Chris

Woke up to a most unusual March snow this morning. Seeing everything capped in snow again amplified how much I already missed Winter. How much I really wished I could just restart this whole season. Went out and helped my father knock the heavy snow off of our evergreens and then decided to gear up and venture into the forest nearby the house. There is such an eerie calmness to a snowy forest. The snow was already melting and all you could hear was your breath and the sound of dropping slush. I found a large overturned tree and investigated its treefall gap. I’ve certainly been looking at forest ecology differently since I’ve started volunteering at the local state parks.

I digress.

The silence was so peaceful and calm that when I heard the movement of a nearby deer I nearly jumped out of my skin. Away in the distance next to a second fallen tree stood two perfectly still deer. I didn’t get a good look at them but they were probably white-tailed deer (a species Smithsonian is working closely with). I managed to shoot a couple of shots of them but I didn’t have a zoom lens attached. They ran away before I could get closer. 

It was a rather small forest surrounded, albeit sparsely, by residential properties and the lake from my previous shoot. As I retraced my step back to my house I kept thinking how much I’d love to trek into a deep mountainside forest. How much I would love waking up to that crisp, frozen mountain air. I would only need good equipment and a good partner (human or animal) and I know I could make something for myself. Today will be dedicated to filling out my application for the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation. It is a costly program, but in the position I’m in, experience and technical training is invaluable. I am going to have to really work to earn the scholarship, It’d be the only way I allow myself to go back to school before grad school. 

Well, we will see, que sera sera.


Trek On,

Chris

What happens when you cross a Fox, Wolf and Lion? My baby, Leviathan. Going through the usual Monday applications and took a break to watch a movie with the mom and son and thought I’d take advantage of the natural light.

Let us travel the world together my son.

Trek On,

Chris

Went on an impromptu trip to NJ with my cousin/friend/BJJ partner Kanika (pictured above) over the weekend. Job searching and resume editing for weeks at a time has really started to take a toll on me. ‘The rejections are an experience and learning opportunity’, is what I’ve been telling myself.

Honestly, it was nice to get out of the area even for the 2 days that we went. We stayed in the East Brunswick area and ate at a dim sum restaurant nearby. The food and service was terribly lacking. What I found interesting was the strange abandoned lots in the area behind the restaurant. Surrounding a small cement platform was a army of little saplings and trees. The platform seemed so out of place it was almost haunting. A small glimpse into a technologically apocalyptic world, perhaps? I found a drainage area framed by two trees and thought to myself how much nicer the spot would be if a nearby parking lot didn’t send its overflow into it. Along the same vein I found a pathway of trees that lead directly to a fence and neighborhood. It reminded me of long stretching pathways of trees I saw in France. They led to castles, gardens, museums…

Wanderlust has bitten me so hard these past months. It’s not exactly that I can’t up and hit the world with just my bag and my camera, it’s that I just won’t feel right until I have a steady job. It’s in my being to have structure, work and productivity. I wouldn’t be able to travel and explore if I knew I wasn’t making a difference, a change. That’s what you get when you spend weeks dissecting AmeriCorps’ and PeaceCorps’ websites and fanatically reading as many personal blogs of volunteers as humanly possible…I have a few opportunities coming up that may get me shots at the EPA and the Smithsonian. My resume has been diced up and taped back together so many times yet it never feels like it’s enough. I need to spice up my cover letter as well…That’s what happens when a Pre-Pharm student decides last minute to follow his dreams into Environmental Conservation - a tough uphill battle, but one that I think will be so incredibly worth it.

Here’s to getting up, brushing off and moving forward.

Trek On,

Chris