Wild Cating

I just got back to my place in Soulard after a few days out and about in the wilderness. 3 hours ago I found out I'm leaving for Montana on Tuesday.

On Monday, my first service day, I got all my fire gear checked out. It consisted of a fire shirt, pants, jacket, fire blanket, helmet, backpack, and a utility backpack. I also met all the other program members. There are 30 ERT members, and about 40 education members. Tuesday, I signed my contract with AmeriCorps. It was 31 pages. I had to sign every page. We had to read it out loud, so it took 4 hours to read. Tuesday night, we went out to see Ali, from my earlier post, sing at open mic night. Bars in Soulard are really laid back, you don't get yelled out for bringing your own beer and dog. It was a good time with my roommates and other members who live in Soulard that came out.

June and Annika at the Shanti

3 of 5 roommates

All ERT guys

Some member brought this dog to the bar

Too many snacks makes for one sick dog.

Wednesday we left for Quest. It was in Southern Illinois about 2 or so hours from Soulard. We had to stop pretty early on when one of the trucks ran out of gas. In all, about 90 people went with all their personal backpacking gear, and AmeriCorps gave us a table full of food, cooking supplies, and tarps. Once we arrived at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, we were split into teams of 12 and were dropped off in different areas all around two different lakes with each team getting 3 canoes and maps. We canoed for about 3 hours until we found where we needed to go. The lake was very nice, but I didn't pull out my camera because my gear was under everyone's gear. We then proceeded to wild cat, or bush whack all around the refuge trying to find the camp site where we were suppose to be. It got dark, but after about 4 hours of darkness, we got to our camp site around 11 or so. We ate dinner of red beans and rice and then made camp. We made a lean-to consisting of 2 trees, 2 tarps and some rope. We went to sleep, and then were awoken by another team at around 4 am trying to find a place to camp. Long story short, they were way lost I later found out.

Thursday, I remembered I had my camera, and took some pictures. Like the day before, we didn't follow trails, and did some more wild cating around the refuge. We found where the other team we met the night before slept. They slept in this shelter that was constructed by the CCC in the 50s. Then we did some more wild cating to a cliff with a cave. We then hiked to a cemetary which turned out to be the end of the road for all of our hiking. At the cemetery was a van that we drove back to where we had dinner. Turns out there were cabin available that we spent the night in. Friday we woke up, had breakfast, said bye to the education people and packed to go home.

Inside the cabin made by the CCC

Outside the CCC

Trying to figure out where the Cemetery was

In the cave

Forest we spent a large majority of 2 days hiking through.

Following our bearing

The cemetery should be over that hill to the left

I like this picture. Reminded me of a Forest Gump when they drop out of a helicopter

Cemetery and the van!

Look at the dates, now that was strange

Getting ready to leave

Map of where we were. Started top right, then canoed down to the bottom of the lake, hiked around, and ended bottom right.

On the way back, another car in our caravan hit a deer. It destroyed the front of the car. I'm tired and ready for bed. It may be 6, but it's bed time. See you in Montana.


Shamucas