Work Week Summary's from July 24 - August 10

July 24th to the 26th, Kee and I were sampling sites around the Pinedale field office. It was our first time sampling in the area due to the high flows that finally went down. Our first site was on a small piece of BLM land surrounded by private property. I did not realize that we were going to run into problems getting to the site so I did not get any contact information to speak to the owner. Kee was able to get a number from the PFO allowing us to call the owner. Thankfully she answered right away and said that it was completely fine for us to cross their property. The site was on Watson Draw North Beaver Creek just below a culvert within a small wetland. So we were only able to sample have of the transects and it was not easy trying to find bankfull. I had such high anxiety that day from not contacting the land owner and bankfull that I was glad when we finally finished.

Since we were in Pinedale, we got to stay in the bunkhouses that they have for technicians. I was staying with the two girls from the Terrestrial AIM Crew. One was from Oregon and the other from Michigan. The one from Oregon was really talkative and better cool, interesting, but still cool. That night Kee and I went to the Snake River Brewery to have a few beers with the guy from that crew and the office receptionists. I love their Mango Wheat!

On Tuesday, Kee and I sampled Middle Fork Beaver Creek and boy this one was interesting. We hiked down a steep mountain side to find ourselves in the mountains with large woody debris across the creek and all of it a rocky system. It was completely different then what we normally work in and it was a cold day so hands FROZE from trying to collect my 8 macroinvertebrate samples! Was not expecting myself to have to pack my arm length rubber gloves. Anyways it truly was beautiful down there and it was great getting a hike in and out which took us 30 minutes each way.

Wednesday, we meet up with four people from the Pinedale Field Office to go sample Black Canyon Creek. But once we got there, Kee and I found that the water level was still too high to sample it and it was in a wetland making it difficult to tell what was going on. So we decided to put it off for another few weeks in hopes that the water levels will go down. Since that plan did not work out, we decided to go scout out some more of our Pinedale sites starting with La Barge Creek. It was a much wider river system and both of us could not cross it carefully so that one we will also have to come back to later on. Then we went to Muddy Creek and found out that it was ready to sample but it was too late in the day to start it and it had been raining off and on all day so that road in was not safe to take. We went back to the office and talked to one of the range guys about another site of ours that it going to be interesting to get to.

Once we went back to the bunk house, the office guy asked us if we wanted to go workout and hell yeah! I was on that super fast. We went to the rec center in Pinedale and Oh My God! This place is huge and gorgeous! The is a rock climbing walk and a running track up top and the cardio machines were looking over it and it also had different pools and a lazy river.

That evening, we all went back to the brewery and had dinner and drinks. I had the steak salad and of course the Mango Wheat beer. Thursday morning we drove back to Kemmerer and worked on making maps for next week and getting gear together.

July 31st to August 2nd was north of Rock Springs and then back around Pinedale. Kee had Monday and Tuesday off so I decided to go do two sites near the Rock Springs office so I could sleep in my own bed. On Monday, I had help from Jim and Dennis on Pacific Creek. This site was pretty cool because it is the point where the Oregon Trail, Pony Express Trail, Mormon Trail, and California Trail all cross.

Then on Tuesday, I had Dennis, Mike, and Shane come out with me to sample Pine Creek. Transects A to F were impacted from beaver dams causing bankfull to be difficult to identify so I made the decision to only sample F to K transects.

(Later on I found out that I could have sampled those by just using wetted width, shit!) Anyways, it was a slow moving day but Mike helped me collect macroinvertebrates and Dennis and Shane did visual assessments.

On Wednesday, I was back in Kemmerer to meet up with Kee so we could go sample Muddy Creek up by Big Piney, WY. I should have brought a crawfish trap because there was a lot there but they were really small. So maybe it would have not been worth it. We had help from the Range Tech in Pinedale and we just let her run the iPad all day.

Thursday was back to office work like usual but I was excited because I was able to get off work early to go to the concert that night at the fair to watch Locash!!

August 7th to the 9th was south of Rock Springs and the 10th we meet up with the river crew to sample the New Fork River above Big Piney. Kee picked me up Monday from our house so we could sample Sugar Loaf Marsh Creek. It was out in my hunt unit for cow Elk so I brought my binoculars to look things over in my free time. There was no way down to our site to drive so we hiked down a half mile in our waders. I miss hiking around in my waders so it felt like old times. Once I finally got down in the canyon, it was completely covered in a bush that was over my head (can't remember the name). Well once I finally found the creek it was completely dry so back up the hike we went again.

It felt great to sweat it out and Kee normally does not sweat so he was dying. While I waited for Kee to recover, I ate lunch and went glossing for Elk. I was able to see two really nice buck Mule Deer so I tried to get a good picture to send to my friend who has a deer tag for this unit. It was hard to hold my phone up to my binoculars, find them, and then manage to take a decent picture but it worked. Kee did not want to go start on another site so we drove back to the Rock Springs Field Office to ask people there about the oversample site for this creek. When we finally finished there, we decided to just crash at our house that night.

On Tuesday, Kee, Dennis, and I drove out to the upper end of Currant Creek. We had to hike down along the creek 2.5 miles to get to our site so I was having an awesome two days of hiking! Saw a herd of cow and calf Elk along with a collared Mule Deer. Dennis did not realize how far down the site really was so he only stayed for 30 minutes before leaving. So Kee and I worked as fast as we could and during the last hour it was raining off and on.

We held ass out of there and not more then 20 minutes later it was sunny and hot again so it was a nice hike back. I came across a creepy bug called a Mormon Cricket and it was laying its' eggs in the ground! Gross!! And it was the largest cricket that I have ever seen. That night we camped out on top of Little Mountain in the forest.

Wednesday morning, we meet Mike, Nick, and Patrick down at our other Currant Creek site. We had to cross two pieces of private property and Mike was able to get us access. They had other work to do so it was just Kee and I. Not more then an hour later, I had a large wall of water splashing up to my face from Mike throwing a rock in while I was collecting my samples! I did not hear them pull up at all and it such scared the crap out of me.

That afternoon, I took some cool pictures of some bugs and we were finished by 4 pm. We had to get out of there as fast as we could because there was a storm moving in and by the time we made it back to the highway, where we were was just covered in dark clouds and rain. That evening Mike and I went to a surprise birthday party for a friend of ours and I was almost talked into doing a 10K in two weeks, so happy that that did not happen.

I drove to the New Fork Bridge about 1.5 hours north to float the river with the river crew to sample it.

Some of our sites are not wadeable so we have the option to us them. They get to travel all over but I am glad that I am not on that crew for only one reason, they work 10 days and then have 8 days off. I like what I have right now which is 4 days 10 hours.

Kee, Alex, and I were on our own raft so we all switched rowing and it turned out to be a beautiful day. The only thing missing was my fly rod because there was some really nice holes.

It seems like there protocol is easier since they don't have to do slope or flood prone width. But everything else is the same and it is a one stop shop otherwise there is no going back.