February 2024-October 2024

Flagstaff

In 2024, I worked for Arizona Conservation Corps out of Flagstaff!

Although I've loved my seasonal work lifestyle up until now, I decided I was getting tired of working at resorts and wanted to try something new. Frankly, I was feeling a little existential about my career; I wanted to do something more fulfilling than being a chef- and so, I ended up in the conversation corps and found a brand new passion!

I did all sorts of work in the corps- mainly chainsawing, invasive species removal, plant surveying, and native seed collection. I would be "on hitch" for eight days, in which I'd be camping out at the work site with my crew full time, and then I'd have six days off. Most of my project areas were right outside of Flagstaff, but I did get to branch out to other locations like Patagonia in Southern Arizona and Bryce Canyon in Utah.

Meanwhile, I was renting a room from a lovely lady named Leeah, who had such a beautiful little apartment! She was really cool. She taught me how to play Rummikub, which I soon became a master of.

My first main project was Wood For Life. It's a project that serves two purposes: thinning trees for fire fuel reduction/overall forest health and using that timber to provide firewood for local indigenous tribes.

We had a really successful season and I was honored to be a part of it! I learned so much about timber production, and I got to see the tree in every step of the process. Some days I'd be on the felling crew- actually cutting the trees down, sometimes I'd be loading the logs onto the log arches for transportation, other days I'd be doing the bucking- cutting it into smaller pieces, and then the final step of the process, log splitting.

After work, I'd hang out around camp with all my crewmates and we'd sit around the campfire chatting and sharing the dinner we cooked.

My second main project was invasive species removal and surveying in the Coconino National Forest. I got to learn how to use ArcGIS and I gained some plant identification skills! Unlike the chainsaw work, this project involved a lot of hiking- not that I'm complaining. I pretty much hiked every trail around Snowbowl, usually averaging nearly ten miles a day. We'd be on the lookout for all sorts of thistle species and when we spotted a cluster of them we'd go at 'em with our shovels and picks. Sometimes there'd be hundreds of them, and we'd bag up all the seed heads so we could chuck them in the inclinator later. Due to all the fires around Flagstaff, invasive species are everywhere. I'm really happy I got to play a small part in cleaning the area up.

Unfortunately, there was a little bit of trouble on my crew. During our first training hitch, three of our members dropped out, then we lost a few more during the WFL season, got new members, and then by the end of our invasive species project, everyone had quit or got fired and I was the only member left! I got along well with most of the people on my constantly shifting crew, but I was pretty bummed that nobody got to stick around long. With my season almost at its end and everyone gone, they had to figure out what to do with me. I ended up getting hired for another season with a different crew. I had to intended to leave Arizona in August, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to stay. I'm glad I did because the next project was my favorite!

I got hired for the Seeds of Success project as an assistant crew leader. SOS is a national project that aims to collect seeds from native plant species for use in fire restoration efforts. Similar to the invasive species removal project, I got to hike around all day and log plants in ArcGIS, but this time the plants I encountered would remain unharmed! Essentially, I was a professional Grass Toucher. We'd drive around the Flagstaff Area National Monuments, carefully monitoring the plants and waiting for the perfect moment to bag up their seeds.

I got along really well with my SOS crew. When I was first applying to different conversation corps, I had applied to a couple LGBT crews, but those programs are pretty rare. Lucky for me, I got to be on a makeshift Queer crew in Seeds of Success. There were only four of us spending eight days straight with each other every hitch, so I'm really glad we got along so well.

We got matching pink cowboy hats to designate our status as members of the Pink Pony Club. My favorite crew dinner was what Brooke called "Food is Fuel"- the recipe is whatever what odds and ends she felt like that night. And who could forget our dear honorary member, Ratthew.

While I was working with the Seeds crew, I moved out of Leeah's place and bought my van! Van life has been something I've been aiming for ever since I started travelling. It's what inspired me to start in the first place. So finally getting my own van and living in it has been more than fulfilling, it's been a dream come true. My time spent in the corps had thoroughly prepared me for a lifestyle of shitting in the forest and sleeping out in the snow. I had a lovely little spot to camp at on my days off around Flagstaff, though, I was continuously haunted by a truck that would show up in the middle of the night playing bass boosted mariachi music. I could have gone without that.

June 2023

Petrified Forest/Grand Canyon

My first visit to Arizona was during my 2023 Southwest Road Trip!

Petrified Forest National Park is truly a hidden gem. When you hike through the dunes there, it feels like you've found yourself on some other planet. I haven't found any pictures of it online that can do it any justice, it's only something you can experience in person.

I stayed at a hostel outside the Grand Canyon. There, I made a new friend: Cheng from Hong Kong! We went to go get some pizza together, and he drove in the wrong lane on the highway all the way there. I had too much social anxiety to correct him.

There's not much I can say about the Grand Canyon that hasn't already been said. It was absolutely breathtaking. I've been a few more times since then, and it's always so large and well, grand, that it's almost impossible to comprehend the sheer scale of it. I could never get tired of hiking all of the trails there.

(photo courtesy of my friend Evan)