Let's just say we're the talk of the campus. While 8 teams are staying on campus to do work in Sacramento, and some are venturing to places like the lovely Salt Lake City and Seattle, my lucky team will soon be floating away to an island!
Our team leader sat us down, gave us an envelope, and then walked away. Inside the envelope was a children's pirate book in which she taped over some of the words to create her own story. The three clues she gave us to google were "Wrigley's, Bison, and The Bachelorette." We were stumped. We called her. She told us to try harder. We searched the web for a little longer on someone's cell and then found that the lovely Santa Catalina Island is owned by the Wrigley's family, has free-ranging bison, and...well, I'm not really sure how The Bachelorette became invovled. Maybe they were there for a season. Either way, Catalina Island, here we come!
We're stoked! I'm stoked! Six week on an island that has a multitude of plant and animal species found no where else in the world! And we're camping. Yep. We're in platform open-air tents from what I understand, with a shower, an outdoor stove, and a cooler. We will have two vehicles, but are only allowed to drive into town a maximum of twice a week for laundry, food, cell phone reception, and adventures. I'm guessing this is partially due to the fact that the roads are similar to the ones that brought us to Camp Mendocino, and also that gas is $7 a gallon out there. The main town/resort is only about 4 miles away, or something to that affect, but because of the road conditions, it's supposedly quite a journey.
We will be working with the Catalina Conservancy rebuilding trails out in the wilderness that were damaged by a recent fire. Technically this is classified as Natural Disaster Relief.
I have never gone camping for this long. It's going to be rainy season. Temperatures will be ranging from the 40's to the upper 60's. It will be foggy, damp, and there have been many cases of pnemonia in past groups that have gone there. Needless to say, we are going shopping for synthetic layers and other necessary items! This will be tough. It will just be the 11 of us...and my guitar. We reached a group consensus that it will be brought and passed around...and hopefully stored in one of the cars at night.
From November 4th until December 14th you won't hear from me. Except for a few phone calls I'm going to try to make when we go into town. Although, you do have to wonder. The island is only 22 miles long by 8 miles wide...wouldn't one cell phone tower be enough for the whole place? Maybe I'll have reception at the camp, but I'm not going to count on it. And I don't currently plan on bringing my computer.
We're allowed our red issued gear bag, (and will hopefully be issued some sort of rain gear), a duffle bag, and a backpack. Maximum.
I will try to update you all as I learn more. You should google some pictures, it's beautiful!!!
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