Project 4: Zion Fencing

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So if last project was in an oven, this one was most certainly in a freezer. Very cold in Zion national park this week, after an unseasonably warm week the week before, which is just bad luck on my part if you ask me. We had snow, icicles and water freezing at camp with lows of -5 degrees.
Day one was mostly devoted to travel, although the journey significantly shorter than last time to Parashant. We arrived at about 3 pm so had plenty of time to set up camp (alongside the emerald pools crew) and then head to the visitors center and museum to act like tourists for the afternoon.

Day two came around after a very cold night and we woke up to find that both crews were combining to go up to a place called lava point at 8000 feet to work together to take down seasonal fence around the parks boundary. The work was easy because the fence was not a permanent feature but we were in the snow all day and it was very cold, which no one was used to at this point. At the end of the day we drove to a nearby lookout point with spectacular views of the Zion narrows and Zion canyon. Back to camp for a big camp fire and the usual after work banter before heading off to bed early to escape the cold.

Day three and both crews got to work on their individual projects. This meant the fencing crew driving about an hour from camp to our work site for the next 3 days, a section on fence on the western border of the park. The terrain was relatively flat which is good because it turned out that lots of hauling was required. We had a half-mile stretch of fence to do, and unlike Wupatki, this was from scratch so there was a lot of fencing resources that needed to be hiked in from the van along a 1 mile section of existing fence. This involved T-posts, rolls of barbed wire and rolls of smooth wire as bundles of stays and bucket loads of fencing clips. This work took up all of the first day here for me except for an hour when i went with a supervisor to collect more supplies from the maintenance yard.

Day four was just hauling all day for me, which i don't mind but it was a bit repetitive , same journey with the same scenery all day long. The trip took about 40 minutes there and back and so by the end of end of the day i had done 11 trips for a total of 22 miles, not a bad bit of exercise for the day!

Day five involved more hauling for me in the morning, although by this time most of the other crew members were busy pounding in T-posts along the new fence line. Just managed to get all the materials carried over to the new fence line by lunch time which meant that after lunch break we could really get to work on the new fence. By the end of the day we had completed tho 2 1/4 mile sections, each with 4 wires ( top 3 barbed and bottom wire smooth) and put stays in place to keep the wire the correct distance apart.

Day six and back to lava point to carry all the seasonal fence out; the park guys decided they want a permanent fence so we had to remove all the old stuff. Unfortunately, our supervisor majorly underestimated how long this would take us and joked that we could be done by lunch time. This was very optimistic indeed, the total distance of the fence was over 3 miles and all the wire needed to be split up into manageable bundles and then all taken out to the same access point which meant a longer trip each time. By the end of the day everyone was exhausted and only half the wire had been taken out.

Day seven and a journey to even greater heights: 10000 feet where the snow hadn't yet meted from day two. The terrain here was very up and down which is not what you want after a physically exhausting week in which you have already hiked well over 50 miles. Having said that, the work was the same as day two, taking down seasonal fence so nice and easy plus the views were amazing as usual.

Day eight and we got up early to pack up camp and get ready to hike Angels Landing, or so we thought. It turns out our supervisor had to have a meeting with a park ranger and buy the time he got back, we didn't have the time to do the hike so instead we just went to check out Zion lodge until it was time to leave. We got back to Flagstaff about 3 pm and beat the other crews back from project, which is always good because it means getting to clean the van and cook set first. Crew meal was at a Japanese restaurant, chosen by Oli who had just finished his last project with ACE.

Thursday was a day to rest before the 2 am start on Friday for the journey to Vegas. The journey was by bus and took about 6 hours, crossing over a time zone meaning i didn't get there until 7 am. The hostel was easy to find and check in was hassle free which was good because i needed to get some sleep by this point! After the nap i got some food, went for a swim and then got a bus down to the south end of the Strip. The entire strip is 5.6 miles from Mandalay Bay to the Stratosphere tower and with all the stops to take pictures, look inside the resorts and watch some free shows, the journey took me about 6 hours and then a 20 minute walk from the Stratosphere to my accommodation. The Strip is amazing, better than Times Square New York because of the massive variety of casinos and hotels on show. Walking along, you see an Egyptian pyramid, a medieval castle, the statue of liberty, the Eiffel tower, Julius Caesar's palace, a pirate ship and many other wacky sites along the way. There is nothing like it.

Big lay in on Saturday, the first real on since I've been here in America then a quick swim in the hostel pool to wake myself up. By this time it was the afternoon and i headed downtown to look around the shopping mall. There are about 150 outlet stores all on the same site but in truth things here were more expensive than you can normally find then on the high street so i refrained from buying anything. After this i headed back towards the hostel, stopping on the way for pizza and to enjoy the Fremont Street Experience: a light and sound show on the world's largest TV screen. Then early to bed because of the 6 am start to the grand canyon tour the morning after.

The journey to the grand canyon took about 6 hours in total and included stops at the Hoover dam and several towns along route 66. The Hoover dam was pretty cool but i wasn't too bothered about looking at route 66 because i cross it pretty much every day I'm in Flagstaff. The trip included 3 hours at the grand canyon which for me was plenty of time to walk the 2.5 mile trail from the Bright Angel Lodge to the visitors center, and back again. The grand canyon is amazing, i can't say more than that. By far the best thing I've seen here so far and that's saying a lot! Shorter journey on the way back to Vegas because there were less touristy stops although we did get to see the town all lit up from up high near the end of the drive.

Overall conclusions of Vegas: it's a crazy place! Really enjoyed my time there and definitely glad i went, having said this it's not somewhere I'd be compelled to visit a second time: once is enough.

Some good news project wise when i got back to Flagstaff: i was originally down to go to lake mead on an 8 day project but over the weekend that was changed to lake tahoe in California, which involves a 12 hour journey but this is being compensated for because the project is 9 days: Wednesday to Thursday. Not sure what i will do after this project trip wise because the schedule is going to be messed up due to Thanksgiving on November 26th. So until next time, goodbye!

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Photos

Lava Point lookout
Cold!

Kolob Canyon
View on day seven

View of the strip
Looking North