Hitch #2!! Crew 7 traveled back out to the Black Hills of South Dakota to construct more BDA dams. This week, we were able to fully build 9 new BDAs (they were huge), improve and patch up 17 dams that were previously constructed by other MCC crews, and muck up 2 speed bumps (small dams). Shout out to Parker, GY's field coordinator, who came out for the first half of our hitch. Having Parker on board made the transition back into Hitch a lot easier on us crew folks. Thank you!

Returning back to the Black Hills, we honestly thought this was going to be a piece of cake. On our previous hitch, we were able to construct and fix up close to 20 BDAs. During that hitch, we all felt efficient; we were always in a flow state, working hard and in sync with each other. So when we heard we'd be returning, we were excited to continue the work from last week.

However, when we got there, we realized that getting back into that flow state and working efficiently wouldn't come to us as easily as we thought. We inevitably dealt with unfavorable weather conditions. We also weren't working with the materials we were entirely familiar with. And on top of that, a lot of us were finding it hard to mentally push through the long hour work days.

We were conspiring all of the first half of Hitch- why were we so tired? Why weren't we able to work in sync with each other? Why was it taking forever to construct these BDAs, which we were once experts at?

Madeline's and Parker's support was pivotal to our morale and attitude for the rest of Hitch. Watching them lead by example (working hard, communicating, and having mental strength) inspired us to slowly transition into doing the same. Watching them lead by example reaffirmed the fact that we are one team. We all have to wake up at 6 am. We are all cold, all of us are putting on wet clothes, and we're all physically drained. We all have a job to do.

By Saturday morning, our energy was back to baseline. We felt physically and mentally ready to take on all the BDAs we had been assigned to complete. We were finishing two BDAs before OSHA daily and constructing huge dams from scratch like it was nothing- we were tapping into our flow state again. By Sunday, around 2:30 pm, we had finished all the BDAs that had been assigned to us. Usually, we're assigned way more than we actually complete, just so we always have work to do. But we managed to run out of work. Despite our crew being in an absolute slump, we were able to pick up our energy by the weekend and complete our job.

We took it upon ourselves to spend Monday fixing and improving other BDAs, desperately trying to find more work. Tuesday, we met up with Matt (our project partner) to show him all the hard work we'd completed over the long weekend. Even Matt was surprised by how efficient we became during the last half of the Hitch. He remembered, at the beginning of the week, how hard it was for us to adjust back into working in the Black Hills. But after showing him our progress, he saw that our crew had done a full 180. I couldn't have been prouder of my crew.

I can speak on behalf of my crew members. I think we're excited to move on from this project, at least for next week. I will also say: my crew and I are pretty dam good at building BDAs now.

Special shout-out to Matt, our project partner, for trusting and having faith in the work we do. Matt is amazing at sparking our curiosity. He gave us creative freedom to construct these dams, and he was so accommodating to us and our needs. Thank you!