Field Program

Last hitch, I visited a crew at Merriwether Guard Station in the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness to help train up some new crosscut sawyers. I have a very special fondness for wilderness work, and the time I spent with these folks definitely re-ignited a fire in me. With no wheels, no motors, no cell service, and only the combined strength of an MCC field crew and all of the tools we could strap to our backpacks, we set off to clear 6 miles of trail that hadn’t been touched in about 5 years. Doing all of that, even though a lot of us had never touched most of the tools we were using before, kinda makes you feel like you can do anything.

I spoke to a crew member who recently started considering getting his pilot's license. Because if over the span of two hitches you can learn how to use a chainsaw, a crosscut, an axe, and a pulaski, and do it all with sore muscles and blisters on your feet, why can’t you learn how to fly a plane?

If my body can hike several miles a day with the weight of a gallon of water, a hefty first aid kit, all of the layers that I shed as soon as the sun reached the bottom of the canyon, and a few hand tools, why can’t I hike any trail or climb any mountain I set my mind to?

Even just backing an F250 around a tight parking lot with just a little help from another crew member on the ground makes me feel like there isn’t much I can’t do with a little patience and support.

Is it cockiness? Overconfidence? Being delusional? Maybe sometimes. But working on MCC field crews has really given me the idea that I can do whatever I want to do. It’s reminded me that I can always learn a new thing, and if it’s ever too much to do alone, I can always ask someone for help. In my opinion, the knowledge that I can do anything is possibly one of the most valuable lessons in personal and professional development that MCC has taught me.