So we're back from Lake Mead. Project One was a rather interesting affair. We were continuing the building of a fence encompassing Lake Mead in order to keep cattle out of the recreational park. The fence was started last year and is so far 10 miles long. Aour first full day of working involved stretching three lengths of wire (one smooth, two barbed) between braces and clipping them to 'T' posts (already existing). Here's Dan's lovely and helpful diagram of the whole thing:
Typically the distance between each section is 400m. For this we have to carry some f**king heavy spools of wire over long distances and really, really difficult ground! The next day we carried our equipment for over a mile to our start point. Here we had to pound posts in place - this involves having one person holding the 'T' post, another to line it up with the rest of the fenceline (wonky fencelines are tricky to wire!) and one more to pound the post into the ground. Where the ground is too hard or rocky we had to use the Pionjar - a Swedish pneumatic drill which was lots fun to use!
Pounding posts
The next day we had a much smaller hike to a closer location. We spent the day installing the braces - digging massive, deep holes for them and encasing them in concrete. Mixing concrete in a bucket is in no way easy. I also spent much of that day also clearing the path of the fence of plants with a pickaxe.
The next day (forgive me - The days have all rolled into one now) we were back There pounding in posts again. Myself and Dan had To re-pound a whole line of posts because the sighting post was completely out of line with the next brace-annoying. The day after was quite tough - we had to carry all our equipment out to where we were on the second day again in order to stretch the wire in two of those sections. This took ages because it was so windy - communication over several small hills and 400m ain't easy.
And so day 7. We were given a treat by the Project Partner (basically the guy in charge) took us For a walk through a large canyon next to the Colorado River to some hot springs - small pools of water that flow through the rock and heated by magma. What a treat it was! I can't remember the last time I felt so relaxed! Here's a photo of us all: (photo pending)
It's one of those the-least-people-know-about-it-the-better sort of things; otherwise it would be packed with people. We were lucky to have it to ourselves
Later that day after doing a little bit of work (picking up debris from previous work on the fence) we convinced our awesome supervisor John to take us to Hoover Dam:
The Hoover Dam is on the Colorado River, which acts as a border between Arizona and Nevada
The moon from our campsite - the light on the mountains is Las Vegas
Sunset from our campsite
Day 8 involved picking up our tools from the work site and driving home to Flagstaff. We had to fully clean out the van, trailer and equipment 3 solid hours of cleaning! So we're back on Flagstaff now in our lovely and cramped flat. We're planning on Going to San Diego tomorrow but plans may change. More updates soon...
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