In 1994, at 24 years old, I was seriously drifting, dropped out of college, traveling back and forth across this country looking for something, trying to escape the inescapable self. In October of that year I hired on to the Arizona Conservation Corps, in the inaugural year if the AmeriCorps National Service program. Our 50-person, culturally-diverse group traveled and lived together for a year completing Arizona conservation projects with the US Forest Service and the National Parks Service. The program gave me purpose, community, and skills that I still use every single day. One of the greatest gifts I've ever received, 18 days in February of 1995 as a member of the annual Resource Restoration Trip conducted by the community of Colorado river guides and National Park Service. Cold weather, high flows and snow on the rim made for unforgettably huge and dangerous rapids on the Colorado and a landslide that significantly re-shaped a rapid. The people on the trip were so kind, the food was incredible, and I snapped my K-1000 all along the way. Here I am catching some sun at a lunch stop. River legend and former Navy Seal Kim Crumbo was on with us all the way to Phantom Ranch. I'll never forget my experiences in the Conservation Corps. I wish all young people could receive such experiences! 25 years later, my daughter is off to join here in Vermont.
