Eklutna Lake, Chugach State Park 2012

Arriving on May 14th which is about the same as I arrived last year but they had a bit more winter and it was still a bit cool and some snow on the ground in some areas so the water was not turned on yet in the campground which I was really counting on getting some more water here, so Plan "B".  I had enough water for a couple days but decided to drive into the maintenance area and get some water in my water bag.  My water bag is just what is sounds like it is a bladder that can be rolled up to about less than half the size of a folding chair, you know the kind you can pick up almost everywhere for a few bucks.  Actually I use one of those chair holders to keep my water bag in.  Once I fold out that bag on the bed of my truck it will hold 60 gallons of water.  I picked mine up from BayTec Containers.   http://www.bayteccontainers.com/waterbags.html  Once I filled up in Eagle River transferring the water to the trailer fresh water tank is accomplished with a small 12 volt water pump.

Over the next few days we met the new assistant rangers which the term implies much more than the title implies, intern rangers would be a more suitable title in my opinion.   The two assistants will remain nameless for reasons I will try to articulate later.  This year we will also have another campground host, I met her last year before I left the park she remained on as the winter host at Potter House which is the park headquarters for Chugach State Park.

The next week or so is training time which includes policy and procedures for driving state vehicles and ATV's which I previously had and then the full day where all the VIP's (Volunteers in Parks) attend where several subjects are taught during the day.  Lunch is put on by the park and then after lunch we have bear training and mace training.

The remainder of the summer consisted of taking care of the campground and backcountry campsites and cabins.  I had to start with the host site, the fire pit was full and trash laying around.   Other tasks may be assigned but this being my second year I had a good idea of not only what was expected but what just needed to be done.  My routine was simple, every morning I would record the vehicles that entered the park in the past 24 hours, check and clean the latrines.  This of course was the worst part of the job but honestly not the worst job I have ever done in my life.  The remainder of the day was mostly just being around and available to answer questions or to help find the occasional overdue hiker and then there was the part where you had to remind an Alaskan resident that there are bears in these woods and if they do not take care of their food those bears will be in the campground.

Not really included in my job description but other accomplishments would be to repair and/or paint several picnic tables, repaired a section of the lake trail, repaired park benches along the Lake Trail and Twin Peaks Trail.  So my summer consisted of a few projects around the park, travels around Alaska to do a bit of fishing, little bit of hiking and sightseeing.