This was my 3rd project in Tonto National Forest, and it was another 5 day fencing project. The area looked a lot like the Tonto Payson area I was in 2 weeks before. There are a lot of Ponderosa pines (which smell like vanilla!) and it was a little chilly at night. My crew leader was a guy named Matt who greeted us with donuts when he picked us up! I was also working with Lissy, Mike, and Ryan who I had previously worked with. Our campsite was actually very close to our work site again (you could see our tents and it was actually faster to walk lol). We would drive to work everyday because a few people used the van to transport logs to the worksite (to be used as a brace). This was also my first project that did not have any facilities at all (meaning no toilets). You get used to peeing outside real quick though, and eventually it just becomes preferable to a toilet anyways haha!
The purpose of our project this week was to construct and repair a fence around a plot of land being used to study cattle grazing. This plot had been set aside since the 30's, but when we arrived the fence was down, and the land looked a lot like the land that had not been fenced in at all. It was just a square plot about a 1/4 mile long and it was all basically flat.
The first day of work we just started to take down the old fence and any posts that were bent. Because we were only working for 5 days, the days were hours long. We would get up at 7:00 (instead of 6:00) and work until 4:30 (instead of 3:30). So each afternoon we had some time to just chill and hang out and there was no rush to get dinner started. Ryan actually brought a chess set and baseball gloves that we used a couple times.
Each day at work we would basically wrap up the old wire, lay out new wire, and stretch the wire tight. Before we could actually start rolling out wires we needed to get a couple braces in. We used juniper logs that some people cut down to create an "H" brace. The posts were dug deep into the ground, and then a post was placed between 2 others (making the "H" shape) and we then took wire and wrapped it in an "X" fashion around the posts. When that is finished you have to take fencing pliers and twist the wires in the middle to make sure there is a lot of tension and they stay tight. That process can get difficult because it was start getting tough to twist the wires! We made 3 "H" braces total and used a large ponderosa as another brace at the corner of the fence. After the wire is stretched and clipped in, we put in stays, which are like long, twisted bobby pins that make sure the fence moves as one unit, and not 4 separate wires. There were also a few points a long the fence that were not on flat ground, so to ensure that the posts didn't pop out of the ground when the wires were stretched, we placed "dead men" at the low points. A dead man is a rock or log that is tied with wire to the fence and hangs just off the ground. This is so some of the tension is placed downward as opposed to pulling up on the fence (and pulling the posts out of the ground).
We were actually able to finish our work by Wednesday (we got there Monday). So our project manager had us make a couple more "H" braces at another location to prepare for a fence to be put up. Our project manager was named Gary and came to visit us a couple time with eggs from his own chickens! It was pretty convenient actually because one of our meals for the week didn't get packed, so we were able find some random food to cook with the eggs Gary gave us!
When we finished our work on Thursday doing the extra braces for Gary, we tried to drive to Valentine canyon just to see it. We hit a road block though in the form of a large ponderosa blocking the road. This of course was no problem for a crew that had chainsaws already, so one of the girls, Rachel, got all her gear on and chopped up the tree. Once we cleared the road of the stumps we kept driving. However, we reached a gate a little ways down that was locked and decided to cut our losses and go back to camp.
Around the fire at night we would play 20 questions, even though it always ended up being a lot more than 20 questions lol. Matt also brought a speaker and it was really nice having music to listen to during dinner and dishes and hanging around the fire.
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