i'm posting this from the gate house at waquoit bay national estuarine research reservation on the south side of cape cod. it's kind of strange to have internet access on hitch, but hey! i'll take what i can get.
for this project, we built 350 feet of boardwalk (more like glorified bog bridges...made with dimensional lumber) in a marsh near the south cape beach.
it was about a 4 hour drive from hawley, but it wasn't really too bad. when we arrived, the weather was HOT. i'm not just talking about sweating a little bit too much hot, i'm talking heat exhaustion potential hot. we spent the afternoon looking at our project sites and setting up camp. some of the details of our time here were still up in the air, but everything got worked out in time.
we spent the morning of the first day removing russian olive plants from a field of grass. it was really hot and dragging, but hey, the work needs to be done! we then moved over to a side road near the headquarters to cut back the corridor in order to please the neighbors. the project wouldn't have been that bad except for the poison ivy everywhere...
i found out, though, that i might not be allergic to poison ivy! we ended up working in it quite a bit, but i never had any reaction.
the next day we started the boardwalk project. we ran into some difficulties along the way--figuring out an effective system, accidentally locking ourselves out of our lumber access, having to haul really heavy lumber quite a ways on the trail--but we were able to work through everything and complete the project. the heat and humidity were a bit much at times, but luckily the beach was within about 100 feet of our worksite, so everyday after work we went swimming in the ocean. i'm really going to miss being able to swim on hitch. we lucked out with the extremely hot days causing the water to also be quite warm. ideal conditions for swimming!
we ate dinner every night at a house near waquoit bay. the picnic table was right near the beach. it was quite fun! my friend kristin even came out to visit from where she's teaching in andover.
today (tuesday), we finished the project in the morning and spent the rest of the afternoon on a secluded island beach only accessible by private boat or kayak. it was glorious! later on, we went out to dinner in mashpee at this really odd strip mall/downtown area. i ate some yummy mac 'n cheese and some delicious mud pie ice cream.
: ) we leave tomorrow morning back to hawley...on thursday i'm headed down south to visit amanda shrom! should be a great adventure.
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