An SCC Journey

Written by Genevieve Tucker, she worked with the Sonoran Desert and Los Valles Regions:

Break time!

It’s amazing what can happen in one year.  When I first joined an SCC crew, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into.  My definition of camping consisted of sleeping in a tent in my aunt’s backyard…in the middle of suburban northwest Indiana.  When we were hungry or had to use the bathroom, we just walked into the house.  So it was definitely a shock to the system when I found myself sleeping on the sand in the Sonoran Desert outside Phoenix, Arizona.  I didn’t sleep at all the first few nights.  I was convinced the every little noise I heard was a bear coming to tear my face off and eat me for a midnight snack.  The next week my fellow crewmembers educated me about bears, and how they typically don’t cruise around Phoenix at such a low elevation.  Those first few weeks were the hardest of my life.  It was September in Phoenix, with temperatures in the low 100’s every day.  First it was rock work, building water bars, and then it was transporting clunky old railroad ties up the side of a mountain.  But I learned something about myself in those weeks that I never would have learned otherwise.  I learned that I was strong, and I could do anything I wanted, as long as I believed in myself.

The CLDP Crew

So I continued.  After my first crew, I signed up for another session, and after my second session I decided that I wanted to be a crew leader.  Of course, this decision brought on a whole new set of challenges.  I left my home base of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona for the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  Hiking up mountains has never been easy for me, and it was only that much more difficult above 7,000 feet.  In fact, for two hitches in a row during Crew Leader Development, we had to hike up to 13,000 feet just to get to our work site!  But once again, I realized that anything is possible with the right state of mind.  To actually become a crew leader I had to learn a lot about managing people.  It’s not easy to keep track of five crew members, making sure that they are safe, and warm, and well fed.  But somehow we managed to get through day after day.  When the snow began to fall in the Arkansas Valley, it was time for the crew season to end.  By that time, I had been working for Southwest Conservation Corps for thirteen months.  It was the best thirteen months of my life.  Before joining a crew, I thought I wanted to work in radio or television.  Now I know that being an outdoor professional is my true calling in life.  However, instead of signing up for another session as a crew member or crew leader, I applied for a staff position with the Nevada Conservation Corps.  So once again, my life has taken a turn.  I’ve traded my tent for a house, and my sleeping bag for a bed, but I’ll never forget the experiences I had as part of a trail crew.  I’ve made lifelong friends and seen some of the most beautiful places in the country.