Dodging raindrops on the job, and other first day stories

    Does anyone remember the essay we read in EN502, titled "The Doctor is a Woman" by Sloane Crosby? Nothing about it is relevant, except for one line that stuck with me: "Camp is fun. We are cold." Now whenever someone asks me how I am, my first urge is to reply with that sentence, regardless of if it's applicable.

    How is being in the Tetons, you ask?

    Camp is fun! We are cold.

    This morning I met my coworker at 7am to carpool in the Work Truck to our respective destinations. The Truck is a large, formidable white Dodge that I have to hoist myself into and out of; it is unmarked except for the government license plate. 

    Perk number one of working at a national park: the government plate means I get waved through all ticketing booths. 

    I dropped my coworker off, then headed to park headquarters (shortened to HQ). It was a misty, foggy morning, but it all burned off into a clear blue sky once I got into the valley. The drive to HQ is long. I listened to Doja Cat on the way, which felt vaguely inappropriate to do in a work vehicle.

    I met up with my boss and one of the crew leads at the joint fisheries/natural sciences lab in HQ.

    Fun fact number one: there is a small, portable oven on the counter in the lab. A piece of paper is taped to the door: "DO NOT COOK FOOD IN HERE." Turns out, the natural sciences department uses it to dry animal scat samples.

Here is a list of things that I was issued for my job:

1. Bear spray

2. Waders

3. Boots to wear with my waders

4. Sun shirt (for fieldwork days)

5. Collared shirt (for boat inspection days)

6. Several keys

    I thought I was doing a park orientation today, but since the season started while I was still at BU, I missed the first session. The next one wouldn't happen for another few weeks.

    "What do I do now?" I asked. 

    My boss looked at my crew lead and said, "Guess she'll just go out with you today?"

    So I had a glorious first day in the field, driving or hiking from site to site, cleaning out fish strainers, and installing motion sensor cameras to track who's been eating the spawning fish (likely answer: bears).

    Perk number two of working at a national park: I finally get to go on the dirt roads blocked by gates that say, "NO PUBLIC ACCESS."

    While we were cleaning out the fish strainer (diverts fish in the irrigation stream to the main creek body), my boss found a fish that had gotten trapped in some debris and died. He put it up to his face, sniffed it, then held it out to me.

    "Still fresh," he said.

    "I do not want to hold it," I replied.

    He shrugged, tossed it at my feet, then went back to cleaning out the muck.

    To be fair, he had gloves on and I didn't, but I think he would have done the same thing without wearing them.

    At around 4pm, we had one more site to set up a camera at, but the afternoon storm hit before we got there. Out here, when it rains, it pours. I ran from the lab to the truck and got soaked in seconds. Huge raindrops hurled themselves to the ground as lightning flashed and thunder shook the sky. With the reluctance of getting struck by lightning, we decided to rain check (ha, ha), and so concluded my first day of full-time employment.

    When I first accepted this job, I had no idea what I was signing up for. Whenever someone asked me my role in the park, I always replied, "aquatic invasive species."

    "Cool," They always said back. Then, after a pause, they asked, "What does that mean?"

    I would shrug.

    Now I know: I am working four days a week, ten hours each day (commonly referred to as "four tens"). Three out of the four days, I will do boat inspections: people with watercrafts come to my station, I determine their invasive species risk, disinfect the boat if necessary, repeat with the next watercraft.

    One out of the four days, I do fieldwork: clean fish strainers, replace cameras, and do other things that I have yet to learn about.

    Three-day weekends!

    I have also heard that there is no shortage of events and activities to do in Jackson Hole (commonly just referred to as "town"). I imagine I will spend my days off either exploring the park or getting groceries and other supplies in town (apparently, the library is very nice).

   Well. It is just after 8:30pm now, and I am ready to go to bed. I finally understand why anyone that isn't in school anymore goes to bed so early. My housemate has already turned in for the night, and the whole neighborhood of employee housing is very, very quiet.

    Tomorrow will be more fieldwork, then I do boat inspection training, then I shadow a coworker a few times for boat inspections, and next week I will be a full-fledged employee.

    Fun fact number three: there are six of us on the aquatics crew, and all of us are women. Also, boat inspection sites are federally mandated, which makes the six of us essential workers. Pretty cool.

    I like my job very much already, and I am looking forward to the whole summer.

    Goodnight, and I will update soon, I'm sure.

    With fish, teeth, and love,

    Hanna