The Nizhoni Life: Action Planning

So let me tell you how I got this random summer job:

I remember back in January 2013 I made a goal for myself and let me dear co-worker Nick know: by this summer I will have a job outside and none of this suit-wearing, action planning, staff/GSS meeting crap anymore.

I began plotting out my personal “action plan” and it’s funny because Nick and I would make fun of all these stupid action plan reports along with development plans and then SAGE made us put this all online so we had to upload our professional goals, profile (including a picture) and our action plans for GSS and Employee Satisfaction Goals. Ugh, say “action plan” one more time, I dare you!

Dear co-worker Nick and I snowshoeing to Mirror Lake on our day off

I wanted to give myself till August 2013 to quit and successfully be at my job and new promotion for exactly one year. I drew out an outline of things I could be doing to get myself any outdoor job and out of my current insane state. I have a deep passion that grew like a weed for the outdoors. Every morning killed me as I could see the top of Mt. Hood from my deck on St. Clair Avenue and the sunrise behind it then walk to work feeling the cool mist hit my face. I always had a backpack for extra clothes [and food] as it rained a lot and so I didn’t have to wear my suits while walking to and from work - that backpack made me just want to keep walking all the way to Mt. Hood, and I would imagine myself leading a group of people on a hike and I ran all the jokes I would tell along with information about the flora and fauna until I came to SW 5^th and Oak. I had to put a smile on and pretend to be excited to be at work. The fake good positive attitude grew to be very painful as time went on and I think I wasn’t able to hide it anymore and became bitter.

I felt like I wasn’t contributing to a good cause, hotels are wasteful, they are non resourceful and host annoying people that bitch about towel/sheet thread count, bottled water type and if there were 1 or not lotion bottles in the bathroom. The beds were too hard, the Internet was slow, and had to pay for parking in downtown Portland. It was up to me to write emails and make phone calls to charm them over to not rate us terribly on social media sites and reviews, then we got another report on how we handled the situation, if the problems were solved to satisfactory. If rated below average and even how it went well it was time for another you guessed it, an action plan!

On my days off, I would go hiking – one of my greatest moments was summiting South Sister outside of Bend.

Summit of South Sister

I felt like a badass and also backpacked with everything I needed to survive “real world” on my back. It was so irritating to get back to the front desk and have someone want free this and that because they didn’t like the breakfast, the view was bad, or room service was too slow, the housekeeper didn’t come at 11am but at 3pm and threw away my almost finished soda bottle, they wanted to check in early on a fully occupied day. I began to become irritated; my empathy and service skills went out the door. I remember times where I would pump myself up and be great at my job then other times where I didn’t do shit. I would sit in my office all day on the computer to look up plane tickets for my next trip, Facebook, watch YouTube videos, chat with my friends on Google, take off for long walks, shop around City Center, go on a bike ride and always consistently applied for other jobs in Human Resource, oh and I also became an ordained minster at work. I often wondered if people even knew I was there or not and if it mattered then I started to think this was not challenging, I was bored, I wasn’t able to use any creativity because of my boss and you would think a job where you don’t do shit would be rad – not so much.

I thought it would be so awesome to get paid to do something more meaningful and share something I am passionate about and get people excited! I thought how can I get a job to hike outside or take people out of their elements and get back to our ‘human roots,’ what if we had a catastrophic event and money didn’t mean anything anymore? I don’t actually know what other trees there are other than Doug Fir and can I even depend on a Doug to keep me alive? How awesome would it be to actually identify plants and herbs along the trails? I thought with my interest, degree and studies in Psychology I should be doing something more in the field. I remember while searching for jobs I found a biography of a mountaineering guide and she earned a degree in Wilderness Therapy. I've always thought I made up the term but it exists and is a degree! I applied and got into the program, got in and needed to make greater steps of building a career I can get excited about. I have a big interest in relationship and marriage counseling and researching gender roles; I am happy about my recent ordination and want to build a summer camp but for adults - more like a wellness retreat center. This would be to work on couple's communication and relationship building - what better way to get to know your partner and yourself than the wilderness?! I think it would be a good test of true character when you need to depend on each other and stripped away from society and it's seeming luxuries.

I decided to apply for anything outdoors, I didn’t care as long as I could learn something, gain experience on outdoor education and show people how to have an awesome time outside! I have taken people hiking however not enough on paper experience to list on a resume while applying for these jobs so I joined Meetup to well, meet people in the fields. I made goals and points to meet the right people and in a way made my own scavenger hunt to get experience and get a chance to work with people that also have the same passions. It was fun after a Meetup I could go to my checklist and cross things out at the end of the day. I also knew a big part with my finances would be a major issue so I decided to make an ‘action plan’ for my budget. I decided to not spend any money besides rent, bills and food unless it contributed to my cause. I stopped going out for Happy Hours, buying alcohol, going out to eat, and buckling down on actual gear I needed and not just wanted. I saved quite a bit in a short amount of time and by then Rachel talked me into becoming a raft guide and the timing was before August. By March, I was already done and checked out, I couldn’t focus on my job anymore and I was letting things go down the drain and it was a bad place for me and anyone working for me - I hated it with all my heart, my boss was a ferocious bull dyke and I had enough so I cut the plan short to last till the end of April.

Before raft guide school Tyler (the owner and instructor) explained raft guiding is not quite full time work and the river levels were severally slow so getting trips would be tough for a first timer. I then looked for jobs around the area and came across a Craigslist ad for Bear Valley Summer Day Camp under the education section. It was so beautifully written and fit the words “outdoor education” that I desperately Googled and applied for. I had a great talk with Steve the Director and didn’t really have anything else going on so when I followed up with an email after backpacking and almost losing Dorothy in Yosemite I literally laughed out loud as I read the words, “the job is yours if you want it.” I figured I should Google map where I will end up and it’s located outside Yosemite, high in the Sierras and there was a disc golf course – how could I say no?

I was supposed to come Saturday June 15 before training to assist my boss in paperwork and random things; he also requested things like driving him around. He let me know I could stay at his neighbor’s for a couple nights. My buddy Rachel ended up hooking a family friend up with 2 days of rafting the South Fork then the Middle Fork and I was invited so it would be silly to say no so I backed out of coming to Bear Valley on Saturday morning. Steve understood, as he is a raft guide as well and said for me to call when I get into town so he could let me in his neighbor’s. Not expecting anything great, it turns out the neighbor is selling his vacation home and is somewhere with no date to come back. It’s a lovely home that is furnished with a hot tub on a big beautiful deck. I took complete advantage and it was just what I needed after camping, rafting and sleeping on a rock hard bed for 2 weeks before.

I reported to work Monday morning and was surprised to see Bear freaking Valley, California. The one entrance to the “town” has a gas, fire/police station and a disc golf course. There’s a tiny shack of an awesome library (where I am writing this) and a General Store with a restaurant/bar.

I figured I’d be working with 18 – 23 year old's because that’s probably the age I should have been doing this and they are totally going to think I’m some weird old lady that moved to the middle of lame nowhere to be a camp counselor - especially after meeting the squirrely Director, bless his heart. Sure enough I think I was just about dead on, but as a determined silly woman I have been through a lot and don’t really worry about social pressures or care if I fit in or not, I’m on a personal vision quest that met my summer goal of working outside in outdoor education, which is a heck of a lot more progressive toward Wilderness Therapy than being angry in a stuffy office staring out at weird Portland having fun.

A few co-workers during training week.

I remember back in my Christian days my mother would remind me as soon as I left the house, “remember you’re an example!” Meaning people were watching me so be good, set a positive role and be like Jesus – talk about pressure. I was heavily involved in church youth groups and did community service and would always have to work with younger children that were under privileged and felt like I could possibly be the only positive role model in their lives. I took that and ran however perhaps lost it while trying to be an adult. Now that I have decided to tackle another fear: working with kids, I figured it was time to be that example and have fun. So far I think I can say I’ve had an awesome life so far and I want to share with young people - I don’t want to push anything but be available. I’ve been through a lot of pain, relationships, troubles, like everyone else but to come out a fun, positive, upbeat woman that still loves love and fascinated by nature and wilderness survival, who doesn’t want a piece of that? Ok ok I think I am done tooting my own horn … or am I?

We did a week of training for the non-profit camp and will be taking kids ages 3 – 16 hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, wind surfing, sailing, rafting and play disc golf. Part of the funding comes from programs to where we will have to teach Character Counts - I totally remember this way back at Kirtland Elementary as a Unicorn (our mascot). It’s non-religious and teaches valuable characteristics for basic human understanding of how to not be an asshole. Not quite sure how to all works but we’ll see. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked with children and it’s one of my things I think I need to work past and a skill I should master. You parents are probably laughing at me but I am terrified of them and this is like 2 random opposing subjects colliding 1. My passion of the outdoors 2. Working with kids. Under tackling my fears, I am coming head on with this one. It’s going to be a great and interesting summer for sure. I am excited that things are very shifty and not really well organized, it really leaves room for creativity, spontaneity and also building my resume for outdoor leadership and education as I have taken on writing and preparing curriculum's for outdoor living skills, kayaking and rock climbing.

The week of training was great; the group of people I am working with is experienced and is super fun. I am really surprised on the maturity level of understanding the sacredness of the area they reside, the community project of taking kids out for a fun positive time and also just being genuine people. For being young they are smart, I look back when I was their age (oh God I sound like my father) I was not so grateful on the area I lived or came from and was not contributing to society in a meaningful way. It took me 28 years to figure this amazing beautiful Bear Valley and to get my hands dirty for a fun summer project.

On Thursday we had a group camp out and people brought some local wines, if you know me, wine is lovely – I’m a complete wino. In order to ease the “get to know you” part, I start drinking and to my surprise it’s quite tasty. I’ve been camping and my friends are usual participants in this activity however these kids are reserved, odd for a small town. My family knows this about me but I am like my Grandpa Elmer Brown, whenever there’s a quiet group of people, it’s like our stage for story telling and speech making. I rambled on about life and eventually gave my Alaska story and didn’t realize how much I spoke until everyone gathered the next morning with grins and asking about my sleep and remembered parts of things I’ve said. HA! Oh Erica, good thing I have no shame and it’s a great way to get to know who I really am at least. It was a good time. I am ready to meet more of the community and I joined a disc league, they BBQ every Friday and I was invited to the Summer Solstice party. I'm feeling good about this decision so far and glad I got paid to learn new skills.

Bear Valley, I didn’t know you existed 2 weeks ago now you have stolen my heart. The elevation and community are high, also genuine and kind. I enjoy that this was a place John Muir explored, loved, and protected. You remind me of a little Alaska with your huge bodacious scenery in the Sierra Nevada, everywhere my head turns there is always a scene to be photographed. I love your changing climates and many regions; your lakes and rivers are pristine; your mountains, starry skies and trees are old and huge; I am romanced by the radiance of your alpenglow and abundant wildflowers; I am anxious to get to know your curvy ridges, history and geology.

I read in a Naturalist’s Guide to the Sierra Nevada that this guy wrote on the cover:

I am …

As a kid, as now, I have loved the mountains and thought I knew “them.” Just a glance though this small book reveals to me how much I ignored. To love the mountains is simple; to know “them” is even more, and full of surprises and rewards!

Peter X mas ‘82

PS. We can have much fun up here; but, will have even more fun when we know “what’s going on.”

-P