Posts

Out on the water, waves are kind of a big deal. And there's one type of wave that takes the cake in terms of consistency and impact: tides. The tidal cycle is the sloshing of water around the Earth caused by the combined gravitational attraction of the Moon (2/3 of the effect) and the Sun (1/3 of the effect).

Before coming to Seward (as discussed here), I had the enormous pleasure of traveling around New Zealand for nearly seven weeks in March and April. In order to stay flexible and get off the beaten track, we decided that we'd be traveling in a van. Most people – my aunt, uncle, and three young cousins – slept in the van, while I set up my hammock nearby. I've always loved hammock camping, and this trip was no exception. Over the course of seven weeks of camping nearly every day, I learned a ton. My three big areas of growth were: way more confidence in my tarp setups, managing all my gear inside the hammock, and improvising a tarp tent from my equipment. Before I get into that, I'll summarize my hammock setup, and I'll wrap up with a list of things I'm still working on.

Well, after lots of adventures, I'm excited to share that I'm now in Seward, Alaska! I'll be here through mid-September, when our season ends. I've spent the last few days before training getting to know Seward and my coworkers. It's been a real joy.