Firrrre!!!

Lake George, CO


Greetings from Lake George, CO! For those of you who don't know, Lake George is a small little town a little South (?) of Colorado Springs. It is located in Pikes Peak National Forest. This is where We will be spending the next 2 months of our lives doing fire training and fire mitigation work. 


The last I talked to you, it was prior to my pack test... well... I passed!!! 43.25. 3 minutes under the required amount. It was so much harder than anticipated, and I was left with some pretty awesome blisters. But I passed. And I never planning on doing it again. Once was enough for me. The walking was fine, but you throw in 45 lbs of sand in a pack on your back and it creates major problems.... But it's finally over. 


When we pulled into Lake George, it appeared to be something out of a postcard. Snow capped foothills with mountains in the background, and little wood cabins where we will be living. We have 7 people living in one house and then 3 living in the other. Meg and I are roommates! YAY! We got one of the biggest rooms in the house, which is really nice, but we have no curtains... which poses problems for people who have modesty issues. Luckily I do not. But none the less we didn't want people staring into our windows at night and watching us sleep, so we created some using duct tape and towels/ scraps of fabric. 


It took getting here to realize how much I have truly missed my team. They have become my family over the past few months and I have missed being around them, playing games, and working with them. We are all so different in so many ways but some how we work. I am very thankful to have them. They have been especially wonderful the past week when I have been going through some personal issues... But no fear! I am getting better.. thanks to my team and for being away in Pikes. Hopefully the next two months will  not only be challenging, but healing.


We started classes today, with our S-190 (intro to Wildland Fire Behavior/ intro to fire), and we will proceed to take classes and training for the next two weeks. It was very interesting, until after lunch when our teacher went off on tangents about weather and wind. The day ended with a test.. which I really hope I passed... wish me luck!  :) After these two weeks, we will hopefully have our Red Card and be Type Two Wildfire fighters! Which.. let's be honest... is pretty awesome.


Well, that is all for now... I hope you all are doing well!


Love,


Kris