On our last day in the Big Thicket, we were tasked with finishing the bridge, or so we thought. It wouldn't be too hard, and it turned out to be a very short day. We basically were sent to build the frame, and then other volunteers would put the wood pieces that people would walk on down since the materials weren't there yet. So our day began like the day before, at 6 am, to make it to the site around 8.
When we got there we saw some smoke coming out of the area where we were building. We quickly remembered that he said he would burn the nest in the morning, and were intrigued to see what it looked like. But it was a slight disappointment, it basically looked like a campfire shoved into the side of the ground. No hornets were buzzing around and we thought that we had pretty much squelshed them. There were a few who would return and try to get back in the nest, but they were no problem, and they were quickly sprayed with raid and smashed.
By that time we had pretty much finished digging the ditch, but realized there were two large tree stumps on either end of the ditch that would need to go. So we took turns digging around the stumps until they were exposed enough to chainsaw off. It went pretty smoothly, and no problems ensued. By about 9am, we were ready to put in the base of the bridge, and began moving the large wooden pieces we had acquired from the recent day. Three were moved and placed fairly simply (on top of the wood pieces that were placed in the ditches). And that was our frame! All that was left to do was nail it into place, which luckily was much easier than steel on fence posts. I was able to do almost all 8 of them in 10 minutes!
Other than that, we were pretty much done, and free to go home. However, when we were walking back, we saw a turtle digging her nest! We were incredibly excited to observe her as she dug with her back feet (very slowly, as turtles will), a hole where she would place her legs. They moved in a very awkward fashion (again, such as turtles are), back and forth until she stopped completely, her leg half in the ditch. She was probably startled and thought freezing would be the best way to react to any attack that humans would bring her. We, however, became soon bored with this behavior, and half of us left, impatient and unsure of whether she would do anything while we were there. But, unfortunately, we were wrong. She eventually layed her eggs and the skeptics missed out. It was a really cool experience to see a turtle in her natural habitat actually succeeding at breeding and doing her best to protect her babies.
Then we were free! We endlessly thanked the elderly among us and were appreciative of them for letting us roam their friend's home. We actually did get to see in her tiny three story cabin. It was built like a triangle, halfway in the ground, and was never locked. However, when she died, there were incidents of break-ins, and the Park Service did their best to block the doors. It was very humble, very homey, and very old-school. If I was really serious about living in nature, I would absolutely love a place like that. It was very interesting and so cool because she had built it all by herself.
As we packed up to head home we reflected on our fun experience and had a couple laughs in the van about the people we encountered. It was a great trip, and I'd love to have more experiences like it. Hopefully some day, I'll have something like that for aspiring college students, but who knows. All I know is that it impacted me greatly and every day is a new experience and new opportunity to not only prove myself but to test out potential jobs.
I love this internship but I only have 5 weeks left! And I'm sure every one of those experiences will shape the way I look at my future and my ideals and knowledge in the future.
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