Hey Y’all!
I suppose since this is my first blog post I should do a quick Bio on myself and my newly appointed position with the BLM. My name is Hank Carlson and I hail from Minneapolis Minnesota where I have lived, recreated and schooled for my entire life. After graduation in the spring of 2016 I worked as a community outreach coordinator with the YMCA helping to bridge sustainable connections between under served youth and nearby nature. While this was satisfying work I heard the mountains calling and eventually ended up with a placement in Cody, Wyoming as a Recreation Manager.
My first week of work actually happened to take place in Chicago at the workshop where I met many of you devoted, intelligent kinsmen. Many of you had already begun your internships and hearing your stories got me pumped up!
After arriving in Cody nearly a week later I was ready to start and despite all of the arduous and non-too speedy training I settled in real nice. One of my biggest worries in moving out here was actually getting along with the people that live here. With my perceived conflict in political and idealistic views about the world, I expected it would be hard to co-exist with locals (ranchers, rec planners, business owners etc.), but I found this to be completely false. As I began to meet those in the office as well as my neighbors and people around town, I was approached with kindness and genuine interest. I’d like to say I’m starting to feel right at home!
After settling in the first few days I began to pick out what exactly I’ll be doing here for the next few months. Fortunately my supervisors seem to be very flexible and are willing to support any personal projects I would like to pursue in the future. For now, Melissa (the other rec intern) and myself are going through a massive sign inventory and replacement of signs in our district. This entails marking way points of all our signs (hundreds) and recording information about them. While it can get tedious, I’m really starting to get to know the area very well! I’m also learning how much people like to shoot things owned by the government out here. To supplement this inventory we are going to further replace and update any outdated signs and make note of any undesignated trails that seem to be used anyway. We have been briefed on other projects we will be working on but for now this is the priority.
Mine?
As for free time I’ve been lucky enough to hike and explore a lot of the surrounding area. My first Saturday here was spent in Yellowstone checking off many of the main sights. I expect I’ll be revisiting several more times. I brought a fishing pole as well and have met some locals who want to show me some of their favorite spots out here and I’m jacked to catch some trout.
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
All in all it’s been a fantastic time and as usual not in any way what I was expecting in the first place. Hope y’all are diggin your placements as well and if you plan on visiting Yellowstone at all in the near future holla at ya boy.
Heart Mountain Peak