First Day of Work

After a week of training, we got to have our first day of work in our volunteer position. This selfie was taken at the Waxmyrtle Trailhead this morning where we started the day with a hike out to the beach. At the beach we checked out some footprints entering the restricted area, because that's a part of our job to report any trespassers into the Snowy Plover nesting areas.  But a closer inspection revealed these to be deer tracks, so no reporting.

 We hiked north on the beach to the mouth of the Siltcoos River, then south to the Carter Lake Trailhead, where we took a lunch break.  From there our ranger picked us up and drove us down the beach to the mouth of Tahkenitch Creek where we helped install signs warning of Snowy Plover nesting and restricted information.

Our ranger took us back up the beach as far as the Carter Lake Trail, and then we hiked back to the Waxmyrtle Trail and back to our RV. It's obvious that we are going to get a lot of hiking in, and that's a good thing.  I think my biggest fear in coming here for the summer was that we might get bored, but today put that worry away, we will get tired, but we will certainly not get bored. We also checked in with a Predator Control officer, met one of the Nest Monitors, and got to witness a contact with people trespassing on the beach with their dogs.