From September 3, 2013

Here is an example of some of the home construction we encountered in Galena. The half-buried-barrel-filled-with-gravel approach to footings was not uncommon; we used car jacks to level a different house built the same way. During the flood, many homes were simply knocked off of their footings by the force of the water or even by passing icebergs.

From September 1, 2013

About a mile's walk down to the bank of the Yukon River a man I only heard referred to as "Jake the crazy Russian" was building this pentagonal cabin on contract for a local Athabaskan man. The Athabaskans are the  Native American tribe indigenous to this area, making up 80% of the population of Galena. Jake the Russian was a master carpenter and was carving most of the cabin by hand. They had traveled 200 miles upriver to select the trees, felled them and floated them down to the spot on the bank at Galena, where Jake would carve. Then they would mark all of the logs, disassemble the cabin, and move it to the final location.

From August 31, 2013

Galena is a village of around 400 inhabitants, making it one of the two largest villages in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in Alaska. The nearest major city is Fairbanks, almost 300 air miles due east. Galena is closer to the Arctic circle than any official road outside the village. To see Galena on a map, click here. An Air Force base in Galena resulted in the construction of a large runway, but the base has been decommissioned and is now used as a vocational boarding school for students throughout the Alaskan interior. Among many other great opportunities, students can earn their pilot's license for free through through one of the school's programs. A much higher percentage of Alaskans are pilots than elsewhere in the States, particularly due to the convenience and practicality of float planes. These planes can be kept close to homes, on long ponds, such as the one pictured here. The bridge in this picture was washed away from the flooding despite this pond not being connected to the Yukon River.

From August 28, 2013

The scene upon Team 3's arrival at the first home we were to work on presents a slight air of confusion, not misrepresented. The homeowner, using aid money from FEMA's assessment of her home's damage, had ordered these supplies to be shipped in from Fairbanks on the weekly ferry. These were the general materials that the resident and her father (possessing more construction knowledge) decided she needed most to winter-proof the home. While bulk materials like plywood and insulation were becoming more abundant in the village, it was the little things, the pipe fittings and electrical components, that were beyond scarce, and for which the need could grind construction to a halt. We quickly ran into problems such as this and had to ways to work around, to move on and come back when the materials were found, purchased, flown in. It was not a problem that went away.
This was also our first day every having worked together as a team. The ten of us—the others from Sacramento, Vancouver, northern Idaho, near Galveston and outside of Anchorage—dove into the work and quickly learned each other's skills and strengths. It worked better out of the gate than I think anyone anticipated.

From August 27, 2013

I thought I was finished traveling for the summer, but God had a different plan. Some icebergs caused a jam in the Yukon River, forcing an abrupt back flow and causing flooding along hundreds of miles of the river. Many villages were hit hard by the water and icebergs, and the damage was devastating. FEMA decided to try a new program paying for volunteers to travel to help with the relief efforts. FEMA contacted the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, who got in touch with Abraham McIntyre, my boss and friend from serving with Bahamas Methodist Habitat, and Abe mentioned it to me because he knew my school term started later this year. At first I thought it wouldn't be possible, but I ended up telling Abe that my cousin Michael (who had a gap before starting a new job) and I were "considering" making it work. Two days later, Michael and I get an email from the Pacific Northwest UMVIM coordinator telling us we were "signed up on Team 3." Two weeks after that, we were here: a small "tent city" on the airport runway in Galena, Alaska.

From August 12, 2013

Back in Tennessee, I got a chance to escape and go camping with three of my best friends from high school. We hiked up to Max Patch, a bald along the Appalachian Trail just over the North Carolina state line. After so much time away from these hills, it ended up feeling like a necessary therapy.

From July 29, 2013

The wildfires in Yosemite that ended up being covered so heavily in the news were still outside the park boundaries while we were hiking. Nevertheless, on multiple days thick smoke made the normally clear views less so. A different kind of beauty.
Photo taken by Kyle Ryan

From July 30, 2013

Here we are with one of the poor souls we accosted for information. We approached individuals in five different areas of the park to ask if they would participate in our study. While also conveniently located along our backpacking route, surveying in these varying areas was critical in our attempt to capture a full range of visitors to Yosemite. One measure of how much visiting is worth to someone is how much they paid to get there: their travel costs. We also asked how much those travel costs could have increased by for them still to have come, establishing a conservative minimum for what a park visit is worth. One of our findings was that visiting Yosemite was worth almost twice as much to backpackers as it was to non-backpackers. I'm biased, but my takeaway from that is that more people ought to try backpacking.
Photo taken by Kyle Ryan

From July 29, 2013

Two of my friends from Tulane worked with me to submit an application for a research grant from the university this past Spring. Our plan was to estimate how much a popular national park was worth to its visitors. The question of funding for the National Park Service has been especially present in the national conversation this year in light of the federal funding sequester and more recent government shut down. We were happily surprised to have been awarded the grant, but because our study involved interacting with humans we had to overcome the indescribably arduous process of approval by the Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research. I don't think it was until we got into the backcountry in Yosemite National Park that we were positive it was worth it. This is my co-investigator Mark Myers walking with me down the north side of Cloud's Rest, one of a few peaks we summited on our five day hike.
Photo taken by Kyle Ryan

From July 6, 2013

Before heading home, I spent a few more days on Eleuthera, where we were hosting the Bahamas' Conference of the Methodist Church's annual summer camp for the local kids. On our day off between the two weeks of camp, I went with some of the other interns to one of the island's blue holes. A blue hole (described more thoroughly here) is essentially a vertical cave that, when inland, makes a fantastic swimming hole. This one was a ways into the bush; it was neat walking through the trees and then seeing the ground drop down to glittering, clear blue water.