Day 335: Some of the Park's volunteer activities are so popular that dates have to be reserved well in advance. Take MeadoWatch, for example. Right after the June training/review, I put myself on the calender for two Thursdays in September (my favourite time of the year to hike). Did I have an in with NOAA that I had a long-term forecast for no rain? Not hardly! When the first of the dates rolled around, we found ourselves under a suspension of all outdoor interpretive activities due to thick smoke from the Norse Peak fire. Even if I could have drawn a breath without coughing, I couldn't have done the hike as part of my duty. Luckily, there were still a few openings this week, so I reserved Tuesday (yesterday), hoping that the weekend's cooler, breezier conditions would blow the smoke away. I got lucky. Other than being rather too warm by late morning, the skies were gloriously September-blue. It is worth note here that it's been forty years since I first put on the uniform. Admittedly, my service hasn't been continuous (being gone so much caused family trouble), but I have in roughly twelve years and plan to keep going until I drop.
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