Winter Camping and Ice Castles

The next step in the AmeriCorps process is getting registered on the website so my application can be looked over as a potential candidate.  The application is quite long and asks for my skills and experiences.  While I'm not an expert camper, I've camped in a lot of places.  These next few posts will be about my camping and outdoor experiences!

Growing up, my parents brought me camping in the Adirondacks at 8 months old.  Since then, we camp in the Adirondacks every year in the summer and in the fall.  We usually camp during Columbus Day weekend in October and this past October it was freezing.  We've camped when it was snowing as well with the temperature being as low as 10 degrees.  It's pretty tough to camp in the cold, I think most people are used to RVs or campers.  Tent camping in snow is a totally different experience.  My dad once brought myself and my brother winter camping with 3 feet of snow on the ground.  We were doing a cross-country ski weekend getaway in Saranac Lake; I was 11 and my brother was 9.  We went cross-country skiing at night when the moon was up and we could hear coyotes howling and running in the woods as we skied.  Needless to say, my brother and I were terrified.  I don't really remember much from that trip except for that detail.  My brother and I thought we were goners for sure while my dad thought it was the coolest thing ever and was totally unconcerned.  We survived the cold and the coyotes didn't bother us!

If anyone has every been to Saranac Lake, I definitely recommend a trip, especially in February!  During the winter months, the Saranac Lake community builds giant ice castles.  Each year is a different theme, from old western to aliens to super heroes and so on.  I used to go every year before I came to Fredonia.  Since being in college, I haven't been able to go, unfortunately.  Saranac Lake is about a 3 hour drive from my house, and Fredonia is a five hour drive--not worth the trip for a weekend.

The ice castle in Saranac Lake go along with a month-long winter festival that takes place in the town each year.  There are all kinds of outdoor activities each weekend, including fireworks at the end of the festival.  It's a great family event and seeing the castle is a really cool experience.  So much time and effort go into the making of the castle, plus it's even harder some years when the weather is too warm.  The ice for the castle comes from the lake, cut up in huge blocks like in the movie Frozen (for reference, yes that's how big those blocks of ice are).  So construction totally depends on whether it's a cold and snowy winter and it's definitely disappointing if the weather is too warm.

If you're looking for a cool and beautiful place to visit, I highly recommend the Adirondacks.  You will get a great outdoor experience and see the wonders of nature!  Plus, there are cute bed-and- breakfasts and inns in the area, so you don't have to camp if you're not into that!

 

(Screenshots from @saranaclake Instagram)

AmeriCorps

                AmeriCorps offers a variety of programs including working with museums, education, environmental work, and construction projects.  These projects send you all over the country for 6 weeks up to a year, depending on the program that you want.  AmeriCorps only offers these programs to young adults 18-24.  These programs are in place for kids that might not have wanted to attend college right away or had no interest.  AmeriCorps offers stipends and living arrangements for the duration of the projects as well as money or education scholarships after the completion of the projects.  I honestly think these programs are really great because they provide leadership qualities as well as teamwork skills.  Most of the programs involve working with 10 to 30 other people as well.  Meeting people from all over the country and working together with them for months on end is also a cool opportunity to seek different experiences.  If I actually get into an environmental program, I'm excited to meet new people and work with them.  The program that I would be interested in is a trail maintenance position, hopefully in California but I'm not particular!  

                 There is actually a program being offered that does upkeep for the Pacific Crest Trail that would start in March.  The Pacific Crest Trail runs from Mexico to Canada and AmeriCorps sends members to work on conservation projects along the trail for 7 months.  Obviously, I would not be able to do this particular program, so I'm looking for a program with a later start date for after graduation.  The description for this type of program was interesting, with a lot of high physical activity requirement and two months of living in a tent.  I have a friend that actually has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (it took him seven months to complete!) and has encountered grizzly bears, so camping for two months straight for me will be a huge challenge.  It's hard to imagine what this experience is going to be like if I am able to do it, especially if I have to encounter grizzly bears.  Hopefully I won't have to!

                                    (screenshot from @hikingthepct Instagram)

About me

              As a graduating college student like all other college students, I am scared of the prospects after college.  I hope to pursue a career in children's publishing and marketing as a career.  I would love to jump right into a job, but I also have a dream of working with the National Park service.  While I know finding a job is important, I also know that you are only in your 20's once--so make the most of it. Over the last few years, I started following National Parks on social media, especially on Instagram.  I've always been a very outdoor-oriented person, with experience in tent camping, hiking, cross country and downhill skiing, and kayaking.  Nature has always peaked my interests.  I began to think about working for a National Park, specifically in the programs offered by AmeriCorps.  AmeriCorps is a national organization of community service that offers hundreds of programs in Park services, schools, nonprofit groups, and public agencies across the country.
              Recommended by a friend, I have only briefly looked into the programs that AmeriCorps offers, but I hope to blog more about what I find and parks that I want to work with and travel to.  These are the first steps in an idea that I hope I can follow through on.  As Teddy Roosevelt, father of America's National Parks, once said, "It is hard to fail, but it is worse to never have tried to succeed."  If I want to do this, I have to do it now!

(screenshot taken from Yosemite National Park's Instagram)