So today Judy and I met up with Doug (the technician before me), and Cathy from the USFS at 10am at the rock on Canaan Loop Road to head out to put up 10 new traps. It was really great to get to see how they are setup and to even put some up on my own. It took us right around 2 hours, which I didn't think was all that bad and the majority of the traps we put on eastern hemlock trees. While out doing this we saw a bunch of interesting things. We saw many red spotted newts, black bear scat, and a bunch of different types of mosses and lichens.
After we finished we headed back to the office for some lunch and to run a couple errands for some supplies for work. Judy bought me a cowbell to hang while I'm out to warn off bears since I am out hiking alone all the time and since we saw some bear scat today. I went to head out to check the other traps and quickly got put on hold because a NASTY storm rolled in and didn't feel safe going out with the lightning and the torrential rain --tomorrow should be fun because I'm sure some of the areas have flooded.
My day ended with me heading over to Glenda and Lon's (Lon is a Friends of Blackwater volunteer) house for dinner and we had a great time just talking and hanging out; it was a lot of fun and it felt nice to socialize since I'm mostly alone for my work.
Me hanging up a trap -- I decided to name this set of traps Red Run since they run along Red Run creek
Cathy from the USFS
Red spotted newt
Judy and I putting the finishing touches on trap #9
Storm rolling in in Canaan Valley
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