Directions

Out of respect for whoever conducts the survey next year, we’re asked to take detailed notes about how to get to the survey, including road names, exact mileage, and information about how to approach if you can’t drive all the way there.

Because my surveys are a hodgepodge of surveys done by lots of different biologists, each narrative, although not signed, has its own flavor.

Some are lovingly crafted, accurate to the 0.01 mile. Some include waypoints. Some are so long they spill into other fields and are unreadable. 

One description listed three roads and got all three wrong, including the name of the highway. One forgot to mention this locked gate. 

Nothing creepier than finding the above behind a locked Forest Service Gate at five am. No trucks though, so I don't think anybody was home. 

Some give a full cheat sheet of even how to navigate between points. 

I need to get to that road in the distance, but in between is a gorge with a creek. 

How do I get to that road on foot? 

How do I get to that road? 

I found this junction walking to one survey. No mention of it in the directions and not on the map. My GPS pointed downhill so I took the left-hand road and ended up bushwhacking for an hour. When I got back to this junction six hours later I shook my fist at the person from last year - we're all doing our best here, but geez. I took a waypoint and blew a kiss to next year's person.