CCC: Hard Corps

On today’s episode of CCC: Hard Corps, I talk (starting at 1:30) about debriefing from an alum’s perspective thirty years after debriefing for my own Backcountry season, and the ghosts that I still find at Camp Mather. 

We also hear from Dallion Gayner, of the 2018 Kings Canyon crew. (Starting at 19:30)

I also start a new segment (at 32:00) for CCC: Hard Corps, in which I tell you about items I think will be of interest to you. In this episode, I tell you about Cascade Hiker Podcast. Host Rudy Giecek’s goal is to inspire you to get on the trail. Sounds like a familiar goal to Corpsmembers, huh? Check out Rudy’s podcast. The focus of Cascade Hiker Podcast tends to be the Pacific Northwest, because that’s where Rudy is, but his topics and guests on the show are usually of interest to anybody who loves the outdoors. For a story focused a little closer to home for folks in California, check out his interview with Bobbi Walters, about hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail. I know Corpsmembers have been involved in construction and maintenance of that trail! (And a shout out to Mark Hanson, and the Corpsmembers and staff of Tahoe center.) Other recent Cascade Hiker podcasts have been with Tough Girl podcaster Sarah Williams, and on Ticks and Lyme Solution with Dr. Darin Engels.

Today on CCC: Hard Corps, we get to see a little more of the vision that I have for the blog and podcast. I intend to explore all aspects of the CCC program, throughout its 40+ year history. I want to cover every center and every program that I can find Corpsmembers from.

Today's focus will be on the Tehama Fire Center. I spoke with three former Corpsmembers who had been assigned to Tehama about what their time there was like. I also received helpful input from other former Corpsmembers at a couple of CCC alumni Facebook pages, CCC Alumni and California Conservation Corps former Corpsmembers .

You can find extended show notes, including a transcript of the Tehama Fire Center story along with photos at the CCC: Hard Corps blog.

Also included in today's podcast are interviews with two Backcountry corpsmembers at last year's debriefing at Camp Mather, California. Today we will be hearing from

• Christian Martinez, from the Trinity crew.  Christian was a CCC Crewleader at Pomona Center before the Backcountry, and completed his second year with the Cs while in the Backcountry. Before the C's, Christian had worked for the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps .

This is how we can get your story told on CCC: Hard Corps. Just talk to me! Because every Corpsmember has a story that deserves to be told.

You can email me at [email protected] ,

You can call me at (530)410-4683,

Or you can send me a Facebook message through CCC: Hard Corps .

Meanwhile...on with the show!

Today’s podcast has three interviews from the 2018 Backcountry Trails Program debriefing. They were recorded on location in September, 2018 at Camp Mather, just outside of Yosemite National Park.

The Corpsmembers interviewed are:

• George Godfrey: Inyo crew. Interview starts at the 4:00-minute mark. George managed a Humboldt County bagel shop before she joined the Backcountry program through AmeriCorps. George’s crew got involved in some serious mountain trail work in Inyo National Forest. Listen to George describe the fall protection...like ropes...the crew needed to use to safely work on some of their switchbacks.

Between-the-interview topics in this podcast are:

• Safety: importance of safety to the CCC program; “If it’s predictable, it’s preventable;” job hazard analysis

• Email:  [email protected]

*Note the new email address! I've upgraded!

Of course, we would love to hear stories from everybody who has been in the CCC. Contact me!

Be sure to checkout our Facebook page for current CCC news. You can also contact me there.

The intro and outro music is ‘Boogie, Pt. 1’, used with the gracious permission of the recording artists, The Tall Pines.

More interviews from the 2018 Backcountry Debriefing held at Camp Mather near Yosemite National Park.

We hear from Isaiah Van Dyke (Kings Canyon), Maggie Jones (Trinity), Cherokee Smith (Yosemite 2), Julio Limon (Inyo), and from CCC/Backcountry alum Jacob Grower, who has been working on trail crews for Yosemite National Park.

Before joining a Backcountry crew last year, Cherokee Smith had been a member of the Golden Eagles Hotshots. Find out more about them here.

We also have an update on Bob Cox, who I spoke about a few episodes ago.

If you are a former Corpsmember and would like to share your CCC story, contact me:

By e-mail at: [email protected]

Through our Facebook page at: CCC: Hard Corps

Or through text or voice mail at: (530)410-4683

I am pretty rural and cell reception is not great, so if you call, make sure you leave a voice mail with your name, and some basic information about when you were in the Cs and where, and I will get back to you.

Howdy! Welcome to CCC: Hard Corps, the best place on the Internet to find stories of the California Conservation Corps.

I am your host, George Parker. I am a former Backcountry Corpsmember, Del Norte crewleader, and Delta C1.

In this episode, we continue with interviews from the 2018 Backcountry Trails debriefing, held last September at Camp Mather, California. This week, we will hear from Jessica Hermes (Inyo crew), James Lander (Kings Canyon), Nicci Decker (Yosemite 2), Simon Dykstra (Trinity), Jessica Speich (Yosemite 1), and Andres Rodriguez (Klamath/Stanislaus).

If you are a former Corpsmember and would like to share your CCC story, contact me:

By e-mail at: [email protected]

Through our Facebook page at: CCC: Hard Corps

Or through text or voice mail at: (530)410-4683

I am pretty rural and cell reception is not great, so if you call, make sure you leave a voice mail with your name, and some basic information about when you were in the Cs and where, and I will get back to you.

Welcome to more Corpsmember interviews from the 2018 Backcountry debriefing. We also hear from Backcountry Trails Program Director Karlson Hubbard on some of the philosophy that goes into the Backcountry Trails program. It's a balance of community involvement and hard work.

Find out more about what CM Oren Nardi, who is interviewed in this episode, has been doing since Backcountry. Click here.

If you are a former Corpsmember and would like to share your CCC story, contact me:

By e-mail at: [email protected]

Through our Facebook page at: CCC: Hard Corps

Or through text or voice mail at: (530)410-4683

I am pretty rural and cell reception is not great, so if you call, make sure you leave a voice mail with your name, and some basic information about when you were in the Cs and where, and I will get back to you.

Part Two of the 2018 Backcountry Trails debriefing.

We hear from Dayne Shelor (Yosemite 2), Robert Slack (Trinity), Alissa Smith (Kings Canyon), and Anne Highley-Smith (Backcountry Alumni and current BC Program Assistant).

We lean a little bit about rock work, and some trails design philosophy regarding meadows.

If you were a Corpsmember in the CCC, and you would like your story to be told, contact me at [email protected] , or call me at (530)410-4683 and leave me a voice mail. In your voicemail, leave your name, when you were in the Cs, and what centers you were at or special programs you were in.

If you like what you hear from these Corpsmembers and want to hear more stories from the CCC, you can make sure don't miss an episode by clicking the 'subscribe' button.

Thanks,

Geo.

We start posting our 2018 Backcountry Trail crew interviews, recorded at Camp Mather outside of Yosemite National Park.

If you are a former Corpsmember and would like to share your trails stories from the Cs, contact me at either:

[email protected]

Or on Facebook at CCC: Hard Corps

Or at our Wordpress blog at CCC: Hard Corps

Or leave a voicemail at 530-410-4683

In Episode #8, we hear about:

Two CCC crews dispatched to Florida to help with hurricane recovery. Click on these links to see further video on:

Fortuna Crew

San Pedro Crew

We also hear about the new Delta Center, the flood fighting center in Stockton, CA. Click on this link to see the CCC photo gallery on Facebook:

New Delta Center

Click on this link to find the full version of our show music by The Tall Pines, available as a single:

Boogie Pt. 1

In Episode 07 of CCC: Hard Corps, I talk about upcoming stories, and tell you about one of my CCC mentors, Bob Cox. Bob's influence is one of the reasons why the CCC: Hard Corps blog/podcast even exists.

I also make a call for former Corpsmembers to contribute stories from their time in the CCC. If you are a former Corpsmember or staff with the California Conservation Corps and would like to share your story on CCC: Hard Corps, contact me at [email protected] or on our CCC: Hard Corps Facebook page. You can post a message there.

Remember...every Corpsmember has a story worth sharing.