Day 11: Our Biggest Hike Yet

 Hey. It's Jacob and Tyler again, and we are writing for quite possibly our most tiring day yet. Arriving before 8 AM, all the students were instructed to go back to their homestays to get more layers, as we were promised a ravenously chilly mountain top in the afternoon. We set off, walking well past the Tree Nursery that had previously left us breathlessly tired on our Day 4 post. While cloudy and chilly, everyone took off a layer or four on the way up.



We reached our first stop, which was to monitor trees that had been planted by previous RFI volunteers to ensure that this first step in the sustainable reforestation process went smoothly. We worked in pairs to take a census on living trees while counting the graves of trees that had sadly died. We ended up finding a survival rate of 91.6%. Plus, most of the dead trees were found below the first bush line, leading us to hypothesize that the grazing cattle and livestock in the nearby area had caused many of the tree deaths (each group above the first bush line looked at 30-50 saplings and none found more than 2 dead).



After this, we courageously trekked to a shoulder on the road where we would be transported to the peak. However, the truck had a difficult time reaching us as the treacherous mountainside prevented them from delivering our lunch and taking us higher. About half of us went down to the truck and hopped in the back so that the truck would have enough traction to make it up to the rest of our weary group. After we enjoyed a great lunch and a relaxing break, ripe with a view of the entire valley, we took yet another detour so that Johanes could reveal yet another project that local leaders and RFI have been vigilantly working on.



Once we arrived, we learned that there was a PhD project to capture some groundwater from high in the mountains to help all who inhabit Zurite. We then took a few more pictures overlooking the valley and headed back down to Zurite to practice our presentation one last time before tomorrow morning.



We're all having fun as we near the final few days here in Zurite and can't wait to return home to share all that we've learned.

Have a great night,

Tyler + Jacob



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