Volunteers here in the park do a lot of different things. This week we worked in the fee boot at the park entry on both Friday and on Sunday and on Saturday we did the park closing. Today I spent the afternoon working on a carpentry project to finish the construction of a porch at one of the employee houses here. Most of the work had been done prior to our arrival, but this afternoon I put the finishing touches on for them. I have always enjoyed carpentry projects so it was an enjoyable afternoon. Pam took the day off to let her ankle that had surgery last spring have a rest.

The ankle is making progress, but it has been slow and long days on her feet tend to mean a day of rest from the soreness. 

On Saturday the chief park interpreter held a class for volunteers who are involved in interpretation of the park to the visitors. There were ten students and even the park superintendent attended. The title was "A to Z of Government Canyon" and the subjects ranged from aquifer to Zizelman, and everything in between. The day began with about an hour in a classroom and then we headed out on to the trails of the park. We stopped frequently to discuss different things and how to present them to the public. We covered everything from answering visitors questions to dealing with visitors who don't follow park rules. 

Although the weather could have been better and drizzled on us part of the day,  everyone agreed that the class was great and we all learned a great deal. This park is blessed with one of the most talented interpretative rangers that we have had the privilege of working with. John Koepke is an amazing guy and an inspiring instructor. We hiked about 5 1/2 miles in the course of the day and were back at park HQ by 3pm.  

This is one of those parks that really have little to offer to the drive through visitor. But if you are one who walks or hikes or if you are a mountain biker, this is a pretty special place. The natural area covers more than 11,600 acres and less than 100 acres are developed, with the rest just having trails into it. There are more than 40 miles of trails for hiking, about 2/3 of them also open to mountain bikes and about 15 miles of trails that are open to hiking with a leashed pet. It is a very unique place.

The main canyon on this property and the namesake of the natural area is called Government Canyon because there was a road through it which was surveyed by the Army shortly after Texas became a state. It was used by the Army to supply other forts that protected the area from incursions out of Mexico. The goal for the trip was the stream up there because with this area a recharge zone for the aquifer streams seldom flow because the water sinks rapidly into the porous limestone.  With the very wet weather we have been having there is far more water than usual.

There was a time, before we pumped so much water from this aquifer, that the stream flowed at all times, but this has not been true for many years. Since the park was not open to the public, we were allowed to take vehicles up the old road, and we also did some maintenance and litter removal along the way. With Pam's ankle still not fully recovered, she would never have gotten that far in as we were about four miles up the canyon. 

We had a great afternoon and were able to do some service to the park along the way. And with three couple participating it was great fun as well. The area has some of the most environmentally sensitive features of the recharge system.

Today is a beautiful day at "the canyon" and one of our days off as well. When we ran up to the park HQ this morning, our timing was just right to be able to watch the San Antonio PD's air rescue unit practicing for a wilderness extraction. This is a new unit for the police and they are training their crews for removal of injuries or victims from tall buildings, traffic accidents, factory complexes, and even from wilderness parks.

 With this park being mostly wilderness with access mostly by bicycle or on foot, it would be very easy for a visitor to become injured or have a health problem while more than 5 miles from the visitor center or the nearest road and distances that exceed 10 miles are not impossible. 

The park has trained people available at any time that the park is open, but we do not have air capabilities so this is a great addition to the preparedness of the park staff. The SAPD is using our park as a base of operation for the practice of extraction techniques from brush and timber, as well as rugged canyons and other difficult terrain. 

Since the park is not open to the public on Tuesday through Thursday this is the time that training is done here. Being our day off, we were able to have a front row seat to watch the entire operation. Pam was rather disappointed in that they never offered her a chance to play the victim and ride out in the rescue basket! I must admit that I would have loved to get into that harness and ride the cable up to the helicopter or even perhaps over to the landing zone, although I think that I would prefer that to a ride in the basket. I'm not sure about letting them lower me into the trees and heavy brush, as the crew members were taking turns in doing. 

Returning to the volunteer village, we came by just in time to see one of the feral pigs and a litter of young as they were about to cross the road. These pigs have become a serious problem in much of Texas. They disappeared into the brush too quickly for me to get any pictures.