"I’m going to get out of my comfort zone this summer, and I’m going to go to my first Raider Service Break. I know it is in a place I have never even heard of in my life, and we don’t have any canyons in El Salvador (the country I’m from) but you can start on a weekend trip, and then maybe you are going to enjoy Raider Service Breaks even more" I told myself before signing up to this trip. I wanted to be part of this trip, because I work at TrUE, the Centre on campus that organizes high impact experiences for students, and on August 16, I had the opportunity to go on my very first Raider Service Break at Caprock Canyon State Park, located in Quitique, Texas.
I didn’t know what to expect, because I have read and talked to people about Raider Service Breaks, but to go to one made me have an experience that I will never forget. My trip started at 6:00 am in the morning on Friday. I was nervous and excited of going to a place that is out of my comfort zone. I am not a Texas native, nor I have big national parks in my country; however, Jacy, our trip advisor had been telling me for months how excited she was about this trip, so she got me to be excited about it too. Our group worked with the rangers at park focusing on the park conservation, trying to erase the graffiti that were damaging the sandstone of the park.
When I signed for the trip, and I read the issue we were going to work on, I didn’t quite understand why it was so important for the park to get rid of the graffiti of people that just wanted to say at one point in their life they were in such a magnificent place; however, once we started to work at the park I understood that a park is a national treasure that we all need to take care of, not only for the conservation of the park right now, but also for future generations to learn, and appreciate the national beauty national parks have to offer.
When we arrived at the park it was 8:00 am in the morning, and I noticed that all of the volunteers for this trip were excited, but at the same time tired as it was so early in the morning (not that early, but I usually wake up at nine) however, when we met with the park ranger Ly’Ann and she spoke to us about the park, and why it was so important to try to erase the graffiti at Caprock, I noticed that everyone started to be more aware of the park, its beauty and the reasons why it was so unique, such as the great work park rangers do for the conservation of bison and prairie dogs.
After we passed Clarity Tunnel, a historic place in Texas, we started to look all the sandstone that had been carved by hikers and tourists. At first, I had the wrong impression that people just wanted to leave their mark in some place in earth; however, people were leaving messages without any meaning, that were not going to help the park in any way, and they were just to create visual pollution on the park. Everyone got pretty excited to put on their gloves, we all grabbed hammers and wire brushes, and we started to work.
As we started to work together, I noticed that our group started to become very close together. People started to share their experiences as hikers, and how was it going to other different national parks. This was my third time going to a national park in the U.S., but I never experienced a place like Caprock before. I was fascinated by the view and how big it is, even when is not even one of the biggest national parks in the U.S. By the end of the day, we all became very comfortable with each other, and Sarah, being the chef of the group, ended up cooking for all of us.
The second day of our trip, everyone was more comfortable with each other, and very early in the morning we got into two atvs, driven by Jacy, our site leader, and James, one of the park rangers. This was my favorite part of trip, as I got to do something I’ve never done in my life before. James and the rest of the group that was with me on the atv, were very patient with me, as I was screaming, and laughing the whole time. I got hit by tree branches, and I felt I was about to fall all the time; however, I did not fall, and I ended up enjoying the whole ride. It was wild but it was so freaking cool.
Once we got to our destination, I noticed that many people had carved on the sandstone, and this made me think that maybe people don’t know the effects this create on the park. I think that if people were more educated about the topic, maybe they wouldn’t do it. The park rangers at Caprock cannot do much about it because they are only three people maintaining a more than 14,000 acres park, and although I’m not from Texas, after going to Caprock, I do feel connected with the park, the people, and nature in general.
We decided to make a hike to fern caverns, and I realized that I can push myself to do things that I couldn’t believe possible, such as going up on a trail, to end up climbing a slippery cavern, that made me have an amazing view of the park. I think I wouldn’t have achieved that if it wasn’t for the RSBs. The last day of a trip we walked a two-mile trail, and I realized we need to take care of the environment we live on and that our RSB group was amazing, and that thanks to them this weekend went better.
As for the plans I have for the future, I’m planning to go to more RSBs, and join the new Raider Service Break student org, to help organize more volunteer works for students on campus, and help to create more RSBs, so in that way we can help more people, or non-profits. I will talk to my friends about the importance of helping in issues that are not only going to help different groups of people, and the environment, but they’ll also make us realize how blessed we are.
- Adriana Lozano