Renee Hauske reporting

We saw a deer right off of the trail. He looked
up, saw us and then continued grazing.

     Rise and shine! My phone buzzed against my cheek at 7:30 a.m. telling my body it was time to wake up.

     Unlike yesterday, I woke with a fully recharged body ready to let the mountain consume me. Today was going to be a lot easier of a day then the past two had been; there were no time limits, no worries and as many stops as we wanted on the hike up! Perfection.

Trail post near the start of our hike

On the hike up I was able to fully capture the beauty of scenery that seemed so familiar now. While I was quite happy that I didn't have to make this hike again, an uneasy shock ran through my body. I never thought that I would become so attached to this experience. I would hike up this trail all day and night if it meant I could stay up here forever.

Justin and I posing for a picture at a test site. Thank goodness
for the self timer button on my camera!

     The amazing thing about Justin and his work is that he truly cares for his study. He has invested so much time and effort into his research in order to better our environment.             When I asked Justin why he was willing to let a journalist like me join him on his mountain adventures, he said that he wanted people to become aware of an overlooked issue. Justin truly cares for the environment and is hoping that in the future it will provide information that will be detrimental in aiding a healthy world.

We found a Nike symbol of snow towards the right of
the mountain

     Yes, I was there on a Backpack Journalism scholarship, but what I learned was more than how to operate the thousands of dollars of equipment, or how to effectively report a scientific story; I have learned about conserving the world's most precious resource, our earth.