Careers of Backcountrypost.com

I took a long and winding (and mostly awesome) journey to be where I am now. I worked for way too many years as a seasonal for most of the federal land management agencies around the west and Alaska and a few different universities, primarily as a wildlife technician/biologist or as a forestry technician. Winters were spent working in restaurants or volunteering for an agency or NGO. During these years, I averaged 100 to 130 sleeping bag nights each year.

I then came back to Alaska and picked up a Master's Degree in Wildlife Biology , which allowed me to spend 2 summers on the coast of Katmai NPP and eventually led to 2 summers in Kenai Fjords NP. I currently work for the Alaska Dept of Transportation as an Environmental Impact Analyst. I started 12 1/2 years ago with the State of Alaska at Fish & Game, quickly learned that wasn't for me, moved over to the Department of Natural Resources, which I loved, and then to change things up, moved over to DOT, which I also love. I also love the leave schedule that I have!

Ten or so more years of this and it's retirement time. Hopefully I'll still be in good enough shape to approach triple digits in sleeping bag nights.
 
Interesting thread for sure.
After graduating from SUNY ESF I discovered that there were few jobs available (economic recession time) so I ended up in retail grocery for 19 years, mostly in management. Burned out from working ridiculous numbers of hours ... so I quit & decided to change things up. Started working at a non-profit mental health agency as a case manager, went back to school, earned a BA in Human Development & then a MALS. After nearly 15 years of that I was able to snag a position with the Office of Mental Health in NY state government. I'll retire at the end of this year.

My wife & I have spent a great deal of time traveling around the country & into Canada ... she's not a backpacker but loves day hiking so that's what we try to fit into our travels. She retired a couple years ago after being a Vet Tech for 17 years - wrestling with various animals has taken a toll on her back and such but she doesn't let that stop her. We also have solo canoes & canoe as often as we can in the Adirondacks.

We have two sons, one stayed local & works in the IT field. Our older son moved to Alaska after graduating from Paul Smiths College and has been there for nearly 20 years. Needless to say we have made many trips up to Alaska over these past 20 years, most recently in late December/early January - went dog-sledding for the first time ever & we had a blast!

Most of my backpacking has been here in NY - I've done the Northville-Placid trail twice along with many shorter excursions. My son & I hiked the Chilkoot in Alaska a few years back - really enjoyed that. I have also spent a week in Denali as a backcountry observer during hunting season, watching the NP border to see if any hunters cross over onto the NP land chasing moose (we didn't see any hunters fortunately).
 
I work as an accountant for a local government. I began my career working for a large public accounting firm where I quickly grew tired of the 60+ hour weeks. The move has been a good change of pace. I have a young family and now have a pretty good balance of finances, family and outdoor adventures. My busy time is at the first of the year, so I miss those early spring desert trips that I used to enjoy in college. The trade-off is that I build up comp time and PTO during my busy season which provides a nice amount of time off in the summer and fall. Also, my wife owns a small graphic design business that I help out with.
 
I have spent a career avoiding a career in Accounting. I am currently three years into semi-retirement, which is my way of putting positive spin on not working, when I can't afford to do this. I'm currently selling my Hot Wheels on Ebay. It is crazy what people pay for my old toys. Then there was my baseball card collection a year back.
 
chandlerwest said:
I have spent a career avoiding a career in Accounting. I am currently three years into semi-retirement, which is my way of putting positive spin on not working, when I can't afford to do this. I'm currently selling my Hot Wheels on Ebay. It is crazy what people pay for my old toys. Then there was my baseball card collection a year back.
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Haha! It’s like “I was looking for a good job when I found this one.”


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It's been a good life ever since I left the North Shore of Massachusetts back in 1974. Accounting school at Northeastern University ...FOR WHAT??????
I was a dishwasher, busser, pizza cook, waiter, bartender in my early 70's ski bum years in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Worked ski shops , drove airport shuttles and taxi. All mostly in the winter ski season in order to get close to 100 ski days each year.... which I usually did. For summer work... I started my own concrete flatwork company in Steamboat Springs. We started out in 1985 as 2 partners and eventually incorporated with over 15 employees. We built schools, hospitals, mega homes, condos, etc.. over the years. (basement floors, driveways patios, sidewalks, etc) which I finally.... YAY!!!!!!!!!...gave up this past year after successful back surgery. Years of gravity sports and construction will do it to you every time. Am feeling very fortunate to ski again and hike my brains out. I finally joined the ranks of Social Security and Medicare this January.
Got a great Utah spring trip planned (this April) in the Henry's, Swell and maybe a little Bears Ears. And finally.... my wife and I are celebrating our 40th year together..... with a 40 day trip to Iceland, Scotland and Italy/France wine country in Aug/Sep this year. Is it fiscally responsible? Probably not. But hey... gotta do it while all the body parts still work. As Warren Zevon said "I'll sleep when I'm dead."
 
I'm a biochemistry professor. My PhD was in (legal) drug discovery and my master's (in biology, actually) demonstrated that in fact pinyon mice are found in pinyon (actually pinyon-juniper) forests. I also am working on a new major at my school that you might not have heard about before. Underwater basketweaving. Getting the major up and running has presented some unique challenges, but we should be ready to go next fall. In my non-hiking spare time I train peacocks. You may have heard of one mine recently as it was in the news.
OK, so some of what I wrote it true. I'll let you figure out what is true.
 
A lot of y'all are living the life!
I'm a computer science professor at the University of Utah. The joke is that academic life is great: you can choose which 60 hours a week you work. It's not true (either the 60 hours or the choosing) but there's an element of truth. I take advantage of the flexibility whenever I can, going for a run or hike and getting to work late, or knocking off early. Some of the work I do requires solid thinking time and walking by myself is a great way to do that, like being in the shower but without wasting water.
Having grown up in a lot of different places, none great for hiking, I thought I'd arrived in heaven when my wife-to-be and I moved here in 2000. A colleague needed a hiking buddy and we did a ton of great trips together. Now he has Parkinsons, but we had done a lot fewer trips in recent years anyhow due to being busier at work and me having kids. My kids are teen and pre-teen and have started to develop lives of their own which bums me out since I can't just throw everyone in the car and head out any old weekend anymore. So I'm sometimes looking for people to do stuff with and was psyched to do a day trip with @Udink and another with @scatman during the last year.
 
Rockskipper said:
I am a mostly unemployed Geo-archaeologist. When people ask what I do, I usually say, "As little as possible." :)

My main goal in life is to do even less.
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So what exactly do you do as geo-archaeologist?


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Way back in Germany where I grew up, I worked many years assembly line in a small plant producing plastic parts.
Later I was a CNA for ten years before moving to the US where I earned my two university degrees in history and photography.
Since last year I work as a lava tour guide here on the Big Island of Hawai'i and I have to say it's the best job ever. Playtime 4-5 times a week and I get paid for it. I do the regular lava tours with small and big groups a well as specific German translation lava tours for the company I work with. This summer we will also start offering night time in Volcanoes National Park, so I will get a few more extra days each month and can also take pictures in the park at night.
I do only work part time right now, so I still have a lot of extra time to venture out on my own.
 
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Perry said:
So what exactly do you do as geo-archaeologist?


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As little as possible. :)

Actually, most of my work involves analyzing the soils and sediments in a site. It can get very complex very fast, so that's it in a nutshell, but I help determine the ages of layers and when and how things were buried. I have a BS from Utah State and an MS from the University of Colorado.
 
regehr said:
A lot of y'all are living the life!
I'm a computer science professor at the University of Utah.
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I think I may have stumbled across a blog you have when I was looking for info on hiking Happy Canyon.
 
Reef&Ruins said:
I think I may have stumbled across a blog you have when I was looking for info on hiking Happy Canyon.
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Awesome!
I have a S Utah trip scheduled for late March and was thinking about heading there again. I think it was three years ago that I took my kids there so they probably don't remember it that well at this point.
 
regehr said:
Awesome!
I have a S Utah trip scheduled for late March and was thinking about heading there again. I think it was three years ago that I took my kids there so they probably don't remember it that well at this point.
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I'd love some beta on the road. Last time it was a little tricky for me so I bailed out and haven't gone yet.
Happy Canyon and High Spur (the non-technical part) are two hikes I want to do and I think I have seen prior TR by you on both.
 
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