The professor that hired me to build the Spectral Imaging Tower encouraged me to consider taking on a part-time summer job mapping forest fire recovery to boost my experience and build my resume. As the pandemic lock-down had just begun, I figured it would be a nice way to spend isolation, since the job required me to travel alone in a four-wheel drive van for days at a time. Given the delays on parts I ordered for the tower project, I decided to fill my free time with paid adventures throughout Northern California's mountainous forests.

Overall the experience was phenomenal. Not only did I master my quad-rotor piloting skills, but I got to learn about forests at different stages of recovery based on a multitude of factors that varied at each location. Plus I got a taste for van-life without the commitment of buying a van or paying for gas!