Wesley Daniel

Hi All,
My name is Wesley. I am a Western North Carolina 63+yr old fellow and am currently living in Southeast Idaho. A brief of my personal interests and background along with work history is a bit unusual, but here it goes anyway. As a teen in middle 70's at roughly age 15 and always having interest in outdoor adventures, I signed on with a summer resident program called "Young Adult Conservation Corp" (aka YACC), a reiteration of the depression years of the CCC. From there I moved into the State Park system working as a Rangers assistant as summer jobs. Winter months in those years I worked as a steeplejack climbing radio and TV towers installing Emergency Broadcast System Antennas. From there, a stint in the US Navy on an aircraft carrier. In the Navy, I was heavily drawn into firefighting and rescue efforts. Post my stint in the USN, i managed to find many ways to blend the interest in outdoor adventures and rescue. Turns out, it was an easy blend, but extremely hard work, which I truly enjoy. As time moves along and in brief, here are a few endeavors I am proud of. I spent three years working in New England as a Wilderness Caretaker living in a 10x10 canvas tent. Duties involved wilderness interpretive and mountain rescue. Next up was a 10 year adventure working on the continental divide as a big game hunting and fly fishing guide on horseback. Back home to NC and spent 10 years working as a USFS certified Class V whitewater guide. At the turn of the New Millenium, I took the off season to take on a multi week solo bicycle tour of Viet Nam, Thailand, and a small part of China. Having also taken time over the years to Thru-Hike The Appalachian Trail Georgia to Maine twice. Over time, I acquired many fire/rescue and Diving certs.
I retired out of all that with my Emergency Rescue Dive Tech License as a Lt. Divemaster with 1,142 dives. I have been asked to SXSW FIM to tell how I fell in dire need of the FIM program. "Always expect and work towards the best".