Needless to say I was excited as I'm pretty sure that was the final type of flying that I had not done while doing field work this summer. I have some sweet videos of the takeoff and landing. but due to my computer situation they will need to be uploaded at another time or just shown to those that request upon my return (in only three weeks) to Ottawa.The weekend came up on the radar quite quickly. Last week I was sampling tree cores for my fire history project like mad around Inuvik and in Tsiigehtchic (my idea of a good time).
The plan was to go to Sunny Lake today and stay until Wednesday. However that just wasn't going to work, primarily due to a certain fantasy football draft that was taking place on Tuesday (tomorrow). Thankfully, my boss is a big sports fan and was able to get things arranged to go out the next morning (this conversation took place at 10:30 PM). So I spent the next couple of hours packing and getting food ready to fly to Fort McPherson the next morning, do some sampling and then get dropped off at Sunny Lake in the afternoon.
Sunny Lake is the location of a forestry camp that is used by the forest department here for various things including education camps, a base for firefighters if there were fires in the area or a place to put guys on the weekend so they don't get slammed on the weekend in town and can report to work on Monday (a sad reality). My assistant for the weekend was a guy named Ernie who is a great worker and is an awesome help (also the captain of the winning firefighting crew). The plan for the weekend was lots of sampling all around the lake to fill in gaps in our sampling.
The first day started chilly but quickly warmed up to mid 20s and the long johns were regretted. Lots of signs of moose (but no sightings) and some big jackfish in the lake. That night it rained like mad and the weather was dim the next day, but we decided to do our long sampling day anyways and we took a walk through the bush to hit a couple of sites a couple of clicks away. It's unbelievable how easy it looks on maps or on Google to select points, but on the ground it is another story. Breaking trail, up and down the sides of hills, crossing creeks. It quickly turns a jaunt into a trek. I think the distance probably doubles because of the all the zig zagging one must do through the bush. It was more than a little wet and the boots were soaked through by the end of the day. Fortunately there is a small cabin with a wood stove that we lit to dry everything off for the next day.
It also got chilly that evening ( I think we hit zero) and we made the decision to sleep in that cabin for the night so that we could stay warm. Waking to put wood on the fire is a nice experience. Until you touch the hot stove by mistake and start cussing at the top of your lungs and dropping wood all over the floor and waking other people. Thankfully that didn't happen, but it could have. The next day was another spent boating on the lake to various sites. Field breakfasts are good though and I am becoming a superior pancake chef.
I think a theme restaurant is in order. In total I think we ended up sampling about 150 trees over the three days. This morning, the visibility and ceiling were all over the place, so the plane wasn't able to fly in until about noon. After a quick unloading of gear for the guys to start winterizing, I was off returning to Inuvik. Of course after the pilot climbed beneath the plane to fix a few repairs (pilot: "nothing major, just what controls our steering").
All part of the mystique of the north...getting home on chicken wire and old spark plugs. Of course the name of the plane or at least the steering wheel is what got me.
I wish this photo had come out a bit better but it was definitely called the Super Skywagon. Sweet. Fall is clearly here and the colours are starting to show nicely. I heard that around the Ogilivie Range on the Dempster the colours are beautiful. Maybe another trip down the Dempster is in order? Tomorrow I'm out at my site in the Delta and then there is a trip down the Mackenzie River (a reverse Alexander Mackenzie if you may). That should be nice. Time is quickly passing and there is no apparent way of slowing it down. Pat is in Ottawa looking and hopefully finding some accommodation for September when I return. What a con that was on my part to conveniently be in the north when our lease was up. Looks like a place has been found. I just got off the phone and sounds like a nice place. Looking forward to seeing everyone when I return. Perhaps I will get a haircut for the occasion...who am I kidding.21 days. Be ready.
1 comment:
Keep up the good work.
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