It's been a while since I've updated about the summer, and for those that check, I promise I'll get one in tomorrow when my computer is not running out of battery. There should be some good pics if I can locate all of them.
GK
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Not too much to report over the last week or so.
On July 4th the research equipment I was waiting for finally arrived...without everything I needed. I think I am cursed. I just got a message today that another box had arrived. Hopefully this is the one I actually need to put this out of my mind for a bit.
I was recruited to run the graveyard shift of an experiment we were running in the forest around the base here and thus worked from 8 PM to 6 AM on Saturday morning. It was still 20 degrees at 11 PM but dropped quite quickly all the way to 9 at 4 AM. Bugs were pretty heavy. There's really no way to explain them (I tried a video to capture the noise they make, but I don;t think it worked too well) other than to be here in the middle of it. The dragonflies are at their peak right now and they eat mosquitoes so that's a bonus.
The weekend was pretty boring and the softball game on Sunday was cancelled because there weren't enough people around. I guess that is common on Sundays with good weather.
This week has been exceptionally hot (29 degrees yesterday at 5 PM) and the base is on red alert (isn't that a classic song from the Somewhat Average days? Anyone?) for fires. That means everyone needs to be ready to go in 5 minutes. Quick action. Maybe some lightning today which could mean a smoke patrol for me. More flying...
Missed the all-star game, but was able to catch the home run derby. Good showing by Alex Rios. I guess they didn't even put him in until the 9th last night though...strange. Not enough playing time for everyone I guess.
Maybe there will be more interesting news later this week.
Cheers
On July 4th the research equipment I was waiting for finally arrived...without everything I needed. I think I am cursed. I just got a message today that another box had arrived. Hopefully this is the one I actually need to put this out of my mind for a bit.
I was recruited to run the graveyard shift of an experiment we were running in the forest around the base here and thus worked from 8 PM to 6 AM on Saturday morning. It was still 20 degrees at 11 PM but dropped quite quickly all the way to 9 at 4 AM. Bugs were pretty heavy. There's really no way to explain them (I tried a video to capture the noise they make, but I don;t think it worked too well) other than to be here in the middle of it. The dragonflies are at their peak right now and they eat mosquitoes so that's a bonus.
The weekend was pretty boring and the softball game on Sunday was cancelled because there weren't enough people around. I guess that is common on Sundays with good weather.
This week has been exceptionally hot (29 degrees yesterday at 5 PM) and the base is on red alert (isn't that a classic song from the Somewhat Average days? Anyone?) for fires. That means everyone needs to be ready to go in 5 minutes. Quick action. Maybe some lightning today which could mean a smoke patrol for me. More flying...
Missed the all-star game, but was able to catch the home run derby. Good showing by Alex Rios. I guess they didn't even put him in until the 9th last night though...strange. Not enough playing time for everyone I guess.
Maybe there will be more interesting news later this week.
Cheers
Monday, July 2, 2007
Dempster Highway Adventure
What a whirlwind trip!
Trevor got here June 25 and I managed to get a few more things set up out at my site in the Delta on Wednesday. Everything that is except the tree measurement devices which I clearly asked the company in Arizona to send via courier because they were late shipping anyways (supposed to ship early May, actually shipped June 18). Instead they send it ground. From fucking Arizona to Inuvik...are you kidding me? Who does that? That means they won't be here for like 20 days. M. Sc. project suffering... I must say I was pretty angry but I've made my peace. Although if I ever see Bill Gensler walking down the street it'll be go time.
Anyways on Tuesday morning I decided that seeing as though there was a long weekend coming up, I should take advantage and drive the Dempster Highway. I called the rental car place and found out a car could be had from Thursday at noon but had to be returned by Monday at noon. I figured now or never so we booked the car, got food, gathered gear and took off for the drive of the summer. I'll try to load a few pics here (click on them to make them larger), but all of them will be available on to Facebook and via personal showings this fall.
I guess a bit of history lesson is needed. The government decided to build a road from Dawson City to Inuvik through the Arctic in 1958 because of the booming oil and gas exploration that was taking place at that time. After a few stoppages, the road was finally completed in late summer 1979. It stretches 671 km from Inuvik to Dawson. The road (I use this term because people might get the wrong idea if I say highway) is two lanes, gravel surfaced and all weather. The road was named after Inspector John Duncan Dempster of the RCMP who made legendary dogsled journeys from Dawson to Ft. McPherson in the early 1900s.
We ended up leaving Inuvik at 4 on Thursday afternoon and drove into the Richardson Mounta
ins close to the NWT/Yukon border. We stopped on the side of the road to
cook some dinner and then proceeded down the hill to the creek to wash some dishes when the wind promptly stopped and the mosquitoes appeared suddenly. It was quite a scene, they almost carried Trevor away, but luckily I grabbed his ankle. Close call indeed. We proceeded to dive a bit further so we could possibly find a higher place to camp for the night where the mosquitoes wouldn't be so bad, but there was no such luck so we stopped at an old gravel pit, hurriedly put up the tent and crashed for the night.
The next day we crossed into the Yukon and soon after, crossed the Arctic Circle. I have
been over in a plane and boat before, but never in a car/foot so to mark the occasion, we took a video of us shotgunning beers on the circle. Not bad. The next stop was at Eagle Plains to gas up. This place has a gas station and motel located at the midpoint of the Dempster and was specifically constructed for travellers on the road. Amazing scenery throughout the plains with rolling mountains and moving up and down through valleys where there are trees and high points where there was tundra with the start of blooming wildflowers. We didn't really have a plan other than being back in Inuvik by Monday morning so we were playing it by ear. A couple of
close calls on the road occurred such as an eighteen wheeler coming up over a blind hill and almost jackknifing into us...sweet. We stopped at the Tombstone Range (pic to the left, Tombstone is the furthest peak) to get some photos and spoke with a woman at the interpretive centre in the campground who gave us some info on a couple of trails. We decided to make Dawson City that night so we drove straight through and arrived in Dawson at about 9:00 PM. We stayed in the Yukon Territorial Campground located across the Yukon River. I have previous experience with these campgrounds and I still maintain that they are the best territorial/provincial campgrounds I have ever seen. That night we decided to hit the town in Dawson and of course we needed to visit the oldest casino in Canada (Diamond Tooth Gertie's). We promptly drank beers and lost money playing roulette and blackjack (not my best hand below). I really wanted to play poker but the buy-in was $100, maybe next ti
me. Anyways I really wanted to do the world famous Sourtoe Cocktail at the Downtown Hotel. So we made our way down a couple of blocks and managed to just catch the keeper of the toe to do it (we had to do some pleading to get him to stay). Basically some old guy found a human toe pickled in one o
f the old prospecting cabins somewhere around Dawson City (Klondike gold rush territory) and decided to make it a tourist thing by getting people to put it in a shot of alcohol (Usually whiskey Jack but the choice is yours) and drink it with the toe touching your lips. Well I completed the task and I am now and official member of the club. I have some video footage for those interested.
We went back to the casino to catch the midnight stage show in the way they may have occurred back in the late 1800s for the town (can-can girls and singing from Diamond Tooth Gertie etc). Good fun. After a couple more drinks we returned to camp for the night.
The next morning I woke up pretty early and made some pancakes for breakfast while waking up an extremely hungover Trevor (who claims he partied hard in the old days but seems to have lost his tou
ch after only 5 beers and the Sourtoe Cocktail). The weather was overcast and there was some rain in the air, so we packed up and went across to explore Dawson including some of the chops, the cabin's of Robert Service (to the left), Jack London and Pierre Berton, original buildings from the early days of the town etc. We left Dawson at about 3 and started our drive back to Inuvik. We drove back into Tombstone Territorial Park and decided to do a hike up one of the mountains. We ended up losing the trail about halfway up and scrambled up these scree slopes which were pretty loose and did some technical traverses (I was pretty worried that I was a) going to slip or b) get hit by a rockfall) to make it to the saddle and then walked to the peak. Unfortunately the weather had moved in so there was absolutely no view. We ate lunch at the top and then found the proper trail and made our descent. I managed to snap a couple of photos halfway down when we were out of the clouds. 
We then decided to drive futher and stayed at Engineer Creek campground for the night. We managed to get a campfire in which was nice.
The next morning we awoke and got packed and ate breakfast and saw a young Grizzly bear in the creek. That was cool because I have very few bear encounters in the field. We then drove all the way to Eagle Plains and got gas before I realized that we had hung up the tent fly to dry that morning and hadn forgotten it. This spurned a three hour 300 km trip back to the camp to get the fly. Then we drove all the way back to Eagle Plains and gased up again before heading out. We needed to make a good pace (faster than I would have liked) and because we needed to return the car by 11:30 on Monday morning (so it could be cleaned) we realized we probably needed to make it to Tsiigehtchic and cross the Mackenzie in order to do this.
We ended up driving all the way back to Inuvik that day and so we pretty much drove the entire Dempster (due to our little detour) in 12 hours. It was a nice way to spend Canada Day, but there was no partying to be had, but that's fine with me.
It was a great trip and one that that I hope I can make again at another time of the year (hopefully in the fall). That's the update for this week. Maybe more adventures will be in the works by next posting.
Keep on rocking...
Trevor got here June 25 and I managed to get a few more things set up out at my site in the Delta on Wednesday. Everything that is except the tree measurement devices which I clearly asked the company in Arizona to send via courier because they were late shipping anyways (supposed to ship early May, actually shipped June 18). Instead they send it ground. From fucking Arizona to Inuvik...are you kidding me? Who does that? That means they won't be here for like 20 days. M. Sc. project suffering... I must say I was pretty angry but I've made my peace. Although if I ever see Bill Gensler walking down the street it'll be go time.
Anyways on Tuesday morning I decided that seeing as though there was a long weekend coming up, I should take advantage and drive the Dempster Highway. I called the rental car place and found out a car could be had from Thursday at noon but had to be returned by Monday at noon. I figured now or never so we booked the car, got food, gathered gear and took off for the drive of the summer. I'll try to load a few pics here (click on them to make them larger), but all of them will be available on to Facebook and via personal showings this fall.
I guess a bit of history lesson is needed. The government decided to build a road from Dawson City to Inuvik through the Arctic in 1958 because of the booming oil and gas exploration that was taking place at that time. After a few stoppages, the road was finally completed in late summer 1979. It stretches 671 km from Inuvik to Dawson. The road (I use this term because people might get the wrong idea if I say highway) is two lanes, gravel surfaced and all weather. The road was named after Inspector John Duncan Dempster of the RCMP who made legendary dogsled journeys from Dawson to Ft. McPherson in the early 1900s.
We ended up leaving Inuvik at 4 on Thursday afternoon and drove into the Richardson Mounta
ins close to the NWT/Yukon border. We stopped on the side of the road to
cook some dinner and then proceeded down the hill to the creek to wash some dishes when the wind promptly stopped and the mosquitoes appeared suddenly. It was quite a scene, they almost carried Trevor away, but luckily I grabbed his ankle. Close call indeed. We proceeded to dive a bit further so we could possibly find a higher place to camp for the night where the mosquitoes wouldn't be so bad, but there was no such luck so we stopped at an old gravel pit, hurriedly put up the tent and crashed for the night.The next day we crossed into the Yukon and soon after, crossed the Arctic Circle. I have
been over in a plane and boat before, but never in a car/foot so to mark the occasion, we took a video of us shotgunning beers on the circle. Not bad. The next stop was at Eagle Plains to gas up. This place has a gas station and motel located at the midpoint of the Dempster and was specifically constructed for travellers on the road. Amazing scenery throughout the plains with rolling mountains and moving up and down through valleys where there are trees and high points where there was tundra with the start of blooming wildflowers. We didn't really have a plan other than being back in Inuvik by Monday morning so we were playing it by ear. A couple of
close calls on the road occurred such as an eighteen wheeler coming up over a blind hill and almost jackknifing into us...sweet. We stopped at the Tombstone Range (pic to the left, Tombstone is the furthest peak) to get some photos and spoke with a woman at the interpretive centre in the campground who gave us some info on a couple of trails. We decided to make Dawson City that night so we drove straight through and arrived in Dawson at about 9:00 PM. We stayed in the Yukon Territorial Campground located across the Yukon River. I have previous experience with these campgrounds and I still maintain that they are the best territorial/provincial campgrounds I have ever seen. That night we decided to hit the town in Dawson and of course we needed to visit the oldest casino in Canada (Diamond Tooth Gertie's). We promptly drank beers and lost money playing roulette and blackjack (not my best hand below). I really wanted to play poker but the buy-in was $100, maybe next ti
me. Anyways I really wanted to do the world famous Sourtoe Cocktail at the Downtown Hotel. So we made our way down a couple of blocks and managed to just catch the keeper of the toe to do it (we had to do some pleading to get him to stay). Basically some old guy found a human toe pickled in one o
f the old prospecting cabins somewhere around Dawson City (Klondike gold rush territory) and decided to make it a tourist thing by getting people to put it in a shot of alcohol (Usually whiskey Jack but the choice is yours) and drink it with the toe touching your lips. Well I completed the task and I am now and official member of the club. I have some video footage for those interested.We went back to the casino to catch the midnight stage show in the way they may have occurred back in the late 1800s for the town (can-can girls and singing from Diamond Tooth Gertie etc). Good fun. After a couple more drinks we returned to camp for the night.
The next morning I woke up pretty early and made some pancakes for breakfast while waking up an extremely hungover Trevor (who claims he partied hard in the old days but seems to have lost his tou
ch after only 5 beers and the Sourtoe Cocktail). The weather was overcast and there was some rain in the air, so we packed up and went across to explore Dawson including some of the chops, the cabin's of Robert Service (to the left), Jack London and Pierre Berton, original buildings from the early days of the town etc. We left Dawson at about 3 and started our drive back to Inuvik. We drove back into Tombstone Territorial Park and decided to do a hike up one of the mountains. We ended up losing the trail about halfway up and scrambled up these scree slopes which were pretty loose and did some technical traverses (I was pretty worried that I was a) going to slip or b) get hit by a rockfall) to make it to the saddle and then walked to the peak. Unfortunately the weather had moved in so there was absolutely no view. We ate lunch at the top and then found the proper trail and made our descent. I managed to snap a couple of photos halfway down when we were out of the clouds. 
We then decided to drive futher and stayed at Engineer Creek campground for the night. We managed to get a campfire in which was nice.The next morning we awoke and got packed and ate breakfast and saw a young Grizzly bear in the creek. That was cool because I have very few bear encounters in the field. We then drove all the way to Eagle Plains and got gas before I realized that we had hung up the tent fly to dry that morning and hadn forgotten it. This spurned a three hour 300 km trip back to the camp to get the fly. Then we drove all the way back to Eagle Plains and gased up again before heading out. We needed to make a good pace (faster than I would have liked) and because we needed to return the car by 11:30 on Monday morning (so it could be cleaned) we realized we probably needed to make it to Tsiigehtchic and cross the Mackenzie in order to do this.
We ended up driving all the way back to Inuvik that day and so we pretty much drove the entire Dempster (due to our little detour) in 12 hours. It was a nice way to spend Canada Day, but there was no partying to be had, but that's fine with me.It was a great trip and one that that I hope I can make again at another time of the year (hopefully in the fall). That's the update for this week. Maybe more adventures will be in the works by next posting.
Keep on rocking...
Friday, June 22, 2007
Where there is smoke...
We all know how that proverb ends. In fact I know all too well, because it messed up my plans for Aboriginal Day. Bummer. Actually I'm not too disappointed because instead of stuffing my face with caribou and muktuk (dried whale), I was able to land a job as an EFF or emergency fire fighter. Seriously, I was hired on the spot. Best job interview ever.
Thursday is a territorial holiday, so most people were off work except the fire crew. I had been out until 1 AM on Wednesday at my research site (nicknamed Blueberry) setting up some electronics, so I had slept in and came into the office around 11:30. My boss was about to head into town when the Batphone (the fire line) rang and there was a report of smoke north of town. So he went by to check it out and it was indeed a fire. The crews were scrambled (just like fighter jets) and the helicopters took off from the base. All very exciting. On Friday we were supposed to be doing a fuel moisture experiment so while everyone in the office took on fire roles, I was left to get things ready for the next day. That took until about 5. By this time the fire was going pretty good and the firefighters were still out. I suppose I still could have gone into town to go to the feast, but I chose to stick around and see if I could be of help around the base. I went into town at 8 to play some frisbee and I guess it was a holiday because no one really showed up. I was able to throw for a bit with a guy I met from Simon Fraser who is in Inuvik for the summer, so that was good. I think it was because of the holiday so hopefully there will be more of a game next week. I'm going to dominate.
That night I had another slo-pitch game and we ended up 10-running the other team. I went 4 for 4 with 3 runs scored. It was a pretty decent game for me. Next game Sunday, looking to keep my .909 BA intact.
Then on Friday morning, the fire outside town was still burning, so I got to head out and map the perimeter with some of the firefighters and then come back and download the data. Then a huge storm came rolling in and there was a reported fire up near Tuktoyuktuk, on the coast. I was asked to head out in a fixed wing (Cessna 207) to do a smoke patrol which involved locating the fire, and describing its action as well as mapping it. On the way to EV-003 (each number is assigned a name in sequential order) another fire was called in, and we were diverted to check on that one. So I ended up being in the plane for a couple of hours. When I returned, another fire was reported down south, fortunately the water bombers had just arrived so they were dispatched along with another fire crew to fight that fire. There were also a large number of lightning strikes happening, so my boss said "Greg, you did a good job on the last smoke patrol, I'm going to hire you as an EFF and you are going to go out and do another smoke patrol tonight." I was like, yes please. So I just returned from another two hours in the plane, fortunately with no fires sited.
So it's been a busy couple of days. I will try to get some fire pictures up here in the next few days (I think I am allowed, but I'll have to check).
I was also keeping tabs on the NHL draft that was happening today. I did it via Jay Onrait's blog on TSN. The guy is hilarious. I encourage everyone to read it. Random thoughts about the draft:
1. Looks like the Leafs are finished with Redlight Raycroft. I thought it actually looked like a good deal for the Leafs at first. That was until a number of top-rated players in the draft slid past the position the Leafs would have drafted in if they had kept their pick. Average age of Leafs players...rising.
2. I love the new Washington Capitals jerseys.
3. Jim Balsillie is an idiot. So what if everyone knows you are thinking about moving the team, wait until you own it before you start selling season tickets in Hamilton. Now he probably won't even get the Preds. Dumb.
Steve Kokelj is in town tomorrow and Trevor arrives Monday and with all these fires and a short crew, there is lots of stuff to do around here. Looks like I won't be bored ever again.
May the force be with you.
Thursday is a territorial holiday, so most people were off work except the fire crew. I had been out until 1 AM on Wednesday at my research site (nicknamed Blueberry) setting up some electronics, so I had slept in and came into the office around 11:30. My boss was about to head into town when the Batphone (the fire line) rang and there was a report of smoke north of town. So he went by to check it out and it was indeed a fire. The crews were scrambled (just like fighter jets) and the helicopters took off from the base. All very exciting. On Friday we were supposed to be doing a fuel moisture experiment so while everyone in the office took on fire roles, I was left to get things ready for the next day. That took until about 5. By this time the fire was going pretty good and the firefighters were still out. I suppose I still could have gone into town to go to the feast, but I chose to stick around and see if I could be of help around the base. I went into town at 8 to play some frisbee and I guess it was a holiday because no one really showed up. I was able to throw for a bit with a guy I met from Simon Fraser who is in Inuvik for the summer, so that was good. I think it was because of the holiday so hopefully there will be more of a game next week. I'm going to dominate.
That night I had another slo-pitch game and we ended up 10-running the other team. I went 4 for 4 with 3 runs scored. It was a pretty decent game for me. Next game Sunday, looking to keep my .909 BA intact.
Then on Friday morning, the fire outside town was still burning, so I got to head out and map the perimeter with some of the firefighters and then come back and download the data. Then a huge storm came rolling in and there was a reported fire up near Tuktoyuktuk, on the coast. I was asked to head out in a fixed wing (Cessna 207) to do a smoke patrol which involved locating the fire, and describing its action as well as mapping it. On the way to EV-003 (each number is assigned a name in sequential order) another fire was called in, and we were diverted to check on that one. So I ended up being in the plane for a couple of hours. When I returned, another fire was reported down south, fortunately the water bombers had just arrived so they were dispatched along with another fire crew to fight that fire. There were also a large number of lightning strikes happening, so my boss said "Greg, you did a good job on the last smoke patrol, I'm going to hire you as an EFF and you are going to go out and do another smoke patrol tonight." I was like, yes please. So I just returned from another two hours in the plane, fortunately with no fires sited.
So it's been a busy couple of days. I will try to get some fire pictures up here in the next few days (I think I am allowed, but I'll have to check).
I was also keeping tabs on the NHL draft that was happening today. I did it via Jay Onrait's blog on TSN. The guy is hilarious. I encourage everyone to read it. Random thoughts about the draft:
1. Looks like the Leafs are finished with Redlight Raycroft. I thought it actually looked like a good deal for the Leafs at first. That was until a number of top-rated players in the draft slid past the position the Leafs would have drafted in if they had kept their pick. Average age of Leafs players...rising.
2. I love the new Washington Capitals jerseys.
3. Jim Balsillie is an idiot. So what if everyone knows you are thinking about moving the team, wait until you own it before you start selling season tickets in Hamilton. Now he probably won't even get the Preds. Dumb.
Steve Kokelj is in town tomorrow and Trevor arrives Monday and with all these fires and a short crew, there is lots of stuff to do around here. Looks like I won't be bored ever again.
May the force be with you.
Monday, June 18, 2007
You can call me Foxtrot-10
That's right. I've got my own call sign. I recently finished my aeronautical radio operator's course and I've been issued my radio. Rad.
Then on Friday I was out with the forestry crew setting spruce budworm traps on the Peel River. This involved another long day, but the boating was beautiful and we went as far as the NWT/Yukon border on the Pee
l. Unfortunately I think we just missed seeing the site for the RCMP Lost Patrol. Maybe I'll get there before
I leave and be able to fill in that tale. Andy (the recurring character in this blog who is the renewable resource officer for Ft. McPherson) came with us and we did some cabin checks including this cool one on the banks of the Peel (stage right). On Saturday we were back down south setting more traps, this time on the Arctic Red River, which I think was a nicer river which cooler scenery (I think if I posted pics, they would mostly look the same, it's more of an experience thing). Lots of geese on this trip. Also a half hour of bush whacking after getting kind of lost in the woods. It's amazing how disoriented you can get! Thankfully we found our way back to the boat. On both river tr
ips we noted bear and wolf tracks on the shore, but no live sightings yet. These days included short visits to Fort McPherson and Tsiighetchic (both nice little hamlets with no more than 500 people) and trips across the ferry on the Mackenzie River. Not exactly on the scale of ferries from Vancouver to Victoria, but an experience none-the-less.
I also got my ball season started off. I was a bit late to my first game because of my trip with CRB, but once I arrived I played some CF and managed to go 3 for 3 in my first game. However, it was all for not in a losing cause. We played again on Sunday and I played well but was frustrated with myself when I I made a dumb mistake on the basepaths and got doubled off after a line drive that was miraculously caught by the 2B. It was right after a great play stretching a single into a double, with a sweet slide that just beat the tag. So for the game I went 3 for 4 but need to think a bit more on the field and improve my fielding. I'll try to take some photos at my next game. All in all, it's pretty fun so far.
Also, I found the ultimate players in Inuvik and I am getting ready for some serious disc on Thursday. Can't wait since it's easily been more than a month since I've thrown.
The 21st of June is National Aboriginal Day which is big here, so I should have a story or two to share on Friday. It's also the summer solstice so that means 24 hours of daylight. Fortunately I will be up till 5 AM on the 22nd doing some research work so I will have some good photos of the midnight sun for everyone.
Peace out.
It has been a crazy week here in the Delta, lots of field time in new places. Chris Burn (a professor from the Geography Department at Carleton) was in town last week and couldn't get in touc
h with his field assistant, so he called me. I had the privilege of accompanying CRB into the outer Delta, cruising in a chopper (Eurocopter A-Star for those aerospace boyzzz) for 12 hours of field work. It was a beautiful d
ay. Had my first glimpse of the Arctic Ocean in 2007 and there was lots of ice left, but some open water (right) was indeed visible. A visit to a somewhat famous field site in permafrost circles (Illisarvik), watching a helicopter sling fuel barrels with ease, a visit to Tuktoyuktuk, some flying around the pingos (Below. Note the large fire that happened about three weeks ago on the largest pingo in Canada and also a national landmark) an
d a quick nap on the tundra. CRB has almost a dual personality going on. He has a reputation for being a very tough teacher and marker (all true) but is great to help out in the field. He is also great in the classroom and is probably my favourite professor that I've had at Carleton, he really teaches you and gets you to think and improve. I've come to realize that marks are overrated and that most marks these days are hugely inflated. That's a rant about the education system that will have to wait...
h with his field assistant, so he called me. I had the privilege of accompanying CRB into the outer Delta, cruising in a chopper (Eurocopter A-Star for those aerospace boyzzz) for 12 hours of field work. It was a beautiful d
ay. Had my first glimpse of the Arctic Ocean in 2007 and there was lots of ice left, but some open water (right) was indeed visible. A visit to a somewhat famous field site in permafrost circles (Illisarvik), watching a helicopter sling fuel barrels with ease, a visit to Tuktoyuktuk, some flying around the pingos (Below. Note the large fire that happened about three weeks ago on the largest pingo in Canada and also a national landmark) an
d a quick nap on the tundra. CRB has almost a dual personality going on. He has a reputation for being a very tough teacher and marker (all true) but is great to help out in the field. He is also great in the classroom and is probably my favourite professor that I've had at Carleton, he really teaches you and gets you to think and improve. I've come to realize that marks are overrated and that most marks these days are hugely inflated. That's a rant about the education system that will have to wait...Then on Friday I was out with the forestry crew setting spruce budworm traps on the Peel River. This involved another long day, but the boating was beautiful and we went as far as the NWT/Yukon border on the Pee
l. Unfortunately I think we just missed seeing the site for the RCMP Lost Patrol. Maybe I'll get there before
I leave and be able to fill in that tale. Andy (the recurring character in this blog who is the renewable resource officer for Ft. McPherson) came with us and we did some cabin checks including this cool one on the banks of the Peel (stage right). On Saturday we were back down south setting more traps, this time on the Arctic Red River, which I think was a nicer river which cooler scenery (I think if I posted pics, they would mostly look the same, it's more of an experience thing). Lots of geese on this trip. Also a half hour of bush whacking after getting kind of lost in the woods. It's amazing how disoriented you can get! Thankfully we found our way back to the boat. On both river tr
ips we noted bear and wolf tracks on the shore, but no live sightings yet. These days included short visits to Fort McPherson and Tsiighetchic (both nice little hamlets with no more than 500 people) and trips across the ferry on the Mackenzie River. Not exactly on the scale of ferries from Vancouver to Victoria, but an experience none-the-less.I also got my ball season started off. I was a bit late to my first game because of my trip with CRB, but once I arrived I played some CF and managed to go 3 for 3 in my first game. However, it was all for not in a losing cause. We played again on Sunday and I played well but was frustrated with myself when I I made a dumb mistake on the basepaths and got doubled off after a line drive that was miraculously caught by the 2B. It was right after a great play stretching a single into a double, with a sweet slide that just beat the tag. So for the game I went 3 for 4 but need to think a bit more on the field and improve my fielding. I'll try to take some photos at my next game. All in all, it's pretty fun so far.
Also, I found the ultimate players in Inuvik and I am getting ready for some serious disc on Thursday. Can't wait since it's easily been more than a month since I've thrown.
The 21st of June is National Aboriginal Day which is big here, so I should have a story or two to share on Friday. It's also the summer solstice so that means 24 hours of daylight. Fortunately I will be up till 5 AM on the 22nd doing some research work so I will have some good photos of the midnight sun for everyone.
Peace out.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Mackenzie Delta Update
Well, 4 weeks has come and gone pretty quickly I must say. I survived the time alone and now it is starting to get busy around here with fire season just around the corner (lots of new people). Looking forward to doing some training (hover exit, firefighting 101 etc.) this coming week.
There's been some exciting moments to share. I shall attempt to do this in list format Click on photos for a larger version.
1. I got to shoot a real gun. Yesssss! I was able to go to the gun range with the renewable
resource officers for a BBQ and some gun shooting (I guess that is pretty redneck). I was able to take a 12 gauge shotgun for a test drive and after working through some of the basics had an opportunity to try my hand at some skeet shooting. I went head to head with the girlfriends for best score and came out on top with 14 of 25 pigeons hit. It was a great time and Andy helped out with my shooting prowess a lot. The second photo on the left is a direct hit on one of the p
igeons (see top left of photo for clay pigeon explosion). I hope I can get another chance to shoot later this summer. However I don't think I would be able to shoot at anything that is alive, haven't developed the guts to do that yet. All the guys said that duck hunting is fun though. The BBQ was also delicious and I used the opportunity to chow down. I'm not sure where it all goes, but I can certainly pack it in when required. A good time for sure.
2. Allergies. Holy f*&% they are bad right now. I think it is a combination of pollen from the trees (ironic a bit given my research subject) and the fact that Andy's dog was around one day last week (more so this). I can't seem to shake them and needed to go and get some eye drops because my eyes occasionally just go nuts and I can't see a thing.
3. Ending my semi-retirement from sports using balls. I guess I've played soccer, but that comment was more directed at baseball. I haven't played for a few years (other than wiffle) and it's mostly been the ol' flatball (frisbee) for the past few years. Well due to the lack of ultimate being played around here (trying to change that) I've joined a slo-pitch team as previously mentioned. The EGT (E. Gruben Transport) team is hopefully ready to roll and we'll have some success during the season. Games start Tuesday and I've been training hard to get ready (yeah...sure). I think hitting a home run would be awesome, and I would definitely Sammy Sosa it for sure. I'll keep you updated on the only home run chase that actually matters this year!! Barry who?
4. Games were supposed to begin today, but that was pushed back due to the fact that I probably picked up enough glass off the ball diamond to reconstruct about 4 40s of Vodka. i wish I had a picture of this. Saturday was field clean-up day and so I dusted off my ground crew cap to go and help. In total I think an entire wheelbarrow of glass was removed from the field. Welcome to Inuvik where if slo-pitch is the official sport, underage kids drinking and throwing bottles at the fences in the ball diamond is a close second. Seriously, I think diamonds in places like inner city New York would be more respected than this one. Well once the glass was picked up and the diamond was resurfaced and raked, it looked much much better.
5. First trip on the river took place yesterday. What a questionable trip. I randomly met a guy at the field clean-up and he said he was going out to his cabin after to see how it was after the winter. Well I ended up being the only person along with him who stayed to do some raking and so he invited me along. I was like, yeah what the hell. First there was a quick stop at his house to grab a cooler of beers (along with consuming a couple) and to eat a couple of burgs. Then off to his boat, which floated but was in some disrepair (i.e. the plug was missing so it was replaced by a branch whittled down and hammered into place). Yikes. Too late to back out now though. So we went a nice 30 minute boat ride up the Mackenzie River to Airport Lake and his cabin (disclaimer: his cabin was more like an industrial trailer used in mining camps that he had purchased and moved out this past winter. Needless to say it looks a little out of place). I helped get a little bit of work done around the place. This guy finished 5 beers over the course of the two hours (saving time by drinking two in the boat on the way) so I was limiting my consumption of beer to 2.5 in case I needed to jump in and drive the boat. I suppose he is a Newfie and they can hold their booze. Anyways the boat leaked while we were working on the trailer, so we we needed to bail it out before leaving...superb. A little north wind made the ride back a bit chilly, but we made it back in one piece. An adventure for sure. I heard from my boss this morning that this guy is a known character in town. Nice.
5. In a research update, I am still waiting for some stuff arrive from Arizona for my M.Sc. project and it should finally come in this week. The whole plan of arriving early to capture the beginning of tree growth is kind of shot now though. Hope this won't adversely affect anything. I called the guy from Arizona and I was glad I did because I think he has severe brain damage from all the recreational drugs he consumes (he always sounds like he is high when I talk to him on the phone). He wasn't going to send a bunch of stuff that I required and had e-mailed him
about three times already (spanning February to April) and the he had confirmed via e-mail. Wow. Great business management going on there. Thumbs up. So there should be more river trips coming up soon.
6. A wildlife viewing list that I will try to keep updated monthly.
Lynx, Lesser Scaup, Common Eider, Northern Pintail, Greater Yellowlegs, Beaver, Muskrat, Golden Eagle.
7. The Sens lost. Disappointment reigns supreme. I watched the last game at the Mackenzie Hotel by myself. it was probably for the best. As Jeff Pelton said, I probably had a few tears in my beard. Well I am consoled by the fact that it was still a great season and amazing playoff run that hopefully will be repeated next year. I also hope that all the support I heard about in Ottawa carries through to next year, although I'm sure after they lose their first game next year, the same people who were cheering madly on Elgin St. will be calling to trade Alfredsson again. Idiots. Oh well, looking forward to the off-season.
7. Some pictures from a recent trip (Thursday) down the Dempster. The first was just after a truck passed. With the right conditions, it gets amazingly dusty and you can't see a thing in front of you. Kind of scary when travelling 100 km/h. The second is a photo is of a nice surprise we got when another car passed up also going at high speeds. The jingle for Apple Auto Glass played in my head for the rest of the trip.
Good times in Inuvik. Hope everything is well as always. Comments are always appreciated.
Adios.
There's been some exciting moments to share. I shall attempt to do this in list format Click on photos for a larger version.
1. I got to shoot a real gun. Yesssss! I was able to go to the gun range with the renewable
resource officers for a BBQ and some gun shooting (I guess that is pretty redneck). I was able to take a 12 gauge shotgun for a test drive and after working through some of the basics had an opportunity to try my hand at some skeet shooting. I went head to head with the girlfriends for best score and came out on top with 14 of 25 pigeons hit. It was a great time and Andy helped out with my shooting prowess a lot. The second photo on the left is a direct hit on one of the p
igeons (see top left of photo for clay pigeon explosion). I hope I can get another chance to shoot later this summer. However I don't think I would be able to shoot at anything that is alive, haven't developed the guts to do that yet. All the guys said that duck hunting is fun though. The BBQ was also delicious and I used the opportunity to chow down. I'm not sure where it all goes, but I can certainly pack it in when required. A good time for sure.2. Allergies. Holy f*&% they are bad right now. I think it is a combination of pollen from the trees (ironic a bit given my research subject) and the fact that Andy's dog was around one day last week (more so this). I can't seem to shake them and needed to go and get some eye drops because my eyes occasionally just go nuts and I can't see a thing.
3. Ending my semi-retirement from sports using balls. I guess I've played soccer, but that comment was more directed at baseball. I haven't played for a few years (other than wiffle) and it's mostly been the ol' flatball (frisbee) for the past few years. Well due to the lack of ultimate being played around here (trying to change that) I've joined a slo-pitch team as previously mentioned. The EGT (E. Gruben Transport) team is hopefully ready to roll and we'll have some success during the season. Games start Tuesday and I've been training hard to get ready (yeah...sure). I think hitting a home run would be awesome, and I would definitely Sammy Sosa it for sure. I'll keep you updated on the only home run chase that actually matters this year!! Barry who?
4. Games were supposed to begin today, but that was pushed back due to the fact that I probably picked up enough glass off the ball diamond to reconstruct about 4 40s of Vodka. i wish I had a picture of this. Saturday was field clean-up day and so I dusted off my ground crew cap to go and help. In total I think an entire wheelbarrow of glass was removed from the field. Welcome to Inuvik where if slo-pitch is the official sport, underage kids drinking and throwing bottles at the fences in the ball diamond is a close second. Seriously, I think diamonds in places like inner city New York would be more respected than this one. Well once the glass was picked up and the diamond was resurfaced and raked, it looked much much better.
5. First trip on the river took place yesterday. What a questionable trip. I randomly met a guy at the field clean-up and he said he was going out to his cabin after to see how it was after the winter. Well I ended up being the only person along with him who stayed to do some raking and so he invited me along. I was like, yeah what the hell. First there was a quick stop at his house to grab a cooler of beers (along with consuming a couple) and to eat a couple of burgs. Then off to his boat, which floated but was in some disrepair (i.e. the plug was missing so it was replaced by a branch whittled down and hammered into place). Yikes. Too late to back out now though. So we went a nice 30 minute boat ride up the Mackenzie River to Airport Lake and his cabin (disclaimer: his cabin was more like an industrial trailer used in mining camps that he had purchased and moved out this past winter. Needless to say it looks a little out of place). I helped get a little bit of work done around the place. This guy finished 5 beers over the course of the two hours (saving time by drinking two in the boat on the way) so I was limiting my consumption of beer to 2.5 in case I needed to jump in and drive the boat. I suppose he is a Newfie and they can hold their booze. Anyways the boat leaked while we were working on the trailer, so we we needed to bail it out before leaving...superb. A little north wind made the ride back a bit chilly, but we made it back in one piece. An adventure for sure. I heard from my boss this morning that this guy is a known character in town. Nice.
5. In a research update, I am still waiting for some stuff arrive from Arizona for my M.Sc. project and it should finally come in this week. The whole plan of arriving early to capture the beginning of tree growth is kind of shot now though. Hope this won't adversely affect anything. I called the guy from Arizona and I was glad I did because I think he has severe brain damage from all the recreational drugs he consumes (he always sounds like he is high when I talk to him on the phone). He wasn't going to send a bunch of stuff that I required and had e-mailed him
about three times already (spanning February to April) and the he had confirmed via e-mail. Wow. Great business management going on there. Thumbs up. So there should be more river trips coming up soon.
6. A wildlife viewing list that I will try to keep updated monthly.
Lynx, Lesser Scaup, Common Eider, Northern Pintail, Greater Yellowlegs, Beaver, Muskrat, Golden Eagle.
7. The Sens lost. Disappointment reigns supreme. I watched the last game at the Mackenzie Hotel by myself. it was probably for the best. As Jeff Pelton said, I probably had a few tears in my beard. Well I am consoled by the fact that it was still a great season and amazing playoff run that hopefully will be repeated next year. I also hope that all the support I heard about in Ottawa carries through to next year, although I'm sure after they lose their first game next year, the same people who were cheering madly on Elgin St. will be calling to trade Alfredsson again. Idiots. Oh well, looking forward to the off-season.
7. Some pictures from a recent trip (Thursday) down the Dempster. The first was just after a truck passed. With the right conditions, it gets amazingly dusty and you can't see a thing in front of you. Kind of scary when travelling 100 km/h. The second is a photo is of a nice surprise we got when another car passed up also going at high speeds. The jingle for Apple Auto Glass played in my head for the rest of the trip.
Good times in Inuvik. Hope everything is well as always. Comments are always appreciated.
Adios.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Happy June 1st
June is here and so is the sweet weather. It's currently 14 degrees in Inuvik and it is supposed to get up to 20 with nothing but sun (no seriously, the sun doesn't set anymore so I'm in the midst of 24-hour daylight) for the weekend. I've been working on a phenology project for the past few days (basically looking at the blooming of various trees across the region) and I have managed to travel down to Tsiighetchic a couple of times now.
The hamlet is actually located across the river and is only accessible by boat and because of the ice break-up the ferries have been docked, however the ferries are starting to run tomorrow so that means that the road to Dawson is now open. Hopefully I will get a chance to visit sometime this summer. The route to Dawson is the famous Dempster Highway. An all-weather (thus unpaved), year round road. It's supposed to be a great drive.
This week there has been a meeting of the region's renewable resource officers at the bunkhouse. A couple of them (Andy who hails from Parry Sound but is the officer for Fort MacPherson and Ian the officer from Aklavik) are staying at the bunkhouse so I have some company until Tuesday. There is also a cook for the meetings, so I've been mooching on leftovers for the week., excellent!! The meeting are mostly legislation and a refresher for each of the officers. However, there was a fitness component on Wednesday and I got a chance to take part. I'm proud to note that in the three laps of the obstacle course, I set the best time of 2:47 with the next best time coming in at 3:00. I soon got the nickname rabbit from one of the older guys... Here is a picture from the strength part of the course (dragging a simulated bear carcass):
Tomorrow there is some time at the shooting range and then a BBQ, so I get to tag along and perhaps work on my sharpshooting skills.
Looks like I am also playing softball this year and I am the new statistician for the Inuvik Slo-Pitch League. That's definitely going on the CV!
I have also decided that having no MSN is good for the soul. I am much too reliant on technology as it is, so phasing out a small part of it is a very good thing. My previous reaction is simply a reflection of this dependence that I need to wean myself off. Checking e-mail twice a day and the occasionally blog posting is about it and it is very refreshing.
As the final note, I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my friend Matt Chiasson back in Ottawa. He's turning 21 and unfortunately I won't be there to celebrate. Hope it's a good one!
Lates.
This week there has been a meeting of the region's renewable resource officers at the bunkhouse. A couple of them (Andy who hails from Parry Sound but is the officer for Fort MacPherson and Ian the officer from Aklavik) are staying at the bunkhouse so I have some company until Tuesday. There is also a cook for the meetings, so I've been mooching on leftovers for the week., excellent!! The meeting are mostly legislation and a refresher for each of the officers. However, there was a fitness component on Wednesday and I got a chance to take part. I'm proud to note that in the three laps of the obstacle course, I set the best time of 2:47 with the next best time coming in at 3:00. I soon got the nickname rabbit from one of the older guys... Here is a picture from the strength part of the course (dragging a simulated bear carcass):
Tomorrow there is some time at the shooting range and then a BBQ, so I get to tag along and perhaps work on my sharpshooting skills.Looks like I am also playing softball this year and I am the new statistician for the Inuvik Slo-Pitch League. That's definitely going on the CV!
I have also decided that having no MSN is good for the soul. I am much too reliant on technology as it is, so phasing out a small part of it is a very good thing. My previous reaction is simply a reflection of this dependence that I need to wean myself off. Checking e-mail twice a day and the occasionally blog posting is about it and it is very refreshing.
As the final note, I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my friend Matt Chiasson back in Ottawa. He's turning 21 and unfortunately I won't be there to celebrate. Hope it's a good one!
Lates.
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