August 12, 2019

Today we split up the group. Three students (Tate, Hayley, and Luis) and Julie went on a helicopter for the whole day to sample more sites that were not close enough to hike to from camp. We woke up early to have an early breakfast so we would be ready in time for the chopper. We flew down about 30 minutes to a site. It took us about an hour to sample to first site, which was a bog. We then flew to another site and after collecting that data, we ate lunch and then flew to our third site and quickly collected all the data we needed. It was a very small crew to do all that work and when we got back to Nester One, we were pretty tired. We cooked a big dinner for everyone and waited for their return. 

Meanwhile, the other 15 students set out across the marshes to do two sites, one of them being an uber, which is just a way to check each other’s work. We set out around 10:00 AM to a very close site only around 1/2 a kilometer from camp. The weather was quite cold on the way there and we were all worried about rain. We worked fast, and after we finished, it was only 1:00. We headed back to lunch, and after an hour we went off on the real adventure. 

We set off north, and got more and more confused as we slowly curved west. After an hour of hot sun, beach ridges, marshes and a very exciting water crossing, we reached the site, and realized we almost went in a circle as we were only a kilometer from camp. The transect was quick and we took a more direct (but much more wet) way back. 

We came back just in time for dinner and had great conversation, amazing food, and a beautiful sunset. 

Tate and Max