Aug 11 - Fox Dens and Trail Cams!

What a way to start our day with the delicious smell of egg soufflé wafting through Nester One. Breakfast was devoured, lunches were made, and finally we were ready to hit the field. Today’s day was filled with explorations of fox dens and trail cameras. With only few people working on each site there was plenty of time to sit around and carve soap stone, sew mittens, and talk to our friends.

At our second site we had a visitor from none other than our new friendly caribou. Little did we know she would be back to visit us around camp just later that day. We kept on keeping on as we do best and hiked into the distance of the tundra. At around 3:00 the group decided to split up. Half of us would head back to camp to start on dinner while the rest headed to the last two sites to finish the job.

Trust falls, trail mix, and tons of veg ID later those of us out in the field were finally ready to head back to camp. Little did we know we were heading back to Shady who was grilling up a storm!! Dinner was phenomenal with the sun casting its golden rays over our laughter-filled table. Nothing beats family style dinner at our makeshift table in the courtyard. But it gets even better when our favorite caribou friend decides to give us a visit. Even she can’t resist Shady’s grilled chicken sandwiches.

With the sun setting and full bellies, games of basketball, sunset watching, and s’mores-making commenced. All of a sudden we heard Julie yelling with excitement from the observation deck and that was when we saw our first Caribou bull! We watched as it walked across the water with the rainbow painted horizon just behind. A true sight to see. We finished off our night with a hilariously hectic game of salad bowl but in our true fashion it did not last long. We sprinted outside to see the northern lights that were out dancing in greens and purples lighting up the sky. Shooting stars galore!

Catch you on the flippity flop (thank you Sam),

Sami and Shady