Aug 14- Nester Day 6

8/14 - Chopper Day 2

We woke up at different times today since we got split into three groups: people going on the chopper (first and second trips), people going to finish our probing job at W-3 from yesterday, and people staying behind with the second chopper group to make bannock for later. 

The group that went to continue probing began their walk to W-3. They quickly got to work once arriving and had to redo every ALT measurement from yesterday (52 flags with 2 measurements per flag!). They only had 2 probes to use (and one of the handles got broken during their work). It took about 2 1/2 hours to finish. 

The first group to go on the chopper were sent off to Fletcher Lake (Miles, Jamil, and Julie). They got through 52 flags in under 90 minutes which is insane. Jamil said he got stuck in the mud within 5 seconds of getting to the site.

Back at Nester One, the bannock makers and second chopper group had fun before needing to leave. One of the bannock recipes was a little tricky to make, but they turned out SO GOOD. They were fried and some were even rolled in cinnamon sugar (the Baltimore kids that got them fresh were in awe). The chopper squad had lunch together at camp and got ready to head out. After waiting very impatiently we were rushed from the observation deck to the gate to leave without time for a bathroom break. 

The bannock squad left to meet the rest of the group in the field to go to some fox dens.  They got the data they needed at two different dens but unfortunately didn’t see any fox pups. 

The second chopper group (Nathan, Nia, Jess, Amelia, and Kirsten) arrived at Mary Lake and were rushed to start probing and identifying plants. We finished pretty quickly after many bug bites and sore muscles from probing through rocks. We then were choppered in two groups to Clone Lake. This site was right next to the water and we got through it quickly and even ate some bannock before taking off to go back to Nester. 

The chopper groups got back to camp, changed clothes, and began entering our data into the iPads. We even made some Gatorade mix for the rest of the group who were not back yet. We had some time for the data and chroniclers to get work done while other people made dinner. We had an arctic dinner featuring moose, goose, beluga whale muk tuk, and a delicious cranberry cake with butter sauce (and the bannock from earlier of course). We all had fun sharing our traditions at the dinner table and had some Olympic Games afterwards (discus, HORSE, and war). The black knights are currently in the lead. After Olympics we got ready for bed and headed straight to the tents for a good night of sleep. 

Signing off,

Clementine, Jamil, Nia, Jess, and Aralin