August 12th, 2017

Today we continued our routine of getting up ten minutes before breakfast, eating at 7 am, and gathering our field gear. Before we could head out, however, the chopper came by and picked up a couple of the other students, which ended up only being one student due to the weight. Sarah was still happy to come with us (I hope).  After this, we hiked to a new fen, a couple kilometers out from Nester 1. We conducted the research with the watchful eye of the Park Rangers, who came out with us, and Chesca and I did pinning. After this, we had lunch and then grabbed our stuff to hit another site. On the way, we stopped at a lake and giddy to see a body of water we all dumped our heads in to get a quick refresher. Jim also showed us a goose’s nest and egg membranes. Once we were at the second site, the heat and fatigue had begun to settle in again, and it took a couple breaks for us to finish our transects. I was doing macro with Terry. We hiked back to nester and changed so that we could enjoy swimming in a nearby lake. Though it seemed like a lot of fun, I myself ended up freezing after our canoe was shipwrecked. Shivering back, we warmed up at home base and greeted those who were on the chopper when they arrived. We had a warm chicken dinner, and played another few rounds of the camp favorite game Mafia. After the long day we had, settling into bed was not difficult. The days are becoming more familiar, but having such a wildly different routine here than at home is exciting. I am ready to finish collecting our important data.

-       Mahey Gheis