August 16th, 2017

Our last full day at Nester was spent collecting data at our last site and having a bonfire at the Hudson Bay. We went searching for fossils at low tide, collected more plants for our duotangs and sat around the fire making s’mores. I tried to take in as much as I could before we had to leave; the sheer emptiness as far as the eye can see, the dryas integrifolia splayed in a patchwork across the beach ridges, and the way the land seems to speak to each and every person who passes through. By the end of the week, we had all become slightly different people. The land had left its mark on all of us. We had bonded so much as a group and had made so many memories together, and all of it had happened under the beautiful arctic sky. That night, we ate dinner together outside and spent time in silence, breaking the quiet only to say something we were grateful for. After lying on the observation deck and watching the stars, we crashed into bed, eager for sleep.

-Anna Connors