August 6th - First Site

As a testament to the ever-changing temperature in the North, we went to sleep with our sleeping bags pushed aside and woke up wrapped up inside them. Today was our first time sampling a site! After a breakfast of egg and ham/turkey breakfast sandwiches, we packed up to head towards C-01 and C-02. Each person had Designated field gear to carry alongside their personal equipment, and I was assigned 1 thin probe (which I actually welded in July!), while others had things like quadrants, iPads, and measuring tape, among lots of other equipment. Before leaving, Carla led us through a mindfulness and stretching exercise, which prepared us for our day ahead. Then we separated into vans for the 45 minute drive to the sites. Along the way, some of us slept, chatted, or looked out the window into the wilderness. Upon arriving, we were greeted by dense clouds of mosquitoes and other insects. They swarmed around us, biting people's necks, hands, ankles, and anything else they could reach. Almost immediately, each person donned bug hats, bug jackets, and gloves. Now protected, we walked until reaching a vast clearing in which C-01 was located. As a bog, C-01 was covered in soft, spongy lichen you could probably fall asleep on, as long as you didn't accidentally rest your head on some mud.

Before starting data collection, we settled into a circle to do some duo tanging. Partnered off with our birthday buddies, we identified herbs, shrubs, and lichen that were then taped and annotated in soon-to-be picture glossaries. Jamil and I taped plants such as flavocetraria nivalis, ledum dicumbens, rubus chaemamorous, andl ri andromeda polifolia, which were all plants that the Baltimore students vigorously memorized on the train to Churchill. Then it was time to sample C-01! To compensate for the missing flags, we used sticks, pencils, and pens to set up each transect. This year, we're only doing 13 flags per transect, rather than 26. Thank Tylor and I, the leaders of Data Analysis, for halving the amount of labor we have to do! While we were flying through Macro data sampling, Jamil explained to me how in prior years one site could take hours to complete. Soon, every group finished taking their samples, and we gathered back into a circle to eat the lunches we packed. A word of advice from Miya: pack cucumbers and tomatoes separate unless you want your cream cheese bagel to become a soggy mess. After our break, it was time to do the same exact thing in C-02. As a burn, C-02 experienced a wildfire all the way back in 1998, which has marked the area as unique. 

After doing two sites, we were able to touch permafrost for the first time before driving back to camp nanuq and had a meeting about our plans for the rest of the night. Carla led group meeting and we all voted on what we wanted to do for our night activities.

Before supper most of the group decided to go to Sturgis Creek to have a little refresher dip into a cold water, we played volleyball while in the water. And we also found a grape like algae, it was really slimy and squishy Joaquin tasted it and he says it tasted like river water. After going to the creek we went back to the camp to have a delicious burger supper that was made by Julie, we also got ready to go to the complex (recreational center) to hangout and get away from the smoke. We went to the candy store and played volleyball while we were there.

Signing off, Zaina and Jamil