Hiking the Tundra

July 11

Today was the first day I felt like I earned my pay at Aurora. The weather was windy and chilly so I could actually get some work done. Yesterday the blackflies were so bad that I couldn't even eat lunch. The instant I unzipped the netting of my bug jacket off my face, I would literally be breathing in flies. They would also get in my ears and in the space between my glasses and my face. The maintenance guy at camp says he has worked in the north for forty years and yesterday was the first time in his life that he wore a bugnet- and this was in camp where it was dry and very unswampy. I have windburn like crazy, but the wind in combo with the occasional light shower made ideal bug-free conditions and it was GLORIOUS! I managed to avoid eating even one bug in the process of consuming my sandwich, which I consider quite a feat.

Anyway, back to today. Since the Aurora crew is still getting used to the area, we split our zone into three traverses, 2 people for each. My partner Heather and I ended up with the very flat, unrocky zone, so there was much hiking and little sampling. It was still pretty great though- we did find a few sulphide-rich areas to take a look at and found some great crystallization. At one point we split up so Heather could go check out a glacial feature and I could look at a frost heave on the other side of a lake. En route I saw a flash of white skim by me about 100m away. At first I thought it was a fox, but it was way too big, and foxes are brown this time of year anyway. I made a lot of yelling noises and sang Folsum Prison Blues at the top of my lungs for the next half hour (I couldn't think of the lyrics to anything else in my frightened state). Luckily it moved off and I didn't see it again.

The internet has been down since we got here which is why I couldn't post until today. After only two full days out here, it's surprising how isolated you can feel. It's recommended that we don't go outside the bear fence alone and most everyone is so beat at the end of the day that a stroll around the claim site seems rather unpalatable anyway so- not that there is much to see if you did go for a walk. When you are in the helicopter you can really get a feel for how completely in the middle of nowhere the place is. Still having way more fun than I did in an office in downtown Calgary, though. Despite the bug bites.

-A.

PS: Feel free to leave a comment if you like. It would be nice to here from the outside world :)