River woes and wet toes

July 18

Today has been a complete gong show. Everyone was pretty pumped this morning because it was both hot and windy, which is the optimal combination because you don't have to wear 7 layers of clothes and the bugs get blown away.

Once we were dropped off at the site, the crew who was there yesterday (Pattie and Carolyn) showed us a few of the samples they had discovered so we knew what to look for. Then Heather and I headed off to the northwest to look for deposits. Unfortunately, a rather significant river blocked our path. Our options were to try and find a place to ford it, skip the area and work with the other crew, or walk around the very large lake to the west. Two attempts to cross the river by Heather showed that the water was more than waist deep. We went upstream a bit and found a narrow, and what looked like a shallower spot. I took off my boots, socks, and pants and shoved them into my pack. It was going rather well until I got within a step or two of the other side, at which point I sank to chest depth. In the end it wasn't too bad- the outside of our packs were wet, but surprisingly water resistant within, and it was windy enough that our shirts dried quickly. Pants, boots and socks remained pleasantly dry until about an hour later when we crossed a swampy region that soaked me almost to my knees. Who knew the tundra was so goddamn damp?

At various times throughout the day we both managed to fall on our faces in spectacular fashion, and keep our boots wet in a couple more swamps. For all this, we only ended up with one or two samples for the day. Alas! I suppose it was character building or something. When we got back to camp, a bunch of us went for a quick dip off the float plane dock. I had convinced Carolyn, Heather and the GGL boss Katie to come out yesterday, so a few other folks decided to give it a try. It's as cold as any mountain lake I've been in, maybe colder, but boy is it refreshing! I would kill a man right now for a cold beer and a long bath, so I have to improvise to prevent the homicidal tendencies from surfacing.

-A.