Who needs public transit when you have a helicopter?

July 13

I think I am going to love Sundays. On God's day we only spend half the day in the field and in the afternoon we sit in the core shed and talk about what we have found during the week and discuss safety issues. The geo talk is fun but even better is the chips and hot chocolate. Both rather scarce while out on the tundra, to be sure. I have never drank so much hot chocolate in July in my life, but it sure does warm up your core. Since this is a dry camp, whiskey is out of the question for that purpose, alas!

I am getting used to the constant helicopter excursions, even if the rear rotor still scares the bejeezus out of me. It spins so fast that you can't see it and I sometimes have these nightmare visions where I trip on my pack or something and tragically fall into the kill zone. Other than that, the chopper is fun! We are using a Hughes 500 from Great Slave Helicopters. It's much bulkier than the Bell 206 I was in in the Mackenzie mountains. It brings to mind a bumblebee in the fall- all bulbous and slow to get off the ground. Our pilot, Bob is a pretty quiet fellow- when he has some time between pick-ups he'll fly to a lake and go fishing. I love that my commute to work invovles flying. AND that I don't have to pick up the gas bill! I'm guessing that helicopters aren't so great with the fuel efficiency.

-A.