A Visit From Smokey The Bear

Summer in the interior is unlike anything I've ever seen before. The smoke and fire in the area is devastating!

In the news around here, it's all about forest fires. Thousands of men and women fighting them, thousands more evacuated from their homes only saving what pieces of their lives they can fit in their car.

The summers in Victoria are gorgeous - far from the reality of forest fires. Watching the news every summer before I got here I never really understood the magnitude of these fires. Now, while working on the side of a mountain soil sampling away, I can actually SEE the massive plumes of smoke emitted from the fires ravaging the Chilcotin.

A few times the areas we are working in have been blocked off, so plans have had to change last minute to get around the little snafu. The line brushing crew has had their schedule completely changed around, as chainsaws and machinery are completely banned from forested areas. They start work at 4am and finish at 1pm, to avoid the heat and to avoid fire hazards. The IP crew has been sent home because as it turns out, running a live charge through wires in the forest is actually a fire hazard! Huh! Who knew??

In any case, a new part of our daily routine involves checking the BC Ministry of Forestry website for where the fires are and how big they are. Two areas on opposite sides of where we are have the biggest fires of the area. Big Creek is sandwiched between Alexis Creek and Meldrum Creek - areas where there are two exceptionally large forest fires.

To say it's slightly smokey is an understatement.

A picture says 1000 words, so here they are!

Also, the website to check out the fires and where they are is here:
http://webmaps.gov.bc.ca/imf5/imf.jsp?site=pub_fireinfo

That's what we're checking everyday, and that's what is currently dictating where we work and how long for. It's tough walking up those mountains when you're lungs are burning from the smoke and you can barely see through the forest.

Chris W. and I have a mutual friend who is fighting fires in the region right now, and he is one of many hard working men doing their best to save the region from total devastation. Go Dave!

Major props to the men and women fighting these suckers.. They're hot, they're smoky, and oh boy do they move fast!

Remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires!

(gotta love Smokey the Bear!)

Hope everyone is having a lovely end of summer - I am officially out of camp August 27th so less than 3 weeks to go! Yikes! Where did the summer go!??!

Defenders Remorse?

Is there such a thing as defenders remorse?
I feel terrible for spraying mamabear in the face with the bear spray. I got a bit of the mist in my face when I sprayed her and my eyes, mouth, and skin were burning for hours.

I know it was self defense, but she was just protecting her cubs! It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A couple of days later, I'm feeling stronger and more confident in the bush than ever before. I guess it's a learning experience and testing my ability to react in life threatening situations. I know that I can do it for sure!

The day that it happened, I was given the option of either hanging out in the trucks for a while, or continuing on. I guess it's a motivation in me to be tough and push through that shit, but I went on. I was sampling within 1km of where I'd seen mama bear but this time I was with Chris (read: big strong bushman). All day I was shaking my head wondering if that had really happened... it definitely had. The next day, I was out with Chris again, working on my bush legs and my confidence. I was alright - a couple of spooks here and there and always checking over my shoulder, but since Chris was with me it was better.

The first day I was on my own, I started stressing while I was in the truck. I was cracking my knuckles and feeling a bit anxious. I guess it's the natural reaction to be a bit hesitant after an encounter like that. I was doing a base line so I wasn't too far from anyone, but I was still out of earshot. Once I got moving, I was singing along to myself and checking over my shoulder, being a bit paranoid. but I got through it, and today I was totally by myself again feeling right at home in the middle of the forest.

I guess it's one of those things that can't be babied - a fear that is totally rational, yet must be faced head on and recovered from pronto. If I had gone into the truck the day it happened, I would probably still be freaking out about it. I think that the faster one faces their fears, the faster they will fade away.

I still think about it, I still have the image of her face implanted in my mind staring straight into my soul, and I still feel bad for spraying her in the face for protecting her cubs, but it's done! I've survived it, and I'm a stronger and more confident person because of it!

Here's to life changing moments!

-C

I am SO lucky to be alive...

I am so lucky to be alive…..

Seeing as though I haven’t posted anything in a while, I decided that the first post in about a month should be a doozy. After making this decision, I called up my local grizzly bear and asked her to come and pay me a visit some point during the day. Here begins today’s story.

A late night last night had left me a bit tired and not feeling so hot today when we started our lines so as we began I was moving pretty slowly. I wasn’t flagging at super speed and I was definitely taking time to smell the flowers. That’s probably what allowed me to hear her. ‘Her’ being the mama bear who was strolling along my line with her two cubs. I was by myself in the forest with the closest person being probably about 500m in each direction from me. I’ve never come face to face with a bear before on my own so, of course, my first experience just HAD to be one for the storybooks.

Standing perfectly still, I wait and I listen.

“whoooff…….whoooff” I learned that this ‘woofing’ is the bear grunting and warning me that she is nearby. I was hoping that it was just a deer, as Chris had previously told me that deer or other animals sometimes make a noise similar to that one. I had my fingers crossed that it was, but I was prepared for the worst. If you have been reading my posts, you’ll recall the run-in with the bear that the crew had, and you’ll also recall the lessons that I learned from that (what I now can call a) low risk bear encounter. Something along the lines of: a) keep bear bangers nearby and already loaded just incase b) keep my bear spray in the outside pocket of my backpack for easy access.

I continue to hear the whoooofffffff noises, and I start yelling “heyyyy bear! WHOA bear! HEY bear!” getting louder and louder as the whoofs get louder and louder. Finally I grab my bear banger from my vest pocket and let ‘er rip.

The banger goes off (shot vertically in the air, as I was told!) and all of a sudden the ‘whooofff’ turns into a ‘kathump kathump kathump….’ Roughly translated to mean ‘I’m coming towards you!’. So here’s where lesson b) comes in handy. I’ve got my bear spray out in 2 seconds flat, ready to hit whatever is coming at me point blank. I haven’t seen what it is yet, I have no idea that it’s a GRIZZLY BEAR, and I also have no idea that she’s got 2 cubs with her. So here goes. The bear banger goes off as I’m still yelling, telling her where I am and hoping that she’s going to run away and protect her cubs.

Not quite.

Instead of running away from me, she’s belting towards me at full speed. Finally I see her when she breaks through the bushes about 20ft from where I’m standing. I yell a bit, scream, wave my arms, and grab the safety off of my bear spray. She runs away for a second and I’m so terrified that I am shaking uncontrollably. I’m yelling and screaming, and the all of a sudden she comes barreling back towards me and stops 8ft from where I’m standing, stands on her two back feet, and stares me straight in the eyes.
I. Was. Terrified.

I’ve never been so scared in my life.

All I could do was act on my instincts and do what I was told to do: spray. I hit her square in the face with the bear spray. I am barely able to hold the canister and probably couldn’t take a step without my legs turning to jelly and making me fall flat on my face. Screaming bloody murder while spraying mace was all I could do. She stood there stunned for a second, and almost hesitated before she turned around and ran. It was almost like she was thinking “hmmm, should I bother fighting?” I was still screaming and yelling when Chris rocked up. He had run at full speed as fast as he could from his line which was about 500m away from me and he found me sitting on a long shaking and hyperventilating with a half-used can of bear spray. It wasn’t until he got to me that I knew I was going to be OK and the bear wasn’t going to turn around and come back at me. We sat there for a couple of minutes, Chris comforting me and giving me a huge hug. I had the other two guys on the radio telling them that I was OK, unhurt, but had the scare of my life. We met up near the center of all of our lines and decided that I wasn’t going to continue doing my line (uh, DUH!) and that instead I was going to tag along with Chris and help him do his.

It was a great idea, and I really appreciated the company. Chris is definitely a woodsman and I felt completely safe with him nearby. All throughout the day I was thanking my lucky stars that I had had everything I needed nearby and that I acted on instinct and had taken action when it counted most.

If I didn’t have my bearspray, I’d be dead.
If I had hesitated for another second, I’d be dead.
If I hadn’t learned those lessons a few weeks ago, I’d probably be dead.

The What-ifs were haunting me all day. I know though that I’m alright and I did the best job I possibly could given the situation. Returning to camp, I find that out of all these seasoned vets I’m working with, no one has had an encounter even close to the one that I have had, and they have only ever heard of 3rd party stories of people having to use the bear spray in a legit situation.

I thank my lucky stars for the safety meetings we had, and for the stories and the previous ‘warm-up’ encounter.

*phew* I’m alive. And oh boy, am I happy about it.

There’s one for the story books!

-C

Farewell......for now!

As of tomorrow, we have to leave this delightful little ranch and head not far down the road to Big Creek Lodge (google-able?). Unfortunately, there's only one cabin available, and it will be turned into the 'office'. There is no internet, no phone, and we will be staying in our eety beety tents next to the one and only cabin (which at least has a kitchen, so that's a plus!)

This place has been absolutely darling. Hot water, home cooked meals, and plentiful internet has been such a luxury! Now: it's time to get back to reality and go to a REAL (sort of) camp situation. Foamies, sleeping bags, tents, and LOTS OF BUGS!

This is me signing off until sometime in the near future!

-Char

Bear Aware

I always knew there were bears around and that they're dangerous and all that jazz, but I'd never really had a taste of what they could do or how powerful they really were.

In the last few days, I have seen more bears than I ever have in my life. More importantly, they were all Grizzly bears.

There's been a grand total of 5 bear sightings in a matter of a week while we were on this particular grid about 25km from where we are staying.

My love of teddy bears has put this idea into my head that: a) bears are all super soft b) bears are all super cuddly and c) bears will all listen to you when you talk to them without judgement.

Unfortunately, none are true. (well, maybe a), but maybe not SUPER soft)

The first four bear sightings have been interesting yet uneventful. All sightings (thankfully) have been from the safety of the big trucks and for the most part we get to see the back end of the bear more than the front end. They're usually running away from the truck as we barrel down the logging roads or just moseying along cut blocks far in the distance.

Now that summer is officially here, there seem to be more and more mama bears and cubs floating around the forests. They're grumpy, they're hungry, and very protective. I'm not quite sure how safe exactly being sent into a grid solo is after seeing multiple bears, but that's what we've done. Bear spray is always to be kept in an easily accessible place, and bear bangers and launchers are to be kept in the front pocket of the vests for easy access and use. Whistling, singing, and yelling are encouraged when going into a new area, and getting a good look around when you enter a cutblock is imperative.

This is all well and good, however it's useless if you happen to come across a mama bear and her cubs while you're trodding along sampling in your own little world.

We've ordered some bear bells to keep us extra safe, and we've had special meetings with particular emphasis on bear safety and encounter avoidance.

The picture that you see attached to this post is one that I took from the window of the truck (thankfully). We had driven about 15km from our muster point at the end of a long day of hiking and sampling when we came across this bear family along the side of the road. Most animals/things/people would be scared and run away if a gigantic Ford F350 super duty offroad (read: huge) pickup truck came barreling towards it. Well - Mama wouldn't be classified in the 'most things' category. After pausing to watch the bears (a mother and 2 little cubs - one is hidden behind the hill) run away, mama bear stopped. She stood on her hind legs, looked at us, and charged towards the truck faster than I have ever seen a bear move! I frantically got my camera out (not to miss a good picture...) and rolled down the window (stupid idea) as Robin quickly tried to put the truck in D to get the heck out of there. Jazz (the dog of one of the samplers) started making a HELL of a racket while sitting in the truck between myself and Chris, and Mama bear stopped. Less than 50ft from the truck, she turned around and ran back to her cubs to get them out of there. This picture was taken just as she was running back to cub1. Cub2 had already run out of there.

Mama was a BIG bear, too. We guestimated about 500lbs, and the cubs were very young.

At dinner that evening, we talked about it and discussed what we should do if we came across that situation in the wilderness if we were on our own.

'Use your bear spray - it adds a nice seasoning to you if you're lunch' - said one of the crew
'You can't do anything - in that situation, you're screwed!' - said another

I was hesitant to go back to that grid the next day, especially since I was working by myself 500m away from the nearest person. I was careful though, and kept all of my bangers and spray within easy reach, and did everything that I was told to avoid that situation. I was singing the same Oasis song over and over and over again (good thing I was alone, or else my partner would have wanted to shoot me out of sheer irritation).

It's getting to be that time of the year, and we're being extra careful when we're out and about. It seemed like a good learning experience. It was the first time I'd ever really seen how powerful and fast a Grizz can be, especially when protecting her young.

I took notice of it, and I now pay extra attention when I'm in the bush and make sure to be extra safe. Before, it was just a daily hiking trip with some dirt bagging thrown in there. Now, I realize that it's all about being safe in the wilderness where there's some serious threats and dangerous animals to be aware of.


Lesson Learned.

(un) Happy Feet

My darling little feet need to read about 'cooperation'. They certainly aren't understanding the concept nor are they willing to learn!

Going into week FIVE (already!? GAH!) I have realized that my feet are not to be taken advantage of. The poor darlings are dying.

After "borrowing" my sisters amazing Garmont hiking boots a while back, I have unofficially adopted them. They are fantastic boots but have decided that they no longer enjoy having my feet in them. I have terrible blisters (and when I say blisters, I really mean that the whole back of my foot is raw and open) on the backs of my heels, my big toes are numb, and a couple of toenails are falling off. It's an adventure trying to get them back on track, but for that I have my birks - my awesomely comfy birks... <3 Ahhh it's love. Another three weeks until I'll be able to give them an extended break (week off from July 7th to 14th!). Until then, Nurse Elena (my roomate and 'Advisor Geo' for HDI) is fixing me up every morning before we trudge out into the great green wilderness.

No heels when I get back into Van though - just sandals!

We seem to be quickly running out of grids to do here in Big Creek. We're scheduled to stay here at TeePee Heart Ranch at least until the end of July, but it's looking like we're going to get shipped out of here sooner rather than later.
The last couple of days have been easy fixing up and filling in of older grids that we have already been to, and the only ones left are still inaccessible (thanks to rain and snow). It's looking like since this is a bit of a lull in the soil sampling business, the geos are going to take a couple of us out mapping to get in on the fun stuff and involved in creating the local rock library. The rock library is a project that Chris and I are getting going - taking a sample of each type of rock from the area, describing it, writing up the descriptions, and characterizing any deformation or alteration that is present within the rock. It's a big job, but it's perfect for us jr. geos.

After we get sent away from here, our next projects will be up near Vanderhoof, BC!
We'll be staying in fly camps (tents, thermarests, sleeping bags etc) in different areas doing exactly what we're doing now but with more ruggedness. This is paradise, and our stay is quickly coming to a close! Maybe after the fly camps it'll be an all inclusive resort?! (HA!) We shall seeeee... adventure awaits!

-C

Where the wild things are...

It's been pretty same-old around here for the last week or so which is why posts haven't been pouring through my fingers on an almost daily basis!

That being said, yesterday was a completely different story.

It all started at about 630am when Jan warned us we were going to get wet. There was a creek that we had to cross to get to the start of our line that was about 2km in from the road we drove in on.

step 1: don't fall in

As we drove to the road nearest the grid, I saw my first three bears of the season! Momma bear and her two little babies were chilling on the side of the road when this huge monstrosity of a ford super duty (us) came barreling over the hill. They sprinted across the road and into the forest in the direction of our grid.

step 2: make sure bear spray is handy

Now, a little side note. On any other day, my penflares and bear spray are usually kept buried in a pocket somewhere in my large backpack. Today (for some very odd reason)even before we had left camp, I decided to put the penflares in my vest and my bearspray in my side pocket of my backpack. Do I have a 6th sense?!

Continuing on:

After the excitement of the bears had worn off, the reality of my empty coffee mug and long walk through swamps hit me. I was not looking forward to the day. After walking for about an hour, Chris and I reached the creek. It was about 4m wide and surrounded by swamp. There were no trees to grab hold of, and no tarzan-like manoeuvers could be arranged. So, we walked. and walked.
Eventually about 1.5km along, we found a crossable area that was only about 2.5-3m wide. We threw some logs over it and tried not to look down.

We got to the start of our line and started soil sampling and flagging (as one does when they're employed as a soil sampler) until...

*crackle crackle* over the radio: "did you guys hear that?"

It was Robin. His line was 250m south of ours.

Chris: "No - what was it?"

Off in the distance: "arrooooooooooooooooooo, arooooooooooooooooooooooo"

All of a sudden, a pack of wolves with cubs were howling what sounded like less than 100m away from where we were standing. We figured it was the pack teaching the cubs to hunt or passing through. Either way, not good.

Chris and I look at each other - my hand already halfway to my penflare (which was conveniently in my pocket)

Chris is quite the experienced woodsman - he's been in the bush for many years and I have not. If he freaks, I'll gladly follow suit.

"What do we do?" - I asked, quite anxiously as the howls were getting louder.

'get out of here' he said. I followed him as fast as we could to the nearest tree with climbable branches, gave him my bear spray and my geotool and the next thing I knew, I was 8ft up a tree.

How I got up that tree I'll never know.


Step 3: don't get eaten

My heart was pounding and I was scared. Since I was up a tree, I knew I was going to be fine. The only thoughts going through my head were 'shit, what if they get my lunch?!' and 'oooh I hope I get a sweet picture'. I had my camera at the ready in case they decided to sniff around the tree we were perched in, but alas it was not to be.

The howling was loud as anything and we could hear them moving through the area we were supposed to be flagging. Robin crackled back on the radio "they're about 010 degrees from me moving towards Charlotte and Chris".

Great. Pack of wolves, with cubs (you could hear the different howls), probably hungry, right in our paths. Hmm..

We decided it would be a good idea to let off a couple of bear bangers to send the wolves running. We're not sure if it worked or not, but it did shut them up.

Result: we decided that letting off bear bangers towards a pack of wolves is NOT the best idea. It was alright while we could hear them and were tracking their whereabouts through their howls, but as soon as we let the bangers loose, silence. We had no idea where they were, if they had a den nearby, or if they were just passing through.

Chris and I ended up chilling up those trees for about half an hour. This brings us to 1pm and we haven't even gotten 400m into our 2.5km line yet!

It was going to be a looooong day.

We called the geos down to us to give us strength in numbers just in case our line was going through a wolf den, and we slowly carried on singing and whistling as we went to make sure they knew we were there.

The rest of the day I was a bit jumpy. Every crack of a branch, every little noise that wasn't made by me I would look around with my hand ready to grab the spray at any moment. As we moved along the line, we calmed down a bit. Finally, we made it to the end of our line at 330pm, just in time for a 4km trek back to the trucks up a mountain, through wolf-inhabited areas, across a creek, and through 1.5km of nothing but swamp. We got back to camp just in time for dinner. The story sure made interesting dinner conversation, but it was tough convincing people that yes, I HAD actually climbed a tree. It might have been an overreaction a bit, but at least I'm in one piece, alive, and NOT lunch!

Life in the bush - ALWAYS an adventure!

Gneiss Schist

...the title really has nothing to do with the post, but I figured I should throw in some funny geology jokes in here at some point just because.

We've finished 7 grids out of 14 already, and we've only been here for 2 weeks! It's been pouring with rain for the last few days so it's making the access to the logging roads really difficult (we don't want a repeat of day 4...). We've (well, really just Jan) been trying to figure out which grids we can get to with the road conditions the way that they are but the best we could do yesterday was an attempt at a 'mountainous' grid. It was a DISASTER! It was a 1.5km trek to get to the start of the line and a 2.5km trek to the end of the line through thigh deep snow and endless swamps and then another 2.5km trek back to the truck (with a 35lb backpack). Chris W and I were working together and we had about 12 no samples (a station that doesn't allow for soil samples to be taken due to terraine, swamp, or snow) out of 51 samples we were supposed to take. There were about 9 lines on that grid and we did three of them but we're not going to go back until later in the season when the snow melts and the roads clear up. Thank GOODNESS!

Tomorrow is a big day for me - I'm going into Williams Lake (2.5hr drive) to pick up a whole bunch of stuff for camp: diesel tank, food, home hardware supplies, stuff from marks work wearhouse, and a whole whack of drop offs to do. I'm going to be a busy bunny but at least I'll have cell phone reception!

1st payday tomorrow! It's pretty repetitive around here these days though. We're switching cabins to the one next to ours which has 2 actual bedrooms (omg!) and more space for the three of us that live here. It's kind of cramped in here at the moment but we're managing. Jan sleeps in her tent out behind the cabin and seems to be happy to do so. I spend most of my time hanging out in the Chris' cabin because they have external hard drives with over 100GB of tv shows, movies, and games on it... they're entertainment central!

Anyways, I'm going to go check out the rock library at the managers cabin! Woohoooo Volcanic rocks (and pyrite!)

-C

Getting into the groove

After getting the trucks unstuck and everyone back into the groove after that little blip on the radar, things went back to normal pretty quickly. Saturday I did my first line solo! I was dropped off on the south end of a long logging road and put to work. Every 50m I stopped, marked the station with the pink and blue flagging, labelled it with the tags, and took a sample of soil. Chris W and I were working together again and oh boooy it was snowing hard! This grid (1.1.1) was the one where the trucks got stuck and we had to walk for ages and ages... we've nicknamed it 'The Hell Grid' - (original, I know). It's already got a bad rep and now, add snow! We got that done pretty quickly and were finished everything by about 2pm ready to get back to camp early and relax.

Sunday was a totally different story. The geos decided to take Chris and I (the two student geos) out into the field with them to look at rocks! Farshad, the regional geology manager took me with him. It was really nice to get out into the field and actually do what I want to be doing in the future. We walked around (me guiding with the map and compass and occasionally banging on rocks) and tried to find as many outcrops as we could. They were hard to find (especially with the snow cover and all) but when we did find them we found a whole lot of volcanic rocks. Vesicular basalts, flow breccias, and rhyolites. Rhyolites and andesites are good host rocks for sulphides and gold in epithermal altered rocks, so we're getting close to the target! Farshad was super helpful and taught me how to prospect and write proper company-grade rock descriptions. Wooohooo!

I'm getting comfy here - the crew is great, the place is awesome, and I'm still having fun 8 days in! I'll try and post pictures soon but the connection is pretty slow so it might take a while!

I miss the city a bit, but I'm having fun and am perfectly happy where I am doing what I'm doing with the people I'm with. I am a happy camper <3'

-C

Lesson 1: How to dig a hole

Alright so here we are: day 5 on the job!

I started out on Monday flying to Williams Lake early in the AM to arrive at 9 ready for action. Mark Rebagliati picks myself and another guy Chris up and we drove to WL town to run some errands and grab a fridge while I'm there....

Skipping to the point: we get to camp and we're staying at this place called "Teepee Heart Ranch". It's a sweet little German tourist spot where Germans can come and 'experience a dude ranch'.

I'm sharing a cabin with a lady named Jan - she's a seasoned dirt bagging/line brushing vet who is a great mentor to a rookie like myself. She took me out yesterday and taught me how to not rely on my GPS but to use my compass as my guide. It was great to learn and she's constantly teaching me things!

The other girl I'm temporarily sharing a cabin with is Elena and she's a nice girl. Fairly city and her main job is in the HDI office but she comes out for field jobs whenever she can. She's only here for a month but she'll be around for the future in HDI I'm sure!

Two of the geotechs around camp are Chris and Chris: one is a young 23 year old Geology uni student, and the other is a 35yr-ish seasoned sampling vet. Both are awesome guys and both know what they're doing and are trying to show me the ropes the best they can.

I'm the only rookie of the lot but it's nice that everyone is looking after me. I always have help if I need it and I'm not afraid to ask questions or make comments (no matter how stupid they are!).

The job so far consists of heading out to a target grid as determined by geophys surveys and mapping anomalies, and setting up flagging that follows lines 500m apart going in the same direction (usually E/W). Starting from one end and going to the other, soil samples are taken at 50m intervals for (usually) about 2.5km distance (about 50 samples each line).

I'm outside for about 10hrs a day (getting the face tan of my LIFE!) and having a blast.

Yesterday wasn't so much fun though.

We got to our grid which was at a fairly high elevation, and got one of our trucks stuck due to the very recently melted snow. The geos were tottering around in another truck elsewhere, but even after warning them they got their truck stuck too! 6 people, 2 stuck trucks in the middle of nowhere. Our work day was cut short due to the extra hands that were needed to help get the trucks unstuck, but by the time Jan and I had arrived at the 2nd truck (everyone else had given up hope on the first after attempting that one for 2 hours already) it was determined that the best we could do was call for help using the satellite phone. We called for help, but the roads weren't marked and the person who was supposed to rescue us got lost! Since it was getting colder, later, and darker, we decided to start walking. We walked for 15kms before someone came to our rescue. It was a brutal trek after a fairly hard day at work (being a pro, Jan works at the speed of light and it was tough trying to keep up!). Most of us were in bed by 930 due to exhaustion so nothing too interesting happened after we got home and walked like zombies to our cabins.

Next morning, we all pile into the one remaining truck to try and attempt to pull the two out of the mud. Truck #1: Success! Got the grey truck out by pulling it with the blue truck. We then drive down the road to get the red truck out with the blue truck after driving the grey truck to safety. In the process of lining up the blue truck with the red truck to hook the chain to it, the BLUE TRUCK gets stuck in the mud. So now we're back where we started. Two trucks stuck in the mud and only one to use for 6 people. It was interesting. This evening, they got pulled out by not one, but two heavy duty tow trucks and it took them 5 hours to do it!

End of the story: After getting multiple trucks stuck multiple times, all large trucks are out of the mud and safe on hard ground!

Thats about as interesting as it's gotten so far. Chris W (23yr old) said getting the trucks stuck was the most disastrous start to the season he's ever had! Glad to know I'm not the only one who thought it was slightly ridiculous.

Now: onto another day! It's the first time I'll be on my own! Wish me luck!

Heigh ho, it's off to work I go!

After getting back into Canada by the skin of my teeth (or the edge of the ash, however you want to think about it) I have exactly 1 more day until I am officially on the clock for Amarc . I have absolutely no idea what is in store for me, but I am full of excitement and nerves.... After a quick stop at MEC to pick up some last minute diddly bops (backpack/sleeping bag stuff...) I have a full evening on Sunday relaxing with my sister and her family before the insanity begins.

I've never had a job in the field before, so this is going to be an interesting adventure for me! Being a junior geologist is quite the broad job description. My contract states that I will be responsible for:

Collection of samples and conducting of required surveys

Establish, implement and/or maintain grid layout for sample and survey locations

Splitting drill cores and producing cross sections

Assisting with setup layout of site structure

Establishing and maintaining survey networks

Core shack maintenance

Geotech support for environmental drilling projects

Other related duties as required

So I'm in for one hell of a summer!

I'm looking forward to meeting my crew who I'm going to be spending the next 3 1/2 months with. Geologists tend to be really laid back, relaxed folk who love nothing more than sunshine and a cold one (at least thats what the UVic crew is - hopefully that's universal!)

I've never actually kept a blog before, so this is another adventure I'm going to be embarking on...I'll be posting pictures, thoughts and events as they occur during the summer.

When I find gold in dem dere hills, I'll let y'all know!

-C