It's been alot of hanging around though and waiting for the drills to get going again, as 2 of them were waiting for parts/were broken when we got here. It's been pretty slow still, but I've been keeping myself busy with things like data entry, checking out drill pads, and digitizing data.
It's a slow start to the season but it'll pick up once the snow melts a bit more and more geologists and geotechs show up ready to map the area.
Below are a few more pics from the week in a nutshell. Enjoy!
The view from one of the drill pads we were scoping out today. It's ridiculously muddy up here so when we got out of the Kubota the mud was like quick sand and went halfway up to my boots! But - while we were trudging through the mud, we got to enjoy sights like this... -->
The view from one of the drill pads we were scoping out today. It's ridiculously muddy up here so when we got out of the Kubota the mud was like quick sand and went halfway up to my boots! But - while we were trudging through the mud, we got to enjoy sights like this... -->A little farther off into the distance but from the same vantage point, we get to enjoy this lovely view... Today was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, and while it was a bit cold, it's a hell of a lot better than fog and snow.
Here's the Kubota we were driving around in to check out the drill pads. It was too muddy to take the real trucks up. For some reason they've given one of the geos a brand new GMC truck to destroy.. oh well... here we live by the rule: 'drive it like you stole it', or the alternate version 'drive it like you rented it'. Both very applicable. It's inevitable. The trucks. will. get. destroyed. It was fun...
While a few of us were scouting out the streams and rivers in the area for environmental purposes, we met the drill halfway up the hill. This is what the outside of a drill rig looks like, for those of you not familiar. You send it down, and it brings up lots of core - the same stuff found in the core shack that gets studied and logged by the geos.
Random panorama shot of our geology day, when Scott took us out and about to teach us about the local geology.
Kind of a cloudy day, but beautiful none the less. Gorgeous views of mountains in the distance, and Dublin Gulch down below.
Sooo pretty!
That's camp down below. It's capable of holding 100 people (though right now it's sitting at 39 until the permits for the rest of the camp are cleared). PS3, Wii, satellite tv, delicious food, and gold panning, all in one spot! NEWSFLASH: soon we'll be getting guitar hero/rock band or whichever one it is for PS3. Avoiding boredom is very important for us, or else we start going loopy! So really it's in their best interest to invest in a sweet PS3 game... either that or they can spend their money reimbursing us for psychiatrist fees...
Another panorama shot from Scott's mini field school.
My precious....
No, not really. Just a few guys panning for gold. I found some! Just a tiny speck though. The water was SO COLD (in case you missed the mass amounts of ice still frozen over the creek).
The wonderful core shack! This is where we spend most of our time. Checking out the core, logging it, teching it, taking bulk density measurements, and just general screwing around.
One of the 12 creeks we have to survey/photograph/take notes on for the environmental studies. We have to consider how much water is flowing through, changes (increasing/decreasing in melt), how much sediment is in the material, and if there is an ice dam blocking flow nearby. Because the drills use lots of water and we're in an area where we can potentially affect multiple streams/rivers, we have to be extra careful about what happens to the water once the drills are finished with it.
ME!
Standing in the back of the Kubota today, just on our way down for dinner (it's 6pm in this picture - SUPER BRIGHT!)
There you have it! Just a few more pictures from camp so far...
Later on I'll be posting a few more pictures with time stamps on it, so for all of you folks that aren't used to lots of daylight, you can see how bright it is up here at night time!
More new recruits get up here on the 17th, so we've got a few more days before they join us. Until then, it's just us 5 geotechs and 3 geos! Small crew, but fun....
I'll be doing my best to post at least twice a week, so keep checking back!
yay Char! this is awesome, just in case I start to miss all you geo kids, (or you), I can just read this!
ReplyDelete(it's Quinn ps).
love!