Bumpy ride

Late yesterday afternoon, I arrived in Resolute. Not without travail... there were snow flurries that delayed us... then we took off, and had to circle around and return to the camp runway 15 minutes later because the the visibility in Resolute was too poor to fly onward. I was in the Twin Otter with three other passengers and a lot of cargo, including a 55 gal urine drum...

( Photos and details of a snowy, bumpy arrival here )

Mealtime conversations

One of the fascinating things about mealtimes up here is the lack of independent restaurants -- if you're a visitor, you pretty much have to eat in the B&B-sized hotel dining room. Close quarters at times, but one meets people from many backgrounds and with interesting stories. Oil workers, miners, geologists, Inuit trappers and hunters, prospectors, biologists, Mars-project folks, weather station staff, Polar Shelf guys... last night at dinner I stumbled into a conversation with two grad students just out of the Mars Society hab on Devon Island, near our camp (biology, plasma physics) and a geologist and a miner who were decommissioning an exploration/prospecting camp (also on Devon Island, strangely). We talked about our field seasons, the geology of the island, impact alterations... the biologist hadn't seen shatter cones before, so I retrieved one from my room. But it could have been someone looking for diamonds... or measuring the extent of sea ice... or even tourists off to Earth Watch on Bylot Island. I've eaten meals with all of those. A nice side benefit. And anyone that comes to this rather inhospitable part of the world almost always has some story, some motivation, even some personal brokenness that goads them. And energy and enthusiasm... even in the fuel-truck driver with whom I had lunch yesterday.

I'm about to leave for the airport, headed for Edmonton. It's been a good season.