Wrapping up from here...

[jay]

Tonight at midnight, we lose our satellite feed (I only leased it for the month of July) and we're breaking camp after a successful field season. Today John Scutt and I went (along with training camp dogs) out to Site 11 (inside the rim) again to do the leisurely, best-practices survey (to which the others will be compared). It was beautiful, sunny and cold. But crisp and clear.... I could see all the way over to landmarks on the other side of the crater. Mars-like landscapes. Periglacial and impact features in the landforms. Stark, barren beauty.

And driving through this wilderness.... it is a rare privilege to be in a place like this. Silent, empty, nearly untouched, and unique in its shaping influences. Sometimes this feels like the real world... and civilization is fictional, someone's crazy story.

And (guilty look) I really like driving ATVs.... roaring across rubble fields, across barren plains, splashing through streams... I drive here like I do at home ;-).

I took a picture of an Arctic poppy, clinging precariously to a rock slope... I'll post it and a couple others in a separate post. And today we VR and I started packing, breaking down our ATV-rover and sending it out to Resolute this evening with about half of our gear. VR forgot to drain the gasoline from it, and had to climb sideways into the cargo compartment (while the Twin Otter is already idling) and drain it into a can.

Staging: tonight we lose communications to the outside world. Tomorrow: pack all science gear, VR goes out, kitchen closes. We put up tables, take inventory, clean, and dissassemble tents. On Friday we all remove ourselves and our remaining gear to Resolute. And get a shower and do laundry... Saturday afternoon we'll all disperse, some via Ottawa and myself to Edmonton.

Sunday, Monday morning in Edmonton, staying at Off-Whyte Sunday night. On Monday afternoon I'll fly to Minneapolis, meet with Honeywell (yes, a business meeting....) on Tuesday, and then home Wednesday in time for Kevin's 6th birthday.

Comments

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

And driving through this wilderness.... it is a rare privilege to be in a place like this. Silent, empty, nearly untouched, and unique in its shaping influences. Sometimes this feels like the real world... and civilization is fictional, someone's crazy story.

Ohh. How beautifully described. But it's that in combination that things like this:

Captain Tractor: The Last Saskatchewan Pirate

... that just *floor* me, every time. I mean, you're *way up there*, and you're doing things like reading my stories and listening to Captain Tractor and talking to Cathy over AIM. It's just crazy, and fascinating, and wonderful.

-J

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Isn't it :-)

Safe journeyings, although you can't `hear' me rightnow...