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Dragging the coring raft to the field site as the rain picks up. |
Mainers can appreciate travel logistics in Norway because there are often no roads that go from point A to B and when there are, they wrap around a fjord or mountain. Nebraskans would hate that there are no straight lines on the maps but be heartened by the lack of trees. Today’s goal revolved around assembling coring gear and getting it ready to start moving toward the field site, a small pond that is about an hour hike from the Sjohus that isn't really accessible by boat or van but close for each…so we chose both! I will explain.
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Having overlooked the fine print, Mike sees the crucial flaw in ordering the 2-dimensional float tubes. |
Lake sediment coring is easiest done from an ice covered surface but even though winter is coming, it ain’t here, so we built a raft. The raft was made from a whitewater boat from the company AIRE but we left the rowing platform at home due to new carry-on luggage restrictions. It is currently (9 pm on Monday) sitting at the field site but took the better part of the day to get it there. We are fairly confident no one is going to disturb our raft out of the shear inconvenience it would be to find/take it or try to ‘scoop’ us on coring the pond.
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Test fitting our 'lattice" on the floats |
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A ratchet strap here, ratchet strap there... |
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Sometimes the only way to test deck seaworthiness is breakdancing |
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Getting ready to row the boat over to the dock so that Thorleif can hook up flotilla. It's a regatta! |
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Still rowing (not built for speed) |
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Hiking in to meet Thorleif on the coast as close to the pond (ahead) as possible |
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Thorleif entering the small bay at high tide |
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Standing in the "baby fun" as it is delivered |
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Leading the boat up the shoreline to the closest shot up the hill to the pond |
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Note the timbers to make our tripod. |
Add some water samples, a few cloud berries, and a nice cross-county walk through the marshy landscape, we were able to turn a case of the rainy ‘Mondays’ into a pretty productive work day that even saw some sun. With the weather looking good, we are in hopes that we can be coring by tomorrow afternoon. Any free time on the back-end of a field excursion is good for the nerves…and procuring fish for dinner…
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Maddie water sampling |
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Cloud berries! |
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The mystery machine with a piece of timber we found on the beach for the tripod. Note orientation of the timber for travel... |