Hi all, tomorrow I leave for Red Lake. I will have internet there, so I should be doing some posting (especially since it's an easy way to keep up while I'm away!).

Posting has been scattered because of attempts to spend as much time together as Sean as possible before my leaving, and I'm not sure when the next post will be. Red Lake should be good, I have my own hotel room and I get to keep it all summer.

See you soon!

Back from Field School

Well, that was one of the toughest things I've ever done in my life. Highlights include:

- Day 2 was a 16 km traverse through rough bush (no roads, trails, etc. barring one short logging road), and at least 6 bogs/marshes, one of which was thigh high.

- Day 7 was 12C, it poured most of the day, and it was very windy. By 10:30 AM my clothes on my bottom half, including boots and socks, were soaked through. We didn't have anwhere to get out of the elements until 4:30 PM

- My old hiking boots no longer fit and I had 7 blisters on one foot alone.

- I didn't take the 3rd year Metamorphic Petrology course, and therefore had a very hard time understanding our area. Thankfully my partners were helpful in explaining it.

Lessons learned?

- Take a GPS, it makes mapping easier.
- Buy proper rain pants, hiking boots, and backpack.
- Ticks are less frightening after you've found over 50 of them on you in one day.
- Ticks can be more easily removed if you gently pull while turning clockwise - this is the opposite direction to the way their mandibles grow.
- Blackflies really love the colour blue.
- Khaki is not the best colour in a hat. It's hot and attracts blackflies.

To prepare for my season in Red Lake, I'm going to replace my rain pants and get new hiking boots. I'm also going to go get a new hat. I LOVE the one I have, barring the colour. It's an old Canadian Forces hat, with great little ear flaps that fold up into the cap when you don't need them. I want to get one in tan, but it seems they've stopped making this style, as far as I can tell. Nor would I have been able to get it in tan in the first place. Too bad, because the hat rocks my socks. I guess I'll be off to United Army Surplus!

Field School

Well, I'm off to field school today, hoping that I haven't packed too much, that I've packed enough, that I've packed the right stuff...I guess for the 4th year field school they don't feel you need a list of items to pack any longer, since they give you one in third year. The only problem? I did my field school with U of A, and therefore have no idea of what the U of M field station is like.

I guess I'll bring my big rolling suitcase along with my giant backpack and look like a dork.

Oh, and I put purple streaks in my hair. Just for fun.