Travelling again!

Well, I'm off on another grand adventure!
Mum and I just got our pre-trip package in the mail, which reminded me that I should write on here...

I'm jet setting tomorrow to Newfoundland to surprise my grandfather for a couple weeks. Should be great, and he'll be thrilled - I hope he dosent get a heart attack from it. I'm gonna stick around there, drive into the city to visit Sam and the other girls from school, then hopefully head to up L'anse aux Meadows with granddad to check that out!
After a couple weeks there I'm making my way back to Ontario, with a stop over in NS to see Sean and Jacqueline for a weekend. Amped for that, I've never really been to NS other than Halifax. They live in Wolfeville so that'll be a nice little drive. Then on to London to see some family and possibly a friend from school. Then on to North Bay (I know, waaay out of the way) to see Katie and her little family. This will all conclude with a week in Toronto with Eric and Jane and a baseball game!!
This is where it gets exciting...
Mum and I are going to Russia! Eep! We're going on a river cruise (I know it's for seniors) from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Holy hannah I cannot wait! I dont want to take away from my month off work right now so I'll leave it at that... and update a little closer to leaving.

Last day of field work

Well, today was my last day of field work :( We might go out one day next week, but highly unlikely...
To sum up what I have been at in town is quite simple: paddling the Yellowknife River. Glen and I started heading out pretty much everyday week day after we got back from Jean Marie River in June. The weather was unbelievable, some days reaching 30c! The goal for this project was to ideally find coney fish bones, and pre-contact sites. Both big hopes - coneys havent been in the river since the 60s and the river is so constantly used that any possible sites would be highly disturbed.
We checked out around the mouth of the river, denadda. Some old prospecting shacks and a pile of old cores. We paddled up river from the bridge, denadda. A huge permafrost slump where you can see the ice melting out! The ground was crumbling from beneath us... and Glen stepped in the soft wet till which had morphed into quick sand! Crazy!
We finally had success at Tartan Rapids, we would paddle over from Cassidy point and just wander around. Everything there were surface finds, whereas we had spent the first few weeks digging deep, deep test pits.
At one place Glen found five flakes on the ground and managed to put them back together again and recreated a hide softener! Pretty much the highlight of the work out there.
Today, our last day, was spent hiking. We followed a trail overland to the river from the highway. Super awesome trail that I will be bringing Corona to. Nice and high above the lake. There was a wonderful breeze which meant ZERO bugs. Just an all around great finish to the field season. I even found a lithic scatter there!
Too bad I cannot continue on with Glen in September :(

Another week at work

Spent another week out at Ekahli Lake. Glen and I went back to finish up what we couldn't accomplish in June when we were rained out. I was absolutely exhausted after a rocking weekend at Folk on the Rocks, so slept most of the drive and crashed hard after setting up my tent.

The weather was fantastic. Couldn't have asked for anything better: nothing below 25c during the days and about 16 over nights. It was so hot that there were scaresly any bugs! Yes, bulldogs, but they are manageable compared to clouds of mosquitos.
We climbed over beaver dams every morning, Ernest and Billy pulled them apart so we could float through them on our way home every night. The beaver rebuilt them every morning. It was an entertaining process that I got a kick out of - Ernest and Billy got ticked off with the beaver even more every morning.
Our first thwo days consisted of surveying Sanguez Lake for new archaeology sites. That was hard. We only found two! The lake was a little more difficult to survey - no major points with defined terraces like on Ekahli and Gargan Lakes. We stopped at many places, with no luck. The days were so nice though, it's impossible to complain.
Combined out there we saw three moose, one swiming super close, wolf tracks, collected fresh water mussels (which we later cooked up and ate for supper), picked berries and set rabbit snares (I learnt how to set them, I didn't leave them up to catch anything).

On Thursday we set up a large 1m x 1m excavation site where Todd had found a microblade and a ton of flakes in June. Our hope was to find some hearths and charcoal so we could date the luck. The site was chalked full of flakes and microblades. No hearth though. But we did take some charcoal for cabon dating. Mind you it's probably only a burnt root or something.

Thursday was fun because Billy taught me how to make birch bark bowls! And.... Glen found a halfted blade on the surface! Super cool. They are supposedly older than are arrow technology, I'm guessing ballpark age of 1200ya... which is super cool!

Friday we decided to let the beavers alone and stayed on Ekahli. We went back to a site we didnt finish in June, which ended up being a jackpot site. Lots of retouched flakes, and of course, more microblade.

We came home yesterday, and I must say it was a great week - both weather wise (which sucked last time) and for sites found. Over the three lakes, we found 17 new sites!

Rained out!

Well, my wish for no rain was spit back in my face.
We arrived in JMR after a SLOW morning and a little mishap of the fire extinguisher back of the truck going off and us having to unpack and clean everything. Eventually we arrived and set up our tents on the bank of the Mackenzie.
We had our Protected Area Strategy meeting, got deadly hats that I informed Glen we needed to wear all the time! He was not pleased... but he did it anyways :)
Friday we set off into the bush with Mike, and our two community pals, Billy and Ernest!
We hiked  into to Gargan Lake from the highway, took about an hour and a half the first time in. There had been a major storm there over May Long and knocked over tons of trees! We spent that first trek clearing windfall, re-routing the trail and blazing trees. Eventually we made it to a little cabin on the lake and had lunch. We then proceeded to walk right back out again and portage in a canoe! 
We returned the next two days and got the hike in down to about 45min. Not too shabby. We paddled around there, saw two beavers and found a bunch of flakes. All in all a good couple days, and it only rained at night! Until.... Monday. Monday was a downpour, and freezing! We went and had hot showers at Sambaa Deh, where I literally just stood under the hot water - forget the washing of the hair. The rest of the day/night we sat in the car and played cribbage. That night Tom, Albert (a visiting archaeologist from Switzerland), and Todd (a PhD student from U of A) all showed up. 
The rest of the week we paddled around Ekahli Lake looking for new sites, and trying to stay dry from all the freakin' rain! It wasn't so bad with the rain - that's a lie, it was pretty shitty,  all my clothes were damp and it got really cold - but it was worse working in the wet dirt. That was what sucked. 
We did find new sites though! Though we joked that Albert must have gotten a real sense of appreciation for Swiss archaeology - we would sift through endless shovel tests only to come up with three or four flakes a day! Mean while in Switzerland he excavates entire pile dwellings and ice patches in the Alps from neolithic times to now! How boring hahah.
The rain was persistent and when Tom and Albert left on Friday, Glen made the ultimate decision that if it was raining on Saturday, we'd leave. Very counter-productive working in the wet dirt... and so it goes that Friday was our best day!

Famous microblade

We got a tow over to Sanguez Lake from Ernest and Billy,  they had a kicker on their canoe, so we held on to their gunnels and were pulled over! We spent the morning at one site, digging holes and finding nothing, so after lunch we went to another place where BAM Todd found a surface flake! We did a couple holes which yielded like 6 flakes- major break through. Then Todd hit the motherload, a shovel test with like 20 flakes and a microblade (my favourite tool :)). But then it started to rain, and rained most of the night.
So we packed up and came home Saturday, and plan to head back out around then end of July when the water table willbe a little lower.

Please no rain.

Well, it's that time of year again! Field season!
Last week Glen and I drove out to Yellowknife River to do some brief reconnaissance for our up coming work with the Yellowknives. It was kinda of disheartening. The area which had been used for generations, continued to be used into modern times and the area was bulldozed and covered in gravel - potentially ruining any accurate stratifications.
Anyways, we walked around, did a couple shovel tests which revealed hardly any organic soils and a crap ton of glacial lake sediments. Bad news. But we were only there to scope it out, we go full throttle in July!
Tomorrow is another big day. Glen and I hit the road again for Jean Marie River!
We are working with the community on the cultural inventory for the PAS again this summer, which I am pumped for. What I am not pumped for is the bugs. Dear lord. I took Corona swimming tonight, and as soon as we passed the old rec hall at Con, we walked into a wall of bugs. Puke. I cannot even begin to imagine what will be in store for us in the Dehcho.
We're walking into Gargan Lake on Friday, setting up camp there for the weekend, walking back out on Monday to meet Tom, a visiting archaeologist (Albert) from Switzerland and a PhD student (Todd) from U of A. We'll all then camp at Ekhali Lake, where Glen and I were surveying last summer and fall.

Hopefully, we'll have some deadly finds, gorgeous weather and good time, with minimal bugs :)

To Pang and back

Pang was fantastic.
We made it up Duval, dined atop amongst all the inuksuit. Dad never joined us, but it was nice. The snow wasnt facing the sun, so we could walk on it with no problem, unlike when we were coming back from the river and dropping though every couple steps.

The view was great.
Obviously would have been nicer if it was clear, but the weather was not on our side. It never got above 1c, but realistically, if it had been any warmer, it might have been too warm to walk, and pretty sloppy. The only thing I would have liked to change would have been the wind. Honestly though, it was only unbearable on Monday. The other days it was pretty manageable.

We walked out towards the sound, and the landscape that away looks like a giant had been playing marbles with the boulders and didnt clean up - boulders scattered the slope. So cool, massive ones  too!

We also went down to a little "island" that mum used to play on forever when she was a kid, as she put it, many adventures were enacted on it. Then we made our way out on the tidal flats. The tide was out so we walked out to the real ice. The rocks and mud were speckled with clams and barnacles, and it smelt like the ocean, even though it was only ice.

Dad left on Monday because he was worried about not getting out in time today to make his connections south tomorrow. Good thing. Mum`s flights got cancelled on Tuesday, Canadian North didnt make it in on Monday either, or today for that matter. Turns out they never make it in, First Air makes it in everyday day, Canadian North is super hit or miss. I changed my flight and came out with mum yesterday on First Air (they made it in when CN said the weather was bad in Pang?)

Anyways I'm glad I did! Thomas and Patricia came by the hotel to say goodbye, then I went out with Pat to see James - not my little James any more! Met his little panik,oh my she's adorable! She spent the afternoon with Patricia and I, all I wanted to do was squeeze her!
Long story short - awesome trip! Planning to return in September!

The old goat

Well my first two days  here have been splendid! Yesterday mum, dad and I just wandered around the hill behind my uncles for the afternoon - a little cloudy, but still nice. Not cold, probably 1c, and hardly any wind. Still snow, but no big deal. Pretended I was a caribou crossing all the various snow patches across the hill, trying not to sink up to my waist in it. Mum and I did pretty well.

Wont budge.

I'm loving all the boulders here. They're so spectacular! The force that was needed to move all those boulders, and they are massive! And there are so many, it's not like one random boulder across a vast espanse, its like hundreds littering the land.
Anyways, after our little walk we made our way over to mums friend Hannah's. I showed her the liners I had made from copying the ones she made for us all way back when. She was pleased, but said they looked too small... of course they do, I have mini feet.
Inspired by her praise, I came back to start sewing my duffle liners for the seal skin mitts I'm going to make when ITI gets their act together back home and has more seal skins in stock... I digress - I worked on the liners and hope to have them finished so I can show them off to Meeka when I pass back through Frob on Wednesday.
Today we set off down the Duval River - so many boulders! It was a nice little hike up the river, we started off at 71m above sea level (asl) and made our way over rocks and hummocks, which was crawling with spiders! I'm so glad there are no other creepy bugs here, blah.

Water!

Mum and I stopped for a little water break, dad objected, he had a smart tea break - the water wasnt that great.
Soon after dad returned back along the river, so mother and I ventured up, reaching eventually 389m asl.  The farther up we went the more snow there was. Down in the river valley there was no snow, or only in the deep crevasces, up there it was vast snow and still heavily skidooed across.
Dad left us radios, so we tried to check in with him, only worked when I was up on one of the massive bouders... from there we decided to to turn around and head back to town. We were promised BLTs when we got back to the house.
We stopped for a little tea break with a lone inuksuk and then followed the skidoo highway back down.

I also just dropped down as I was taking a photo of mum falling through

BAD idea, the snow was so rotten, we keep walking then suddenly drop down to mid thigh through the snow. Hah, pretty funny at the time, every couple steps we'd sink and just giggle away.That small stretch probably took us an hour alone to cross because we kept having to stop and empty our boots after pulling each other out.
After four or so hours we made our way back down the hill to uncle Jeffs, where we were served BLTs on our arrival :)
Tomorrow I'm hoping to go up Mt. Duval, but the forcast is changing rapidly and now it's nothing but clouds forcasted for the rest of the week. This means terrible photos - clouds blocking the views :( and that there will be tons of snow to make our way over again. Not that I'm too concerned about that. Just the lack of sun which would help with the melting and the pretty photos...
All the more reason to come back! As we were hiking we covered so many berry fields that went unpicked last year. No one picks berries better that me! (I like to think, obviously there are much better seasoned pickers than myself). So I'll have to come back in the fall! Or realistically next summer.
Fingers crossed for clear skies tomorrow.