Day 27 - In plane (Salt Lake City, UT en route to Chicago)
I suppose I should start by giving a more detailed escription of yesterday's events.
So John morton left as we departed for the day's excursions. Vicki had expressed a need for a companion for her plans for the day. I volunteered because since the bottom grab day, I've been pretty much free of any research of my own. So the two of us went off, starting from Mytoge Mountain Road down towards Pole Canyon. Vicki was trying to nail a Lake Creek-JVR contact and hopefully nail the fault(s) running through the area. In order to maximize covered area, we had to bushwhack a bit before we hit the Pole Canyon trail. For a while, it was tough finding any outcrops, but eventually we got some - even got within 15m of a contact!
Once we got back on the main canyon trail, rains quickily pushed in. It was soon thundering and we were probably a good 2 miles from our pick up spot. Fortunately, being in a canyon is a lightning-strategic place to be topographically. Anyway, we continued to sample crops as we went down the trail (but we started goign significantly faster now). Around 1pm (the time we were scheduled to be picked up), we stopped to mark a station (we still had a little bit over a mile to go). As we got ready to go, Vicki realized she had left the map at our previous satation. So, she asked me to stay where we were as she dashed back. So, I croched down amid some trees for protection. By now it was sprinkling and lightning was close. Now you may think that being near trees is unsafe for lightning. This is both true and untrue depending on the number of trees, size, and geography. They key really is not to touch the tree. Anyway, after our previous lightning storm encounter, we all underwent safety training (i.e. reading a handbook).
Okay, so, 10 minutes later Vicki and I joined up again and we started booking it to the pick up spot. When the trail started climbing up the ridge, we decided to bushwhack through trees for 1/3 mile because it was wiser to be topographically low with the increasing rain and approaching thunder. Eventually, we refound the trail when it was lower and then kept rushing to our destination.
After making it safely there, it was raining pretty hard. Instead of a (late) outdoor lunch, we drove to Loa and had lunch at a burger joint there. AFter a brief ride aroundwe were back at Fish lake to pack and laze about the day. Scott and Laura arrived right when Chuck and Justin had finished doing another afternoon escapade that Justin wanted to do for data collection.
Then it was time for dinner improvisation. We basically put any vegetable we had into a "soup." All of our sliced luncheon meat was heated up in a pan. After the first course, Danielle, Amber, Vicki, and I went to the Lodge and then to Lakeside resort. I got a long-sleeved T-shirt that says "Fish Lake" on it. After getting back, Justin started a fire and then began burning unsalvageable clothes - including a pair of his pants and then Tim's. It was a fun evening - I even busted out the popular rain pants (upon demand)
I should say that the rain was on and off for most of the afternoon.
Upon waking up this morning (4:30am), I immediately began packing things - sleeping back and pad. Meanwhile, there was frequent lightning the entire time.
[At this point, I fell asleep on the plane. See next entry.]
So John morton left as we departed for the day's excursions. Vicki had expressed a need for a companion for her plans for the day. I volunteered because since the bottom grab day, I've been pretty much free of any research of my own. So the two of us went off, starting from Mytoge Mountain Road down towards Pole Canyon. Vicki was trying to nail a Lake Creek-JVR contact and hopefully nail the fault(s) running through the area. In order to maximize covered area, we had to bushwhack a bit before we hit the Pole Canyon trail. For a while, it was tough finding any outcrops, but eventually we got some - even got within 15m of a contact!
Once we got back on the main canyon trail, rains quickily pushed in. It was soon thundering and we were probably a good 2 miles from our pick up spot. Fortunately, being in a canyon is a lightning-strategic place to be topographically. Anyway, we continued to sample crops as we went down the trail (but we started goign significantly faster now). Around 1pm (the time we were scheduled to be picked up), we stopped to mark a station (we still had a little bit over a mile to go). As we got ready to go, Vicki realized she had left the map at our previous satation. So, she asked me to stay where we were as she dashed back. So, I croched down amid some trees for protection. By now it was sprinkling and lightning was close. Now you may think that being near trees is unsafe for lightning. This is both true and untrue depending on the number of trees, size, and geography. They key really is not to touch the tree. Anyway, after our previous lightning storm encounter, we all underwent safety training (i.e. reading a handbook).
Okay, so, 10 minutes later Vicki and I joined up again and we started booking it to the pick up spot. When the trail started climbing up the ridge, we decided to bushwhack through trees for 1/3 mile because it was wiser to be topographically low with the increasing rain and approaching thunder. Eventually, we refound the trail when it was lower and then kept rushing to our destination.
After making it safely there, it was raining pretty hard. Instead of a (late) outdoor lunch, we drove to Loa and had lunch at a burger joint there. AFter a brief ride aroundwe were back at Fish lake to pack and laze about the day. Scott and Laura arrived right when Chuck and Justin had finished doing another afternoon escapade that Justin wanted to do for data collection.
Then it was time for dinner improvisation. We basically put any vegetable we had into a "soup." All of our sliced luncheon meat was heated up in a pan. After the first course, Danielle, Amber, Vicki, and I went to the Lodge and then to Lakeside resort. I got a long-sleeved T-shirt that says "Fish Lake" on it. After getting back, Justin started a fire and then began burning unsalvageable clothes - including a pair of his pants and then Tim's. It was a fun evening - I even busted out the popular rain pants (upon demand)
I should say that the rain was on and off for most of the afternoon.
Upon waking up this morning (4:30am), I immediately began packing things - sleeping back and pad. Meanwhile, there was frequent lightning the entire time.
[At this point, I fell asleep on the plane. See next entry.]