A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I am so sorry I have been so tardy in posting but between moving up to Wawa and back within 5 days, finishing up work on the Batchawana and the extreme heat I have been too exhausted to type!

For your patience, here are some long awaited photos from this last month

"There is something strange; in your riverbed; who ya gonna call? HYDRONET!"

Me in my Electrofishing Backpack. Just call me Ray :)

I feel like a superhero in my wetsuit!

Baby Moose!! wandered into our snorkeling site...awww its sooo cute!!! Just last week we also saw a Momma and her baby walking along the shore of the Batchawana while we were less than 200 meters away! Absolutely amazing!

 

I saw this and had to take a picture! This is how I feel when I drive Jolly Jumper. I used to be one of those drivers refused to go more than 5km/hr over the speed limit. I am now the person who goes 105km/hr on a 90km/hr highway! I have also become the person who PASSES other cars!

What has happened?!

Salmon with baked goat cheese. That's right folks, I ate fish! Shocker I know. And it wasn't half bad...

Canada Day Fireworks in the Soo (slang for Sault Ste. Marie). I was so proud to be Canadian I felt the need to dance and take-up tree hugging...I wasn't drinking I swear!

Sooooo much time so little jokes to be made...wait, scratch that, reverse it!

Did he walk with the animals? Talk with the animals? Grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals? and could they squeak and squawk and speak and talk with him?

As promised, the photos of the place I stayed at (briefly!) in Wawa....

 

 The creepiest thing though had to be the bust of the deer...THE THING WASN'T EVEN REAL!!! While it didn't work, there are buttons on the side that I am assuming are for making it move...I had to name him "Bambi" just to invoke some sort of hopeless innocence and remove the shuddersome feelings I was having and allow me to sleep lol

Exploring access points for the Black River. Wow what a juxtaposition that place was... ominous fogs, and fields of beautifully innocent flowers

Got stuck in the mud exploring the access points for the Black River...

 ...CLEARLY we didn't see the sign...

Jolly Jumper's flat tire on the Batchawana trail. Good thing they had me to change the tire...

...well maybe not change the tire completely on my own. But i did get to put back on and tighten all the bolts :P now that is impressive!

Until next time!

Sincerely,

Your throughoughly exhausted-can't believe the summer is almost over Field Biologist

What do flat tires, getting stuck in the mud, and Alfred Hitchcock have in common?

Hello Everyone, I am so sorry for the long delay between my posts but between long hours in the water with leaky waders and preparing for a move to Wawa, I haven't had the energy or time to write. But now I'm back with some very exciting and freaky updates.
On July 9th our team moved up to Wawa, ON for a month in order to study the Magpie River. And in answer to the question I posted last time, it was the hardly visible dirt road that is what we have to take to get to the river. Let me tell you it is NOT a fun drive lol. I play the Jurassic Park theme song in my head as we drive along. and watch out for Velociraptors hanging around the next bend.

I am already missing Searchmont. I miss the other team we are working with, and I most especially miss our accommodations! Now I most definitely did not expect luxury (though searchmont came close), but I did not expect to be living in the setting from a Hitchcock movie...

Unfortunately due to my very limited Internet access I cannot post any pictures but just imagine it:

Its a grey, gloomy day. You pull off Highway 101 to a lone little house in the middle of nowhere. When you open the door you are greeted by wood paneling, sloped floors, appliances that must be from the 60s (or earlier), pealing wallpaper, and velour cushioned wood furniture! My bedroom has pink carpet that has got to be 50 years old, old musty blanket on the bed, and a ceiling that looks like it is about to cave in. Right outside my bedroom door there is a bust of a deer hanging on the wall (the creepiest thing about it is it is completely fake!).

You would have a hard time sleeping too if you were in my shoes (the thunderstorm didn't help matters lol). I kept hearing strange noises and was just waiting for the moment when Norman Bates was going to jump out of my closet...

Enough about the creepy cabin...on a positive note I can add two new automotive skills to my expanding credentials. In the last 3 days I have had to get Jolly Jumper out of the mud, and change a tire. The tire happened when we were on the trail to the Batchawana (fortunately not while I was driving). Granted the other techs who had done it before did most of the work but i did learn a lot AND i got to tighten the bolts on the spare tire, all by myself :D.
Today we went to explore the Black River (sounds very ominous especially when you add the fact that there was a constant halo of fog surrounding us most of the day). On the way through one of the trails poor Jolly Jumper got stuck in the mud. Should have followed the sign that said to use trail at our own risk...oops! So we laid sticks and grass behind the wheels to help give more traction. After two tries my boss still couldn't get the car out. So then I got behind the steering wheel while the others were out front to push. On my FIRST attempt, I got our beloved car out of the mud!!! I am so proud of myself! So for anyone out there who thinks that I can't HANDLE my own truck (cough...you know who you are...COUGH) you are soooooo wrong! I am a rough-n-tough woodsgirl now, so take that!

That is it for me tonight! I don't have internet at the Bates Motel but I will be sure to update as soon as I can.

Sincerely,
your overly-heightened-sense-of-imagination-rough-n-tough Field Biologist

A Note on Leeches, Cartoon Bears, and Science Fiction Impersonators

We haven't seen much wildlife in the last few days, well at least interesting/noteworthy wildlife. It is almost as if the animals wanted to show off for us in our first week here, and now that we are no longer a novelty, they all went back to their business. My boss did receive an email from our landlord however, telling us that there is a bear wandering around the resort so we need to be careful. But the closet thing to to a bear I've seen lately was a cut-out of Yogi and Boo-boo on our drive to the river. All I can picture now is waking up one morning to the resort bear stealing our pic-a-nic basket!

Speaking of bears, there is this t-shirt at the Wawa General Store that says "you don't have to outrun a bear, you just have to outrun your friend". Well I figured out who out of the four of us on the team will be the one who gets left behind and eaten by the bear...can you guess?...It's ME! We went back to Wawa to (FINALLY) install the thermologgers in the Magpie River. This is the first time I had to hike into the access points and I trailed behind everyone else by at least 10 mins! Normally I wouldn't make to big a deal out of it, however the access points on the river are SURROUNDED by blueberry bushes!! So once they start to bloom I will be a sitting duck. If I had my hiking boots on I might have a chance, but in waders? I can barely bend my knees let alone run! I should just surrender myself now! Maybe if I bust my butt and manage to keep up with everyone and then outrun (cough-trip-cough!) the person carrying the Electrofishing Backpack I won't be the one eaten lol.

Lately, underneath de l'eau is where it is happening! Snorkeling is going a lot better. I am gaining my strength back in my arms and I am really starting to get a hang of seeing and identifying fish while snorkeling. While it is strenuous to the body climbing against heavy currents, quite frustrating to find fish, and overall a very slow process, the plus side is it gives me the perfect opportunity to practice my Darth Vader impression :P

Through Snorkel: points to a Trout (heavy breathing) "The force (to avoid the electrofisher) is strong with this one"

A piece of advice for those of you who like to snorkel in freshwater rivers- When snorkeling in the river, even if you where all the neoprene in the world, you won't be saved from leeches! So watch out! Make sure you check the inside of your wetsuit when you remove it. The one I found today, while fortunately didn't attach to me, attached to the INSIDE of my suit. And I wore a full length wetsuit, gloves, boots, and a hood!! How did it get in?! Can you say EWWWWW!!

Finally, I would like to leave all of you with a little guessing game. When we went to Wawa the first time we had a lot of trouble finding the access points (encountering washed out roads, mounds of dirt blocking roads etc). Can you guess which is the actual way to the river? Don't worry it threw us for a loop as well!

Sincerely,

Your thoroughly amused, sometimes bored, and wanting-to-avoid-getting-back-into-the-wetsuit Field Biologist

The Fine Art of Cruise Control!

Believe it or not, but for the first time in my entire life I learned how to use cruise control! And for those of you who don't know me should know what an amazing feat this is! Before last week I wouldn't touch any car bigger than my parents Mazda 6 with a ten foot pole, let alone try and figure out how cruise control works. I am flabbergasted that I didn't think to attempt to learn it sooner! Boy does it make my life easy. I no longer have to worry about those long stretches of highway constantly adjusting my speed. I can sit back and relax as my car does it for me :D. A glorious toast to the inventors of this magnificent piece of technology! Without you my life was incomplete.

I only wish there was cruise control for the human body. I could certainly have used it today. We did our snorkeling training for the first time, and in fast flowing current no less!! To say that I had trouble trying not to get swept down stream was an understatement! I was thrown and tossed about like food in a food fight! I have many many MANY bruises from bouncing off the rocks, and my arms are DEFINITELY going to be sore in the morning as I had to claw my way up against the current, CLINGING to rocks. Well at least I will be very fit by the end of the summer!
If only I were Aquaman. Life would be so much simpler...

Sincerely,

Your cruise control loving-wishing it was transferable to water, Field Biologist

Called on account of rain!

I wake up this morning to pouring rain and a day off. SWEET! And to top it off my internet has been fixed (for now anyway...). So I have decided to post more of my pictures from the trip to Wawa the day before yesterday. Enjoy!

On the Road to Wawa:

The beautiful Lake Superior:

The route to the Magpie River:

Trip to Young's General Store and the Scenic High Falls, Wawa, ON:

Sincerely,

Your relaxed-and-happy-to-have-a-day-off Field Biologist

Houston, we have a problem!

First I just want to appoligize as it seems that I might not be able to update this blog for a few days or weeks :S) as my internet is patchy at best. I am currently sitting at the local community centre in order to check my emails and give all of you an update. so far its not going so well...
Well yesterday was a VERY interesting day. Our team drove 210km North to Wawa to check out the acces sites we will be using when we begin studying the Magpie River. This river is considered comparable with the Batchawana (which we are studying now), the only difference being that the Magpie has a Hydropower dam on it.

We arrive in Wawa and immediately experience a change in the scenery. In order to get to two of the access points to the river we travelled along a dirt road across more open land full of blueberry bushes.

However, we encountered a few problems. We were unable to get to ANY of the access points on the River! We were blocked by a mound of dirt that was completely impassable, and a washed out road.

In the end we spent the day exploring the small town of Wawa doing toristy things...but more on that to come later when I have better internet access!

Sincerely,

Your extremely frustrated and technologically challenged Field Biologist