This weekend our team was blessed with two good weather days. We took advantage of the weather by traveling to Streams 6 and 7, completing 3 reaches at each. Reaches are a stretch of stream where a possible transition or spot of interest is located. With only some light passing rain on both days, we were grateful to get to explore large stretches of both streams, even though our legs got tired from scrambling on the tundra.

We all got a chance to use the waders and step into some of these deep and very muddy pools in both streams. Stream 6 seemed like it was once a deeper stream, but had dried up somewhat from lack of precipitation. Both stream 6 and 7 showcased transitions from beaded to alluvial, and vice versa, something we are all eager to study. All of Group 2 is getting very skilled at using the total station and as a group we came up with a way to expedite the probing process on steep banks by allowing one person to stay in the stream with waders and not have to get out of the water (a real issue at Stream 6 where the banks sank almost up to Merritt’s waist!). Both of our sites this weekend were beautiful and we got to see some 360 views, owls, muskox, caribou, and we were told by a pair of hunters that we just missed a grizzly bear who had passed before we got to our parking site. We have 3 more important streams left to cover before we leave and we are all excited to get to explore more!

Some other highlights:

Saturday we even made it back in time for Pizza night!

Brian, Alanna and Faye came in second to last in Toolik Trivia Night!