Last day of quarantine today! It has been a long but productive 8 days and we’re definitely getting a little stir crazy at the hotel but we’ve learned a lot and have really grown as a team.
Over the last couple of days we did more team bonding and total station practice. We set up an “elliptical pool” through the use of a concave in Sophie’s Station lawn and marked points using various items like water bottles, masks, backpacks, and notebooks. We were able to test out shooting points using the rod and total station, and also practiced taking gps points using the extrex. The next day we used the extrex to find the points we had taken the previous day which was great practice for what we’re going to have to do in the field when it comes to finding groups 1 and 2 points.
Emma, our science lead, came up with a concrete list of the twelve streams we are going to be visiting based on the other groups’ input and the data we’ve been analyzing as a team. We’ve come across some challenges while analyzing the data such as missing points, results that haven’t made sense, and incorrect measurements but we’ve worked through it and are looking forward to looking further into it next semester. We’ve also done additional team bonding like outdoor group yoga one evening.
Today we finalized our plans for the field and did our final team bonding activity of the week which was breaking up into teams and leading your blindfolded partner through a maze only through the use of your voice. It was a very fun activity and tested how well we can work together. We also got the truck today and had an orientation where we were taught how to drive the truck, where and what all the gear is, and as a group we changed one of the tires. It was very useful information and we’re all really looking forward to driving up the Dalton Highway. For the rest of the day we’re completing any leftover tasks, doing additional data analysis, and packing up our stuff. We’re leaving tomorrow at 7am and I’m very very excited. Can’t wait to see what the next ten days in the field will be like!