June 25, 2006

It has been sunny for three whole days… absolutely unreal! Work is getting a bit more normal now that we have the helicopter here everyday. There are some big mountains around here that are tough to walk around. The other day we got dropped off by the helicopter and marched down the mountain to a creek. When we turned around there were two caribou following us! Two mornings ago our dog in camp, Pork Chop, was barking up a storm. There was a wolf trying to pass near camp, which Pork Chop wasn’t happy about. Other animals that we have seen are a bunch of sheep, a couple of goats (I think) and about 10,000 mosquitoes.
We’ve covered a lot of ground here and I’ve been learning lots. Like sphalerite can be green, red, yellow, white and never brown around here (sorry non-geos). I’ve learned about the joy of soil sampling in places where there is more rock than soil.
My crew is actually really good: there’s Eileen (the cook) and Pork Chop (the dog), they are both very good at their jobs. Bronwen is doing her master’s on this area and she’s a very sunny person who sneaks bacon to Pork Chop (as funny as that sounds). Margo is from Terrace, B.C. and is a geology student at UVic. She’s a tree-planter and always the first to get her nose on the outcrop. Colleen is from Victoria and is in geology at UBC. She’s definitely the giggler in this group and smart to boot. This is our motley, smelly group at Camp Gayna – be sure to stop by for our Sunday night movie (providing the generator doesn’t crater) or dessert.

June 26, 2006

Today we got to fly to a different property today. We basically (the two of us) got dropped off with a map we’d never seen before and no clues on what to look for. Real prospecting! It was fun, but crazy. It rained on and off today and was quite windy. When we got back to camp we found that our office had moved about three feet in one direction. What was even funnier was the fact that our outhouse had blown over. Well… maybe not over so much as away. I guess I can add outhouse construction on to my resume now. Although, we are a little worried that it may fall in the hole. It just has to last ten more days.
Bye for now, and please appreciate your showers, clean laundry and flush toilets!

Melissa