From the Caribou Program’s field crew at the Kakwa Camp, here’s an update from August 4, 2015.
The Kakwa Talent Show & Music Festival
The 3rd shift brought welcome warm weather that made hiking a little more difficult, but in return fried the majority of the biting insects. It was great! Coming back from 10 days off left us feeling refreshed and ready to tackle some more points…it also left our navigation skills a little rusty….Jen and Amanda were left confused when Amanda accidently ‘navigated’ 30km away from the intended area for the day – luckily there were points close by to do! Kaitlyn and Aimee were attempting to get to a road that was a little tricky to find when they were followed by an oilfield worker who wanted to make sure they were not lost – they weren’t of course (or so they told him) – they were on the way to the next ‘road’.
In the middle of the shift Kaitlyn had to leave us temporarily to perform her duties as Maid of Honour at a friend’s wedding so Aimee spent a few days in Grande Cache helping Kelsey and Jillian. Jennifer and Amanda were left in camp alone for a night, during which lots of card games were played, before Laura came to join them on Saturday. Apparently it’s easier to write papers in remote research camps? By Monday afternoon camp was feeling a little busier as Karine and Doug, as well as Karen, Cam and Brent had all arrived to do some work in the area. By Tuesday afternoon the Chinchaga and Hinton crews had arrived in camp, with the Chinchaga crews heading straight for the showers, their first in 8 days. Everyone had gathered for the first Kakwa Music Festival and Talent Show – a chance for all the crews to spend a relaxing evening together mid-season.
The evening started with an epic meal – Doug manned the BBQ, Karine, Laura and team made salads and sides, and dessert was Genevieve’s apple crumble, brownies baked by Ash (from Kakwa fire tower) and a beautifully iced cake (the Hinton crews talent). After an epic Speed tournament with Karen as the eventual champion and some Frisbee in chainsaw boots (Karine) it was time for the camp fire and evening entertainment. The talents were varied and included songs accompanied by guitars and ukuleles, uncomfortably long whale jokes, ‘sounds of the forest’ (‘Whoa bear’, a feller buncher and a sage grouse impression to name but a few), fieldwork charades, a rousing group rendition of Barrett’s Privateers, and original banjo songs by our resident troubadour Doug (check out some of his music here.
Although the summer is half over now and the end of the season is drawing closer there is still blueberry season to look forward to!
