An update from the Research Caribou Program’s summer field crews in Rainbow Lake and Running Lake.
Rain, wasps and wash-out!
Shift 5 – Caribous 1&2
The first red flag that all may not be well in Rainbow Lake occurred as we pulled off of the pavement and were greeted by a convoy of RVs navigating the saturated roads away from the campground, like so many rats abandoning a sinking ship. We were left with Rainbow Lake campground all to ourselves.
It’s been determined that when given the opportunity, if Marlene meets a fellow Ontarian her geographical residence within that province will miraculously be “right next to” said person’s hometown. Us less-enlightened west coasters/Quebecois can only conclude that Ontario consists only of about five or six towns in a tight cluster! Marlene was given ample opportunity to perform this geographical relocation as we made friends with locals of both Rainbow Lake and Running Lake, including a trio of folk who had accidently moored their boat underwater and needed help retrieving it, to a pair of COs waiting for local rif-raff to clear out of the camp.
Though the first half of the shift was dominated by rain and bogs, the last three days brought us some gorgeous sunshine and heat…and wasps, much to the ire of the majority of the team who ended up on the receiving end of some disturbed nests. Both teams capped the shift with long quad journeys to reach points. Bou2 embarked on an odyssey through the muskeg that would rival anything Homer could produce. Bou1, after finding many uncuts that were cuts, had a ‘relaxed’ pace as the battery in their steed would not allow them out of first gear.
This is Bou1 and Bou2 signing off
