Journal Entry # 8

November 16-23, 2001

Summary: Field Camps: Lake Hoare and F-6

       After spending a week at New Harbor I boarded another helicopter and traveled further into the Taylor Valley, which is one of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica.  I flew to Lake Hoare where I meet up with the McMurdo Dry Valley LTER (long term ecological research) Stream Team.  The pair of guys that make up the Stream Team have one of the sweetest deals on the continent.  They get to spend their summer season hiking the Dry Valleys visiting streams and maintaining gauges to monitor the flow of water. 
       Sometimes the streams they have to visit are too far to hike, so often they're required to take helicopter rides over quite possibly the most beautiful scenery in the world.  The basic idea behind their work is to provide annual data on the amount of water melting from glaciers and flowing in streams into the frozen lakes in the valleys.
       Over the week working with Chris and Lee, the lucky two who form the Stream Team, I got to hike over the Canada Glacier, hike around both Lake Hoare and Lake Frixel, and travel via helicopter to the Wright Valley were I got to see the Onyx River and Lake Vanda.
       The entire week was awesome and so far a definite highlight of my trip to Antarctica.  And as if working in the Dry Valleys couldn't get any better, the camp manager, Rae, at Lake Hoare, the camp where we spent most of our time, was a fabulous host and an even better cook.  One testament to Rae's awesome cooking ability was her Thanksgiving dinner that we hosted at the field camp.  For Thanksgiving dinner not only did we have the couple residents of Lake Hoare, but we also had the New Harbor crew join us along with other LTER members working in the Taylor Valley and even a couple pilots stopped in. 
       Everything from the people to the scenery in the Dry Valleys was awesome.  I was disappointed I had to leave, but my departure was inevitable as there are other parts of Antarctica I still have yet to see.