Yikes, sorry guys for not updating this blog since Sunday. I've had a wave of exhaustion over the entire week, and honestly not too much has happened. So I'll post a quick rundown of things that might be interesting to people based on Cave Days, since that's where I've been mostly (other than today).
15: finished excavating out the bison jaw, kept working on the same wall.
16: more of the wall, nothing really big was found. Moved to another part of the cave to work with Matt (one of the new people, we get along remarkably well) and exposed him to a majority of Hamilton.
17: again, more digging around, finished Hamilton. I did fall asleep at the top of the cave before I went in, though (like, on top of the limestone. I was That Tired). I also painted a set of crystals onto Garrett's helmet and "NTC16" on one of the visiting caver's helmet. There was also a small scorpion (maybe 3/4ths of an inch long) that everyone was gawking over, and I wanted to hold it but didn't since smaller scorpions mess you up more than the big ones do.
18: Penny said I should stay topside given my exhaustion the day before, so I slept in and helped some other people sift through sediment. I also painted a jumping spider onto another caver's helmet. I then packed up things to make packing the truck easier.
So now that I've run down the whole week, I'll discuss today.
Today was a bit sad, since we left Natural Trap Cave in order to go to the Uinta Basin. There were tears shed and bags packed, and we managed to ride Truckie down Ball Bearing and John Blue (the roughest sections of the road from the cave into town) without disaster. We all took showers and reveled in our glorious cleanliness after about two weeks with no real showering. Field work is sometimes really disgusting, y'all.
We drove to Lander, where Juan recommended we stop for lunch, and had some EXCELLENT sandwiches. If you're ever in Lander, Wyoming, the Lander Bar and Grill is top-notch. We got back on the road again and got stuck behind a long caravan going through construction for a good 30-45 minutes, which was frustrating. Not much really happened on the road, since we were all tired and just letting ourselves experience cleanliness and air conditioning.
Miraculously, Penny, Garrett, and I didn't immediately burst into flames when we crossed into Utah while driving through Flaming Gorge. We're currently staying in a hotel near the Field House Museum in Vernal, which we're hoping to go to tomorrow. It is the weekend of the Days of 47, though, so we might be visiting alongside many young families amped up on sugar and fireworks.
Anyways, that was my work week. It's going to be weird not entering a cave every day from now on. Maybe I'll take up caving, like Garrett has. Maybe. Hope you all had a good Friday, and for those of you celebrating Days of 47, stay safe and don't eat fireworks!
ALSO: I will have much less reliable data and cell service from tomorrow evening to when I get back to Rochester, most likely. I will be posting updates in batches when I can't access everything very well. I'm not dead, unless the news says otherwise.
Speaking of news, here are two articles about the caving experience written by the news people that came by last week: Here's the one about the science and here's one focusing on one of our volunteers and general caving. And yes, Penny is my professor. She's awesome.
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