3rd October – Raven Camp – SK

Big day today and no more chopper rides for a while. I organized the crew to finish the West Bear work while Tan and I got out of camp to pick up samples. Wes has been dropping our samples off on the side of the highway and today we had to meet him to get the remainder. We were still reminiscing on the wonderful display the night before.
We got to the drop off point and checked out the river only 200m to the south. Huge shoals of fish to 60cm were swimming away and making there way up stream. They were in their hundreds and later I found they were whitefish. We heard Wes coming so I emptied out the cargo net of samples and sent him on his way back. Tan was out working hard, driving the massive truck and lugging samples into the truck. This is a far cry from high heels and ironed clothing in her last job. She even got mud all over her!
After the work side was finished we pulled out Tan’s new rod and she casted (eventually) in the shoal of fish. To our surprise there were no bites as the fish were busy spawning.

This evening we went for a walk along some of the tracks around camp and through some lovely parkland. Here the reindeer lichen, a pale green moss, covers the ground and the trees are more established. It was a lovely walk in 2 degree weather with a fine misting of rain but we are getting used to it. Six months ago Tan wouldn’t leave the house if it was this cold!!