Progress on the Peninsula

Four stations in two days – Team 2 is on a roll!  After a few days of being grounded in Sand Point, we were VERY ready to go build some stations!

Aubreya and Patrick run checks at the Port Heiden station. (photo by Jordan Tockstein)

On Monday, we took our first flight to Perryville, a village with approximately 100 residents, followed by a station in the village of Port Heiden.  Thanks to the relatively unconsolidated soil, we quickly installed each station in under two hours and made it back to our home base in Sand Point by early afternoon.

 

 

Jordan and Patrick work on the Nelson Lagoon station.

Flying through the mountains from the southern to the northern coast of the Peninsula, we were impressed by the asymmetry of the mountain range, steep and jagged to the south, but smoother to the north, with a alluvial plain gently sloping to the Bering Sea.  We also got a great view of the Veniaminof Volcano.

 

 

Flying under the clouds

Braided rivers carry sediment to the Bering Sea.

On Tuesday, we installed stations at Wildman Lodge and in Nelson Lagoon.  At Wildman Lodge, we attracted the attention of swarms of persistent flies and learned to work quickly and with few words; we were reluctant to open our mouths for fear of breathing in the flies!

Patrick and Jordan fight the flies during the installation at Wildman Lodge.  Yes, those gray dots are flies!

All together, we’ve installed five of the seven stations from Sand Point.  On Wednesday, Patrick and Jordan will install a sixth station in King Cove.  The seventh station is intended for Herendeen Bay, near Nelson Lagoon.  Unfortunately, the landing strip in Herendeen Bay needs repair, so we are unable to fly to the site as planned.  We hoped to charter a boat from Nelson Lagoon to Herendeen Bay, but none were available at the short notice.  So, we will keep the equipment in reserve to install during the service run this fall.

Aubreya Adams, Colgate University