Day 7

Today was an interesting day. But what can I expect?

I'm finding that I am not getting enough sleep and it's starting to take a toll. Nevertheless, I am still amazed at this place and the sites I have seen. We were supposed to fly out in the helicopter along the edge of the Beaufort Sea to a few sites, but the fog was too thick and we decided to jump in the truck and drive south 75 miles along the Dalton Highway. Along the way we saw a herd of muskox. They were fairly far away so the photos aren't great, but at least I got some.

It rained all day. Not a heavy rain but steady. Thank God for Gore-Tex, I don't know what I would do without it. I am beginning to really understand the appeal of wool. While most of my gear is synthetic and works well in wet conditions, you don't really want to wear synthetic fabrics while flying up here. If the helicopter crashes and catches fire, the synthetics will melt to your skin in a matter of seconds. So wool is your friend, but let's just hope it never comes to that.

Its absolutely beautiful up here in a bland, monotone way. Much more beautiful when you get south a bit into the Brooks Range. We haven't made it there yet, but we got into the foothills yesterday and I took a bunch of shots of the flowers. The entire place is wet and saturated with water, but for some reason dehydration is my biggest issue. I can't explain why.

The mosquitoes have reached a new high. Yesterday was insane. I'll let the photo speak for me:

This is the hood of one of my crew's bug shirt.

This morning we had a flat tire, so we are stuck in town waiting for someone to come fix it. I'll try and update tonight.