Camping near the ice margin

This weekend we packed up our gear and went to camp closer to the ice margin. This was partially to save us from the long drive up the valley every day and also to do a test run for camping with the whole Dartmouth IGERT group next summer. On our way to our campsite on Friday we stopped in Moraine Valley to collect some samples.


Drilling my first boulder!
Meredith is teaching me how to choose boulders to sample for Berylium-10 dating and how to sample them. Lots to learn! After taking complete field notes on the location of the boulder and its surroundings, we mark the latitude/longitude and elevation of the site, measure the dip/dip direction of the sampling area, and also measure the amount of shielding from the surrounding landscape (using a clinometer). Then we sample!


We arrived at our campsite on Friday evening and set up our camp. KISS outfitted us with these brand new (or like brand new) tents and a great kitchen set. It was a beautiful spot to camp and we had great camping weather.


Xiahong and Simone work on keying plants in the evening in our camp kitchen.


The tables are turned. Ross interviews/records Simone at camp one evening. He asked her "What do you like most about graduate school?"


On Saturday Meredith and I hiked up to the ice margin from camp. After hiking for an hour or so we came across this calving ice margin. We sat and ate our lunch (from where this photo was taken) and watched/heard chunks of ice fall. Pretty impressive!


Meredith atop the Little Ice Age moraine. This moraine is very young (500 yrs or less) and marks the last time the ice advanced.


The Little Ice Age moraine (right) and the edge of the ice sheet (left).


Meredith collecting plants for isotope analysis.


Simone, Ross and Meredith work together on a transect.