24 hours of madness

I decided that I needed to know what happens in a deep pool in the stream. Not just what happens, but what happens throughout the day, and in 5 different locations: the inlet, the outlet, 4 meters deep, 1.75 meters deep and 40cm deep. I managed to get almost three hours of sleep in-between sampling.

Base camp:


Honestly, I was afraid of the dark. It was very dark, very, very dark. There are cougars, and bears. I had three strategies for cougar/bear defense:

1. Light, and more light. I used a lantern and a headlamp. The lantern formed a bubble of safety around me, and acted as a beacon, so I knew where to land the kayak.
2. noise - I whistled, and I sang. Oddly enough, the only song I could think of was Neil Young's "Hey, Hey, My, My (Into the Black)"
3. Scent marking. Yeah, every time I had to pee I helped build an invisible barrier. Maybe.

Of course, the kayak felt like the safest place to be, but there was no way I was going to try to take a nap on it.


6am: first light. Between 4am and 6am I went from being able to see the milky way, to not needing a headlamp.


This is the Geopump, I use it to suck water up from the depths. I think it's kind of cute.


Morning on the stream is beautiful, but then so are all the other times of day. I would know, I was there.


Evening upstream. This is the boardwalk to Walker Meadow, just upstream of my pool.


10pm. The last sampling. As I'm heading out bats swoop down in front of the kayak skimming the surface of the water for insects.