Pictures from Colorado

I have uploaded photos from Colorado.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kwarrell/KeckColorado2010#

Catching cool breezes

Most of my work is done now. I don't think I have any field work left (emphasis on think). I'm sure Dave or Will will come up with something. Actually, they just did. I have to go get seven more samples of stream sediment. Happily, it will all be shipped home for me. I do not have to take it all on the plane.

I think I made some sort of personal record. I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan in five days. Never have I finished a book in that time. I was certainly impressed with myself, mostly because I didn't believe it was possible. I've started The Joy Luck Club. I'm not certain that it will be as good as Snow Flower. That book was really good. It started off really sad and depressing, but then I really got into it. I recommend it to anyone, and have it if you'd like to borrow it.

We have five days left! It's certainly sad to think about. I do believe that I just might miss Gordon Gulch. I mean, I've spent seven hours there every day for the past two and a half weeks. And Colorado, oh Colorado. When the trip started, I was not impressed in the least with Colorado. Over the three weeks I've been here, it has slowly grown on me. The wild flowers, the weather, the hippies, the lifestyle. It almost evokes something similar to New Zealand (it just took longer for it to sink in). I don't know how exactly to describe it. I guess you'd have to travel to either of the two to understand what I mean...

Looking up at the clouds, to the west, everything is a pale steel blue, the clouds a tad darker than the sky. The blue darkens toward the east. Directly overhead, the clouds are a fleshy pink, soft and undefined. They fade into a tangerine color in the east, with well defined billows edged in a slightly brighter gold. On the horizon, silhouettes of the mountains, not so far away. Can you see it?

Almost done?

My project is probably 85% complete... maybe. At least the field portion of my project is... we'll have to see what Kurt wants me to do with it when I get back, which could be a lot or a little. In either case, it will be a whole lot less work than some of my colleagues will have to do.

It has rained almost every day this past week and is supposed to rain the next three days. It's really a downer on everyone's mood. Meanwhile, I've taught myself how to weave flowers out of grass while waiting for the rain to pass. Not very productive, but it is rather hard to map anything when any amount of dampness will ruin the paper.

I've started reading a new book entitled Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Very interesting, and I recommend reading it so far. I finished reading The Namesake. I started it in New Zealand and didn't have time until now to finish it. Not much else is new. We went to the Boulder Farmers' Market last Wednesday and are planning to go again this Wednesday. They have mango sticky rice, which I am eagerly looking forward to. The dining hall here is not too keen on ethnic food, and if they do serve it, it lacks some serious flavor.

the beginnings of a "thesis"

So for the past four days here, i have been doing roughly the same thing: surveying the stream in Gordon Gulch. So far, I have about 50 pages in my little notebook full of data points to graph, which will eventually end up being a map of the stream. Once i get this map, I then have to go survey both the north and south banks of the stream and draw out the terraces onto my map. Eventually, my project will end up being similar to this one, maybe a little less extensive:

http://www.azgs.az.gov/sanpedroriver2009.shtml

Obviously, these people had a lot more time and resources than I will, but it's roughly what I'd like to achieve. I (hopefully) only have one more day of surveying the stream, which means only one more day of wet shoes. I'll probably still have to fight the vegetation when I map the terraces, but that's okay. It's a whole lot easier than hiking up a mountain. I'll probably even end up coring trees, which means that I take out a small cylinder of the tree to count its rings to see how old it is. That way, we can know a minimum age for the terraces. We'll probably end up using radiocarbon dating to get a maximum age by dating some old logs that are buried in the terraces. I've probably been working the most out of everyone here, and probably still have the most to do. But that's okay with me. I'd rather work on my project than be someone else's assistant.

Colorado, day 1

So today we took a leisurely hike up a mountain range. A lot easier said than done. First, we had an hour long drive in the bed of a truck over gravelly and rocky roads. We had to cross over huge boulders and a rapid creek, and the whole time we were being watched by marmots, which are supposed to be really vicious. They look like prairie dogs to me. The whole thing was exhausting, and makes me realize how terribly out of shape I am. These things get better with time, right? Needless to say, I don't think I'll be picking a project in the area we visited today.

Pictures! Finally!

Here are 443 of the total 1599 pictures I took in New Zealand. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kwarrell/AotearoaNewZealand#

End of an era

It's over. I don't want it to be over. Right now, if I could, I would take another 26 hour journey back to New Zealand. In a minute.

To catch up:

The first day in Queenstown, we tramped on part of the Routeburn track. The whole thing takes 3 days one way. We drove an hour to the track, and unloaded the bus. The track was very interesting. There were 4 or 5 spring bridges, which are probably the scariest things in the world. They move way too much when you walk across them. The moss everywhere was a bright green, there were shield ferns everywhere in one section of the forest. The track followed the Routeburn River, which was a bright aqua blue. So beautiful.

The next day was my free day in Queenstown. I went to breakfast at a small place with a few girls from the group. We went to the botanical gardens after breakfast, then went shopping. It was a nice, relaxing day. We went to Fergburger for dinner, and I had the lamb burger, again.

We left Queenstown the next day and travelled to Te Anau (pronounced tea ahh-noo). It snowed on the way there, and everything was white. We took a cruise through Milford sound in the Fiordlands the next day, which was beautiful. It's very controversial, because Milford gets so many tourists that it is having a negative impact on the place.

The next day we travelled though to Aoraki/Mt. Cook. Many roads were closed because of the snow and ice. We hiked through Hooker Valley the following day. I think it might have been the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

We had to leave and go back to Christchurch. It was our last coach trip, and no one liked that. We drove through the beautiful countryside, back into the city. I had kebabs for dinner, then watched a movie in my room. It was the first time I had had a room to myself. No roommate. The next day was a free day, and I did a little shopping with a friend. We went to a place called the Honey Pot for breakfast, which had the most amazing pancakes. The final day was our exam, which I think went well, and we had our last group dinner at a restaurant called Two Fat Indians. Not really spicy enough... but still good.

The flight home was long. Because we crossed the international dateline, I had to live June 3 twice. Quantas is still probably one of the nicest airlines. No bags were lost.