Fraser

A wise man named Eddie Izzard once said “I’m covered in bees!” I think we can all relate to this scenario after today’s sampling experience, during which we were attacked by hordes of ravenous mosquitoes.

Since leaving Lillooet, we’ve made two big detours on two long days of driving to sample tributaries off the beaten track. Since Highway 97 leaves the Fraser for long stretches between Lillooet and Prince George, getting to our sampling sites sometimes involves considerable travel on gravel roads into somewhat remote areas.

The real highlight of the day was driving through the Chilcotin canyon. The area looks completely different from what we saw on our last two visits.

Since the last post, we’ve covered quite a bit of ground. After finishing our Hope station yesterday morning, we hit the road for Lytton, stopping at Hell’s Gate on the way.

There was much rejoicing when we learned that our gear had finally arrived at UFV this morning. Not a moment too soon, as we were rearing to hit the road and start some serious sampling.

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter C: condensation, coffee, chutney, contrafibularities, and clogged filters.

Welcome back to the Fraser River expedition blog! Over the next three weeks, we will be posting updates and musings on our experiences collecting samples from across lower British Columbia.

All of our sampling finally behind us, our expedition draws to a close. Yesterday was in some ways the simplest day, and in others the most ambitious.

An important aspect of the Global Rivers Project is acquiring a time series. For weekly samples from the Fraser Basin, we are indebted to our colleagues at the University of Fraser Valley — Steven Marsh, Sharon Gillies, Alida Janmaat, and seven of their brightest undergraduate students.

The follow-up to yesterday’s exciting tale of organic chemicals features our inorganic measurements!