Goodbye for Now!

Just got the helo schedule for tomorrow - we leave McMurdo at 8:45am for our first camp location in Lower Wright Valley. We should be in Lower Wright for a little over a week before moving on to Victoria Valley, which is one of our primary research sites for the season. There are some spectacular sand dunes in this region, and we hope to be able to sample some of them to better characterize the material that they are composed of.

After Victoria Valley, we head to a transition camp in a valley called Bull Pass. This is where our other two team members will join us, in addition to our big group splitting camp into two smaller camps. We are only going to be in this location for a little over a week, but while we're there, we have a trip planned that will take three of us (I'm one of those three) out of the valleys and onto the polar plateau. We are going to a small nunatak (an island amongst a sea of ice) that is about 2 km by 2 km large, where we will collect samples. This is cool because it will be my first time up on the plateau - I'm sure the views will be spectacular (pictures to come!)!

Then, well finally all move to Taylor Valley, which is the "busiest" of the dry valleys. While we'll still be camping, there are several established and permanent camp sites in this region, so we should hear our fair share of radio chatter and see quite a few helos fly in and out of the valley on a regular basis. We'll be here for two weeks at the most, before we head back to McMurdo to clean our gear and get back to the US!

Anyway, I'll miss you all, and I'll be sure to post as soon as I get back. In the meantime, let's see if Brian remembers to update you all with my status!

Best,

Mark