So Long Canada...

I'm officially back in the States. It was a bit of a tumultuous trip back to Washington. But we made it back!

I'm going to miss working with my buddies on the crew and my Tucker...time to move on...*sniff*

Here is Conan - he was hiding in the tree like a cougar. Yea, he made me jump pretty high when he popped out:


Lichen! The stuff caribou eat:


Miss Sadie Mae in her jot pink get-up! She is so flippin' cute!


Gawd! I'm going to miss my Tuk Tuk like no other. I miss him already... I woke up this morning, back in Oakland, confused because I didn't know where my dog was.

Double Wide Heaven

Here is what my side of the trailer looks like...it's usually not really this messy.

Kitchen and living area. Tucker lives in the kitchen.

The living area:


My bedroom and bathroom to the side:

Tucker enjoying the couch:

Ninja What!....

Ninja who????

It's like a desert...

A Gigantic Ice Desert...no end it sight!



We walked on a creek (not recommended) and found this giant crack. We didn't walk the creek anymore...

Or maybe the Moon!!


With an Alien! (Scooby)

Moose Country!

Me and Tucker livin' it up on the moose super-highway. There were so many tracks and poops. Liz orienteered for us on the snowy day. Her fingers got really cold picking up all those scats...

Workin' like a Dog

I'm almost done!!! Yay! A few more pics while working...

I think the ice layers are really pretty...but not fun to walk through. There are a lot of open areas that get windblown and they form lots of layers. Sometimes really crusty icy stuff that is like cement to punch through while making a trail. This is a layer of ice about 2 ft from the ground, covered by powder:


Me and Tucker posing for a shot:


Conan is always on his cell...


Moose poop!


Tucker posing in a moose bed, after finding some scat:

Albertan crap circle:

Heli Fun

Session C helicopter days. Conan, Tucker and I went with Mark in his Long Ranger AXW.

My view of the heli from the back seat. Mark is on the right flying, and Conan next to him:


Me and Tucker - Tucker is not a fan of flying:


Our shadow on the Jet Ranger (smaller Heli flown by Scott):


The tiny Conklin area airport, about 10 min away from camp:


A SAGD gravel pit - gravity assisted cleansing method for getting the oil cleaned from the sand:


All the disturbance from the oil extraction process, a 4D:


HWY 63 into Fort McMurray - has really high crash/death rate because people here drive like crazies!


More disturbance cut lines:



A lake where someone was daring enough to ride over on their snow mobile:


Meandering river (the Christina?):


Mark was really cool...I told him I hadn't seen any wolves since being up here and he flew over looking for some. We found a kill (moose) in the middle of a cut line with 12 wolves! Here are 6:


1 in the trees scattering because of the heli buzz:


2 in the trees getting away: