Eruption - 9. Erupt Ch 9

I had made sure that Emmanuel and I had the very best equipment for this trip, with a quick set up, and a good quality four-man tent, so we had plenty of room inside, as well as light-weight camp stretcher cots, to keep us off the cold ground.

Between Emmanuel and I, we carried all of our camping equipment, while the guides and porters that I had employed, would be carrying most of the research equipment, food, and the rest of the team’s camping gear, leaving them to carry a day pack of water and snacks.

When we arrived at our overnight campsite, selected by our guides, it soon became apparent, that instead of having four 2-man tents for the rest of the students, with Dr Archer owning and carrying her own, there are just two 2-man tents, which is a slight problem regarding sheltered accommodation.

Emmanuel, Hunter and I were chatting a short distance away when this news broke, and straight away Hunter asked if there was room in our tent for him, we agreed that he was welcome to share our tent, as we saw Dr Archer approaching us.

“I have a feeling that this is my boss’s doing, just to make it difficult for us, all because he couldn’t come along on the trip. I have also discovered that the work tent is also missing. What do you suggest we do about it?” she asked me sounding concerned. “Well, we have offered Hunter to stay with us in our tent since we are already good friends, and you have your own, so the two girls – Alison and Julia can share a tent, and the other three boys will just have to squeeze into the last remaining tent,” I responded.

“That sounds like a good solution, although I think the boys won’t be too happy about it,” Dr Archer said smiling, as she returned to the main group to announce the accommodation arrangements, and we soon heard groans of unhappiness from the three boys, as they looked over to where we were setting up our tent, in one of only a few protected areas of the campsite from the weather, with our guides and porters taking up the bigger protected area for their campsite.

Dr Archer elected to pitch her tent not too far away from ours, with the girls setting up their tent close to Dr Archer’s tent, while the boys set up their tent in a fairly open area a good distance away, which I could see was going to be a problem, if a storm picks up during the night.

I decided that we would divert to the town of Whitehorse, before going to our second destination of Ibex Mountain, but for now, the lads would have to just deal with the cramped tent. Once we had set up camp, the boys set off to explore the area while Emmanuel, Dr Archer and I, assisted with the preparation of the evening meal, and the girls just sat around watching and chatting.

When the boys returned and asked when dinner was ready, as they were hungry, I could see that Dr Archer was not at all happy with them, and I saw Emmanuel roll his eyes, which made me laugh. “We have just about finished cooking our dinner, you can start cooking yours as soon as we have finished,” Emmanuel stated to the three boys, as Dr Archer and I smiled broadly.

“Hey, that is not fair, you can’t do this?” Brad Cutler complained, while the other two boys Toby and Lance moved over to the table where several large foldable containers are, and they volunteered to help with the washing up of the cooking gear.

“This is a student science expedition, not a holiday, so I suggest you start pitching in and helping with the workload, or you won’t be getting any meals at all,” I said to Brad, who opened his mouth to speak and shut it again, before joining the other two at the table, and started drying up the dishes.

With it being a clear night with a bright half moon, I announced to Dr Archer, that Emmanuel and I would be hiking back to the lake, where we would stay the night at the plane, before we flew to the town of Whitehorse, to purchase a work tent and additional two-man tents, and that we would land at the base camp, at about 10 am, with the main group expected to arrive an hour later.

With our backpacks with all we needed for the three-hour hike, we set off unnoticed by most, as we disappeared into the darkness, following the path that we had hiked up the mountain, which Emmanuel commented was so much easier than hiking upwards, and we arrived back at the plane just before midnight, where I unlocked the plane, and rolling out our sleeping bags, we settled down for some sleep.

Waking up just before 8 am, the smell of tea and heated muffins soon reached me and I was wide awake. “Good morning, here is your breakfast,” Emmanuel said to me smiling, “Hey mate, thanks for this; did you sleep ok on the floor of the plane?” I replied.

“Yes, extremely well actually, at least we are well off the ground and out of the weather inside here,” Emmanuel said to me, and once we had both eaten, I went outside to do all of the required checks, before returning to the cockpit and starting up the engines.

After checking in with Air Traffic Control at Whitehorse, we glided over the water and were soon in the air, as we turned south-southeast for the town of Whitehorse, which is just over 260 kilometres away. Landing on the Yukon River alongside the town, I beached the plane near Rotary Park, where we hammered in a few pegs to secure it, before locking up and setting off for a two-block walk to the main Outdoor Store, where I hoped to find what we needed.

An hour later, we had packed in everything that I had purchased, which was a little more than I had planned, plus a quick stop over to get some snacks and drinks, and we were soon in the air again, heading back the way we came, but going a little further to the north.

“I hope you allowed for the extra weight that we now have, for the rest of our trip?” Emmanuel asked me and I chuckled, “Don’t worry my friend, I had over-exaggerated the weight we were carrying, just so the Dean of Science would not be joining us, and with the additional stuff that was purposely not added to the luggage, this lot is still less than that, mainly due to the less amount of fuel we have onboard,” I replied.

Apart from a large easy to assembled work tent, I had also bought a popup gazebo, as well as four-fold-up camping tables and four folding chairs, that would provide us with all of the workspace needed for the next three weeks of our expedition, plus four two-man tents, so each University student has their own tent.

Taking a wide arc around from the northeast, to not attract the attention of the hiking group, we landed on Pelly Lake, and we taxied to where the campsite would be located for the next four days. Once we had anchored the plane, Emmanuel and I got to work to set up the camp, as much as we could, with the work area set up not too far away from the banks of the lake, while the four tents were set up in a sheltered area, split into two groups with the gazebo separating them.

We heard their arrival well before we first saw the group arriving, with the First Nation porters taking the lead, and when they saw the plane on the banks of the lake, a loud discussion erupted, which I was not too pleased about, as I approached them.

“Excuse me; have I done something wrong, was I not allowed to land the plane on this lake?” I asked, and there was some more discussion before one of the men stepped forward. “You pay extra for permission to land here,” the man said to me in broken English.

“I am terribly sorry, I should have asked, before hiking back to the plane last night, but you had already retired for the night, I will pay the extra money,” I replied. “Yes, not allowed, you pay extra,” the man to me, just as Dr Archer, Hunter and the girls appeared.

“Is there a problem Carson?” she asked me when she realised that something was not right. “Yes, it appears that I should have gained permission to land the plane here on this lake, now they are demanding more money as compensation,” I replied.

“That is fine, I have additional funds for that kind of emergency, locked away in your plane,” Dr Archer replied smiling. “That is good, as I have already spent a great deal extra to pay for all of this extra gear,” I stated as I turned and indicated to the campsite.

“Nice campsite, we can compensate you for all of that too, just give me the receipts at the end of the trip,” Dr Archer announced to me. “Thanks, I will keep the work tent, tables, chairs and gazebo, if you can pay for the additional four tents, that would be great,” I responded.

‘Thanks for the additional workload my friend, not what I expected for the trip, to be the camp mule,” Hunter commented to me, and I chuckled. “Yeah, sorry about that, we decided to hike back to the plane, so we could fly to Whitehorse to buy some additional supplies as you can see,” I responded.

With Hunter now at the camp, Emmanuel and I were able to set up our tent, close to the work tent, as did Dr Archer, while the rest of the students set up the remaining two tents on the boy’s side of the gazebo.

Once we had completed the tent, we got to work to set up a campfire, in the middle of the campsite, and Emmanuel began preparing lunch, while Dr Archer and I called for a meeting.

From the campsite, we could see across the lake to where the Fort Selkirk volcano stands, and it was quite an amazing view. After lunch, we would be taking air, soil and water samples from the lake and its surroundings, as well as hiking to the north side of the lake closer to the volcano, to get more soil samples.

Some of the samples we could test at our campsite, but the rest we had to bag and label to be tested back at the university. The following day, we would hike up the south side of the volcano, to continue taking soil samples as well as take videos of the area plus photographs.

We would also be walking around the volcano, so we can place several seismic sensors, to keep track of ground movement in the area.

The University has provided a total of 24 sensors for each of the three sites, and each sensor has a three-month-long battery before the power runs out, they need to be dug up or just recharge batteries, and it would take us two days to complete that task, But Dr Archer and I decided to plant only half of the sensors, as we felt it was overdoing it with 24.

On day four after we had completed collecting all of the samples, we would pack up camp straight after breakfast, and Emmanuel would supervise the storing away of everything back into the plane, making sure that it is evenly distributed in weight, so as not to cause any flight issues.

With everything and all the students loaded onto the plane, I made all of the usual external checks, before Dr Archer and I thanked our First Nations hosts, and made the final payment to them, before we climbed in and took off again, this time heading 280 kilometres south for Ibex Mountain.

I had a little bit more room to land when we arrived at Ibex Lake, at the foot of the volcanic mountain, and I taxied to the south end of the lake, where I had spotted a good place to camp for the next few days, this time with no guides or porters, we all helped out to set up camp, and we were able to relax for an hour before we needed to get lunch prepared.

I was helping Emmanuel with the cooking when he stopped what he was doing, his mouth dropped open and he went white in the face. “What? Are you ok Em? What is it? You are scaring me,” I said to my good friend. I saw Emmanuel swallow, then look towards the mountain, and then to me.

“Did… did you feel that tremor just now?” he asked me, and straight away I grabbed the binoculars and raced forward to get a full and clear view of the mountain. “No, I didn’t but there has been a recent rock slide,” I responded, as Dr Archer approached.

“Some of the students have just told me they felt a faint tremor,” she said to me, “Yes, Emmanuel said the same thing, as well as going ghost white, I didn’t feel it, but I can see there has been a recent rockslide on this side of the mountain,” I replied, just as Dr Archer’s Sat phone rang.

“What on earth is going on up there, is there a buffalo stampede happening, as the sensors you have planted are registering minor earth movement,” I overheard the Dean of Environmental Science say to Judith, who held the phone away from her ear.

“No buffalos sir, but some of the students informed us they felt a tremor, although Mr Newton and I didn’t actually feel it, but looking through the binoculars, Carson reports that there has been a recent rock slide on the southern slope of Ibex,” Dr Archer replied.

“Well, it appears that you are in the right place at the right time once again Judith. I suggest you get some sensors planted as soon as possible, so we can keep track of it. The Canadian Seismic Centre has reported no readable tremors in the area, so all we have is the data coming in from your sensors,” the Dean said.

“Yes sir, we will get right onto it. Goodbye for now,” Judith said before ending the call, “You better ask Emmanuel to make up some pack lunches, as we need to get some of those sensors into place as quickly as possible,” Judith said to me, and nodding my head I headed over to the food prep area to let Emmanuel know of the change of plans.

Before leaving for the hike, I retrieved my personal UHF radios, and handed one to Emmanuel, “keep this with you all the time, so we can keep in touch, and keep it on channel 3. We will probably be out for the rest of the day, and be back just before dark,” I said to my good friend.