Back Up the Green Valley, Back to work, River Crossings, Talus climbs, and GPS Options

[John_Sode]

July 21, 2005

Back Up the Green Valley

Back to Work-river crossing, talus climbs, and GPS

This morning we went back to work as usual. Our crew split into several groups—GPS, water quality, plants, and soils. Water quality, plants, and soils groups are scheduled to work on the North Side of the River while GPS will work the South Side. Before water quality, plants, and soils can cross the river a bridge must be built for safety reasons. The “bridge” consists of anchored ropes across the river to help individuals balance themselves as they walk/wade through the thigh-deep rain swollen river.





Water quality, plants, and soils soon crossed the river and headed upstream to their designated study sites.

GPS members headed up the talus slopes, around the bend, and upstream towards the study site. This shot shows members of our group climbing a typical talus slope.



Looking down the slope, our group was treated to a bird’s eye view of the river crossing.



After a long climb we reached the GPS monitoring site. Eight new stations were established in addition to the solar powered station already on site.



The precise measurements provided by the markers enable us to undertake long-term studies of the rock and soil movements. Future researchers will take our data and combine it with new measurements to determine how fast the rocks and soils are moving downhill. Continuous measurement sites will enable us to determine if the movement takes place at a stable, steady rate or if it is episodic—periods of rapid movement followed by extended periods of stability. For more information on establishing a GPS site see the earlier post “In the Field, in the lab.”

After another long day we returned to camp along the ridge top. In the distance we could see the top of the next ridge, beyond which lay the site of tomorrow’s study—the neighboring valley. Arriving in camp around 7PM, we enjoyed dinner, a relatively quiet evening, and prepared for the next day’s activities. I, along with everyone else, certainly enjoyed the efforts of Sarah, our camp cook, who had a marvelous dinner ready and waiting for hungry crew members.