Over the weekend, we received 5 brand new sleeping bags from Lafuma and 5 brand new backpacks from Eagle Creek!! Wow. I can't believe how lucky we are to have such great gear. The backpacks are beautiful- they're 55L bags with a 20L backpack attached! You can take them apart. Seriously, so cool. And the sleeping bags have built in compression bags, so they'll be super easy to carry around. AND they look comfortable too! Thank you so much Lafuma and Eagle Creek, we couldn't do it without you!!
I've started to pack up my awesome backpack with some of the stuff that I bought this weekend! I got tons of food... Because I'm hungry almost all of the time, and that's without physical activity, hahaha. So I'm thinking I'll be twice as hungry as normal on the island. :P There are a lot of last minute details to get figured out too, and supplies to be gathered. I can't believe we're leaving in two weeks!!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Training Day!!
This week on Wednesday, we had our "wet training day" where we went out
to a nearby lake (Park Lake, in Lansing) to test our equipment and
protocols. Everything went really well!!
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| One of our volunteers, Jennifer, checking out the view of Park Lake! |
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| This was a great lake for a practice run! It had some of the same plants that we'll be seeing at ISRO. |
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| This is Charlotte as we discovered that... the blow-up kayak worked!! I was sort of surprised, because I couldn't imagine a blow-up boat successfully holding two people and sampling gear. But there wasn't a problem all day! |
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| This is Sarah on one of the practice runs with sampling gear. |
We ate a delicious lunch of peanut butter and nutella sandwiches when we were all done!! We also tried using our SteriPen, and it worked really well!! I'm not gonna lie, I was really apprehensive... There was a lot of stuff floating in the lake water, and I didn't know if it would all get filtered out- but it did a really great job! After the water was filtered and cleaned with the SteriPen, I was still a bit nervous to try it. So one of our volunteers, Sarah, took the first drink. We warned her before drinking it that it would probably have a lake-y taste, but as she said when she drank it, "Nope, it just tastes like water!" I'm so excited that it worked well!! Can't wait to try it out in the field. :)
In addition to having a great training day, we've received more of the products from our sponsors!! We got a fantastic 75L backpack from Eagle Creek! When Angela got the package, the first thing she did was try it on- we're so excited to have it!! We also got our care package from Coghlan's- it had a foot pump, biodegradable soap, mini lanterns (which are adorable :P), and a first aid kit! What a useful care package!!
We also got another sponsor!!
http://www.shoplafuma.com/
Lafuma has generously offered us sleeping bags for the trip! I was just about to buy a sleeping bag, so this came at the perfect time! Thanks, Lafuma!!
So far, everything's going swimmingly. I can't wait until we get up to the island- we've got so much great gear, and there are great people working on the project, so it's going to be loads of fun. :)
Monday, June 4, 2012
More Updates!!
It's been a while since my last update... Getting ready for the training days (tomorrow and Wednesday) today! I just got back from driving the truck. o_O It's HUGE. I was really psyched out about it even though I've driven a truck before, because it's been a long time. But I got it back to the parking lot and parked it semi-successfully without hitting anyone/anything!! Always good. Wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be, actually. Something about driving a big truck is really relaxing.
Sponsorship update!!
Coghlan's, an outdoor accessory company, will be giving us a care package to take with us to the island!! Can't wait to see what's in it- they have so many great products!! Thanks, Coghlan's!
We also have received our rain coats from Helly Hansen, our boot insoles from Scarpa, and our water purification SteriPen!! I'm getting sooooo excited to get started- now that we're getting everything together, I don't want to wait until July!! :D
I'm finding that I'm using lots of exclamation marks in sponsorship posts...! I'm just so excited, and we're so thankful to our sponsors that it's impossible not to be excited!! Thank you so much, sponsors!!
Oh, almost forgot! A friend of mine mentioned that our trip to ISRO reminded them of the Hunger Games... They thought of it when I mentioned our sponsors! Hahaha, thankfully we aren't all pitted against each other in a battle to the death.
Still, May the odds be ever in our favor! :P
Sponsorship update!!
Coghlan's, an outdoor accessory company, will be giving us a care package to take with us to the island!! Can't wait to see what's in it- they have so many great products!! Thanks, Coghlan's!
We also have received our rain coats from Helly Hansen, our boot insoles from Scarpa, and our water purification SteriPen!! I'm getting sooooo excited to get started- now that we're getting everything together, I don't want to wait until July!! :D
I'm finding that I'm using lots of exclamation marks in sponsorship posts...! I'm just so excited, and we're so thankful to our sponsors that it's impossible not to be excited!! Thank you so much, sponsors!!
Oh, almost forgot! A friend of mine mentioned that our trip to ISRO reminded them of the Hunger Games... They thought of it when I mentioned our sponsors! Hahaha, thankfully we aren't all pitted against each other in a battle to the death.
Still, May the odds be ever in our favor! :P
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Sponsorship Update!
We received three more sponsorships!!
http://www.scarpa.com/scarpa/control/main
Yesterday, Scarpa let us know that they will be supplying us with insoles for our hiking boots!! They also gave us a great discount on hiking boots! Comfortable feet will be a life saver on this trip. Thanks SCARPA!
http://www.steripen.com/
This morning, we also heard that we would be receiving a SteriPen Classic Safe Water System!! We were just looking at water purification options yesterday, so this one came just in time! I can't wait to take a look at it! It purifies your drinking water with UV light. As a chemist, I'm intrigued! Thank you, Hydro Photon Inc!
http://www.eaglecreek.com/
We've also received a fantastic backpack from Eagle Creek!! They have reeeally nice packs, and now we can rest assured that we'll be able to carry our gear efficiently, which will be hugely important! Thank you, Eagle Creek!!
WOW, I never thought we'd get so many generous sponsors. Thank you all so much!! You're going to make the trip so much more comfortable and efficient- we couldn't do it without you! :)
Still lots of prep to do before we're good to go! Training day is coming up in two weeks.
I think this coming weekend, I'll do some shopping for supplies! A part of me wants to get some food and try it beforehand so that I know what I like. A sleeping bag and suntan lotion are also on my list. Can't wait- I love shopping for stuff like this!
More later!
http://www.scarpa.com/scarpa/control/main
Yesterday, Scarpa let us know that they will be supplying us with insoles for our hiking boots!! They also gave us a great discount on hiking boots! Comfortable feet will be a life saver on this trip. Thanks SCARPA!
http://www.steripen.com/
This morning, we also heard that we would be receiving a SteriPen Classic Safe Water System!! We were just looking at water purification options yesterday, so this one came just in time! I can't wait to take a look at it! It purifies your drinking water with UV light. As a chemist, I'm intrigued! Thank you, Hydro Photon Inc!
http://www.eaglecreek.com/
We've also received a fantastic backpack from Eagle Creek!! They have reeeally nice packs, and now we can rest assured that we'll be able to carry our gear efficiently, which will be hugely important! Thank you, Eagle Creek!!
WOW, I never thought we'd get so many generous sponsors. Thank you all so much!! You're going to make the trip so much more comfortable and efficient- we couldn't do it without you! :)
Still lots of prep to do before we're good to go! Training day is coming up in two weeks.
I think this coming weekend, I'll do some shopping for supplies! A part of me wants to get some food and try it beforehand so that I know what I like. A sleeping bag and suntan lotion are also on my list. Can't wait- I love shopping for stuff like this!
More later!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Introductions!
Why hello there! First thing's first, I thought I should do some sort of introduction telling a bit about myself, the work I've done, and the work I'll be doing this summer at Isle Royale!
But before I get too far into this post, I feel that I should say: I am a first time blogger. I don't know how blogs work, or much about what I should be writing, so bear with me. I'm sort of a stream-of consciousness kind of person, so that'll make things interesting.
Back to the introduction now.
Hi! I'm Kim. I'm going to be a junior this fall studying chemistry/integrated science/biological sciences at Michigan State University. I'm hoping to be a high school chemistry or biology teacher someday! I'm a nerd, and when I'm not researching or studying, I love watching movies, listening to music, and eating. Probably eating is the best of those. I just got a cookbook in the mail the other day, and I can't wait to get back home to read it.
I got started working with the Cheruvelil lab during my freshman year of college- At first, I was doing a semi-independent project with Dr. Kendra Cheruvelil researching what makes a good reference lake (a benchmark of sorts, so that researchers can measure the change that occurs in other lakes). Then, starting in the fall of 2011, I got paired up with Angela De Palma-Dow, a grad student of Dr. Cheruvelil's, and started preparing for the ISLE ROYALE PROJECT!!
(Insert epic music of your choice... my personal recommendation)
We'll be going to Isle Royale National Park this summer to gather plant/water/sediment samples and make observations regarding the species of macrophytes that we find there. Macrophyte is another word for an aquatic plant that's big enough to be seen with the naked eye. After we've collected the samples, we're going to analyze them for genetic information and see how similar members of the same species are from lake to lake across the island. Then, we'll examine how the lakes are connected and try to determine the method for their gene transfer if they're similar (or lack thereof, if they're completely different!). Sediment and water column samples combined with observations about water clarity, color, pH, and other physical characteristics will let us determine whether the plant environment was a driving factor in the expression of its traits.
It's really important that the channels of gene transfer in Isle Royale (which I might refer to from time to time as ISRO) be determined, because if aquatic plants are spreading, so could invasive species like Zebra Mussels, Eurasian Water Milfoil, and Spiny Water Fleas. Isle Royale is a particularly isolated and pristine environment, so it's important that we keep it that way by doing our best to reduce the spread of invasive species that may drive out native ones.
Now, a bit more about the trip itself! We'll be spending two weeks in July and two weeks in August sampling at Isle Royale National Park. Because the island is so isolated, we'll be backpacking to each lake and carrying all of our gear with us! Angela and I are working on setting up everything for some training days in the next few weeks. And today, we heard back from our first sponsors!!!!!
http://www.hellyhansen.com/
Helly Hansen will be providing the volunteers and myself with a rain jacket and a pair of rain pants! Which will be invaluable for the unpredictable weather of Northern Michigan. There's nothing worse than having to sit in wet clothes.
http://www.bridgedale.com/
Bridgedale Socks will also be providing us with a few pairs of socks per person! This is going to be really helpful as well- I've never been to the island, but Angela told me that when backpacking/camping, you can never have too many socks, especially good ones.
Their North American distributor is Garmont. Their website: http://www.garmontusa.com/
So a huuuge thank you to Helly Hansen and Bridgedale socks!! :D
I'll continue to update on our preparations, but once we get to the island I'll have very little access to the internet... So most of my updates will probably be written down in a journal and posted when we're back! Thanks for reading, be back soon! :)
But before I get too far into this post, I feel that I should say: I am a first time blogger. I don't know how blogs work, or much about what I should be writing, so bear with me. I'm sort of a stream-of consciousness kind of person, so that'll make things interesting.
Back to the introduction now.
Hi! I'm Kim. I'm going to be a junior this fall studying chemistry/integrated science/biological sciences at Michigan State University. I'm hoping to be a high school chemistry or biology teacher someday! I'm a nerd, and when I'm not researching or studying, I love watching movies, listening to music, and eating. Probably eating is the best of those. I just got a cookbook in the mail the other day, and I can't wait to get back home to read it.
I got started working with the Cheruvelil lab during my freshman year of college- At first, I was doing a semi-independent project with Dr. Kendra Cheruvelil researching what makes a good reference lake (a benchmark of sorts, so that researchers can measure the change that occurs in other lakes). Then, starting in the fall of 2011, I got paired up with Angela De Palma-Dow, a grad student of Dr. Cheruvelil's, and started preparing for the ISLE ROYALE PROJECT!!
(Insert epic music of your choice... my personal recommendation)
We'll be going to Isle Royale National Park this summer to gather plant/water/sediment samples and make observations regarding the species of macrophytes that we find there. Macrophyte is another word for an aquatic plant that's big enough to be seen with the naked eye. After we've collected the samples, we're going to analyze them for genetic information and see how similar members of the same species are from lake to lake across the island. Then, we'll examine how the lakes are connected and try to determine the method for their gene transfer if they're similar (or lack thereof, if they're completely different!). Sediment and water column samples combined with observations about water clarity, color, pH, and other physical characteristics will let us determine whether the plant environment was a driving factor in the expression of its traits.
It's really important that the channels of gene transfer in Isle Royale (which I might refer to from time to time as ISRO) be determined, because if aquatic plants are spreading, so could invasive species like Zebra Mussels, Eurasian Water Milfoil, and Spiny Water Fleas. Isle Royale is a particularly isolated and pristine environment, so it's important that we keep it that way by doing our best to reduce the spread of invasive species that may drive out native ones.
Now, a bit more about the trip itself! We'll be spending two weeks in July and two weeks in August sampling at Isle Royale National Park. Because the island is so isolated, we'll be backpacking to each lake and carrying all of our gear with us! Angela and I are working on setting up everything for some training days in the next few weeks. And today, we heard back from our first sponsors!!!!!
http://www.hellyhansen.com/
Helly Hansen will be providing the volunteers and myself with a rain jacket and a pair of rain pants! Which will be invaluable for the unpredictable weather of Northern Michigan. There's nothing worse than having to sit in wet clothes.
http://www.bridgedale.com/
Bridgedale Socks will also be providing us with a few pairs of socks per person! This is going to be really helpful as well- I've never been to the island, but Angela told me that when backpacking/camping, you can never have too many socks, especially good ones.
Their North American distributor is Garmont. Their website: http://www.garmontusa.com/
So a huuuge thank you to Helly Hansen and Bridgedale socks!! :D
I'll continue to update on our preparations, but once we get to the island I'll have very little access to the internet... So most of my updates will probably be written down in a journal and posted when we're back! Thanks for reading, be back soon! :)
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