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Better than New Sock Day
August 24, 2006
I know, I know... you're saying, what could possibly be better than New
Sock Day!? To campers and backpackers with sporadic access to washing
machines, not much can compare to putting clean, fresh socks on your feet
and tossing the manky ones into the farthest corner of your tent.
The answer is Northern Lights! I saw them last week for the first time,
and then again last night around midnight. We've been having hot, sunny
days and cool clear nights, which are ideal conditions for seeing them.
So far I've only seen one color, a really pale green, but I have three
more weeks to see more. They stretched across the sky and undulated, fading
out and coming back and pulsing like a tv channel that almost comes in,
but not quite. The best way I can describe them is like a watercolor painting
that's been left out in the rain. I don't have any photos yet because
I couldn't tear myself away to go back to my tent and dig out my camera.
Last week a German tourist was killed while exploring an ice cave near
Landmannalaugar. When we passed through the hut on our hike, I saw a handwritten
note tacked to the bulletin board warning that the ice caves are unstable
and everyone should stay out. Unfortunately, not everyone did.
I'm in a little library in the north and have the right combination of
access to USB port and operating system, so I'll attach a few pictures.
The first is of a worksite where we're building boardwalks and a viewing
platform in a geothermal area. We need to keep people away from the bubbling
hot mud and scalding steam vents- they draw tourists like moths to a flame.
It's been an ongoing project that I also worked on last summer, but this
year we're seeing real progress. I expect I will be working at the site
again in September.
There is also a bizarre but funny case of translation… Sometimes words
that are considered rather coarse in the US get used in Icelandic translations,
with amusing results.
Ok, well I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy!
shannön
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| Leirnjúkur sees a lot of tourist traffic every year, and people
are injured every year, sometimes very badly, because they don't
stay on the marked paths. |
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| My jaw dropped when I saw this... |
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| One of the long-term challenges of our platform work is the corrosiveness
of the soil. We dug up all kinds of different colors, resulting
from different concentrations of minerals. A supplier said the galvanized
steel brackets we were using in the framing would dissolve in about
seven years, but we're hoping he's wrong. Besides, our budget has
limitations, and doing SOMETHING is better than doing nothing. |
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| The finished framework had each foot resting on an inset cement
pad. |
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| All of our materials- the cement pads, the lumber, the nails,
the tools- had to be carried up this path to our worksite throughout
the day. When it's dry, it's a bit like walking up lumpy stairs
with seething steam on either side. But when it's wet, the mud is
like walking on grease- extremely slippery and yet somehow very
sticky. In fact, on wet days, each step would enlarge your boot
with a coating of mud, so your feet got heavier and bigger as you
went up. Toward the upper left corner of this photo, you can just
make out a pile of lumber and materials. |
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| Now let's play a game called "Find the Frenchman." Christophe
took a nap during lunch and demonstrated his hobbit-like ability
to blend in with the lava. |
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| As we worked on the platform, summer faded into autumn and the
rich green landscape started to take on a golden glow. |
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| This was my perspective during a few days of making cutouts in
the decking so I could bolt the handrail posts to the support structure. |
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| While our effort felt massive, from an uphill viewpoint the platform
doesn't seem so big. We were also piecing together the boardwalks
coming in from the left and above to connect to the platform. The
black lava is from the most recent eruption in the area, which ended
in the 80s. |
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| Same viewpoint, facing the other direction. The black rocks in
the foreground are also part of that recent lava flow. |
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| Recent enough to still be steaming a bit... |
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| Look at that gorgeous platform! This is what it looked like
mid-September, when we packed up our tools and headed back to
Reykjavík. It is somewhere around 80 square meters in area. |
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Hammer nails long enough in bitter cold, gusty wind, and rain,
and you're bound to have some mistakes. Some of us had more
than others. And in the UK, they're not called "owies"
or "booboos"... they're "hurties".
I quote a coworker: "Sometimes it's nice to bang your
fingers with the hammer, because it makes you forget about everything
else that's sh--."
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| If we look exhausted, cold, and beaten down, it's because we
are. |
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