Yesterday and today were our only classroom days, so they were filled with lots of learning! We covered some of your classic introductory geology course topics like plate tectonics, rocks, volcanoes and glaciers but because this is an immersive field course that involves lots of camping, we wanted to ensure that everyone could set up and take down their tents and sleeping bags. The combinations of construction around Bragaw Hall, 90+ degree temperatures and what felt like 100% humidity compelled us to do our practice set-up inside the activity room.
Chester led the tent assembly lesson by walking everyone through the contents of their NC State-provided tents while sprinkling some pro-tips like “maybe don’t put your tent on an incline unless you want to all end up on top of each other at 3am”, and other advice similar to this that a seasoned camper enjoys passing on to new campers, knowing full well that they will inevitably make these same mistakes, as you did, before realizing that you were right. Of course after everything was set up, we had to make the take-down a competition to see which group could be the most efficient and while there was a clear winner during this round, we may have another competition towards the end to see if they can maintain their winning title.
Karl, his wife Emily, and their dog Oly hosted us at their house for a pre-trip gathering that evening. With a large back yard, a pond and plenty of lawn games and water sports, there were more than enough activities to keep everyone entertained. They provided an assortment of flavored waters and pop (or as non-western New Yorkers say, soda) accompanied by lots of sweets.
All hopped up on sugar, there was an intense game of Ultimate Frisbee that left everyone drenched with sweat in the 8pm Raleigh humidity. Realizing that there are lots of little tricks that we have picked up on during our varies experiences camping, the post-ultimate cool down was the perfect time for Chester, Karl, Emily and I to talk about things that are unique to being in the wilderness that we will encounter and how to handle those situations. After our discussion and proclamation that the students will from now on refer to Dr. Karl Wegmann as “K-dubs”, we took our first group photo, repping The Wolfpack!
After breakfast and a morning lecture, I said goodbye to the students as I departed for the airport, with a quick stop at home to frantically finish packing. No matter how early I start packing, I will always be throwing things together at the last minute. I flew to Denver earlier this evening, although technically yesterday if you’re reading this from the east coast as it is now past midnight, to do the bulk of the shopping tomorrow morning as the rest of the group is flying here to meet me. I’m interested to see what the shopping bill for the food feeding 15 people for 14 days looks like, although I don’t think my credit card is quite as excited. Tomorrow we put the Journey in GeoJourney and I’m so excited!!! But now I need to go to sleep….