Page 18 - EUREKA 2019_Neat

But one day, as we rounded the fi rst rock ridge of our
speedy new route, we realized that someone had already
beaten us there: yet another herd of muskox! They appeared
to be having a nice morning hang-out session right in the
middle of our path.
Now, muskox seem pretty easygoing by nature, but they
are huge — about 180 to 410 kg huge, according to Google —
and not the kind of creature you want to startle.

We attempted to announce our presence by
blowing whistles. They either didn’t notice or
didn’t care.

After a quick discussion we determined that the best
course of action would be to continue onwards, but to leave
a wide berth between us and the muskox and keep a loaded
bear banger out, just in case. We managed to get around
them without creating any drama, and once we were safely
on the opposite ridge we stopped to have a paparazzi
moment and photograph them.
It was then that the herd fi nally acknowledged, and felt
threatened by, our presence. We experienced fi rst-hand the
muskox’s defense mechanism: not charging, like we’d feared,
but circling up, with the small ones in the middle and the big
beefy ones on the perimeter. I empathized with the muskox
— but our rocks weren’t going to sample themselves! The
herd’s sense of security was a sacrifi ce we were forced to
make.

Heading Home

On our last day we packed up our samples (we collected
24 in total) and the camp. We left our kitchen tent up the
longest, for it would become our new sleeping quarters if
rough waters delayed our travel home.
Fortunately the boats arrived on time. We bid adieu to
our little camp on the tundra, the lichen, our muskox friends,
and our very specifi c lens of rocks. When we got to the ho-
tel in Inukjuak we all took much-needed showers and luxuri-
ated in the cable television. We drank water that we didn’t
need to fi lter pump from a river.
But that night I couldn’t fall asleep. The hotel just wasn’t
the same as sleeping outside, in my tent, under the quiet
northern sky. Fieldwork with Carleton’s Earth Sciences
program is always an adventure — and I’m glad that’s how I
spent my summer.

18 science.carleton.ca