If you are going to be out on the tundra in midsummer, a mosquito net is not only necessary but vital. Mosquitoes are swarming all over the tundra this time of year, and there are several options for protective gear. One is to go with a simple mesh net with a wide brim that covers the head. This is great if you just want face protection, but it does nothing to stop them from biting you through your clothes or on your bare hands. For full upper body protection nothing beats the Bug Shirt--a pullover made of a tightly woven synthetic fabric that the proboscis of a mosquito can't penetrate. It also features a cleverly constructed zippered mesh face net and long, adjustable elastic sleeves to cover your wrists and hands. My bug shirt works wonderfully and also provides a bit of thermal insulation on cool days (arctic mosquitoes seem to be just as happy to suck your blood at 40 degrees Fahrenheit as at 60). To complete my ensemble and protect my hands I usually wear a pair of neoprene lab gloves and, as you can see from the thumbnail image, I look like a spaceman! Besides the bug shirt's zero style factor, its other chief drawback is that in hot weather (namely, July 2009 on the North Slope) you roast inside it like a chicken in an oven bag. The other drawback is its limited vision. But you adjust, and go about your days looking out at this remote, vast and uniquely beautiful landscape essentially through a black veil.
The other day I was up slope collecting samples and I decided that with the abundant sunshine and cool breezes the mosquitoes weren't such a problem, and I was dying for some ventilation, so I unzipped the head net and cast aside my veil.
I looked around me, and suddenly realized I could see every contour of every leaf for quite a distance with a clarity I can only describe as hallucinatory. Every blade of grass and each leaf and petal stood out in perfectly razor sharp relief all around me for acres and acres. It was like I suddenly had Superman vision!
Before long the wind calmed and the mosquitoes once again found me and began to glom onto me like a bunch of groupies trailing a famous celebrity. Alas, I was just some warm body in a khaki colored mosquito shirt spending the summer in Alaska. I zipped my veil back up and went back to my collecting.
Today I called my family on my computer using Skype, and I was able to take them on a tour of Toolik camp. It was fun to talk to all of them, my dad, stepmom, sister and her boyfriend, and my two younger brothers. I borrowed a pair of earphones from a friend and was able to hear everyone's voice so clearly. I had a camera in my laptop that allowed them to see pictures as I tramped around camp holding the laptop, and I could picture all of them all gathered around my sister's computer though I could not see them. We chatted for about a half hour, and I hated to say goodbye. Luckily the camp was quiet today due to so many people out on hikes, but after we said goodbye I had to have a moment in the wash house to wipe my eyes. I had recently been offered a year long position in Fairbanks, and my husband and I decided I should take it, so we announced to our families about a week ago that we are moving to Fairbanks in early September. My folks were surprised and also thrilled at the news, and said to me today: You sound like you really love it up there. And so I do. But I also realized how great my family is and how much I am going to miss them.
My girlfriend had warned me that I would fall in love with Alaska the way you fall in love with a lover. It's completely true--I would do anything to make this relationship work! And already I can see it's an unequal partnership: Alaska says jump and I jump. It will turn beastly cold and dark after the middle of September so I will be flying home to my husband at the end of August to pack our things and rent a vehicle to drive across the vastness of North America together to begin our new life in Fairbanks.
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