Saturday, August 29, 2009

That was actually not my last day at Toolik.

As it turns out, we decided to stay an extra day to finish field work and to give us more time to pack the truck. We made that decision on Thursday, so Friday the 21st turned out to be my last day at Toolik.

Once we had decided that, we didn't feel so rushed and frantic, and my last day turned out surprisingly well. Although it mostly consisted of packing the truck during the day, another camp T-ball game was scheduled for 8:30 Friday evening, and I got to join in.

Camp T-ball consisted of any number of staff, students and RAs per team, using the camp pad between the carpenter's shop and the dining hall as the playing field. Out of bounds were where the towers (outhouses) and residential buildings began, and bases were made from old truck mudflaps. The T-ball apparatus itself consisted of an orange construction cone with some kind of pipe stuck through the top, onto which a largish foam Nerf-like ball was placed for hitting with a hollow plastic bat. Rather than the usual 3 outs, there were 5 outs per side, and after both sides had a few beers the outs and score counts got rather random. It reminded me of the kinds of games I used to play in the street with my sister and brothers and our school friends outside our house growing up in Chicago (minus the beers). At that time of year at Toolik the game was played basically during a two-hour sunset, after which true darkness came on and the temperature dropped. We all went inside the dining hall to warm up, and I stayed to chat with people, something I usually didn't do when a full day of work awaited the next day.

I would have been perfectly content to end my last night this way, and was pleasantly surprised when I was told some people were going on a boat ride on Toolik Lake and I was welcome to join them. As an RA for tundra vegetation studies, all of my work was carried out on dry land, and though numerous opportunities to swim or boat had presented themselves all summer, the fact that I have zero boating experience as well as zero swimming ability meant I'd had pretty much no interaction with Toolik Lake during my stay.

We left just before dark, and the clouds to the west had parted revealing the last of what must have been a magnificent sunset. The air was quite cold and the boat traveled through the water at a speed that was just a hair's breadth from scary, but since I had spent the entire summer with the guys who'd invited me and had seen far dicier situations turn out for the better, I accepted the beer that was handed to me and took a sip without failing to notice that the far shore seemed to leap frantically into view. We stopped for a few minutes at a tiny island on the far shore before racing home, banking the boat at an incredible angle. Scott, the camp's carpenter and overall mechanical guru, sat in front like some mad expedition leader, insisting we all stick a finger into the water to feel the energy of the boat propelled through the water by Shelby, another of the camp's mechanics as well as its fire marshall. I declined, as the air was plenty cold and only magnified by the sight of the Brooks Range looming white across the lake. We got back in one piece, and though it was no doubt just a lark for the guys, for me it added a much needed dash of excitement, and something to always remember.

But I think they knew that. This is how the people of Toolik are. Generous to a fault, talented as they breathe, hard working, and always ready and willing to have fun.

When we left in the morning, they, and the remaining RAs, were there waving to us goodbye.

No comments:

Post a Comment