North Dakota 2011 Update

So I have been in North Dakota now for nearly a month.  However, until today I have not been able to start my actual research.  The rain and flooding out here has been INSANE (I'll try to get some pictures of the flooding later) and has made it really impossible to get to any of my study sites.  The flooding also prevented our interns (Jesse and Jill) from getting out here when they were originally suppose too.  Then in typical Steve fashion I got sick which put me out of commission for about a week.  Then, as I mentioned, today I was able to get out into the field and get my first day of work in.  We hiked about 7 miles through thigh high grass along a stretch of river looking for river otter sign.  Unfortunately we found VERY LITTLE which does not bode well for me.

For the past 8 months I have been wearing my 'new' hiking boots almost everywhere to try to break them in for this summer since I knew I would be doing a lot of hiking.  I thought I had them pretty well broken in until about 2 hours into our hike today...

First, I apologize for the nasty foot picture.  I HATE feet.  I think they are disgusting and ugly so I typically wouldn't put a picture like this up.  And after all of that you can't really get a good idea what the back of my heels look like based on this picture.  I have two of the biggest and most painful blisters, well busted open blisters, that I ever have had.  Heres hoping they heal soon because I have A LOT more hiking to do this summer!

These next pictures are from a trip Vanessa (the other grad student up here with me) and I took to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  VERY pretty place in western ND (part of the Bad Lands).

  

 

          

Vanessa and me in the park.

Here is a video of Jesse trying to catch a carp (BIG nasty fish) that were everywhere along the river we were walking today.  I have challenged him to catch one by hand by the end of the summer!!