On my own

How it all ends with a whisper!
I had a hard time sleeping last night. I was a little preoccupied with having everything I needed; also, I was overheating in my room. When I finally awoke at 7:40, I ate breakfast, and then raced around making final adjustments to the stuff I was bringing along.

Overnight, the helicopter got its 100hr once-over, thanks to Anthony and his little helper, Josh. They worked on it on the shore of Kiska harbor by lamplight.

I left with my survival pack, a tub for mixing cement, tools that Ed had packed for me, water, a pick, and yesterday's sandwich. We flew from the boat (still parked in the harbor) and had an uneventful flight to the volcano. We circled the crater a bit, so I took a bunch of photos. All in all, it was a pretty foggy day, so I ended up at LSNW instead of either of the other sites (LSKO, or LSPA).

First, though, I stopped on shore to remove cement from all the huts. I also grabbed a Hoe. I piled cement in the chopper with me, and then proceeded to the site. I was under the impression that we'd get to the shovels that were at LSPA. Wrong. The terrain I was digging in was heavily rocky, along with lots of soil. It would have been very beneficial to have that shovel! Instead, I was groping around with the hoe, and using my hands.

Bill showed up with the hut before I had fully prepared the site, and so we left the hut a bit askew, as I continued to chip away at the area with my meager tools. By the time I had finally placed the hut, Bill showed up with a shovel. Next, I drilled holes for the J-bolts and cemented down the hut. While given 5 bags, I used 4 1/2 bags of concrete, since two bags of cement were all but solid rocks.

Afterwards, I started digging a hole for the seismometer -- no luck. Too shallow rocks. Then I started a second hole.
As I nearly finished this one, Guy showed up (with Bill, of course) with the batteries, and news that I was going to be flown to the boat. Something was wrong with the helicopter's electrical system, so our mission has been scrubbed.

With that and a "hook up the batteries", he was off.

With a little radio help from guy, I got the batteries all connected. The air cells were activated and wired in series. The gel cells were wired parallel in threes, with the middle batteries connecting to the power switcher.

I could hear a little chatter. Apparently, guy was up somewhere in the fog and was slowly making his way down to the helicopter. Eventually, the helicopter just came to get me, and went back for guy, who was still off in the fog. I jumped out and hiked up to guy to give him a hand, and vroom! We were off to the boat.

Right now, there is a hut sitting on the beach that has no weight in it. Just air-cells and a solar panel. oh, and an antenna, hut kit, and seismometer cable. It won't likely be there when we return in 2-3 years.

Bill has flown with Ed back to the dock at Amchitka. We'll be spending the night there -- in Constantine harbor, again. The weather is supposed to be really crappy. soon. A storm with 55kt winds and high seas will be here on, I think it was Sunday. We need to be gone before that. And so... the great western Aleutian field excursion has just come to a grinding halt. 4 huts are in the ground on LS, which is amazing, considering that we didn't expect ANY. Two seismometers, I believe, are working there. All 6 at Semi are up and running. All together, pretty successful. Despite the weather.