How do you get to work or school everyday? Chances are that you take a train, a bus, a car, or you walk. Your morning commute is pretty predictable, with the exception of when there's a traffic jam or an accident on the road. In the tundra, the morning commute is completely unpredictable. The only predictable thing about it is the lack of traffic.
We have a two-part commute. We first hop into our truck that we park right outside our hut. It's a Ford F-250 XL Super Drive 4x4. It's big and heavy-duty, perfect for the dirt roads in Barrow. The windshield is broken--but so is the windshield of every track in Barrow--because of the extreme sub-zero temperatures and the potholes. We drive about three miles and they are the three bumpiest miles you'll ever drive! Even though we drive pretty slow, we still hit "potholes" that will knock us out of our seats. A few days back, Jeremy hit his head on the ceiling when we hit a bump! Every few days they re-scrape the roads to make them as flat as possible but potholes still remain. Once we get to the end of the road near our study site, we leave the doors unlocked (in case there is a bear) and we leave the keys in the truck (in case somebody needs to move our truck or get by on the road).
I load up my gear into our Ford F-250. Four-wheel drive is a necessity on dirt roads. It's fun to drive and it really does feel like you're in the TV commercials driving on the dirt roads!
Part two of our commute entails walking to our site. We carry all our gear as we trek about a mile to our study site…and a trek it is! There is nothing in the world like walking on tundra. We step on the ground and we never know how far down our feet will go! Our feet may go down an inch or they may go down two feet into the tundra and then they stick to the ground. In many places it looks dry; however, the ground is covered by mosses and other plants that hold the water like a big uneven sponge. In some areas we walk through standing water. That could also look like a few inches deep; but there could be a blanket of moss in it and when we step on that blanket of moss, our feet press it down to the bottom of the standing water. The moss acts like a loose net sitting on top that we press down when we walk and then it floats back to the top of the standing water. We wear muckraker rubber boots that go three quarters of the way up to our knees to keep our feet dry because the water is really cold. It takes a half hour to hike to our study site.
We leave the truck on the side of the road and hike a little over a mile to our study site. I don't wear all my clothes for the hike because the hike is a huge workout and I get really hot. I have my pack with extra clothes because I will get cold later, the rifle just in case a bear gets too close (this has NEVER happened), plenty of water and lunch, and the radio to communicate with my team and base.
The tundra looks flat and lifeless from a distance; however, nothing could be further from the truth. Once we finish our morning commute, we study the life in the tundra...up close and personal.
The tundra...full of life.