Well, just finished packing all of my field gear and soon Emily and I will be on our way to Castle Lake, near Shasta CA, to do preparatory training for the field work we’ll be doing in Siberia. While up at Castle, we not only get to test out all our new gear and perfect the skill of packing light while still managing not to freeze (it’s the middle of June and we’ll still be sleeping on snow pack!), but we’ll also be mastering PPR, gill net fishing and processing, benthic sampling and more. It’s the last few weeks before the trip and now it’s crunch time!

But we couldn’t do it alone! Thanks to the help of Sudeep, his graduate students, and of course Joanne, who’ll be up at Castle working along beside us, we’ve been able to go through the reading list, organize our projects, and work on the skills we need to be efficient and confident in Siberia. So thanks everyone!

I can’t believe the days are going so quickly till it’s time to go! I’m excited to meet all of you and hear what I’m sure are similar stories of hectic preparations!  I’m sure the 11 hour plane ride to Moscow will give us plenty of time to swap stories! See you all there!

Melissa