Overcast with periods of rain – heavy rain later in the day.
Today I was due to fly South for a field trip to a location in the uplands of Byron Bay. Original plans were for a morning flight, but weather conditions below the flight minimums caused a delay. The Coast Guard helicopter could easily have flown (and does in much worse), but as there was a sling load involved, they required more visibility for safety.
The weather lifted enough for us to fly down in the afternoon. It ended up being a brief window, as the rain started in earnest and brought clouds down with it not long after we arrived.
The flight was reasonably smooth. We could see below us, but were near the base of the clouds which was probably mostly under 1000 feet. For most of the flight down I was looking at the water, but when they made a loop around to come in to our target area, I got a look at the headlands immediately north of Byron Bay.
With the sling load, they took some time deciding on a spot that they could safely deposit it that was also close to where we needed the stuff to be. They settled on a rocky spot adjacent to the lake, then landed with the helicopter a bit further upland to allow us to unload.
Some of our gear was in the helicopter (rather than on the sling load). It was an experience getting it unloaded while fighting the rotor wash. One of my bags had been hanging a bit loose in the sling load, so I was glad it didn’t break free during the flight.
Given the forecast for later in the week, Jason had decided to aim for a late Wednesday return. The concern was if we didn’t make it back Wednesday, we wouldn’t make it back until Sunday, at the earliest.
Given the short timeline for the trip, Jason and Jeri prioritized getting on the lake to get some bathymetry while Sam and I worked on getting stuff unpacked and set up.
The bathymetry run revealed the lake didn’t have the kind of basin that had been hoped for, and furthermore was too deep for the coring equipment. Option two was a nearby smaller pond.
The pond bathymetry was promising, so we moved all the coring gear up the hill and completed its assembly.
We took a break from this effort to try to find good camp spots. However, plenty of rain made things extra wet. We managed to find scattered flat-ish bedrock exposures elevated enough above the marshy ground that the abundant water wouldn’t flood them. rain on mix of marshy with exposed bedrock.
It was clear that more water was flowing than typical. My sense was the rain amounts were more like what this area would see during fall storms.
I ended up setting up my tent on a sort of flat rock. I had enough padding (including my life jacket, pillows, pads) plus I’ve been sleeping on a thin cushion on the floor, which probably made it easier for me to handle.
Despite wearing rain gear the whole time, I was still pretty damp. I had a warm sleeping bag, and thought my clothes might dry from body eat overnight with decent ventilation.
On this day I was focused more on setting up camp and project stuff, but did notice some of the plants and made a couple of observations.
[Writing this after returning home, it feels like the trip was so compressed that it is difficult to remember everything clearly. I remember noting at the time that 24 hours felt like much longer – it reminded me of the early days of covid when something only a few days past felt like it had been weeks ago.]
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
