Last week, a few of us from the biogeochemistry lab at SERC went to Deal Island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. We crossed Chesapeake Bay over the impressive Bay Bridge. Then went South. It was a good 2.5 hours one way! We left SERC at 5am! I'm used to that sort of wake up when I'm in crew season, but during the summer, I am definitely out of that cycle. So it was quite difficult to get up at 4:30am!
The Eastern shore marshes are very different than the GCREW marsh (the Global Change Research Wetland at SERC) which I'm used to. At GCREW we have nice boardwalks all the way out to the Phragmites chambers. That is not the case at Deal Island! We have to put planks on a set of stakes (in the picture on the left) over the stream. At high tide the water submerges the stakes, as the biogeochemistry PI, Pat learned at the end of the day. Pat fell in while retrieving the planks. If we left the planks on the stakes, they would be washed away with the tide, so we have to take them back with us.
Once we get into the marsh, it's squishy the whole way! It was my first time out in a really squishy marsh. I sank past my knees several times before lunch. Thankfully, I could get myself out each time. After lunch, as the tide began to rise, I sank quite a few more times as we raced to install the methane flux collars and boardwalks before the tide came up. I had lots of muddy fun being in a real marsh!
We finished up the day with another 2.5 hour drive back, interrupted with a stop at Wawa to get gas and milkshakes. We all walked into the shop in mud covered field gear. I love sweet endings to muddy fun field days!
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