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Today I worked up topside at the screen washing tent. I mainly picked through samples from the puma den. We finally finished all the bags of material we collected!

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It was bittersweet leaving. I’m excited for going back to school and sharing the incredible information I’ve learned, but sad the experience is over. Goodbye NTC!

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Today I woke up early to go mammal trapping! We were trying to catch small mammals in the area. Their weight gets checked and before today, most of the animals caught got an ear tag.

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Today was my last day in the cave!

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Today I stayed up topside and helped with screen washing.

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Today I stayed top side again and helped with screen washing. It goes by quicker with more people there to help!

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Today I spent my time topside helping with screen washing again! While we were waiting for the samples to dry, I helped pick through some of the fossils from the puma den bags.

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I had a full day in the cave today! I spent half my time excavating on a back wall and the other half of my time assisting Dr. McGuire collect samples of sediments. She had a really interesting color guide she used to differentiate soil types.

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The high today was 104 and the low was 63. It felt so hot all day, but we had low winds throughout. 🥵

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Today was my first day in the cave! I went in for a half day after lunch.

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I had some time today to finish up this book I started during this trip. It’s about a girl that falls into a cave and is trying to find her way back home- would definitely recommend!

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We drove from Denver to the field site today!

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Today I went down into the cave! I spent my time in between two different sections. At many points, I had to stop using trowels and use dental tools because the potential to find something was really high and we don’t want to break anything by digging into it with hard tools.

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We caught chipmunks!

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In my opinion, climbing out of the cave was always easier than rappelling down.

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In the evening, I helped reset some of the mammal traps. The other group that went out to set traps on the other trap line got this cute video of a bunny!

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The high today was 91 and the low was 57. It felt really hot during the afternoon! In the evening, it became really overcast, cool, and windy. We prepared for a rain storm to come through.

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One of the lab’s undergraduates, Lily, and I solved a Rubik’s cube after dinner- the algorithm will never fail you!

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Today I spent time topside screen washing. When we pull samples out from the cave, there are fossils & bones mixed in with lots of dirt and rocks. We have to wash the samples in water through a screen to get most of the dirt and rocks out. The screen samples sometimes still have small rocks mixed in, but picking the small rocks out typically takes place in the lab on campus.

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Great people in camp!

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The goodest girl arrived at camp today! She belonged to one of the volunteer cavers.

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For breakfast we had oatmeal and banana pancakes. For dinner we had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

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Today I saw the cave site for the first time- so cool! The grate is there for protection so no one accidentally falls in.

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Today we had a high of 93 and a low of 63. It was hot and dry during the day without many winds passing through.

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We caught packrats!

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I’ve had such a good time getting to go into the cave!

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Today the high was 99 and the low was 63. It felt hot, but there were some nice winds during the afternoon.

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For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit. For dinner we had bacon chili Mac and cheese.

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The high today was 81 and the low was 52. It was slightly cold and windy in the morning. It was great weather for screen washing and being outside!

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Today was on the colder side. There was a high of 79 and a low of 57. It drizzled in the morning and was very cold & windy in the evening.

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In the evening, I helped refill one of the two trap lines! Hannah, an undergraduate student in the Spatial Ecology and Paleontology Lab, and myself went together. The Garmin GPS was used to help keep track of where the traps were. We used walkie talkies to communicate with the others on the other trap line.

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I spent most of today going through the packrat midden from the puma den. I found some teeth, limbs, and vertebrae!

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We made s’mores tonight!

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Getting into the cave was super fun, but also really scary for me since I’ve never done rappelling before! We had a really great safety team of volunteer cavers that helped us get into and out of the cave.

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Today I helped two scientists on the trip, Rachel & Jeff, excavate a puma den! I learned a lot about packrats and their midden. Apparently packrats like to hoard things (shiny things!) and put it in their nests. Once they have a bunch of stuff, they’ll pack it together in dirt and pee on it. The nests get passed down through the matrilineal line, so mothers pass down the nests to daughters and this can keep going for years! There’s lots of interesting things found in packrat midden, so scientists like to pull it out and go through it.

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For breakfast we had corned beef hash, fried eggs, and fruit. For dinner we had hot dogs and chips.

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We also caught deer mice! This is an example of the ear tag they get. Each tag has a number so the scientists can keep track!

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Today was a high of 106 and a low of 72. It was really hot during the day and in the evening.

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For breakfast we had blueberry pancakes and sausages. For dinner we had happosai!

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For breakfast we had fried eggs and sausage. For dinner we had chili (mmm- so good!)

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For breakfast we had eggs, sausage, and fruit. For dinner we had chicken salad sandwiches.

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It was hot during the day with semi-strong winds throughout the whole day. There were extremely strong winds in the evening- strong enough to blow over tents! There was a high of 93 and a low of 68.

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Great sunset views!

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We saw some bones (most likely bleached by the sun) laying out on some rocks!

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Wyoming has great views!

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The high today was 96 and the low was 68. It was hot during the day and slightly cooler at night.

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For breakfast we had banana pancakes and oatmeal. For dinner we had chicken soup.

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The flagging (usually orange or blue) is attached to a bush or tree near the trap. It comes off really easily for when we’re done with the traps!

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For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausages, and fruit. For dinner we had curry tofu over rice.

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Today the weather was mainly in the mid-high 80’s. It was very hot and sunny today!

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This is a short clip of the process. If something looks identifiable, we bag it to examine it later. This usually happens in a lab!

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For breakfast we had fried eggs, corned beef hash, and fruit. For dinner we had Asian inspired noodles!

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Natural Trap Cave is so interesting when thinking about how it was formed and the type of material it contains. It was mainly formed through the process of chemical weathering- water seeps into the cracks of rocks and when it comes in contact with limestone, an acidic mixture that weathers rock is produced. Much of the material found inside the cave is the result of deposition. It’s called Natural Trap Cave because for most of time, it has served as a natural trap. Many animals fall in on accident!

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We went herping (looking for amphibians and reptiles) with the herpetologist of the trip, John, during the middle of the day. We didn’t find anything, but we did see a rabbit!

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Tent all set up and ready to go!

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Great sunset views!

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This is what the den looked like.

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The temperature when we arrived to the field site was in the mid-high 70’s. It was overcast and cool.

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Similarly to the puma den, excavations have to have very well documented tags and information to go with the samples. Without an orderly system, data collection falls apart. The scientists on the Natural Trap Cave project set up a grid system and coordinates had to be written down whenever something was found, along with the layer it was found in.

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Having a great time in Wyoming!

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We had hamburgers tonight at camp!

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Had a tent visitor come hang out!

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This is an example of some of the exciting things you can find! It was also helpful to wear leather gloves because there were a ton of cactus spines.

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There was a high of 88 and a low of 61. There were really strong winds in the morning!

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Getting out of the cave is a lot less scary for me than getting in!

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In the evening, we started mammal trapping. Ben, one of the PhD students, is leading the trapping to determine relative abundance. The traps are capturing small mammals.

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For breakfast we had bacon and oatmeal. For dinner we had Philly cheesesteak sloppy Joe’s.

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Inside the cave, there are no winds and it stays at a constant temperature within the low-mid 40’s.

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Scientists have to take really detailed notes while they are in the field because it helps with data collection. If scientists don’t take detailed notes, it can make it difficult for others to understand what research they did, where specimens came from, and how data was collected.