Cultural Center Part 3.

Going back more than several decades there was no rhyme or reason to development in Nain, and most of the other communities. The Moravian Church owned most of the land, you asked the church for permission to build and that was it.
Even after town councils were formed development was a mish mass as the church still held title to the land.

During the early days of land claims negotiations a deal was struck between LIA and the church, most of the land was handed over to either the town councils or LIA or to home or business owners who were given title to the land their homes or businesses were on.
Home land was a $1 if LIA, more for non LIA and businesses. Owner was responsible for all legal fees.

As time passed town plans were developed with provincial municipal laws and by-laws taking precedence. By the way it is still that way under self government.

Anyway there was some order and reason in the development of the communities.

Now we seem to be going back several decades with this deal struck between certain parties and the town council behind closed doors and with no consultation or dialogue with the public.

Precedent setting one would think.

An anonymous commenter mentioned funding for the Cultural center. They are correct, I would think that different sources would be sourced. Incorrect in claiming provincial funding sources, if any they would be insignificant.

My basis for thinking this is based on much anecdotal evidence for the most part. On many occasions when funding is applied for from various groups for equipment and infrastructure to the provincial government civil servants are not shy about directing the askers in Nunatsiavut Governments direction with words similar to *they have plenty of money go ask them *. Not true but that is their Newfoundland centric way of thinking.

My best guess at funding sources would be federal Government departments, NG and Parks Canada.

It is already public knowledge that Parks is a major mover and shaker within Nunatsiavut. Mainly in tourism but in other spheres as well.

I think Parks are putting up at least one third to one quarter of the money required for the building. The amount is probably increasing as I write.

For this Parks gets a nice bit of space in the building at the detriment to some departments of the Torngasok Cultural Center staff.
So to call it a Cultural Center is a slight misnomer. I have heard it said the translation department wont get a seat in the building.

With language being an integral part of the Inuit Culture this seems odd, but then who knows how things will work out and perhaps there are administrative reasons for this thinking.

There is much more I would like to write on this subject of who pulls strings and who jumps and dangles. But for now I will hold my own counsel

Long and the short of it:

Does Nunatsiavut need a cultural center? Yes.
Does Nunatsiavut need a cultural center like right now? Would be nice but at what cost, both financial and potential negative effect on social and language programs.
Does Nunatsiavut need a cultural center slash Parks Canada center? The original concept was for a stand alone Cultural center. This would be the ideal concept, why this joint venture is a mystery to me, very detrimental to any hope of autonomy for Inuit to my way of thinking.
Does Nunatsiavut need a cultural center slash Parks Canada center on the site chosen?
Nope.
The cost of engineering and ground work make the final costs an unknown. Then there is the unknown environmental effects both on the building and to the ground water flows in the community.

Further to:  The power supply has been on my mind (and not only for new construction) but have not given it a lot of attention, perhaps that should change after coming across this article, time to worry folks.

Of tears and sensible country food regulations

and ships that are not maintained correctly and feeding ones family.

Well the tears did not run literally.  When in Northern yesterday I purchased one red onion. At the check out the price came up at $3:18. Hmm I said to self.

So we left the store and headed up to BigLand. Red onions at that store too ( I must mention that the produce and fresh fruit section at BigLand has regressed 15 years, terrible it is) so I purchased one for comparison.

Comparison is: Northern red onions at $6:99 a Kg.  BigLand red onions at $3:49 a Kg. That should get the creative excuses juices going by the manager.

After all that I forgot to put slices of red onion on my lunch sandwich, but it was still good, ham and chicken with mustard mayo, home grown lettuce on home made multi-grain bread.

Further on the food theme, a courage's woman up in Iqaluit has drawn attention from southern social media for her advocacy on food prices.

The onion on the left cost $3:18, one on right cost $2:29. No biggy in the big picture of feeding ones family, but just another example of pricing differentials on food that is covered under the NNC program.

I borrowed the following photographs from a twitter post.

Country food store in Nuuk Greenland. Seal meat, fish and other unknowns.

What a contrast to how county food and its sale and distribution is handled in Canada in General and this province in particular.
There is no way a store such as this could operate here under all the Federal, provincial and now Nunatsiavut regulations. (Nunatsiavut regulations being overridden by the the other two regulators by the way).

One the subject of slabs of meat, this release by the Provincial Government just underlines the neglect Governments have paid to marine shipping on the coast of Labrador.

Anyone seeing a pattern developing

with the marine transport to the North Coast of Labrador?

The Northern Ranger is delayed once again (third week in a row) with undisclosed mechanical failure.

Each week the delay gets longer, this time she is at least 24 hours late departing Goose Bay.

Seems the passengers were left on board while boat at dock last evening. One trouble with that is many people who get off at Rigolet (the first stop) would be in the lounge area with no berths booked.

With each delay the boat steams all day and night to make up time, with an aging boat that does not seem like a very sensible strategy.

Another pattern forming is the increasing presence of black bears in the area.

For some time now there have been several down the dump way, people go down in vehicles at night to try spot them. Occasionally they are spotted up on Nain hill (the other side from the dump) and occasionally up behind hoiuses in the new subdivision.

Last evening one was spotted in among houses on the road just west and below our house. Then we had a message left that two bears were up behind our house around 7:30 this morning.

The pattern has formed on the Northern Ranger: latest update @ 1pm today is-

MV Northern Ranger (Passenger and Freight)

DELAYED 

Tuesday, Sept. 4th.

 Due to a mechanical problem MV RANGER will be out for an indefinite time.  Updates will be orovided as soon as they are provided by the Technician.  

And an update from CBC twitter:  Peter Cowan ‏@PeterCBC

CAI Nunatsaivut says passengers will be flown on charter flights because of a major mechanical problem with the Northern Range.

More twitter:
 Peter Cowan

CAI Nunatsiavut looking at a replacement ship for the Ranger, at least a week, in the mean time planes will replace ferry services

Nasturtium,

our saga of. 

The nasturtiums I sowed back what seems like ages ago have finely bloomed, and who new they are edible.

The plants took ages to sprout, then the leaves just sat with nothing happening in the budding area for ages.

Then little buds appeared and another long wait. Then one morning Fran is all excited and pointing out the first blooms.

Fran loves some color and is secretly interested in flowers. Alas Fran wont help in the cultivation or maintenance of same, or the vegetables in the greenhouse.

I think it must be a "retaining ones Inukness" thing or something. Whatever, I am happy when Fran is happy.

Cultural Center Part 2.

From an engineering perspective driving piles into the ground at the site chosen for the Cultural Center is very doable, as a matter of fact is essential if any stability is to be attained.

I think from memory Nain has only one structure built on any sort of rock base, that being the electrical power generating building (Hydro Building to the locals).

The rest of the land where the town is located is just a mixture of sand, fine and very little soil and fine crushed rock. Many places when disturbed is just ooze.
There are rocky outcrops but these are steep and not really suitable for putting structures on, the cost prohibitive thing comes into play.

Since my arrival here I have always been astounded at the half arse shoddy way concrete foundations have been prepared and poured, how sites have been prepared and how larger buildings have never had  piles or piers put into the ground.

Many homes and larger buildings have deteriorated way ahead of there expected life span, some larger buildings have cost tens of thousands and in one case millions of dollars to rectify.

The number one reason given for not doing it right in the first place has always been, cost prohibitive.
Mind you things have improves over the last decade, but things are still not as they should be for lasting structures.

So if the Cultural Center is to have any sort of life span it is essential to do it right in the first place, especially seeing as there is so much glass in the front section of the building. If the building starts moving, well stand back, and think of the expense replacing glass.

The real question I think is, why build it at this site?

There has not been a reasonable answer forthcoming as yet. At least two other sites were offered up by the Nain Inuit Community Government. These were rejected.

There are other sites along the water front of Nain if the proponents are gung ho on having the building in a prime water front location.

The site chosen is arguably the most vulnerable of all possible locations to surface and ground water from both the land side and the harbor side.

The community government had the power to say no, they chose not to.

I am told that 19 piers are to be driven into the ground and the structure place on top. What method of doing this is not known to me.

The ground around the structure will be built up around three meters from sea level with a three tear burn sloping down to the water.

Cost prohibitive does not seem to play a role in this instance.

Can a fledgling government with limited means of raising revenue afford this type if expense with so many other social, health and cultural issues being ignored, or put on hold due to cost prohibitive-ness?

The cost estimates for this building has risen from 12 to 14 million in a short time, I do not expect that that would be the final cost.

Another thing to consider is the upkeep and maintenance of the surrounds and the building itself over the long term.

Also the heating costs and air-conditioning. It is supposed to house artifacts and manuscripts that will require precise temperature control.
With such a large expanse of glass facing east you can bet it will get uncomfortably hot inside in the summer months.

With all the hoopla and claims being made about this building, and knowing the history of building large structures in town, and the environmental sensitivity of the shoreline of Nain, I am amazed that public discourse and inclusion was not undertaken by council and proponents.

TBC

On the weather front: it has been a great first two days of the long weekend. Sunny to cloudy with nice west'ish winds. Great weather for almost every form of outdoor activity.

Mushrooms abound among the berries.

In the strange category: If you enter flaky et sont nain de into Google the #1 hit is http://torngats.blogspot.ca/2011/05/bring-back-flaky.html

In the 'we know' category:  

Below is taken from our Daughters Facebook page.

Spoke to this Newfoundlander today about the last three days he spent in Nain. He said, " I was terrified to come here,cause of what I see on Here and Now. But you know what. It's best kind here! Everyone is friendly,helpful and happy! Better than down home!" 

We get this a lot from visitors to Nain and the coast in general, but especially from residents of the Island portion of the province and people who have traveled through the Island before heading to Labrador.

Says a lot about CBC in general and Here & Now in particular and their coverage of Labrador but specifically the coastal areas.  

As manager of the only hotel in Nain our daughter meets lots of people from all over.

What a magic morning: sun sun and more sun.

Made up some crepes for breakfast, the mix your own from scratch type and thin. 

Tried three types of filling; traditional french with lemon and sugar, fresh blue berries and lastly bake apple jam.

The taste test winner.

Would have loved to have some sauteed mushrom s on one too, alas don't know enough about them to risk it. 

Cultural Center Part 1.

For several years now I have been contemplating writing something on the proposed Cultural Center for Nain slash Nuntatsiavut.

Not so much the concept or the building itself (though there are reservations) but the site picked for the building.

When first announced (quietly) I thought, WTF!, are these people serious. Then the thought struck me that in time common sense would surface to the top and a serious re think and subsequent stable site would be sought.

No such luck.

Here is a concept drawing-photo of the proposed Cultural center and an news piece on the subject here.

And here is the site chosen. 

Right click on image and click open link in new window for larger view. 

In the larger image you will note that the site chosen is in the watershed that affronts the main part of town.  I have white circled that area. 

To gain access by a road (the finished product)  a house had to be removed (so it is claimed). 

Interestingly the house removed was the last remaining house of that type left in Nain and had a significant historical and cultural background. 
I have a blue scribble over the house.

The red circle above the site is what remains of the caribou plant that was attached to the fish plant. The caribou plant was condemned just a couple of years after it was built. You see they built it in the watershed, though not as far into the watershed as this Cultural center will be. 

Moving ahead to the present; Last winter attempts were made to do some geophysical drilling, a very half arsed attempt if I may so so, the drill and crew were inadequate and the drill became stuck on the first hole.  

Come the summer a marginally lager drill was dispatched and a series of holes drilled over a wide area of the site. It took forever and I hope the proponent was billed by the foot and not as a cost plus.

No solid rock base was found, permafrost frost was hit at varying depths in some holes from five feet to forty feet.  

Not surprisingly water enveloped many holes.  

Below is collage of the middle stages of drilling, the site is relatively undisturbed except that a fisherman's boat shed and small boat ramp had been removed. 

The site sits at 0 meters to 1  meter above sea level according to Google earth. There is one brook slash storm water drain that runs year round onto the site.  There are also at least 2 to 3 springs that run onto the site at verying levels of intensity depending on the time of year, rain fall and seepage from the above hills.

These water sources are met in the watershed by the seepage from the sea, plus storm surges and differing levels of tide from the sea.
In a NL government research paper from 2010 of past and present sea level changes it states that the coast of Labrador could undergo sea level rises of between 70 to 90 cm by 2099.

These sea level changes are particularly of concern to areas of low lying or low-slopping coastal areas. Of which we are one.

Historically there have been homes built along this water shed. A saw mill once stood in the area. All have long since gone and in my 32 years here the only structure built was the caribou plant that lasted 2 to 3 years plus the fisherman's shed that quickly developed a strange angle.

My memory may be fading but I seem to remember that the town council either past or was thinking on passing a by law forbidding any future structures right along the watershed of the town.

TBC.

Yesterday Siutik and I took a walk up the hills to check for good blue berry patches. It was quite breezy on the way up but as is usual soon as I started bending down the breeze dropped, never fails.

Any way found some good spots and the red and black berries are plentiful as well.

The Northern Ranger broke down again, and at Natuashish would you believe. This time she got into Nain at 6:30 pm, 6 hours late.

Some one commented on Facebook that we on the coast deserve as good a service as they have on the Island. 
Yawah forbid that our service ever gets as bad as that service is. Breakdowns weekly with the Provincial service, and the gulf service that is operated by the Feds has had the worst year for many a decade for breakdowns. 

Little cooler this morning so decided to do up a couple of jams, red berry and bake-apple, they don't last long in this house.

Weather has been on the balmy side and a bit windy, missed any real Wx as as usual moves to the south of us.

 Deja vu all over again with the Northern Range, taken from the official web site:

MV Northern Ranger (Passenger and Freight)

 

Wednesday, Aug. 29th - DELAYED

ETA Natuashish 07:00 am; Delayed due to mechanical - departure time to be updated 11:00 am

Speaking of turbot:

 Fishing vessel Abigail Grace came into port yesterday morning. She is partly loaded with turbot, came in to pick up a crew member arriving on plane. The plan was to then head out, pick up their gear and then head home to NS.

The  wheels seemed to have fallen off the best laid plans of the skipper a little, some of the crew acquired some beer and were enjoying the sights and roads of Nain while consuming same late afternoon.

She was is quite the boat at 90 feet with a wide arse beam.
In need of a haul out and some maintenance, the hull below water line is quite thick with marine growth.

The other boat in the picture is locally owned, she does the charter work up north for Parks Canada.

Still on boats: 

The mv Astron is on a very unusual schedule of late. She comes into Nain at a very ungodly hour of the early morning, unloads her cargo and is gone again without a by-your-leave.

No wharfinger is at the dock, no one who wants to ship anything out has the chance to.


This was going on last year and previous years. I thought people had worked a better schedule out with the minister responsible for transport, apparently not.

Update and corrections on above: The turbot survey is now approaching the Rigolet area just outside Lake Melville.

The crew on that boat sure is better behaved than the crew on the Abigail Grace. The men boys off the boat had quite the time I am hearing, much beer and who knows what else. I mention this just to highlight that it is not only Innu and Inuit who go a bit crazy when under the influence, media especially tend to forget this..

And a correction on the mv Astron, there was a wharfinger at the dock when she came in early Saturday morning.
This does not address why the early arrivals.

After a brief stopover in Nain the Turbot survey boat is now heading south, be interesting to see what they come up with at the end of the research, the fishery sure could do with some good news.

The outpost Magazine people are now back in touch with their real world, they had a brief stop over in Nain (refuel and drop off some Parks Canada people) on the way out yesterday.

Nephew Andrew was one of the parks folk, he is home for a week then goes back up to help shut down operations for another year.

Carters dad was the first officer on the Parks charter. We were down the strip to say Hi (Carter and his mom are here for a visit). As soon as Carter saw the plane landing he was revving to go and greet it, had a time holding him back. Soon as I let him go he high tailed it straight for the steps to board. 

Carter not happy to see his dad leave so soon but he recovered quickly what with all the attention he receives here. 


Warm one yesterday, up to 22 with light breezes.

This tin yacht motored into town yesterday morning. Couple on board not that friendly though the lady more so when hubby not around. Name of Glendel out of Burlington Vermont.

 When I queried the home port the lady gave a reasonable explanation. "It was where her hubby grew up but they live in Main".
OK, until we ran across hubby, he seemed evasive and in a hurry to get back on board  (they left 4 hours later). No skin off our noses buddy, just trying to be the typical friendly Nainimuks.

 Any way lady told us they had been up to Greenland and were in a hurry to get back south.

 So the question that remains unanswered is: why did this guy get customs clearance here in Nain (through the RCMP) when no other yacht or boat can. If buddy had been friendlier the question would not have entered my head.
There seems to some flags missing from the vessel too.

Now this next post is not meant to demean or be critical. It just seems to be very unusual and I feel for all involved.

There was a wedding planed for yesterday afternoon at 2 at the Moravian church (I am assuming the church).

Many guests of the groom to be arrive from Natuashish (grooms home town) starting on Wednesday and still arriving on Friday.

The bride to be is from Nain.

The hotel is booked for the reception and dance, around 120 guests I believe.

Hotel hires on more staff and start preparing the food for reception early Friday. Hotel dinning room is closed to the public so staff can accommodate hotel guests and the wedding.

Short time before the 2 pm church ceremony hotel manager receives phone call from the bride to be and tells manager the wedding is off, there will be no reception and no dance.

Now without further information ones head could start spinning with speculation as to why this could happen.

The truth is quite bizarre as it is. Seems people got cold feet with the possibility that the groom could be arrested if the wedding went ahead.

I am still shaking my head until it is revealed that the weeding went ahead groom would have been in breach of a probation order to stay away from the bride.

Ones head could still spin with possible scenarios of how things reached this stage, but why bother.

Hotel manager did not dump the food as requested (seeing as it was already paid for) but made sure the hotel guests from Natuashish and the bride to be family received what food was prepared, 5 turkeys as an example.

The end of an era.

The CBC free to air transmitters were shut down about a month or so ago, yesterday the final nail in the coffin of free broadcasts to rural and remote communities, well ours at least.

The parabolic antennas came down, the receivers and transmitters removed and taken to the dock for shipment to Goose Bay then on to who knows where, land fill most likely after any saveable bits removed.

APTN is included in the shut down and clean out.

Others communities have been cleaned out and others will follow. Will radio be next?

The two blue units in collage above are AM transmitters from the 60's.  They were in operation here until about a year ago before being replaced with digital transmitters.

The Harperization of a once proud country is not pretty to watch. 

More updates on the Northern Ranger mentioned yesterday.

Something weird is going on. It is ironic that only Wednesday a visitor from Goose Bay mentioned how well the N Ranger had been operating this year, no mention of any problems had been heard at all in GB.
 I mentioned the little blip in Opps with the one hour delay and how she seemed to be traveling under duress, but apart from that no known issues.

Spoke too soon we did. Chatter on social media from passengers on board on the run south revealed some disturbing (but as yet unconfirmed officially) reports of the ship being held up in Postville due to its Transport Canada Certification expiring.

Whatever the problem first word was she was to overnight in Postville. Then word was that she was to depart Postville around 8 PM.

 Official re schedule is. Whatever happened she is behind now, usually due in Makkovik at 7 PM Thursdays. And things were going along swimmingly.

She is now behind about 5 hours, no biggy to make up, but if she is operating on one engine that will be difficult to keep up and more likely to loose more time. Time will tell. 

Upertydates on the Northern Ranger via CBC HV-GB. 

According to a spokesperson for CAI-Nunatsiavut (who did not sound all that convincing)  the Passenger Safety Certificate (PSC) on the vessel had expired on the 15th August resulting in a five hour delay in Postville.
It was just a regulatory issue, one that could be corrected with a phone call or some other form of communication and acquiring an extension the PSC.
At no time where the passengers at risk yadd yadda.

When asked if this should have been done prior to the shipping season the spokesperson waffled and answered a non asked question.

Another visitor to the dock yesterday. The tug Molly M I took on fuel (lots) and water, she is on her way back to Hamilton Ont. from Iqaluit. The barge she is accompanying had lots of equipment and a large mobile crane on board, all this was to necessitate the unloading of what they took up. Stuff like large mats that are laid down on the mud at low tide, and other gear. Molly M has a new color scheme and most likely a new owner, she sure must have had an interesting life.

Funny that tugs and barges don't garner the same level of interest that 140 feet multimillion dollar pleasure boats do. 

The weekly arrival of the Northern Ranger was delayed an hour, she broke down back in Natuashish and she limped into town (by what looks to me like) one engine.

When Google gets done with Cambridge Bay we want the same done here. 

The turbot survey people are now in Hebron Fiord, and the outpost Magazine people are still eating lotuses up in the Torngat Park, hoping for a helicopter ride but if weather is like here don't think so. 

The Torngat Secretariat Turbot Survey is up shit creek without a paddle a fiord according to last position. Seems a strange place to be looking for turbot?  I was joking about the creek.
Not really, back when I first came here we caught loads of small turbot in char net up in a bay, dumped the lot as there was no way to process them, except some I kept and filleted. 

The brief visit of the T T Dorothy Ann and its fast outrider caused quite the buzz around town yesterday. 
The Yellow Fin center console with 1200 HP on the back gained the most interest, a number of locals were given a quick run around the harbor before it took off, literally, for the Park base camp, 3 hours was the estimate time to get there.
The 1200 HP at full throttle use approximately 400 liters of fuel per hour, about the same volume as the mother ship consumes per hour at cruising speed.

Then she is 256 gross tonnes and has twin 1,350 Hp diesels.
No wonder she has 35,961 liter fuel capacity.

I had some information on the owner sent me by interested persons, Mr. Devaney is quite the colorful character and has created quite a bit of coverage in financial and other circles over the past few years.

There are reams of other stories covering this guy, mainly financial deeds or misdeeds depending on your view. 
Fogy and rain overnight, fog and drizzle this morning.

The Nain fish plant is to close today, shipping out the last of the char to Goose Bay, what a disappointing season it was for all involved. Lets hope some out of the box thinking is done before next year, cant keep sinking money into a loosing operation.

Here is the momma bear of the the *little boat* with the 1200 HP of thrust.

Nephew Andrew is back at base camp in St. Johns harbor, guess the intrepid travelers will be leaving tomorrow, or staying to do some paddling.

Maybe they will run into the big oh boat from Florida, for sure they will get to meet the big guy who is capt of the fast boat. 

Another warm one yesterday, up to 22 and calm for the most part.

Nephew Andrew and the intrepid hikers have reached the point of pick up back to the base camp by the look of things. Hope the black bear did not cause too much trouble.

Aimee and Carter are coming for a visit within the week, that has got everybody excited.

This baby came into dock last evening, took pics this morning.

Brand new and no sign of boat manufacturer, or owners. She is rigged for sports fishing with rod holders and outrigger, an anomaly in these northern waters sure.

With 4 300hp mercs she would be a floating fuel tank one would think.

Sort of a muggy, wet, foggy day yesterday. Fog came in later in day and stuck right flat.

My original assessment of the Outpost Magazine crew hiking with nephew Andrew has not changed yet.

I am sure they are nice folks but some of the correspondence is over the top IMO. But then I am getting older.

Just an example:

Sitting on top of à mountain in Canada's Torngats with my lady watching THE NORTHERN LIGHTS:) it's a hard life being Outpost's Thrillseeker!
And:  Just another hum-drum day: Parks Canada chopper brought us à resupply of food. Stunning route through thé mountains and now camped in the clouds! 13.4km tday!

They have not far to go now before getting picked up.

And the turbot survey folk are up in Nachvak Foird at the moment.

 The Ocean Delta anchored off yesterday, no idea where she is going but she was photographed in Quebec City on the 13th. 














 Was finely able to capture( Image) of the two Morning Doves together, usually feeding singular.

Nephew Andrew and the intrepid adventures are on the move southward again.

Some excepts from the hikers Facebook page:  Day 2 in the Torngats trekked 14km through wild moonlike landscapes! Great guiding by Parcs Canada Inuit! Hiked where none havé before!
 And my favorite: Day 3 pt2. - The Torngats 3km Climb up à peak with our Half Inuit and half Australian Guide! Diet of arctic char and dried foods! Mystic fog in the tornfats!

Nice spot of light rain overnight and morning, gets too dusty and hard to breath for many when  hot for any extent of time.

I had this on my (to do list) but thanks to Rick, arguably one of my cultists, I will put it up now.

The Lazybank Productions video called Till We Meet Again, Moravian music in Labrador, enjoy.

Nigel Markham of Lazybank has done some great work on Issues involving aboriginal people in Labrador over the years, going way back to the 1980s right through to today. Eye Of The Storm is one film that resonates with me sure.

The Torngat Secretariat turbot survey is still at the dock according to spot me.

But up north nephew Andrew and the the intrepid urban adventurers are making fast time across the mountains and tundra between Ramah Bay and Saglek Fjord.

Gota put this link up of an ex CKOK trainer (in between CBC gigs) who now resides in Gander.
Nice to see some reporter skills are still evident after years of working for CBC with their 30 second clips.

Update on Andrew and the Torngat hike.  Looks like they had a base camp at a pond, took a hike up to 3000 feet or so and returned to base camp.