Le Journal de Bord

Sunday, August 11

After a long flight, everyone has arrived at the Chicago airport. We directly drove to the campgound outside of Chicago for a first dinner together.
Tomorrow, Chicago and then we will drive North !

Monday, August 12

For our first day all together, we went to the Sheed Aquarium in Chicago to discover an exhibition on Great Lakes. We also walk through the aquarium to discover all kind of amazing species. After lunch near the Lake, we walk a bit in Chicago through Millenium Park before going back to the car. And then, North until Kohler Andrea State Park. After building the camp, we went to the beach for admiring the lake (and for some : a little swim !).

Tuesday, August 13

Today we all woke up around 7 am in the camping of Kohler-Andrae state park next to the Sheboygan city. And after packing up everything in the car, we left for approximately 5 hours of drive to get to Marquette. We first stopped at a gas station when we all bought snacks, and later after a while of drive we found a place to eat just next to the Michigan Lake. Everyone made its own omelet and we spend a nice time eating next to the lake. Then, after approximately two hours of drive we finally got to the Marquette campground where we are going to spend three nights. We discovered the “Quizz de l’oie” thanks to Julie and Guillaume we learned few things about pollution and everything that concerned the water. Tonight is curry for dinner !
Elodie

Wednesday, August 14

Today we went at Marquette water filtration plant. That was great and interesting. First men showed to us how it works and explain it to us carefully. With this experience we have learn more about the filtration and it process. For instance, they extract the water from the Lake Superior. The water is located at a depth of 18 m, 950 m from shore. Then a screen removes the big solids of the water and pumps create some energy to push the water through the membranes. After that we visited a sewage filtration plant. The process was more complex.
In the afternoon we made some experiments concerning to better understand water quality. It was fun.
Niels

Thursday, August 15

Today the group did some hiking is Sugarloaf Mountain. We walked 7.4 km and we see beautiful landscapes. We stop at one beach for swimming a little and have a lunch. We see some principles for leaving no trace in the nature. After, we return at the camp for a little break. We talked about the hydroelectricity and took a sample for determining if the power plant contaminates the water. That we do that day !
Bernat

In teh evening, we went to the presqu’isle near Marquette to watch the sunset ; it was beautiful.

Friday, August 16

We woke up quite early this morning to go to Quincy Mine. There we met Tom, a geologist, who made us discover the mine and interesting facts about the local geology. We then ate at the mine. We then got installed at Baraga State Park Campgroung. It was raining today, but we still managed to do some thinking about water purifcation and the projects we would like to develop further.
Tonight, we will learn a bit more about how to make fire whatever the weather - which is fairly appropriate !

Saturday, August 17

In our campground, a social event took place this morning : coffee (or hot chocolate) and donut ! Along, of course, with the occasion to talk to some locals.
We then tested some of the water samples we gathered - nothing alarming for now.
After a quick lunch we left for AuTrain Lake. Over there we hiked along a songbird trail and then went to the Lake for swimming.
It was also Melina birthday, and so we ate hot-dogs (cooked on the fire) and some pastries as a dessert.

Sunday, August 18

We began today our two day’s hike in Pictured Rocks. In the morning we packed everything needed and then left for Pictured Rocks. We walked to Chapel beach via Chapel Falls. We had a bit of rain and saw the lake with large waves. It was hard to believe we were facing a lake and not a sea !
We then continued our walk to Mosquito camp where we spend the night. Once again we were able to see the sunset over the lake. Still amazing !

Monday, August 19

After a nice night in the forest, we hiked back to our car and then drove to Munising where we will be staying for two nights. We saw a doe and her fawn, it was so cute.
This afternoon, it’s groceries, laundry and swimming pool. A chill day before continuing our scientific activites !

Tuesday, August 20

This morning, we went to Beaver Lake to take a sample of water. We saw woodpeackers. In the afternoon, and after a nice swim in the swimming pool of the camping, we tested the samples gathered these past few days.
In the evening, and after a diner cooked - as usual - in a fire pit, we played Time’s Up, US version.

Wednesday, August 21

We finished the water tests on the sample collected (pH, NO2, NO3, NH4, PO4, O2 + Elisa tests). Then, we hit the road once again to come back to Marquette. We made a break near the Lake Superior for lunch. It was very windy overthere.
When we finished unpacking at the camp in Marquette, we started working on a water purification protocol and on a small video for explaining what we have done during this stay.

Thursday, August 22

After breakfast it strated raining a lot, so one team stayed at the camp and worked on our retransmission video while the other team went at the supermarket for groceries. At the end of the morning, the weather got better.
During the afternoon, we continued our protocole for comparing technics for purifyng water and finished - soner than expected - our short video ! Here is the link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgL...

We played a bit of werewolves before dinner - pasta and crepes with maple syrup for dessert.
Tonight, we are playing a water based version of seven families.

Friday, August 23

Last day in Marquette ! For this final day in our sampling area we spent our morning analyzing the results we got from our tests. We also thought of what kind of analysis could be done next year to improve our study.
This afternoon, we went to Marquette to visit a bit the town and to shop.

Saturday, August 24

After a long day in the car near the Lake Michigan, we finally arrived at Chicago KOA Campground. We will soon eat dinner before sleeping under the stars.

Sunday, August 25

We spent our last day together in Chicago before taking our flights home.

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