Hi all, I’m Melissa Lombard from the New Hampshire office of the New England Water Science Center at the USGS. As I write this, it is about two weeks out from when I will be joining the SCREE group at Flaming Gorge Dam. I have been doing all sorts of things to get ready for this trip and I really can’t wait to be out there and on the river! As I’m gathering the gear that I’ll be bringing, I can’t help but think about how John Wesley Powell and his crew might have prepared for their trip into the “Great Unknown”. They had boats made in Chicago which were transported via train to Green River, Wyoming. They also assembled tons (literally tons) of food, which primarily consisted of flour, beans, and bacon. Apparently, their bacon was not in the best condition, but they still ate it and quickly tired of it. Maybe after several months of eating bacon, I would tire of it as well but I’m hoping we have some bacon on our trip. Powell and his men could not refuel their provisions along the way so had to bring everything with them from the start. This is one contrast to our trip 150 years later, where there are plenty of opportunities for the crew to acquire more provisions along the way including change outs of the crew.

The things that I am most looking forward to on my trip are having the opportunity to spend so much time in the outdoors and meeting my fellow crew members.It’s been a very gray and rainy spring here in New Hampshire so I’m really hoping for plenty of blue skies while I’m on the river.I’m sure it’s been a gargantuan task to plan this whole expedition, so a big THANK YOU to everyone who has made this possible!