polar bumble bee expedition day 8: toolik to franklin bluffs

Day 8 Toolik to Franklin Bluffs 7/5
This was our last morning at Toolik. Given the good internet connection and facilities, Jim & Katie set up to broadcast a Facebook Live interview with Hollis for the NY Times Science section. The interview went well, and had over 98,000 hits.
After the interview we loaded up to continue north along the Dalton. On the drive we stopped to watch 9+ muskoxen grazing on willows and forbs near the side of the road. They were smaller than bison, but still formidable with large curving horns and a long silky fringe of hair hanging down. It was so cool to see them in the wild, doing their thing.
At Franklin Bluffs we found lots of Hedysarum alpinum, locoweed and fireweed, and bumble bees foraging! We were excited to find bees again, including some possible Bombus polaris individuals. We set up camp on this somewhat-windy gravel pad which was originally constructed for staging equipment for the Pipeline, but now hosts some road-construction materials and teams, and is a handy place to camp off the soggy tundra and near the road. We said goodbye to Jessica, Sean and Jeff as they headed southbound – Jeff and Sean to return to UCR, and Jessica to continue sampling Formica ants near Fairbanks. It felt weird to lose some of our team members, but we had a good run with them and will check back in once we’re back in Riverside.