Field Day 12 Hours!

Our field day to Blackhawk creek was unlike anything I had expected.  The day began out with a simple task of placing our thirty pre-made and marked control points.  From there we then began to measure distances between the control points in two teams of two and then compared our results which surprisingly enough were spot on for the majority of them.  From there we each began photo methods.  I began to do a photosynth method which consisted of me walking up and down the center of the bank, and up and down the center again first looking at one bank and then the other taking pictures all the while (217 to be exact).   Then I began the video method wherein I took 15 second videos while walking down either bank.  Then as a team we lowered down the 8ft by 8ft wooden square and began to place it at three intervals along the 122ft stretch of stream.  At each interval we all took pictures from as many differing angles as possible to capture all four corners and as many control points as possible for our later quantification.  After the square we split off into two teams (The Stonedahl's and the Students).  The Stonedahl's began work on the triangulation method which from their output in the excel sheets looked to be a very arduous but hopefully rewarding task.  The students embarked on what was probably the most time consuming method of the day.  First poles were placed at 15ft intervals down the length of the stream, this seems easy but you try putting in stakes when there are rocks everywhere.  Next lengths of string was wrapped around the bottom of the poles, and at each foot a black mark was placed.  From this point we went up and down both banks placing tape at the horizontal crossing point of each control point and measured the distance from the string to the control point.  Next we measured the distance from the string to the banks every three feet.  After this method came to its conclusion we began to pack up and head home after a 12 hour long field day, tired, muddy, and with hope.