Today was the first day of at-home sampling at my chosen river site. I arrived at my site around noon, it was warm and very sunny; there were very few clouds in the sky. To access my site, I had to walk down a steep, gravelly hill and walk over several rocks and boulders before I was able to crouch at the bank of the river. Before collecting any data, I took time to sketch my site. The river is very wide and has many orange-toned rocks throughout. I started my data collection by collecting filtered and unfiltered river water. Then, I took an extra tube of unfiltered river water to use for my e coli test later at home. Next, I took the conductivity and temperature of the river. Finally, all I had to do was collect BMIs. This was the most challenging part of my expedition. I attempted to collect BMIs five times in five separate locations but only ended up collecting three in total. I wonder if the lack of BMIs is because of how much rain and flooding has happened in my area. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to collect more BMIs. When I finally returned home, I set up my e coli kit and completed it with a helper.