Week 12/13: What the world needs most, is love sweet love

Sunrise: 5:13
Sunset: 10:51

I debated for a long time what to write in this final blog.  No matter what I wrote, nothing seemed to fit.  So I've decided to write mostly nothing.

Week 12 was good.  My final days of week 13 spent in Denali were good.  I said my goodbyes, and departed for Fairbanks.

I end this blog here, as I sit on our back porch on Poquoson, VA, surrounded by a clinging humidity, chirping insects, and all things familiar.  <3

Keep following:http://mountainadventurestory.blogspot.com/
And check out the new one.  I'm going to start writing again: http://wildlifememoirs.blogspot.com/

[ If you're happy, then I'm... ]

Week 11: This is a long one

Tek Flats

Sunrise: 4:33am
Sunset: 11:31pm

Tek Flats

Well this week was a doozy.  Despite things being really good recently, I've been continuously struggling with the fact I'm going back to the SE for 2.5 years, not particularly enjoying my job (most of the time), and trying to handle the rapid deterioration of my grandparents health. 


Monday started out with a ride into the park to check on my Highway Pass station because someone said there were bear cubs "chewing on the station".  After 2.5 hours of driving, I arrived at my station to find not even a remote sign of bear.  I have no doubt there were bears there, at some point.  Sows, spring cubs, and male bears have been romping the area all season.  But today?  No sign of bear.  Which is good.  And hey - It got me out of the office. 

Tek Flats

Monday night I hung out with a large group of NR seasonals.  It was fun - Good food and good company, but I wasn't particularly in the mood to socialize.  Not with a group that large.  And not after getting a dismal update on the health of my grandparents.  The socialization was a also a reminder of what I love about seasonal work: The great communities you find.  And it made me realize how much I wasn't ready to leave Alaska.

Tuesday was not only a bus day, but a day I was determined to go hiking.  There were a couple of places I had in mind to hike, but since I had a 4 hour drive out to the EVC, I decided to wing it and pick my  destination later in the morning.

Tek Flats

By the time we got out to the EVC, it was misting, fog was so low I could barely see my feet, and the temperatures were hovering in the 30s.  I lost all motivation to hike.  Anywhere.  The feeling bothered me.  I was pumped to go hiking and I knew it would make me feel better, and yet the weather and my own bitter emotions left me paralyzed on the bus.  Instead of picking a location, I put in my headphones and listed to a random mix of songs and tried to escape from my own head.

By the time we reached the Tek rest stop (about an hour from park HQ and what would have been the end of my work day), I mentally slapped myself and told myself to "suck it up and get the heck outside.  Take a walk.  Listen to your own advice -- If you aren't happy, change something".

So I got off the bus as it was about to pull out of the rest area, and went for a walk.

Near Kantishna Airstrip

I headed for the Teklanika (river) flats, which wasn't so much of a hike as a stroll along the river.  I called out to scare bears and got my feet wet crossing some of the smaller braids of the river.  I meandered, slowly.  Giant cumulus clouds puffed in the sky and before I knew it, I was out of sight and sound of the road.  I sat by a slower, small braid and breathed in deeply the fresh air that was empty of work, people, and buses.  I smiled and exhaled my momentary poisonous thoughts.

The walk was good.  Even though I was in designated wilderness and no where near a trail, walking on the gravel bed felt like a trail.  It felt safe though, which is what I think I needed for hiking alone out there.  It was hard to decide when to turn around.  The gravel bars keep going and going -- So how far do you go?  I eventually reached a harder braid to cross and called it quits.

Say Hello to my little friend.  :)

When I got into the office early Wednesday morning, I got an email informing me that one of the maintenance guys had knocked down me Reconyx camera (critical data) at my Highway Pass site... with a grater.  He had put it back upright, but we all suspected not in the correct position, and possibly not even functioning any more.  I wasn't in the mood to work and had hoped it meant another field trip into the park, but we decided to wait on it until tomorrow.  Instead, I spent a long day at my desk and in the afternoon, preparing a second tripod stand anticipating the worst at the site for when I visited it on Thursday.

End of the Park road

Wednesday evening I finally got an update on my grandparents health.  The conversation with my dad had started out light hearted, casually discussing graduate school and my plans for when I come home in 2 weeks.  When I asked about my grandparents, I sunk a little.  The news wasn't bad, but it wasn't good.  To make matters worse, my Dad suggested that instead of visiting them in Aug while I was home, I should focus on moving to SC and starting school with a fresh mind.



I sank a little more.  As usual my priorities were: career > everything else.

McKinley River

I let it all sink in and reminded myself that the situation (my grandparents health) is what it is, and I can't change anything.  I accepted the inevitable, at least for the night.  Then my sister called.  She ranted about this and that before I gave her the update.  She asked me how I was handling it all.  I shrugged silently in my head, before she suggested I was avoiding my own emotions.

I suppose it's true, that I might be swallowing what I'm feeling, but I think the truth is, I don't know what to feel.  What's happening is going to happen regardless of what I do or don't feel.  

Thursday I woke up feeling better.  As I drove out to check on my Highway Pass site (which turned out to be in perfectly fine condition), the radio was picking up surprisingly good reception.  With good tunes coming in and out on the radio, I decided that today wasn't so bad.  The afternoon that I spent back in the office was slow as usual, but continued to make progress on the copious amounts of data I had to process.

Carlson Creek

Thursday evening I was supposed to drink with friends and then take Friday off for adventures, but plans changed, as usual, and Friday turned into a flight day (Bummer. :] )  Regardless, when Thursday evening finally rolled around, I was tired, moody, and not feeling social.  My sister's departing words the evening before resonated in my head.  I went out anyway in hopes it would cheer me up.  It did.  :]  I called the role of DD mostly to prevent myself from drinking.  Partially because I didn't want to be hungover while flying on Friday, but mostly because I knew I only wanted to drink so I could drink my emotions -- and I know better than that.


I stayed up later than anticipated anyway, but went to bed in a good mood and slept soundly for the first time all week.  It felt good.

Pretty start to our flight day. :)

When my alarm clock started singing at 5:30am Friday morning, I pushed snooze -- multiple times.  Finally rolling out of bed, I made my way to HQ, just to drive down to the airstrip to ultimately spend the morning laying in the sun and the better half of the afternoon in the 191 NPS Helicopter.  Part of PPE while heli flying is a flightsuit.  As ridiculous as it sounds, I was really excited.  My fondest memories of my Dad are him coming home from work sporting his drag green flight suit.  Wearing one myself made me feel really close to my Dad, and I liked that feeling.  :]

Our flight day was long, but really successful.  I love flying and I'm really glad Davyd gave me the opportunity to help him set up his 2 backcountry stations.  The first one was west of the McKinley River (an amazing river, by the way).  We landed in a boggy area which soaked my feet on first step.  The second site was near Carlson Creek, about 5,000 ft up, nestled in a bowl surrounded by some still snow covered craggy peaks. Super pretty.  :)

I was really tired for the 45 minute flight back, but forced myself to stay awake to take pictures.  I'm glad I did.  :)  When I finally made it back home though, I was tired and still a little sunken from the week.  I cooked a big dinner, brownies from scratch, and thoroughly enjoyed some Alaskan Whites.

A friend came over that night and unknowingly cheered me up.  For the second time that week, I spent the night sleepy soundly.

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.. Do the thing you think you cannot do."  <3

Week 10: Crazy invasive species intern with a hammer

View of the Alaskan range from Alpine Ridge Trail

Sunrise: 4:10am
Sunset: 11:52pm

Well, we've reached the point in the summer where we're starting to lose about a half hour of daylight a week.  And July already feels like it's starting to cool off.  My field day today hovered around 41F most of the morning.  South Carolina heat is going to kill me! 

Week 10 was a good one.  It also marks only 3 weeks left in the Last Frontier, which is actually okay with me.  I've been here since November of 2011 doing work that, let's face it, I'm not crazy about.  My hearts not in it the way it has been with other jobs.  So about week 10 (because there was some fun stuff.  :]  )

Surfbird I saw on the tundra :)

 My week started and ended awesome.  Monday was my bus day and though I planned on not hiking that day, when we got out to the EVC, I couldn't help myself.  Denali was out with almost no trace of clouds on it, the temperatures were warm, and I could feel the sun smiling.  :)  It was the same hike I did a couple weeks ago, but it somehow felt completely different.  Instead of getting to the end of the social trail and turning around, I decided to keep hiking the ridge line, off trail, along the tundra. 




It felt really good and reminded me a lot of how I felt while in Idaho: Free, independent, and capable.  It was a strong feeling. 

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were painfully long days in the office.  Data, data, data.  I love research, don't get me wrong.  But I do not love researching bus sound.  Ugh.  3 more weeks until I'm finally researching something relevant again, something I'm deeply passionate about.  I cannot wait. <3

Friday was a long, but good field day.  I had a co-worker help me out, who turned out to be great company.  I was glad for the companionship.  The day overall went smoothly, and to my surprise, I was able to recover 2 weeks of data that I thought had been lost.  The field portion of the day only lasted 8 and a half hours, but I spent another 2 hours downloading data to see if we actually successfully got all the data -- Which has yet to happen this field season. 

Riley Creek

From the looks of it, I have 3 stations with 2 full weeks of data each downloaded to my work computer!   Whether I enjoy the research or not, I'm glad that successful and useful data was collected for analysis.  :)

To add to my good mood, my long work week was followed my hiking and camping.  Front country camping, but camping nonetheless.  After setting up camp, me and a friend walked down to Riley Creek and then decided to hike a bit along the triple lakes trail.  Such a fantastic hike.  For the first time since being in Denali, I actually felt like I was away from the people, the buses, and felt the "escape" I had been searching for since I got here.

Henry and Riley Creek

The trail followed Riley Creek for most of the way.  We came across a hidden beach and lounged there for a long time, soaking in the sites and sounds.  It reminded me of the road trip I did in Idaho where we sat along the Salmon river for a while, just listening and watching the power of crystal clear mountain water carve it's way through the canyon.  Beautiful. <3

The trail eventually climbed the mountain side to an amazing overlook.  And for once, it was a view that didn't include C-camp, the canyon, or a single road.  I couldn't have been happier.  Back at our campsite, we cooked dinner on the fire, drank box wine, and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Overall?  A really great week.  :)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go,

but I think I've ended up where I needed to be."

Week 9: Happy July 4th!

Panoramic on Sushana hike

Sunrise: 3:53am
Sunset: 12:08am

Week 9 somehow felt like a week off.  The slow pace was welcomed though since the last 2 or 3 weeks have been busier than hell.  Monday and Tuesday were typical office days.  Lots of data, as usual, but I'm getting quicker at going through it all, which makes it all the more bummer to be leaving early.  I'm glad I'm headed off to graduate school, but it would have been nice to finish out the project here.

EFK1 Site

Wednesday was 4th of July, which from a celebration standpoint, doesn't really mean much up here!  I ended up working that day, doing a third and final hike up to Sushana Ridge (the Hell Hike) to remove the backcountry sound station out there.  It was a good day.  A hard hike still, but it was good.

Thursday was a bus day.  Also as usual, I was incredibly sleepy.  Haha.  We saw a decent amount, but the excitement of seeing a bear or some caribou just off the road has worn off.  It just doesn't feel wild any more.  I dozed in and out for the bus ride home.  The rest of the evening I was in an off mood, which persisted the rest of the week.

View while biking

I took Friday off and after multiple changes in plans ended up biking through the canyon.  It's something I've been wanting to do for weeks, but also had every excuse in the book not to go.  But the sun was shining, I was energized, and had no excuses left.  It was roughly a 20 mile ride, with 14 of those miles being through the canyon.  :)  My ride started beside the Nenana River, worked my way past high rock slabs, and then out into the open with amazing views of the mountains.  The sun happily shone down and for most of the ride I pretended I was near Challis, Idaho riding along the Salmon River.  I couldn't have been more happy or felt more at home. 

There's not a doubt in my mind - My heart is in the Rockies.

My Saturday has been lazy and relaxing.  I'm currently sitting on bed writing this while listening to the thunder and rain, a noise I've missed for far too long.  :)  I'm still in an odd mood.  Graduate school and South Carolina are heavy on my mind as well as everything that comes with it.  It's nice to feel like I'm really moving forward though.  With new plans comes new goals: By 28, I will be living and working permanently in the Rockies. That much I promise myself.

Because some things feel like Home.  And Home is where the heart is. <3

Week 8: Walk down memory lane.

Sunrise: 3:41am
Sunset:  12:17am

Tek Flats.  Very green.  :)

Week 8 began, as usual, with riding the bus.  It's gotten late enough into the season that we aren't really seeing much wildlife any more.  Most of them have escaped to higher elevations to escape the heat.  Yes, 60 degrees qualifies as HOT for the wildlife.  We did see a wolf chase a ground squirrel right next to our bus, which was pretty epic.  :)  After we reach the EVC, we had almost an hour to wander around.  Usually during this time I at least walk around and breath in the fresh  air, but that day, I napped on the us.  Much needed.

Monday and Tuesday were spent going through more data (story of my summer...) and preparing for my field day on Friday.  Had to do some early preparation because I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday with an old best friend in Fairbanks!  We were inseparable in 5th and 6th grade, so it was nice to get 2 days with him.  :)

Flowers at Polychrome

The main reason I went up there was to attend a memorial service with my friend.  I didn't know the young teen who had died, but I went nonetheless.  The service, to my surprise, was being held on Eielson AFB. - My childhood home.  I hadn't been there in over 10 years, but as we crossed the newly built gates onto the base, I was still flooded with a thousand memories.

There's an amazing sense of community you experience on an air force base that can't be described and can't be felt anywhere else.  Not that I've experienced at least.  Beyond the community, there's always a constant presence of pride, also.  Not in an egotistical way, but in a pride for your community kind of way.  Pride for the air force.  Pride for the F16s, A-10s, and other planes.  Pride for your country.  Pride for red, white, and blue.  Pride in what it meant to stop, take off your hat, put your arm over your heart, and stand tall during the star spangled banner.

I liked living on Eielson AFB.  And it was nice to see at the memorial service that all the teens there, despite living in a somewhat rural and disconnected environment, seemed to embody community and the sense of pride.

After the service we drove to officer housing where I used to live.  We passed my childhood house, the playgrounds we all used to spend hours at, moose lake, and some other old buildings.  It was nice.  and at the same time, made me sad.  When I moved to VA, things changed.... everything changed.  Especially that sense of community and pride.  And the weird part is, there are probably more people I keep in touch with from  my time at Eielson AFB than I do from my High School in VA.  I wouldn't change my time in VA.  It shaped me into who I am today.  But if I had been able to finish out my high school years at Ben Eielson Junior Senior High School in Alaska, well, I wouldn't have minded that much either.

Anyway.  Friday was a field day.  Switched out the 2 sound stations as usual, though I don't have pictures uploaded yet.  I had started the day early anticipating it taking forever.  It did take a good while, but not nearly as long as I thought.  I had some excellent motivation to move faster though from a mob of mosquitoes... Haha.  Oh-well.  One of the stations ran perfectly fine.  But the other, well it somehow appears that I have zero data whatsoever from it.  Quite disappointing.  Another tid-bit to make my supervisor, well, you know... not happy.

"What's the difference between God and Fighter Pilot?  

God doesn't pretend he's a Pilot"

Week 7: Data, Clemson house, and Summer Solstice

Sunrise: 3:34am
Sunset: 12:22am

This was certainly an odd week, as usual!

Hehe.  They are funny looking straight on!

Since finding out about my Clemson University, I've had a list of things I needed to do.  Like you know, find housing.  In the mean time though, I was also dealing with my passive aggressive boss, who was making it very clear he was not happy I was leaving early, regardless of the opportunity.

Monday was a computer day.  I sat at my desk for about 9 hours sorting data and to my excitement, fixing the IGL1 Station's data, which I thought I had lost.  Turns out on at least one of my sites, I got the full 2 weeks of data, with SPL and pictures, which ultimately ended up being 100% synced.  I was a happy researcher.  :)

So big!

Tuesday was an EVC bus day.  I got an AMAZING view of Denali, which was cool.  Besides that, we saw pretty much nothing wildlife wise.  Not even one bear.  So after spending 8 hours on the bus, I decided to spend another 2 hours in the office sorting data.  I was apparently feeling oddly motivated.

Wednesday was supposed to be another fun day out of the office doing Dall sheep surveys all day around Igloo Mountain. After hiking for about 30 minutes, it started sprinkling.  Followed by a downpour.  Followed by thunder and lightening.  After sitting under a tree for another 30 minutes and continuing to watch it lightening, we decided to head back.  I was disappointed, but I was also soaked.  I looked forward to dry clothes.

Hiking around Igloo Mtn.

By Thursday, I was exhausted.  For the last who knows how many days, I had gotten 7 hours or less of sleep each night.  Every morning I had been getting up at 5am either for work, or to call apartment complexes about room availability and lease flexibility in the Clemson area.  Long story short, I had been searching for just about anywhere within my price range that would let do a 6 month lease.  I had been completely unsuccessful thus far.

Mid-morning, I got a call back from a 3 bedroom house posted on craigslist.  The landlord was calling me back to let me know she could work with me and do a 6 month lease and go from there.  I told her I'd take it.  She seemed really excited about me moving into the house, and after signing the lease, she told me "Welcome to the family".  I already felt at home.  :)

My house for this fall.  :):)

I continued to plug away at data all day Friday, but Friday evening I jumped at the opportunity to go down to the 49th state (bar/restuarant) for some beers, live reggae, and to enjoy the solstice.  It was a perfect evening.  I wore my sunglasses until almost 10:30 pm before the sun finally went low enough to go behind the trees.  It never fully went down though.  :)

All in all a pretty okay week. I'm sure I'm leaving out lots of awesome details, but oh-well.  This week was certainly an adventure!

"I could go for a walk.  

But I know I won't find what I'm looking for there."

Week 6: Graduate School acceptance and a loss of data

Sunrise: 3:33am

Sunset: 12:20am

Shoot star with the Alaskan Range

Week 6 has been full of many many surprises.  Both good and bad.  My week started on Sunday with a repeat hike of Sushana Ridge.  The day was warm, sunny, and consumed with giant mosquitoes.  Regardless, the day went great.  I still huffed and puffed my way up, but the hike up went overall much better than the first time.  I ended the hike feeling tired, but strong.  I also go to see Shooting Star, a super pretty wildflower that smells like grape soda.  :)

Monday and Tuesday were typical.  I exhausted myself in the office crunching through data.  Which was good, but I'm not sure how useful this data will be for reasons that I might explain later, but not right now.

I had off Wednesday and Thursday.  A much needed break since I was increasingly feeling like I was catching a cold.... again.  I started  Wednesday off relaxing, but had my fingers crossed that I might hear back from Clemson University.  To my surprise, I did.  I listened as the voice on the other end informed me that I had been picked for the position and I would need to be there by Aug 15th.

Forget-me-nots

I tried not to squeal, but I'm pretty sure I did a tiny bit.  23 years old and a year out of undergrad and I find myself postponing my traveling adventures to take on the real world.  To move to western SC to take graduate level classes and to spend my winters and springs in coastal NC to study herpetofauna diversity in wetlands of managed forests.  I'm excited, and I know this is what I've wanted for a long time, but it doesn't change the fact I already miss the desolate dirt roads, the high alpine lakes surrounded by craggy mountain peaks, and the sweet sweet smell of ponderosa pine in a dry summer heat.

As my supervisor told me, the Rockies aren't going anywhere.  And if I play my cards right, I'm setting myself up for the opportunity to land a permanent position in the Rockies by the age of 26.  Fingers crossed for the right cards.

POL4 Station

Friday was my field day.  I packed up the two stations I had out in the park and moved them to new locations.  The day was long, but went smoothly.  I brought back what I hoped to be 2 weeks of data for each of my 2 stations.  To my dismay, technical problems on multiple ends might have left me with data mostly unusable.  For each station, I need sound pressure levels (SPL) AND bus pictures that are synced with the SPL.  I got great pictures for IGL1, but what looks like possibly no SPL data.  And I got a full data set of SPL from HOG3, but only a days and a half worth of pictures.

Mostly useless.

Saturday was another work day riding the EVC bus.  It was nothing terribly exciting.  I did a hike up the ridge near the EVC.  I was excited to do it.  About 1000 foot climb in less than a mile, so a tough hike, but what should have been really rewarding.  To my surprise, as I crested the ridge line and began to look North to the other side, I found myself still staring at the road.

Top of the Ridge

I was disappointed.  My exerted energy had left me staring back down at what little civilization existed in Denali, much like the Sushana Ridge hike.  I sat and listened to the air brakes of the buses, people at the EVC loudly talking back and forth, and the screaming of kids.  In soundscape terms, it was all noise.  The technical definition of noise being unwanted sound.  My own thoughts sat empty in my head. 

I once again thought about sitting at Farley Lake in the Sawtooth Wilderness of Idaho.  A high alpine lake nestled between giant 11,000 foot peaks, high passes, and other partially frozen alpine lakes, miles away from anything remotely considered civilization.  And then I thought about the 6,000 foot peaks in NC.  The small stretches of wilderness that were characterized by sweeping deciduous growth and high elevation spruce forests, hundreds of waterfalls, and in it's own way, a lack of civilization.

The fine line between designated Wilderness, and the enjoyment of wildness.