March 15th - Snowmachining Tustamena Lake

Already - Gunna try something new in hopes that I'll be updating this on a more weekly basis!


Thursday March 18th, 2012:

We went snow machining today on the south side of Tustamena Lake.  It was me, my supervisor, and one of our L.E. guys.  The morning had started out snowy.  We had about 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground.  Not enough to be annoying, but just enough to recover the brown snow, the green trees, and old tracks, making the day more beautiful than ever.

Tustamena Lake is quite large.  25 miles by 5 miles, about.  We were concerned about open water, overflow, and old ice pile ups from previous thaws and refreezes, but the LE leading us didn't seem too concerned.  The lake that morning was enveloped in a thick white fog, making it impossible to tell where snow ended and fog began.  Our world was nothing but white, everywhere.

We stopped first at an old cabin, one that dates back to the early 1900s that is still used my trappers and hunters today.  The we went to another island to set up our first sound stations of the day.  We continued along the coast and looked at high cliffs filled with animal tracks and scars from previous landscapes.

We passed a coyote stuck in a leg hold.  We stopped and watched him for a bit, but he didn't seem scared by us or our machines.  He gnawed at the wood as he stayed at us with curious eyes.  There's something about making direct eye contact with an animal that can't be described.  It's like a short bit of unspoken communication.

We continued to set up another sound station, then stopped at another cabin to enjoy the crisp "warm" air while we ate lunch.  Gary told us the history behind this cabin and how it was almost destroyed in the wildfire that scarred the entire landscape behind us.

We left the second cabin and made our way to the end of the lake.  Fog and clouds hid most of the view of the mountains and the glacier that was in front of us, but what little bit of the view we could make out was spectacular.  We sat on our sleds for about 30 minutes and watched some of the fog burn off, but then we started to make our way back.

The lake was smooth, for the most part, and we cruised back the entire way at about 45mph.  As much as I would have rather been on a boat, it was fantastic that in mid March, we could still be enjoying mild winter and amazing winter recreation.

It's days like today that remind me why I love field work and why we travel to locations like Southern Alaska to do field work.  I wouldn't change this for anything. 

"I'll never know the full extent of all this.  I'm okay with that."