Week 3: Lupine and Memorial Weekend

Lupine near the Nenana River

Sunrise: 4:14am
Sunset: 11:43pm

Nenana River

It was another slow week at work.  I started learning processing (basically computer programing).  It's kind of nerdy, but will hopefully allow me to learn R faster, assuming I need that down the road.  I've been working on more camera testing to see if we can actually logistically catch bus numbers on camera.  I seem to be making progress.  We're also catching some wildlife, which makes me feel moderately reconnected.  This week we caught mamma moose and her two calves.  :)

Otto Lake

It feels like I've been here for way longer than 3 weeks.  3 weeks down, and roughly 23 to go.... but who's counting.  On the plus side, summer is finally approaching.  This weekend things started greening up and I even saw my first patches of lupine, one of my favorite wildflowers!  Baby aspen leaves might be by far my favorite.

I got to camp this weekend, which was a nice change.  I also spent the entire weekend away from C-camp (my housing) and the majority of the weekend outside the park period.  Denali National Park is gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but when you're battling to enjoy the outdoors with hundreds of other people.... well, the solitude behind it is lost.  I have found I enjoy being outside the park much more.

Otto Lake

My feelings of missing Idaho didn't dampen any this week.  In fact, they might have increased.  I've decided I want to go back to the Rockies this winter... possibly this fall if I can manage it.  Alaska is too disconnected from everything for me.  Especially friends and family.  And even more so, haha, I want to go snowboarding this winter!

Things pick up this coming week.  I'll deploy my first set of sound stations, ride the bus out to Eielson Visitor Center for wildlife observations, and fly around the northern section of Denali to volunteer with some wood frog work.  Should be a good week.

"The secret of my success 
is never waiting 
for someone to join me"

Bear-anoia

Closure along on the side of the park road

Well I finally approach the end of my 4-day weekend, or my "mini vacation".  I didn't do much, considering the resources available to me!  But it was a good relaxing long weekend regardless.  I did a lot of thinking too.

Friday I was going to go for a long bike ride.  Instead I rode to the post office, picked up some new alaskan stationary at the bookstore, and spend my evening relaxing and writing letters.

Break during my bike ride at a pull out

Saturday I was going to go for a hike!  BUT instead decided to go for that bike ride I was going to go on Friday (yes, some of this was in my previous post, bear with me!).  I rode from C-camp to Savage river and back, approx 24 miles.  A good first ride given that I haven't been on a bike in over 6 months!  Saturday night was a work BBQ.  I was quiet, as usual, and in an odd mood.  I was severely missing Idaho and the Rockies Saturday evening, and my mood reflected it. 

Sunday morning I got up early and decided to do the Mount Healy hike and take the Rock Creek Trail as a connector to get there.  Both trails are established, so I felt comfortable going alone.  40 mins into my walk on Rock Creek Trail, I heard loud aggressive rustling in the woods. I quickly yelled "Hey Bear" and started walking back down the path I had walked up on.  I kept saying it loudly and heard the rustling again briefly shortly after that.

I can't tell you if it was a bear or not.  "Tri-pawed" had been sighted the day before on that trail, so I was super sensitive to sounds in the woods.  But it startled me enough that I no longer felt comfortable hiking alone, so I hustled back to came singing "Hey bear" until I reached the road.

Bear we saw on the first day on the park (from a safe distance)

I told my roommate about it, and she suggested I had "bear-anoia" from my previous charge.  It made sense.  I was bummed, but at the same time glad it had happened so early in the season.  Given my lack of experience in bear country, I figured I probably should be hiking alone, and I should be super sensitive to my surroundings.  I had hiked numerous times alone in Idaho, but I never had to worry about mammals.

Regardless it was an odd feeling.

I decided not to let it get to me though and took advantage of my other opportunities.  I ran with Timber that afternoon and set a positive mental status in my head.  I can still hike with other people later on, and I'll still get to see lots of the park numerous times via my field work.  In the mean time, I can focus on other important things to me.  Like volunteering, reading, and getting back in shape (via running and hiking).

Monday I relaxed in the morning, then went on a 6 mile job/walk to the post office.  I unfortunately had no mail waiting for me, but I felt pretty accomplished once I made it back to C-camp.  I even got some reading in, which was great.  :)

I think the idea of "bear-anoia" is going to stick with me for the whole summer.  And lets face it, I don't want to get comfortable in bear country anyway.  I just hope it doesn't lock up the adventurer on me....

"Maybe the sun will shine today,
The clouds will roll away.
Maybe I won't be so afraid,
I will try to understand,
Everything has its plan either way."

Week 2: Summer onset, Idaho flashback

Sunrise: 4:42am
Sunset: 11:18pm

Bike Ride - 19 May

 Week 2 started with the Sushana hike posted previously and ends with a 4 day weekend.

Enjoying the view on a rest break while riding

The week was slow.  We set out the first station of the season for long-term monitoring and the rest of the week was mostly office work.  I played with camera traps to continue to try to find the right angle to capture the numbers on buses.  Hopefully the GPS system we plan on using in place of the cameras will work out.  Regardless, it's nice to be working with the reconyx system, something that at least makes me feel like I'm working with wildlife again.  And hey, we did catch some wildlife on the camera!

Almost summer...

I finally got around to downloading needed software on my computer too.  Davyd had me starting on SPLAT analysis, a tool I'll be using later in the season to analyze my own data.  To help me understand all of it, I started reading up on acoustics.  Never thought I'd be doing that in my wildlife career.

I had Friday off, which was productive, but didn't feel that way.  I woke up early and rode to the post office with the intention of riding some of the park road.  I stopped at the bookstore though and purchased some new post cards, which led to the rest of my morning writing letters.  Apart from walking Timber, I spend the rest of my evening relaxing inside.

Moose.  <3 :)

Today, Saturday, I finally went for a bike ride into the park.  I road from mile 3 to mile 15 and back, a total of roughly 24 miles.  Despite not riding in the last 6 months, I feel surprisingly good after it.  The ride was okay.  I did get to see caribou, moose (including a mamma and her calf), a snowshoe hare, and LOTS of son birds (mostly juncos and white crowned sparrows).  I also saw a surplus of tour buses, the annoying reminder of not only how close we are to summer (and tourist season), but also how much I dislike working in a National Park.  And then I remembered Idaho.


The ride made me think back to Idaho, a lot.  I love being in the mountains again, but it still somehow isn't the same.  The smell of dry ponderosa pine, the desolate dirt roads (that lacked buses, buildings, and tourists), the wide open skies.  Idaho is where my heart is.

Sunset over the Snake River Canyon, ID

 For sure.

Sagebrush in the Acro Desert, ID

Toxaway-Petit Loop, ID

TNC Land, ID

High Ridge Trail, ID

"Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start"

Sushana Ridge Hike - 14 May 2012

Beginning of week 2 and I was already fortunate enough to go into the field to help set up one of the back-country sound stations for long term monitoring.  It was a grueling all-day hike, but I a very rewarding one.  My cold was temporarily suppressed due to one dose of medicine, so I hoped for the best.  Overall, we saw lots of wildlife, though I was unable to take pictures of any of them due to time constraints.  Another day.

We hiked up the ridge on the left to the little peak, then down the back side, then up again to the back ridge in the middle of the picture.  We followed the ridge on the right down, which proved no easier.

View part way up.

Our hike started by hiking across the flats of the Teklanika River.  Some alders, a river cross, and some caribou later, we were making out way straight up a hill side.  Who needs switchbacks anyway!  Our hike up was extremely tedious.  High alder and a soft forest floor made for the most difficult hiking I've ever encountered.  The more we hiked up, the steeper it got as well.  We made our way to point where we briefly rested before continuing up.  At maybe a third of the way to our ridge,  I was exhausted.  But at this point we had at least climbed above tree line and were walking on less soggy turf.

View from almost the top.

We hiked downhill for a short distance before hiking up more to another point.  We reached a steep snow field but were greeted by some ewes that seemed to think nothing of our presence.  We continued up until we saw we had a steep downhill climb before reaching out final ascent to our ridge line.  As we hiked down and up we heard a series of small mammals.  The alarm call of some ground squirrels, and then as we reach more rocky terrain, what we think was a collared pike (though we never saw it).

The crew eating lunch on our rock.

We stopped for lunch at a nice large rock that served as our dining table.  We soaked in the view and the sun for about 30 minutes before making the final push to the ridge line.  Once we reached the ridge, we had to hike across the back side some.  The view north was VERY different from the snow capped, rugged high peaks we saw looking West.  North looked towards the outer-outer range, which lacked the height, depth, and snow cover we saw before.  It was a peaceful view.  It briefly reminded me of the foothills of the Sawtooths in Idaho.

Sound station DENASUSH.

Rain seemed to be all around us, so we quickly set up the station, and just in time.  As we started our retreat, a mixture of snow and hail began to fall (I guess what locals call scrapple).  We followed another ridge down in hopes of the terrain being easy.  It was, at first.  But we quickly find the going still just as rough.  I'm not sure any way is the "right" way when you are off trail and battling over head high alder and birch.

By this time, my cold medicine had very much worn off and found myself coughing more than hiking.  I put on my best face and continued though.  Down and down we went until we finally reached the flats.  As we left the woods and walked onto the river bar, we spotted a grizzly not terribly far from us.  He was digging for roots.

We immediately put our hiking poles in the air and began yelling "Hey Bear".  He looked up and started walking towards us.  We continued to talk to the bear, but he didn't seem to notice, he just kept on walking towards us.  Not too far from us, he finally stopped and sized us up before making a charge.  He ran directly at us and stopped short, continuing to stare at us.  We held our ground, starting back, until he finally turned around and went back to digging.

We went back into the woods and walked upstream more until we felt safe enough to cross the flats and head back to the car.  We crossed the river again and made the final feet to the vehicle.  We looked back up the mountain and saw it engulfed in clouds.  The day had been a success.

"I've gotta tell you what a state I'm in
I've gotta tell you in my loudest tones
That I started looking for a warning sign"

Chilly mornings, Lonely evenings

Sunrise - 4:57am
Sunset - 10:59pm

Reindeer lichen

Well the days are getting longer, but they don't feel much warmer yet!

I helped with a migratory bird count this morning, which was awesome.  My group saw about 45 species - a lot that were new to me.  Mostly waterfowl, which was great since I haven't been able to see a lot of waterfowl before!  I'll post a list up here later.  :)

The morning started out quite brisk though.  The "feels like" temperature when I woke up was about 23.  Plus it was windy.  Somehow my underarmor, thick fleece, and mid-weight synthetic jacket (with beanie and gloves) still weren't quite cutting it for the first part of the morning.

Brisk is quite the understatement.

Rock Creek Trail

It warmed up into the afternoon, but with the wind, the feeling of winter still held it's grasp.  The cool air is refreshing.  Being here, it almost feels like a sign of the lack of tourism.  With warm weather comes the "migration" of people in and out of the park.  Not excited for that!

Anyhoo.  Not much to update on besides that.  The weather being this cold seems to come as a little bit of a surprise to the locals.  But my roommate says it's already green in Fairbanks (about 2 hours north of us) so I anticipate an epic and sudden change here within the week or 2.  The cottonwoods are thinking about it for sure.  Their buds are swollen and ready to pop any day now.  AND to top it off, all next week is supposed to be in the 60s.

Can't wait.  :)

"Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay."

Denali Week 1: Birthday, Dog Adoption, C-camp Plague

First wildflower:
Spring crocus (Pulsatilla patens)

Sunrise: 5:04am
Sunset: 10:40pm

Well, I finally made if back to central Alaska.  I arrived in Anchorage Friday May 4th and arrived in Denali National Park and Preserve Sunday May 6th.  I've officially been here for just about a week and so much has happened already!

Teklanika River Mile 30

Work is good.  I'm doing soundscape research... again.  This time to look at the effects of traffic noise, buses to be exact, on designated Wilderness.  A dirt road cuts into Denali for about 90 miles.  Straight out about 150 feet from the road starts designated Wilderness.  Based on wilderness management plans, there's only supposed to be so much man-made noises (or a certain sound pressure I guess... it's complicated) heard in the wilderness areas, which affects air traffic and the types of buses used in the park.  Between Larson Davis 832 recording devices and camera traps, I get to help figure out which buses are the loudest!


It's really important research and will have major management implications, which is super cool, but it's not my most favorite work.  Everyone keeps asking if soundscape ecology is what I want to do, and it's cool to be working in such a new field, but I do miss the actual wildlife management side of things.

Timber - My "adopted" sled dog

My birthday was this week.  I did some minor celebrating while I was home and again while I was in Anchorage, but nothing spectacular (as usual.  haha).  It did snow on my birthday though.  Enough to stick.  :)  And then I got to "adopt" Timber.  Haha.  I use adopt very roughly.  He's a sled dog here in the park, and while I wish he was MINE, my volunteer duties are to walk him often and give him some lovin'.  He's a very loving dog.  :)

Shortly after that I got sick. Sadface.  I'm not sure where I caught the bug.  Chris and his family was sick in Anchorage while I was there, but a lot of people in C-Camp (Where I'm housed) are sick too.  I've heard people refer to it as the C-Camp Plague.  Makes sense.  Cram dozens of people into a small common space, and a spreadable sickness is bound to occur.  AWESOME.  I've been coughing with a runny nose and major congestion, with no way to get to the store for medicine.  So I've been relying on hot showers and copious amounts of tea to try to help me feel better.  I'm slowly getting better....

My living arrangements are pretty sweet.  My room is TINY, but it's all mine.  For once I don't have to share with someone.  We also have a spacious kitchen, extended countertop, and a cute living room.  There's a common bath house, and currently the water in our cabin is shut off, so we have to wash dishes and whatnot in the bath house.  The nearest town is about 2 hours away (Fairbanks) and then Anchorage (about 4 hours).  Everything in-between is small (understatement) and expensive.

Grizzly Bear at Mile 30

Temperatures are still hovering between 20F to 45F, though next week is supposed to warm up again.  Still lots of snow as well!  Spring birds are starting to migrate in, which is great.  Here in 2 or 3 weeks the entire park should look COMPLETELY different, which is exciting.  I can't wait for green!  I've also already seen a grizzly, caribou, and moose.  Good start to the season.  Also-found my first wildflower (first picture). :]

"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. 
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. 
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass 
and loses itself in the sunset."

Bird list - April 19th to May 3rd

Red-winged blackbird
Mocking bird
Cliff swallow
Carolina chickadee
Grackle
European starling
Gray catbird
Northern cardinal
Purple martin
House finch
American robin
Carlina Wren
Mourning dove
Rock pigeon
House sparrow
Unknown Thrush
Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow

Turkey vulture
Black vulture
Red tailed hawk
Unknown hawk
Osprey

Lesser Yellowlegs
Unknown Sanderling
Least Tern
Great blue heron
White egret

Herring gull
Laughing gull
Great black-backed gull
Brown Pelican
Double-crested cormorant
Mallard
Canada Goose

Total: 36 Species.

This makes me happy, especially since I did not go birding while I was home.  Majority of these were seen in my backyard.

:)

Poquoson, VA

Well, I've been home for almost 2 weeks now. "Home" being relative of course.  Poquoson is home.  Alaska is home.  Idaho is home.  It's all relative.  Poquoson has been good though.  My time has been divided between copious amounts of sailing, studying and taking the GRE, and visiting my sister in Philadelphia.  Tonight I find myself sitting on our back porch with 2 days left here.  It's peaceful tonight.  This is the Poquoson I miss.

It stormed not too long ago.  Low clouds linger in the sky while thunder rolls in and out in the distance.  Breaking all of that is a yellow-pink sky from a setting sun.  Tide sits high, and the water in our canal is glass smooth.  A variety of birds, frogs, and insects sing a symphony to me, while the dripping of excess rain water from trees and roofs chyme in.

The air is humid and still, but fresh and renewed.  A faint smell of campfire hangs at my nose and I can't help but smile.  Purple martins, grackles, and red-winged black birds fly back and forth while singing, playing in the air, chasing insects and bathing in the water.  Blue herons and egrets gracefully fly centimeters above the water or walk the shore while skillfully finding dinner.

My evening is harmoniously balanced and in equilibrium.  A homeostasis in my soul.

In 2 days, I leave, again.  Story of my life.  Only this time?  This time I'm headed home.  To familiar places.  Familiar things.  Familiar people.

My favorite part of arriving at the airport is the sea of strangers surrounding the one person I cannot wait to see.