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.

Week 5: Toklat, Denali, and Clemson University

Sunset: 12:12am
Sunrise: 3:50am

Week 5 was actually oddly busy.  And exhausting.  Monday was a lonely office day.  I worked through some odds and ends of tasks, but nothing particularly special.  Feeling exhausted and worn out, I took Tuesday off.  There wasn't much for me to do in the office anyway.

I spent Tuesday relaxing and baking cookies.  The day was plain until I got a call from Clemson University regarding a Research Assistantship I had applied for weeks earlier.  The call was to see if I was still interested, as I was being considered as a top candidate.  I couldn't believe it!  I don't want to jinx myself, so I'll update on that later if something more happens with it. :)  The rest of my Tuesday evening was spent freaking out about new possibilities.... and packing!

Wednesday night was spent deep in the park in Toklat.  Me and a co-worker spent wednesday and thursday doing road and wildlife surveys.  We didn't really see much, oddly enough.  But the park has been magnificently greening up to an almost full bloom.  Aaaaannndd... drum rooooooooll..... I finally saw Denali!  It wasn't 100% clear, but I'd call it 98% clear.  Which is pretty awesome!

Friday was spent back on the EVC bus.  The day started okay.  It's hard to get excited about a 6am bus when you're tired.... haha.  I went to take pictures 10 minutes into the bus ride and realized my batteries were dead.  At first I was bummed, but then I was excited to enjoy the day for what it was.  I love taking pictures.  But sometimes it's nice to just sit back, and take the mental pictures.  The day was dark and what most people would consider gloomy, but to me, it was breath-taking and renewing.  I needed one of those days.  The kind where you feel flat line, and the world around you kind of pauses with you.  It was nice.

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit."

Week 4: Float Plane, Sound Stations, and the EVC

Mountain Azalea.

Sunrise: 3:51am
Sunset: 11:57pm

Week 4 was filled with lots of new opportunities and new adventures, which is a nice change from my previous weeks!

HOG3 site.  :)

Monday and Tuesday were spent re-testing my two sound stations to make sure they were field-ready.  Which was a good thing, since I discovered some things that weren't working!  But bugs were fixed and I was mostly ready!

Wednesday I had Operational Leadership Training (OLT) in the afternoon, so all of Wed morning was spent gathering all my field supplied to be ready to deploy my 2 sound stations (HOG3 and IGL1), do maintenance on SAN3, and set up 3 camera traps at these locations.  It wasn't a whole lot to do, really, but it sure took awhile!  I then went to OLT and hoped I was ready for my field day on Thursday!

Thursday started early (about 6:45am).  I did maintenance on SAN3 first.  The station was still running, which was a relief!  I switched out the thumb drive and the flash card, and went back to the vehicle with my fresh set of data.  :D  Set up my camera on the road to catch vehicle types, and went on my way.

Flying over Northern Denali

IGL1 was my next stop.  It's about 37 miles into the road and in a beautiful location!  Right on the outskirts of Igloo Canyon. :)  Vegetation wasn't really still growing at this point, but there were some new flowers I was able to take pictures of!  I had some problems with the sound quality at this station, but hopefully we'll still get some good data!

I headed back east towards the entrance of the park where I set up my site at Hogan Creek.  This was a gorgeous flat tundra area with lots of game trails.  I have my fingers crossed that we are able to catch some Caribou tendons clicking at this station.  :)

In the float plane

Thursday ending as successful as I can tell.  We'll find out in 2 weeks when I move stations and retrieve data!

Friday I got to fly!  I've been in contact with an NPS Ecologist who does some wood frog monitoring.  I'm doing some literature research for her and in return, I got to volunteer with setting up one of the SM2s for wood frog monitoring and assist with some water quality work.  All involving flying to different lakes via float plane.  Beyond stoked.  It was a really amazing and awesome opportunity.  and now I can say I flew in Alaska!  Such a tiny plane!

Denali poking out a little bit

Friday was my first day riding the bus for work to perform wildlife observations.  It was also the furthest I had been into the park - Eielson Visitor Center (EVC)!  the EVC is at about mile 66.  And has one of the best views of Denali.... if the mountain isn't engulfed with clouds!  Which is it is about 80% of the time.  I didn't see much of Denali this day, which is fine.  I'll be riding the bus like this about once a week, so I'll get plenty of opportunities!

We did see lots of wildlife, which was great.  The day had started rainy and I was tired, so I didn't expect much, but it turned out great.  :)

All in all it was a great week with lots of great pictures!  This are finally starting to green up this week, but still quite quite slowly!