Flute Glacier

So in-between the biking to work and boating on the lake I've spent a lot of time planning trips to glaciers this summer. Of late these plans have actually been successfully implemented and I finally installed my first datalogger on Flute Glacier August 14th. Of course I intended to install 3 loggers that weekend, but that was just another rock in a bolder field of reality checks.



I don't have many pictures from the two night trip, mostly because my friend Baho was my field assistant and he is really into photography. Plus, his camera was way better. Someday he will have enough time to process the photos and send me copies. Until then, I'll just have to relive the hell, I mean fun, in my mind. Hopefully they outlast my blistered feet.



Major learning points from this trip? Where to start....how about with some physics? Like, carrying a heavy pack will indeed lead you to hike slower. And friction in boots is greater if your feet are wet. Which they will be if the creek you cross is deeper than your boots. Also, glaciers flow downhill. Which means there is a hill there and you have to climb up to it. And a map is not always your friend. Specifically one drawn in the 1950s with 100 foot contour lines. Do you have any idea how tall a 100 foot cliff is? I do. I do. I do. That is how many waterfalls we climbed up next to that plunged over cliffs that did not appear on the map, you know, cliffs - the places where the contour lines meet on the map. It's hard to find a guide book that tells you these things. It seems people aren't really into walking up to and on glaciers. There's a pretty good reason for this. Overall though, we had good weather and I got to do some reconnisance for the other two glaciers I didn't visit. Now if only my helicopter permit would come through.....probably as soon as I'm done hiking and installing the last datalogger.

Sunshine

I think you can officially say we might be having an Indian Summer here. In August I could refer to the one day of sun in July and people could recall exactly where there were like it was the day an important event happened. I for one was boating on Eklutna Lake, but have no photos because the camera was stolen.

Since then we have had several sunny days or at least afternoons and I took to storing my boat with NIWTs at his dad's house on a lake in town. It's sunny this afternoon just like last Friday when we last paddled. I even finally got Percy a life jacket that fits and she is slowly getting used to swimming longer and longer.



The goal is to ultimately get them to both be able to swim along while I paddle. So far she can handle about 15 minutes, so this might be a really long process.

Like many of my friends and fellow bloggers, I've got lots of pictures and adventures to tell you all about, but as my Dad says, "you have to make hay while the sun shines" and it is sunny here today. But I'll give you one little hint about the next post: one of the dogs above is an official SAR dog as of today!