Bornite

The problem with doing fieldwork in Alaska in the fall is that you still get up super early to catch a 6am flight, but usually it's still dark outside when you land.  Unless you are lucky (?) enough to fly to Kotzebue this summer where there was construction on the runway and planes couldn't land in the dark. 

 

After waiting in Anchorage for over an hour, we got to wait in Kotzebue.  The weather was our major tour director, as it has been for me for the last two summers. 

 

I think this is the smallest mining camp I have stayed at yet.  They were in their final week of the season and trying to shut camp down when we showed up.

 

It's a little wet out here in places.  To me that just means it is warming up enough during the day the keep the water from freezing solid.

Did I mention it was a historic mining camp?  There were lots of interesting things around to guess about.

Did I mention it snowed every day?  Huge flakes too.  Mostly they melted during the day, but we were deffinately on the edge of the season.

 

Waiting for clear enough weather for the plane to come from Kotzebue.  It eventually got called off and we got a ride to Kobuk.  A very bumpy ride.

I think there might be some quilters in Kobuk.  This is at the airport......I guess I really should call it a landing strip? 

Most of my fearless field crew.  One of these people had their dog sitter bail on them while we were out here.  Guess who said they would take their dog...for a month....while they were away....

 

On the flight back our geographer / geologist nerdy sides really came out.  We each took an average of a hundred photos on the flight back.  It's only an hour and we were in the clouds and napping for part of it.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for patterned ground......

And who doesn't think snow and rivers are cool?  There is no elevation difference that I could tell from the air, so why is there snow only on part of the ground?  One of life's greatest mysteries....

Autumn Update

Summer has been long and short all at the same time. I have a couple trips to write up on their own, but until that eventuality comes I thought I would share a little Autumn with you. I'm still working on my MS, which means being on campus several times a week. We have been graced with some glorious weather lately and have a great view of the mountains from right outside the front door. The snow is advancing from termination dust to creeping down the range. Soon I will be excited about this.

Mostly I am working through counting ice worms in a new bunch of photos like this from the summer. They are now all labeled and filed appropriately on my computer. Looks like fun, no?

My weekly visits to Byron Glacier avalanche cones continue. Last week I got a treat and my girlfriend JBomb came with me. We turned it into a dog walk with KBomb and Dr Dre, my extra dog. They got along famously and I got another round of photos and videos. No snow on the glacier toe though so I couldn't re-sample for my missing isotope samples.

It was so sunny here for so many days in a row that Niwt and I snuck in one more paddle at the lake. The tundra swans are all over the area; three show up well here but there were about a dozen on the lake. They are draining the lake this week, so it was just in time.

I thought it was pretty cold out while paddling, but tried to tell myself it was just because the sun was going down. Then Niwt pointed out the ice forming on my boat and the shivering lab.

Twice this week - Monday and yesterday - Niwt and I attempted to retrieve my last datalogger from the field on Flute Glacier. Clear, cold, and sunny sounds like great weather this time of year. But the logistics of these trips are a nightmare. Some parts just are not a good idea to do in the dark or when covered by snow.

Even though we failed again, we didn't see any bears, just tracks in the frozen mud. We did see some goats near the peaks of the lower ridges, basking in the sunshine.

Such a gorgeous autumn view. I don't mind the snow coming now that I have accepted my fate of less data. Not bad to end the summer knowing you tried everything possible to cram as much data collection in as humanly feasible (while working full time). I will give another update as soon as the data playing allows. Hopefully before we have snow on the valley floors.

Byron with Friends

I have had a few visitors this summer. This month I had my nephew up for about ten days. His visit coincided with the three week visit of a Japanese graduate student I am hosting until the end of the month. She is studying ice algae, or 'red snow' as we commonly call it. I planned some epic algae hunting adventures for us, but we tried our luck and skills on Byron glacier first. I have been doing research here since fall of 2009, mostly on the avalanche cones we are walking up to. I almost always stop there, but couldn't really tell if that would be adaquate for Megumi's work, so we all pressed on to the toe of the glacier. Except my nephew; he opted to play on the rocks instead.

Not only do I usually work at the avalanche cones, I usually work alone. Sometimes I bring my dogs. This was my first view of the toe. The point at which I decided we would have to hope for red snow in those lower patches because I did not bring a rope, crampons, or ice screws with me and did not want to try my luck with the rocks next to the ice with an inexperienced mountaineer. This is the point at which I began to totally rethink the plan I had developed for her stay. It was evident that she was not comfortable, but I could not tell at that time what I would learn a lot more about later.

Things you don't think to ask people from other places: have you ever walked on snow? have you ever walked on rocks? have you ever walked off a trail? have you ever walked on a steep slope? None of these? Well! Let me change that for you in one fell swoop!

Super glad I gave Kyle the camera, he captured some great shots on this trip and several other days. I would gladly take him anywhere. Just wish he could have told me at this point how far behind me she was and how slowly she was moving. It took me a while to notice and fully comprehend. The adjustment was painful for me, but has ultimately ended in success - no visits to the hospital or rescue by my SAR group.

Busy Beaver

So, I've been a little busy. Sorry for the silence. I have about two minutes right now, so I'll just tell you about this one photo. It's of the AK pipeline, somewhere in the Livengood area. That's a town that sprang into existence ~1914 due to the (late) discovery of gold. The town does not exist anymore. It's just a DOT maintenance camp, a (closed) general store, some small scale mining operations, an old pipeline construction camp, and a road intersection. I was up there flying around in a helicopter for work. This was the second day of flying and this helo did not have a door attached on my side. I have flown in a lot of helos for a lot of reasons in a lot of places. But never with the door off. It was exciting.

Aloha Break

The day after my final final Niwt and I flew to Kauai for a week and a weekend. There was sand and beaches and warm ocean water to be enjoyed.

We kayaked in a National Wildlife Refuge and saw endangered geese. Then we kayaked to the Bay and were pummeled by wind and waves and rain.

When it was sunny we checked out a coffee plantation and when it wasn't sunny we checked out a national garden. It was not sunny a lot so we had to get creative. At least the rain here won't kill you or turn to hail.

The only shells I could find on the beach were tiny. And there weren't many of them. Not what I expected.

We camped on the beach most nights. Right after we set up the tent it started pouring rain. It did that a lot. Overall themes of the trip were: rain, waterfalls, beaches, minor injuries (ripping off large portions of toenails, scraps, cuts, bruises), and fresh fruit. It was fun and I have tan lines on my feet, therefore the trip was sucessful - even if I didn't get to snorkel.

Jail Cat and Boo Boo Dog

Sunshine cat wants to know what you are doing. She assumes all cameras are here to take pictures of her. She's usually correct. Saturday her beautiful self was enjoying the sun and watching the dog....

...in his BooBoo Loon collar. Which is an improvement on the Cone. Tatonka had his stitches out Friday afternoon, but wasn't healed up all the way yet so he had to sport the BooBoo for a few more days.

He's right as rain now, with pretty good test results. We'll be back at training this week and we're already back to running a couple miles morning and night with hikes on the weekend.

The wild jungle cat has been captured at last! She is tamed behind the metal barrier.

*GASP* With a flick of her paw too quick to be seen she is free and walks the plank again.

Quickpee Likes Breakfast

No, Mom, this is not a post about me. A few weeks ago I was following my normalish morning routine and I made one change which made me roll my eyes but seconds later made me grateful. I let Tatonka outside (Percy abandoned me for Niwt after dinner) and I told him to go pee so he could have breakfast. That made me roll my eyes because 'breakfast' and 'dinner' are part of dog vocabulary around here. I realized that having said this to him as I was closing the door meant I had only bought myself a few moments of peace from his morning exuberance. I walked into the kitchen and petted Frog. It took me a couple blinks to realize I had an extra animal outside. Luckily when I ran back to the front door to retrieve my retriever he was waiting for 'breakfast' right outside the door. Never been so thankful for his appetite ever before. I had to quickly sneak outside and tell Niwt to keep Percy inside; she has a more volatile and unpredictable reaction to moose. Now I check the yard every morning to see if I have a moose bedded down there before I release the hounds.