Llamas!

A trip into the north Cascades with Llamas, Tawna, Turtle, and a retired walrus biologist! Not so fast and light as I've been doing but interesting - like rafting, but on land for those with an idea of how gear expands to fill the space provided! The scenery and weather were spectacular!

Much to Kae's chagrin, everyone thinks that Llamas spit. She says that's like a dog that bites - she eats those Llamas!

We travelled at a walk, a little slower than the 230 runners who whisked by on the morning of day 2 in the Cutthroat Lake Classic. Now there's a 10 mile run that I'll have to come back for!

The Llamas were sort of friendly in the way that a cat is - on their terms!

The hot weather made snowy lakes a great place for a swim to cool off and clean up from the dusty trail.

The alpine environment is beautiful here and not too crowded.

The trail winds around steep talus.

You can see the trail at about lower ear level

Scenics and Stories

Above the Marsh Fork on the Canning River

Evening light near Last Lake on the Sheenjek

A farewell to George Schaller before heading off in his footsteps to the Sheenjek Glacier and then to Kaktovik

Crossing the continental divide into the Hula Hula drainage

Leaving the mountains behind

Out on the coast among nesting eiders

About to blow the boats back up and paddle the 2 miles across the Beaufort Sea to Kaktovik from narrow Arey Island (you can see Kaktovik in the upper left).


Check out and listen to National Public Radio's story at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5582159

The bugs

Our month in the Arctic was mostly cold, but two days from the end when the weather warmed we ran into the infamous coastal plain mosquitos - they really made us appreciate a little colder weather and wind...wind...wind!

The Mighty Pack Rafts

Our travel from the Continental Divide 160 km to the coast was by Pack Raft; an Alaskan boat weighing 2 kilos and capable of carrying 25 kilos of gear through rapids and over rocks.

Ground Squirrels

In the footsteps of the Muries

Driving 300 miles north from Fairbanks brought us to Atigun pass where the trans-Alaska oil pipeline passes over onto the North Slope of Alaska. The scenery is stunning.

I'm here traveling with renowned biologist George Schaller, Jon - an accomplished mountaineer, wilderness explorer and writer; Forrest - a climbing guide and U. of Wyoming student; and Betsy, a fellow student at UAF. Together we are going to head into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a few days to travel into places George last visited in 1956 with the Muries. National Geographic is funding the expedition to help raise awareness of climate change in the region.






























We hiked into Atigun gorge from the road, which is on the edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, finding sheep, fossils, and incredible scenery. It was great to stretch the legs and get into to some impressive country. We head to Deadhorse tomorrow and then fly on the 1st of July into the heart of the Refuge.

Some like it Ruff

Living in Vancouver for a few weeks helping Tawna with her Ruff sandpiper research. There's an image I remember well from a kid of this bird - one of those wildlife images that just stays with you for it's uniqueness.



Although some say they are not really inteligent, they have been the source of hours of intriguing observations as males vie for females. There are three strategies used by the males - "Residents" that display intensely and try to dominate their court on the lek; the "Satellites" that hang close to residents and try to move in on a female when the resident is not looking; and then...(you might not be ready for this), "Faeders" who look more like females, hang out with the females, and don't get into the whole aggressive I'm male thing. Really interesting stuff which Tawna is analyzing through assessing hormone profiles over the season.

The males are as impressive as they are in my original childhood introduction. Here is a picture from James Dale's web site who worked on the Ruffs here (By the way, you'll notice how the original artist's picture and the photograph show really differently colored birds - nothing unusual for ruffs - James Dale can tell you more on intraspecific color variation if you're really interested - http://www.geocities.com/quelea/):



One of the highlights for me has been the new arrival of chicks. Here's a picture of one of the little guys. Like little Jacanas - their feet just improbably large. We have to encourage them to eat in a narrow window of time after they hatch.

The Kids

There's some 2,000 years of history just under the ground at Gambell. Bones in the old village sites are testament to that. The bones show the long relationship with walrus that's as alive today as it's always been.



Among the bones and snow, Gambell sometimes felt desolate as the fog, wind, and snow blew over the low beaches; but my memories of the place, as I now write from a balmy Whidbey Island near Seattle, are more about kids than the weather...














There's memories of kids on machines - four wheelers, snow machines, and kitty kats...but above all, memories of Gambell will be filled with the images of kids with huge smiles

Chess

Several days of storm have ripped apart the island's cloak of shorefast sea ice. Bergs the sizes of houses are tossed around by the swells like flotsam.

Above Gambell on Sivuqaq Mountain, we watched a snowy owl face off with two nesting ravens. The black knights repeatedly leaping over the snowy bishop until the owl had enough and left the game; taking flight and moving south along the mountain, blending with snow, fog, and cloud.

Ursus maritimus

Dark skys as the Bering Sea storm continues to bring rain, snow, and wind to Gambell.

Snow

We're somewhere between winter and spring. It's currently a blizzard with winds gusting through Gambell as a large low pressure rolls slowly up the Bering Sea. The boats are all on land, and judging from this boat I saw a few days ago in Savoonga, some will be there for a while.

Spring!

Stopping to play on a whirlwind drive from Fairbanks to Vancouver with Tawna and Turtle

The Launch of the Blog

Seems odd to be sitting at midnight in Gambell's Sivuqaq Lodge designing a blog. The winds howling and Russia is closer than the United States mainland. Boats are on their racks as the sea ice starts to break up and move away. I feel like I could reach out from the shore and touch the dateline - 180 degrees from Mother Carey's Kitchen. Here it is...the Blog - Enjoy!