I know my friends and family in Minnesota have been getting slammed by blizzards, wind and cold weather. But, here is Alaska, it here it quite the opposite! Our 30 + degree temperatures have caused travel havoc and even led to classes being cancelled on Friday – all because of the warm weather!
This weekend I turned over a new leaf in my Alaska adventures by digging some holes in the ice and setting some overnight lines, “trot lines”, on the Tanana River. On the river, Burbot (eel pout, slimers, Lota lota, etc. ) are pretty common. They can be captured by leaving baited lines out over night. To be legal you need to hold a current fishing license, have a hook with a gap LARGER than 3/4 of an inch between the shank and tip, leave your name on the sets, and don’t set more hooks than fish you can have in your daily bag limit. I wanted to do quite a ‘production’, so here’s a quick video of different timelapse and shots from the two days. Hopefully it captures how much fun it is to get outside and do this great winter activity!
I went out with a group of friends and we had a blast putting the lines in. Part of the challenge was having a 6 inch hand auger, we quickly upgraded to the chain-saw. With upwards of 3 feet of ice, it was quite a bit of work no matter which way you did it! At the end of the day we were happy to celebrate the sun, pack up our gear, and head for home.
The Burbot Boyz and The Burbot Girl
The lines are left out over night and then checked the next day. The fish were not jumping through the hole, but here is my first one through the ice in AK! It was a pretty big one, and I have heard fish this size may be 20 years old!
Success, my first burbot through the ice in Alaska!
From the river this fish was converted straight into a fabulous meal of burbot tacos. The fish was pan seared in cayenne, salt, paprika, cumin, and chilli powder. For toppings we had fresh guac, cheese, onions, black beans, sour cream and the roasted poblano peppers. One fish was enough to feed 5 hungry burbot fishers.
Burbot tacos with Roasted Poblanos and Jalapenos, Guacamole, Black Beans, Cheese and Onions. WOW! They were incredible!
If you want to know more about Burbot fishing in AK, just Google it. The Department of Fish and Game has a great informational website on it. You can learn all about strong lines, strong poles and locations to fish. http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=anglereducation.burbot
Yesterday Kassie and I made it to Sax Zim Bog (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/sax_zim_bog_iba.html) to go look for some of the boreal bird species that move in for the winter. In the region there are northern hawk owls, great grey owls, boreal chicadees and black-backed woodpeckers – of course there are many, many more!. Our goal was to beat the cold snap we are having in Minnesota right now – in fact due to the cold Governor Dayton called off school for Monday on Friday! That hasn’t been done since 1997. Although with windchill values exceeding 60 below for Sunday and Monday night I think it’s warranted. Amazing that I can experience the same intense cold in Alaska and Minnesota.
Cold temps in Perham this week!!
Sax Zim bog is located just south of Buhl, Minnesota on the ‘Iron Range’ (http://goo.gl/7mBiuM). I actually spent quite a bit of time up there as a kid, my dad is from the Hibbing region, and attended high school at Buhl.Here is the description of the area from the DNR website : ” Level to gently rolling topography are characteristic of this region. The largest landform is a lake plain. Soils include extensive areas of peat over both fine-textured and sandy lacustrine deposits. This site includes sledge meadows, lowland brush and hayfields. There are stemless lady’s slippers and other species of bog vegetation including sundew, pitcher plant, leatherleaf and bog birch.This well known wintering area for Great gray owls, Northern hawk owls, and Rough-legged hawks is an ideal habitat for more than 240 species of migrant and breeding birds.”. The opportunities are indeed great there! For more information on the area and the opportunities there visit : http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/sax_zim_bog_iba.htmlhttp://sax-zimbog.com/http://sax-zimbog.com/birding-festival/http://www.saxzim.org/
One of the northern migrants in Sax Zim are the northern shrikes. These birds are classified as song birds, but are carnivores. The eat insects and small rodents. They are known as ‘butcher birds’ because to cache food they impale their prey on sticks, thorns, or even barbed wire! The northern shrike below was stooping over the field hunting an unknown prey. I was able to capture the bird as he stooped into the blustery winds as and perching on a nearby branch.
Northern Shrike stooping in the blustery winds at Sax Zim BogNorthern Shrike at Sax Zim Bog
Even with the condition of blustery wind we had some great opportunities to see some cool birds. Boreal chickadess are a migrant here we found a couple at the feeders there. Gray jays and a red-breasted nuthatch were also found at the feeders.
Boreal Chickadee at the feeders in Sax Zim BogGray Jay at Sax Zim BogRed-breasted nuthatch at Sax Zim Bog
As we were driving along the roads looking for owls Kass spotted a ruffed grouse sitting in the trees. She thought it was an owl right away, and so did I!!
Ruffed grouse at Sax Zim Bog
At the end of the day we never did see any owls. The windy and cold conditions kept the owls hunkered down. However, I didn’t want to leave you without some pictures of them! Part of the reason we went up there was Erik Bruhnke, who runs Naturally Avian. Naturally Avian is his bird tour, education, and photography business and I absolutely encourage you to check out his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/NaturallyAvian). If you enjoy birds and just feeling happy subscribe to his page, his posts and photography are both incredible. By visiting the page you’ll be able to see a lot of the birds that we ‘dipped’ (did not see) on. His pictures of boreal, great grey, and northern hawk owls are honestly second to none and are award winning. By visiting the Sax Zim bog website you can see great photography of the owl species and the boreal migrants.
Merry Christmas!… and a happy New Year. It is Amazing that in 5 more days 2014 will be here, and we once again will mis-write the date on our checks as many times as it takes to break a habit – a debatable number.
I’ve had a busy last few weeks of the semester and am looking into the next one. With graduate level statistics and thesis development on the docket, it will be busy for sure.
Being home for Christmas and the Holidays has been a real treat, and this more even more than others, I’ve really felt blessed to be home and back in the tradition of Christmas. The house where I grew up is adorned with lights over the doors and windows and stockings on the Chimney. Every year after Thanksgiving my brother and I would haul box after box of Christmas decorations from the basement and place them up around the house. Two balsam fir Christmas trees, often harvested from the woods around Grand Rapids, Minnesota were put up. One of them ‘belonged’ to my brother and I; it was garnished with lights and personal ornaments collected through the years. The other tree was for my parents.
One of the decorations put up in the house is the ceramic village pieces which my mom hand-painted through the years. The pieces are set up as a village lit by LED lights and represent a quiet town or village. These pieces drew me, and for some reason I have never looked at them as closely as I did this year. The detail put into them upon close inspection brought them to life. The small eyes of carolers have pupils, the tiny window displays of toys are colorful and distinct, and each house is painted uniquely and ornately. I want to do some photography of this Christmas Village and thought the results were just fun to look at and full of life!
The Boys pull a yule-log past the toy store in Christmas Village.A group of kids get pulled by their dog past the Doctors office in downtown Christmas Town.Carolers sing in front of the candy shop near the corner or “Ian/Sean” street – named for my brother and I.A sleigh ride goes past the east end of town.Throughout Christmas town our family is built into the village. The focus of this image is meant to show off “Johnson’s” Craft shop. In the foreground a couple of shoppers hall gifts in front of the candy shop.In the Northeast corner of town, up on the hill, the church is lit up with the Nativity in front.For some reason school is still in session in Christmas town, and it’s all lit up.
After taking pictures of the village I couldn’t help but feel more connected to it. Taking pictures up and down the alleyways gave it life meaning. I have been looking at this village for more than 15 years without ever appreciating the Christmas tradition of it. Here’s a look at Christmas town from a distance, I hope I’ve given you some appreciation of it through these close-up shots of life in Christmas town.
Christmas town from a distance.
Of course Christmas Tradition is also about a Christmas tree and family. Below is the tree this year and a group shot of my immediate family. If you have Christmas traditions and stories I’d love for you to post them below. This is the best time of year!
The Johnson Family 2013 family photoThe Johnson Family Christmas tree tradition.
Tonight left me speechless, and if you had seen the explosive, pulsating reds and greens across the sky, you may have been too. DISCLAIMER : Poeticism, superlatives, and lists of glamorous, stunning, beautiful adjectives will abound in this post, for this was no mere night and cannot be described with just plain words :P. If this grammatical superfulism is not your style, I would not blame you for skipping straight to the images on this one.
The aurora tonight was viewed about 5 miles from Murphy Dome. It started out as small pinnacles of colorless light in the sky which reminded me of shafts of lights streaming through a window into a dusty room — the cosmos is indeed full of dusty rooms. At first I thought the northern lights were just lights from the town. But it was not so. The lights began to grow brighter and quickly showed their emerald sheen. They grew into blended columns of dark green, light green, lime-green, and moss green light that filled the northern sky. The green gave way to red, but by give-way I don’t mean they were replaced entirely. Rather. the towers of green pierced through the red back drop that saturated the sky to the north-northwest. The reds acted very differently than the greens, and seemed to never pick a form. They chose to just be the canvas for the greens to dance upon. And dance they did. Flowing curtains of green morphed and changed so rapidly that remembering what it used to look like only tore your attention away from concentrating on its new shape. Because the band of Lights split the cosmos going 180 degrees from horizon to horizon, the direction that you craned your head was important to your viewing experience. I would recommend the UP -Crane because the UP-Crane allows you to view the nucleus of the aurora. Above your head, on nights such as this was one, the core of the Aurora reaches into the depths of space. The pillars which serve to block the sky in banded patterns to your left and right seem to stretch out and lengthen as you stare directly up at them. Like balancing a pencil on your nose by its eraser and then focusing on its sharpened tip. This portal of time feels like it would lead you to another dimension if you could jump just high enough to each it. The nucleus of the aurora is often the fastest changing. It grows and contracts while sending out electric pulses which pop, undulate, and meander across this sky. The beauty of the Aurora in its complete randomness.
Getting away from some of the poetry, I’d like to talk about my next upgrade in Aurora photography. First it was know-how, second it was cold-beating insulation (still in development) and now one of the next steps in my Aurora photography is a wide angle lens. However, I’m not that versed in lenses (especially old ones) and I would love to hear opinions on wide angle lenses for Micro-four Thirds. I’m looking for anything that would give me wider than 18mm ( in 35mm equivalent) and have considered old c-mount lenses (Cosmicar 8.5mm f/1.5) as well as MFT such as the panasonic 7-14 mm f/4.0. Leave a comment if you have any thoughts!
Without further ado, here’s some pictures from the night. The images start with the low-level reds which were soon exploding across the sky. Sorry for the intrusive Watermarks on these images, but I’m being a bit more protective of these captures compared to some others. Remember, if you ever want an image, be sure to contact me!
The start of the reds overhead with my companions outside of Murphy Dome. This was just the start of something incredible!The watermelon aurora.The watermelon aurora.The mixing of the reds and the greens was fascinating and differed from the distinctly separated watermelon auroraThe mixing of the reds and the greens was fascinating and differed from the distinctly separated watermelon auroraDo you see the angel in this Aurora?
It’s the great debate. As an Alaskan, winter resident, are you a skier? or do you don the snowshoes? I think the questions really waters down to : how much do you like getting off trails? Because, although I realize cross country skis CAN BE USED for off-road style outdoor adventure, I see that happening on a very limited basis. Anybody want to chime in here? I snowshoe because if you want to explore the woods during the winter you need mobility, and besides, I fall less on snowshoes :D.
Living in Fairbanks has proved to be a far different winter than my experiences of three years in Maine and my childhood (22 years a child) in Minnesota. One of the primary differences in the winter here in the interior is the wind! I have never seen anything like it, and my friends from Minnesota won’t believe this – we do not have wind. Blizzards, the bane of Minnesotan school systems, are unheard of here. In fact, school systems in Fairbanks do not close when the mercury dip to -40, they close when the weather warms up resulting in icy conditions! Snow that accumulates on railings and fence posts is likely to be in the same pile when the spring thaw begins. The stillness of the wind creates an interesting climactic condition in Fairbanks known as the ‘temperature inversion’. During the winter, the winds are an important mixer of air and because that mixing does not happen here, strong differentials are set as you climb elevation; in short, cold air is trapped in the valleys of the Interior region. This has a couple of ramifications, the first is as a home-owner you would rather have your house high on a hillside, because in extreme cases it could mean an extra 50 degrees of warmth! (http://www.alaskareport.com/science10059.htm). Secondly, below the inversion the development of ‘ice fog’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_fog) is a pest for home-owners and can build up on your house and car. I have watched this ice fog man mornings while studying from the Margaret Murie building on top of campus- a good example picture is shown in the Wikipedia article I’ve listed. The ice fog creates havoc for humans and incredible beauty in the wilderness. The white spruce, willow, dogwood and shrub birch become encases in ice crystals and look like long-forgotten freezer burned hotdogs. As you walk through the areas of hoar frost it is not hard to imagine scuba-diving through a snow-reef; the trees the coral and the snow the sand.
I’ve had a great time snowshoeing some of the lower and higher elevation areas of the Fairbanks. I’ve been focusing on Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest and the Murphy Dome region. Some of the days have been cold and require some extra face protection, but the views and sights have been exquisite. Although I did not see any wildlife, during my last trip to Murphy Dome I followed a fresh set of moose tracks, and found scat so fresh that I made sure to keep a watchful eye for any watching eyes; I was sure I was going to walk up on a moose. Snowshoe hair tracks were abundant as were red fox, mouse, and ptarmigan.
Snowshoe hare tracks were common in the Murphy Dome region. Here you can see them, their heart shaped print is very identifiable.
The series of images below represent the two different winter types of Alaska. The first three are all from Bonanza Creek. You’ll see that the wind doesn’t blow here too often, and tree-corals abound! The the sunlight illuminates them it is snowshoe stopping, many pauses were taken to observe the beauty of this classic,winter, wonderland!
The snow here is so light and fluffy, that even a small puff of wind will send snow flying. Here, you can see the havoc as a breeze (a rare wind!) pushed snow off the branches and into my face.Branches laden with light snow were lit up by the sunlight. Every new bend in the trail brought about new illuminated trees to focus on.All the gear and the views! Heres a look towards the river valley at Bonanza creek experimental forest. Warm boots, gloves and jacket!
This second set of images shows life in the ice fog area. The trees here are heavily laden with icy and snow and are bent and stopped. A stark contrast to the lightly laden branches of the bottom lands! The low-lying sun cast long shadows around all the trees. This time of year the sunrises at 10:20 AM and sets at 3:00 PM. The short days are illuminated by a sun that slides along the horizon, rather than going overhead and the cold sets fast once the sun is no longer keeping it at bay.
The longs shadows of the low sun played on the snow. The warm color of the sun was spectacular! The reds, yellows and oranges you see here are completely natural.Here I am posing in from the hoar-frost-coral-trees on top of Murphy Dome. Cold and stunning!The shadow of the this 6-foot white spruce cast by the low-lying sun is almost 30 feet long!Hoar frost behind, views in front! This picture was actually taken with my phone, you’ll see the selfie arm in my face mask.
I wanted to leave you all with a short timelapse video of the sunset on Murphy Dome. This timelapse is comprised of 530 shots over an 1.25 hours time and is played at 30 frames per second. Some of you read in my post about my problems with my camera in the cold shooting the Aurora. I wanted to shoot this timelapse in good light conditions at similar temps (-10 degrees F) and see how my camera reacted. It did pretty well, and makes me think that some of my issues with the Aurora shoot were due to the High ISO and a stressed sensor. Lots more to learn!
My goal of this timelapse video was to capture the changing shadows on the hillside and the sunset. Enjoy!
We were fortunate enough to have clear skies here a couple of nights ago coupled with a good Aurora forecast. So I took my gear over to Murphy Dome just outside of Fairbanks and set up for some shooting. It was my goal to create a time lapse and honestly thought I had it nailed until I got back to the house and imported my pictures. There were definitely some issues with this shoot, so lots of learning to be done! Here’s what I found out:
It was -10 degrees that night. I tried to help my camera out by wrapping it in tinfoil and adding some hand warmers. It was not enough and the images showed the sensor in my camera struggling in the cold. The predominant issue was the loss of one of the colors that left a purple tint on the foreground. I had to correct for that. I am going to be creating a wrap and heating system for my camera for future shots.
The sensor issue (cold) led to underexposed shots at settings that should have been well exposed
I shot at 3200 ISO so that I could shoot shorter exposure (6 seconds), but the result of that was very noisy shots that made it hard to correct for the issues listed above
In a non-camera related a close, low spruce tree in the shot for the ‘art’ of it, I wish I hadn’t done that! :p
However, with all that being said I have a product that might give you the desire to see the Lights up here! :). It’s not just a picture, make sure watch the video! There will be more northern lights timelapse photography as I implement new strategies.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, as I’ve been spending my last couple of weekends in Chena Hot Springs in pursuit of small mammals; specifically the water shrew. My work out there has been with Jonathan Fiely, who describes these small mammals as “the river otters” of the small mammal world. They are active hunters which snack on small minnows and invertebrates that they catch. Unfortunately, our success in nabbing one of these tiny, elusive creatures was zero; however, the nights we spent out doing it were well worth it. Last weekend was that big Full Moon. If you didn’t catch it that’s too bad! Although, there will be others ;). One of the fascinating facts about the moon is that it’s the same phase for everyone in the world. It connects us all. Although that may seem like common sense, with the quickly dying daylight hours here in Alaska, I’m happy to know that some of the celestial events are shared with my hometown Minnesotans and adopted Mainers. The moonlight off the tributary to the Chena River was a bright, ivory road. It was impossible not to stand there and just look at it – although I may have benefited from sunglasses it was so bright! Here you can see me standing in the river (not on the ice) looking at that big moon.
Full Moon at the Chena Hot Springs.The moonlight off the tributary to the Chena River was a bright, ivory road. It was impossible not to stand there and just look at it – although I may have benefited from sunglasses it was so bright! Here you can see me standing in the river (not on the ice) looking at that big moon.
One of the big news events of the week for me was a large X1.7 and X2.0 Solar flare from the sun. These events are the triggers of the Aurora, and this was one was described by NASA as “A canyon of fire over 200,000 miles long”. Based on this information I was VERY excited to head up north for the weekend and get away from the light pollution of Fairbanks in hopes of getting some really good looks at the Aurora. After reviewing the Aurora forecast (http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast) it looked like there was going to be a decent chance of getting at least a ‘moderate’ display up north. So, I packed up my photography gear, gun, and camping stuff and headed up 85 miles north with Ross Dorendorf to the Twelvemile Summit on the Steese Highway. We could not have picked a better day to be up in interior Alaska. The day was actually very, very warm for the end of October, I think the high was probably near 35 degrees. We were in pursuit of Ptarmigan so we headed up the ridge tops, hiking for a few miles. Although the ptarmigan tracks printed in the snow were abundant is certain areas we never saw a single ptarmigan. We were lucky enough to see a large snowy owl on the slope below us. As soon as he realized he was spotted the owl took off from the ground and flew along the ridge top in front of us, about 300 yards away. He was very large! I would say the size of a large gull and flapped gracefully. Here are a series of pictures and a 360 degree video from the summit of the mountain. As you can see, it wasn’t a bad day out there!
Once we reached the top of the ridge the mountains stretched all around us and the sun shown off them brightly.12 Mile Summit on the Steese Highway.
We hiked down from the ridgetop and got back to the truck right as the sun was disappearing. The warm temperatures were also disappearing. What a sun driven system we have here! The sunset was indeed a beauty and the clouds to the south, which were likely covering Fairbanks, lent themselves perfectly to the orange and yellow bands in the sky.
Sunsets are one of my favorite parts of any day, especially days spent outside. What a glorious way to end our hike in the mountains!
Once we were done with the sunset it was time to get down to making camp. Now don’t get me wrong, camp on this trip was pretty straight forward. I was to sleep in the back of my truck and Ross was to sleep in his tent. We weren’t too interested in leaving some of the conveniences of car camping behind. So, Ross fired up his stove and soon had a warm, salty, cheesy and DELICIOUS batch of macaroni and cheese going. I had tasked myself with making a batch of monkey bread in the dutch oven. Monkey bread is also called pull bread and is a doughy, cinnamon sugar filled wonder. Its hot, sweetness is the perfect end to any day. Dutch oven cooking is a small camping hobby of mine. It involves a cast iron pot which is heated from the top and bottom with coals. You can bake an assortment of meals and desserts within it; if you can make it in a traditional oven at home, you can cook it within the dutch oven. The picture below illustrated the heat on top and bottom of the oven.
Here you can see dutch oven cooking. The heat is placed above and below the pot which heats it evenly on all sides. You rotate both the oven bottom and lid to ensure the contents are baked as evenly as possible. In here I’m making Monkey Bread, but you can make an assortment of cobblers, root veggies, pot roasts or many other items! In the background you can see the 12-mile summit trail sign.
So, did we get a good product from the dutch oven? On this day the Dutch OVen was a massive success story, the monkey bread was done perfectly! I can’t claim success every time, so this was a sweet day! The video below “Twilight and Goodies” will give you a good look at my finished product 😀
As we sat and digested the food we had eaten the night got darker and darker. The twilight finally gave way into complete darkness and we were humbled and awe-struck by the stars above us and around us. The milky-way cut through the sky in a large creamy swath. I did my best to capture the milky way. The images you’ll see below have been enhanced in contrast to help bring out the color and feel of the multitude of stars and the grandeur of the milky-way. However, you’ll see in the first image an orange tint at the bottom of the image. What you are looking at is actually the light pollution from Fairbanks. Even 80 miles away, in the state of Alaska, light pollution is filling our skies. In some point in our history, there will never be a black sky ever again. This presents more than aesthetic, human problem; birds are known to navigate by light and become disorientated by the lights of cities and within the ocean. If you don’t think it’s a big deal, think about being a bird as you fly into your next airport at night.
The second image you see below has been modified to remove the light pollution.
This image is of the Milky way over the 12-mile summit off the Steese Highway. It represent and incredible portion of the cosmos, but also illustrates how even areas that we consider to have the ‘darkest’ skies are still addled with light pollution.Here the Milky-way can be seen in full. The image has been enhanced to reduce the effect of the light pollution.
While observing the cosmos we watched many shooting stars streak across the sky. One of them lasted for so long we contemplated going after it, as we were sure based on its trajectory that it had buried itself somewhere just outside of Barrow. Our backs and neck ached with the craning our heads to the stars above, but there was not stopping our watching.
You’ll notice the title of this entry is “In Pursuit of the Aurora”. On this night, even with the solar activity, the aurora evaded us. We stayed up until 1AM and at time the clouds started to roll in. Although I’m confident there was an Aurora this night, we were unable to see it. However, at about 12 AM one of the the most interesting phenomenon occurred. Simultaneously Ross and I looked to the horizon and came to the same conclusion: there was a fire and it looked to be big. The fire continued to grow and a minute later we realized our folly as a blood-orange, crescent moon rose quickly over the hillside. It illuminated the landscape around us in its light. The moon and the new cloud cover convinced us that sleep was more valuable than the aurora on this night.
So, this is actually a post that has been a long time in the making. I’ve been back-logged a bit on posting this one. Did you know that’s why the call a blog a blog? Blog just stands for Back-logged. Anway, bad joke. So here’s the background on this post. A majority of the pictures and tales come from Kass’ and my journey up here in August. We visited the park then as part of a trip to the Anchorage region and is the part that I’ve meant to write about for some time. The other part of the descriptions and pictures come from a field trip I took to Denali the last weekend in September to observe moose rutting behavior. And then, to top it all there’s some events observed outside of the park that were cool and noteworthy, so there’s some pictures of that too. So, here we go!
When Kass and I got to Denali we were in for a big surprise: you cannot pass mile 15 of the park road with a personal vehicle. I had no idea a national park would restrict access like that! So, the only resaonable way to get in is on the tour buses and those trips had varying different lengths along the road. We decided to take the Wonder Lake bus tour which was 10 HOURS on the bus, but did bring us into the park almost as far as you can go. I will just say now that, although a 10 hour bus ride is long, and we didn’t get to stop at destinations long enough to truly appreciate them, we both agreed that we were happy we made it all the way into the park even as just ‘tourists’. I certainly have plans to return there with a bike and trek the entire park road. Hopefully whenever ‘summer’ comes here again, not likely until July.
So, without further ado, here’s a short natural history, based on my learning, of Denali National Park. I will be grouping the different aspects of the park visit in the blog rather detailing each mile.
MOUNTAINS
Of course there is one really big reason to go to Denali national park, and that’s to see Mt. McKinley – also known as Denali. Denali is KoyukonAthabaskan for “The High One”. It is the largest peak in North America and rises up over 18,000 feet from the base to its summit. The rise of Denali is what makes it so extraordinary. However, not a large percentage of the visitors in the park each year actually see the peak as it hides behind clouds often. We actually found a day when the sun broke through the clouds and we could see it! For us it was a fortunate break, as the weather had been cloudy the days preceding our trip, was cloudy most of the day we were on the trip (except for the 1 break) and was cloudy after that. I guess we were meant to see it!
Denali. We were fortunately to see it!! Here you can still tell that there is a fair amount of haze around the summit. We are still well over 50 miles from the mountain at the time of this picture.
Of course there are other mountains within Denali National Park as well. One of the other noteable ranges were the polychrome mountains. The Polychrome mountains are a part of The Cantwell Volcanics and include basalt and rhyolite flows (Wikipedia),There were quite colorful. Although, I must say that the panorama could do them more justice. There are many, many good pictures of the colors of these mountains online. If you are interested be sure to check those out! Think rainbows + mountains. I guess you’ll have to see them for yourself!
The polychrome mountains of Denali National Park. They are aptly named!
Of course the look and feel mountains can change rapidly! Here are pictures from September 29th in the Savage river valley area while I was there for a field trip. Snow covered mountains were layered in fog and clouds. The reds in the front of the mountains was stunning. While we stood there snow started to fly and it continued throughout the night into Sunday morning. They closed the park for the season due to the snow on Sunday, so we were fortunate to get in when we did!
A closeup of just one of the peaks in the Savage River Valley area. This peak was shot at 300 mm.A changed landscape! The mountains were shrouded in fog and covered in snow. A big change from just a month prior!
MEGA FAUNA
Denali national park is renowned for its wildlife. Part of that renown derives directly from the restrictions placed on tourist traffic- I should quit my griping about long bus rides, as it still beats the throngs of buffalo watchers at Yellowstone National Park. Wildlife in the region thrive due to intact ecosystems and no hunting pressure within the park. Many individuals leave the park boundaries, and can be pursued and harvested at that time. The park has ‘the big four’ of mega-fauna and at any time they may stick their head above a ridge, so observation is essential. Actually it was one of the entertaining parts of the bus ride because we were instructed to yell “STOP!” if we saw anything big. Imagine yelling out bingo because it some ways it was competitive like bingo (who could see it first) and was just as enjoyable. The caveat of the ‘stop’ theory is our bus driver was an older gentleman, named John, and he couldn’t hear well, especially over the diesel bus. So people in the back really had to let him know. Once we were stopped it was an inching game and John did his best to take directions from multiple, camera wielding bus riders looking to line up that ‘perfect’ shot. The rules of the game were to call out anything interesting, but most of the riders there wanted to see moose, dall sheep, caribou or bears. We were fortunate to get all of them. The first of the big four that we came upon was the mighty bull moose. Moose in the park are big due to their protection, and these guys pictured here are no exception! At this time of year the moose were gathering in the valleys for the rutting season.
A big bull moose at Denali National Park. Look at those paddles!Just because they are big doesn’t mean that cannot hide! If you were walking on the ground in the Park I’m not sure that you’d be able to see this one!
Like I mentioned these moose were here with a purpose and that purpose was to meet other males and then either scare them off, or if that doesn’t work fight with them. I was fortunate enough to be back in the park during the rutting season and observing bull moose from a distance up and down the Savage River Valley. I got to observe several key and cool behaviors of moose including:
Territorial displays – male moose will stand face to face in an old west shoot-out style and sway their heads back and forth. If one backs down at this point there is no harm done. It’s the least aggressive way to win the cows for a harem
Rut pits – male moose dig pits with their front feet and then pee in them and rub other hormones into them. Did you ever wonder why male moose have the long beard in front under their chin? When they get into the rut pit they make sure to splash plenty of ‘unpleasants’ onto the beard and then will rub those acquired smells on the cows for their approval, effectively basting them. Cows will also sniff the rut pits and it is suspected that they can tell the maturity of a bull based on the hormones that it puts out
Harems- we saw two different bulls with harems. A harem is a group of cows that will breed with the bull that has won them. The bull may lose the harem to another bull at any time up until the cows are bred. Once a bull starts into the rut it will barely sleep or eat and may loose up to 600 pounds in some of the larger bulls. For instance, my professor talked about an instance where a bull was known to start at 1500 pounds and shrink to 900. WOW! 1-800-94-JENNY anyone?
For better or for worse we saw many of these moose from far away – so much for wildlife photographer of the year awards on this trip! However, I did take this one set of a video of a distant, large, bull moose chasing after 2 cows in his harem. I think it gives pretty good perspective on how far away we were and also of some of the scenery. Of note in this video: NEVER TRY TO OUTRUN A MOOSE. I couldn’t believe how fast they were able to travel!!
The next in the list of the big four were caribou. We got some really great looks at these animals. I have actually learned some pretty interesting things about caribou. Did you know the females are one of the few (or only??) ungulates to grow antlers? Females actually use them to fend off other females from feeding grounds when calves are present. Lichen, their main source of food, can be a commodity. So it’s important to protect what you have! The caribou herds were just starting to travel for the wintering grounds when we were on our trip.
Here is one of the big caribou that crossed our path on the voyage to wonder lake.Here is yet another one of the big caribou that crosse dour path. Admire those shovels, but also admire that vast landscape behind him!
Another one of the big four in the park were the dall sheep. These sheep were actually hunted to near extinction in history past, so it’s great to see them back in large numbers! It’s important to look waaay up for these guys, as they are mountain extraordinaires and are renowned for their ability to cling to small ledges and make dareing dashes up near impossible slopes. They are always shock white and are known for their impressive horn curls. We didn’t get too close to these sheep, so use your imagination a bit on those white dots you see! At least one of them is the ram. Can you tell?
To round off the big four I would be reminisce if I didn’t talk about the bears! We got to observe bears two times while on the trip. The first time was very close, and you’ll see that below. It was a lone bear, probably a male, that was foraging on berries and anything else in the shrubs. He meandered up the draw before walking mere yards behind the bus. It’s really interesting being in the bus beause the wildlife has less tendency to ‘see’ you. They certainly see the bus, but that doesn’t really spook them. Bears are a little different though, I don’t think they give a d*** either way. You know what I mean? :p. The second bear sighting was at a distance, but a mother and two cubs were running around and playing with each other on a hillside.
In regards to bears a brown bear is the same as a grizzly bear and both of those are actually the same as a Kodiak Brown Bear. Kodiak’s are renowned for their large size (males in the range of 1500 pounds) but their size is entirely driven by the rich fish diet they get in the Kodiak Island region. If those same bears were transplanted to Denali they would shrink to Denali size- about 700 pounds in big males.
Here’s Mr Bruin. This brown bear was feeding on berries and shrubs behind our bus. He was described as a ‘fairly small male’. Looks biggish to me!More more look with a little different angle at the grizzly bear.
Not all of the mammals in Denali are huge. We did come across this fox who was actively hunting along the road. I think he was using the bus to scare up birds, crafty fox! I didn’t see him snag any, but he came awfully close a couple of times. His behavior was to pad along in front of the bus and as birds came out of the bushes to pursue him. He then jumped into a draw which is where he was photographed here, ears perked and still fully on the hunt.
This crafty red fox was using our bus as a diversion when hunting birds.
BIRDS
One of the predominant birds in Alaska are the grouse and the ptarmigan. They all can be a bit hard to tell apart. Once you get the grouse vs the ptarmigan you still need to figure out which of the ptarmigan you are looking at, which can be nearly impossible. I’ve found this resource from the AK fish and game. Use it to help me compare the pictures below, and we’ll see if you think I got them right. (http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/hunting/smallgamehunting/pdfs/alaska_grouse_ptarmigan.pdf) I won’t put any captions on the photos other than numbers and you can look up the answers below.
# 1 : What is it? “answer” below# 2 : answers below# 3 : answers below
So here’s the answers as far as I can tell. # 1 is a willow ptarmigan. It’s characterized by red breat and those big ptarmigan feet (which you can’t see). She’s all ruffled up here. I know she’s a she because she was surrounded by her chicks, who were about half grown. Willow ptarmigan are VERY hard to discern from rock ptarmigan. In this case I’m going sheerly on the habitat that she was found in, and I’m not sure if that’s valid or not. #2 is a spruce grouse, not a ptarmigan at all! . Did you guess correctly on #3? If you got # 2 then you should get # 3! Spruce grouse! I threw you a little double there 🙂
Another one of the birds in the park is the magpie. They are one of my favorite birds for their curious nature and natural intelligence. When I jumped out of the car this one and several others came pretty close looking for handouts. I wasn’t too impressed by that! But was it was nice to have him close for the pictures. They really are a colorful bird, in the right light that tail lights up green as a ‘go light’!
This magpie came looking for handouts, none to found from this non-wildlife-feeing-photographer though! 🙂
The last bird I wanted to highlight was the white fronted goose. This bird was actually a ‘lifer’ ( I hadn’t seen one before) so it was pretty special! These geese had managed to raise a family on this lake for the summer. I bet they didn’t hang around too much longer after we left the park. Those lakes would have been frozen soon!
White-fronted goose in Denali National Park
PLANTS
Denali was one of my first exposures tundra plants. I actually don’t have to much to say about these plants because I really don’t know too much about their ecology. Maybe the pictures will tell enough! The best I can give is the name, if you are ready and know some ecology fill me in!
Gentian.Mountain Avens.Bearberry
IT’S NO WONDER IT’S CALLED WONDER!
We finally reached wonder lake at mile 84 (I think, or was it 87?) Anway, it was incredible! The lake stretched out before us and was very calm. Kass set about picking berries and I spent my time hunting for birds and pictures to take. I’m looking forward to getting back to Wonder Lake on my own accord and spending some time there. Hopefully the days can all be be like this one was! This will conclude the Denali section. But a few extra pictures are below from different destinations and species. Thanks for reading everyone!!
BLOG EXTRAS
So the rest of this blog is just dedicated to some nice Alaskan scenery that is found between Denali and Anchorage but that don’t really fit into a blog entry. I will include a little commentary here and there:
Hi-bush cranberries are a common plant in the woods of Alaska. These tart berries are editlble, and the taste improves as the weather cools off and they freeze at night. They have a pretty big pit, so be ready to spit!Beyer’s Lake State Park. Can’t go wrong with these views!I am always fascinated by mushrooms exploding out of the undergrowth This one apparently had to push pretty hard to make it through this thick moss.I feel I captured this red squirrel at just the right time at Beyer’s Lake State Park. He was chomping on this pinecone and had a see strung across his write. He looks like he’s saying SHOO! Get out of here!I was struck by the royal, deep purple of this unknown flower along Beyer’s Lake. Also, thanks to Reader Justin Olnes for identifying this flower monkshood (Aconitum)!!Beyer’s Lake State park and a view from the end of the lake. I loved the purples and the red of the rose-hips!While in the Anchorage area Kass and I were lucky to observe a strong fallout of warbler. There were feeding in amongst the rocks of shoreline of the ocean (which had a rapidly ascending tide) and also in the fireweed which was common. The combination of fireweed with the birds is hard to forget! I believe (but cannot say with absolute certainty) that this is an orange-crowned warbler. Can anyone confirm??A moody day at Ektulna lake along the way to Anchorage.Lets not beat around the bush here. Do bears shit in the woods? Yes. yes they do. More interesting was to see the strong dietary influence of berries in this scat! It was found directly in the middle of the board walk around Beyer’s Lake
It’s been a few, busy weeks since I’ve written updated you guys. Life here is good. You might notice a few different things in the blog… Colors of the home page and the ability to embed video straight to my page! On top of that my own domain name: www.ianajohnson.com will get you where you guys need to go!
Today was the “forest festival” here at UAF. The forestry department arranged a set of events in tribute to the forestry practices of the past. I have called it “jackpine savagery” as that’s how events like these were described in my household growing up. This year was the 16th year running for this event, and they had 94 participants! I’ve got to say, the day was just about perfect. I was able to join up with an awesome group of people when I got there; they made it as good as it was. So, many thanks to Amanda, Nikki, Daisy, Mike, and Heike. You guys Rock!! One advantage I had coming into this festival is I have a pretty strong background in many of the woodsy crafts of the Festival and could contribute to the team well. I think some of you may know that already. Eagle Scout training and spirit came out in force today.
Invents included:
Axe Throwing
Fire building
Cross cut
Bow saw
Log rolling
Pulp Tossing
Birling
So, without further ado let’s break it down and look at the highlights!! 🙂
THE TEAM
These guys were Great! Thanks for taking me in! Pictures are Mike, Nikki, Amanda and Daisy. Not pictured (but taking the picture) is HeikeWe are Nanook Nation! Mascots were present for the Festival!
Axe Throwing
This event was pretty straight forward. Grab an axe, take aim, and let it go! However, don’t throw too hard! I saw several sail over top of the target and do some lawn mowing on the other side. The rules of this game were three practice throws and three real throws. Your score was cumulative, with the bulls-eye being worth 5 points. Fortunately we had a axe-throwing-stud on our team, Mike was a ringer with 2 bulls-eyes and 13 points total. That’s some GREAT Throwing!!
This sport was actually easier than it looks. The axes flew perfectly and the dull thud each time they sank in was satisfying. Easily my favorite sport of the day!
I CANNOT TAKE CREDIT FOR THIS 😀 . I wish I had tossed this axe, but this is Mike’s first Bulls-eye. He NAILED it!Proper form: 2 hands, over the back, don’t throw too hard!A thumbs up from me. I’ll take those 4 points, thanks!
Cross Cut
Ever heard that cross cutting can be difficult? It can be! There’s certain things you don’t want to do in cross cutting. They are: Push, lift, push down hard, pull sideways, torque and angle. The cross-cut is a tremendously efficient saw when you use it correctly. The winning team cut through this spruce log in 19 seconds! That is almost ‘chain saw fast’. It was pretty incredible to watch. One thing that every team did was flip the saw upside down and practice their stroke. In hindsight I equate this to practice swings with a bat, they don’t help one bit!
You may notice the saw is flipped upside down. I’m here to tell you now that this technique will not even your stroke out, or make you a better saw-er!
So, I would like to present this video as things NOT to do while cross-cutting. Although our time was not too shabby (44 seconds) there are quite a few things to note. Do you see me pushing? Do you see Mike pushing? Angling? Bending? Torquing! Unfortunately we didn’t get into much of a rhythm here, but practice makes perfect!
Bow Saw
I grew up using a bow saw to cut Christmas trees and clear wood for deer stands. However, on the note of harvesting Christmas trees a 12 Gauge will take down an 8 foot Balsam Fir in three shots at close range – True Story. But, back to the topic at hand. I was feeling pretty confident when I stepped up to the bow saw stand. As I set myself up with a wide stance the judge was giving me a few tips. Tip # 1 : Go slow on the first few strokes to set a groove. Tip # 2: The same. It’s that important, and I wished I had listened better or at least set aside my competitiveness enough to do what he said. At the first quick pull the saw hopped the groove I was trying to create. Reset. Another quick pull hopped it from the groove again. However, once I was into the 4×4 a 1/4″ I made steady progress and was through the log in 11 seconds. A far cry from the 6 seconds of the winner!
Get that bow saw into the groove and then work efficiently! It’s tough to beat 6 seconds!!
Log Rolling
One of the most grueling sports was the log rolling competition. I can’t guess at the weight of the large, green pine log that lay on the ground. Just know that it was heavy and resisted motion like a shit-su being pulled on a leash towards a bath-tub. The goal of the log roll was to move the log to one end using a long, pointed tool called a peavey and bump BOTH ENDS into the sticks and the end, then switch sides and roll it back to the starting line and bump BOTH END sticks on the other side. This requires a bit of coordination from the team because where you push in the log will determine where it rolls. My teamate Mike and navigated this sport pretty well and put down a 25.5 second performance which gave us a third overall on the day. My only placing! Below here are a couple of my teamates trying their luck on the log pushing.
Daisy and Heike using their Peaveys for some log pushing!
So it’s all fine and dandy if your log hits the stakes squarely, but what if it doesn’t? This was the case in my first run with team mate Amanda. I got a very abrupt crash course in how to pick a log so that it can be spun with the peavey. You’ll see that once it hits on the first end I nimbly hop the log and start shoving down to the other end. We were setting record time and missed the starting stake on the left side by just a half inch! That means we weren’t done and had to correct the log. From there we had to push the log backwards, pick one end, peavey the other and then re-roll. To finish it off we had to bump the other end of the log.Have a watch!
Pulp Tossing
Perhaps the most straight forward game of the day was the pulp toss. The goal of the game was to hurl your log and have it land between the two stakes set up. You worked as an rotating team of 4 with a goal of making 16 points. We did pretty well at this, and it was definitely my best game!
I think I had great form at this. Set one hand at the end of the log and keep it straight. Then let’r fly!Team mate Nikki getting a good one off. She’s not catching, she’s throwing!Here’s a good view of the Pulp Toss field. Think Horseshoes with sticks.Team mate Mike letting one fly!
Fire Starting
Yet another event that I was feeling pretty good about, and Mike I were up for the challenge. So, what are the rules? They are you get 3 matches, 1 log, 1 chopping block, 1 axe, and a coffee can with ~1 liter of water in it and dish soap… I might debate whether all cans were equal, but that’s neither here nor there :P. You had to build a fire and get the coffee can on it. The coffee can would flow over edges like a Volcano (due to the soap) when it boiled and time would stop. Each team was given a time. Mike and I managed to do it in 15 minutes and were first in our round. However, we didn’t place as the best time was 10:30! I’m bewildered how they managed to do it that quickly. I thought our performance was seamless. However, it was not without consequences. By the end of 15 minutes my symptoms were:
Tingling cheeks from lack of oxygen
Tingling fingers from lack of oxygen
Tingling EYELIDS from lack of oxygen
I had burned all the hair off right arm from the forearm to the wrist
A small burn on my lip where an ember had jumped out
Smoke inhalation
Light-headedness
Let it not be said that I didn’t give it my all for this one!! I think the begginning was the most fun as everyone frantically ripped into their logs with the axe doing their best to get a fire going. As soon as the judge says go they’re off! In some ways it’s like Mad Max in Thunderdome as the competitors were surrounded by spectators who definitely could have been collateral if a stray axe flew by. However, everyone was super responsible, that wasn’t going to happen.
Once everyone was underway there were many strategies to get that volc,ano to erupt the fastest. Doubling blowing by teamates, getting on the ground, stacking wood like a chimney and putting a log over it as a lid. However, in my opinion the winning strategy included getting as much of the can over the fire as possible and blowing enough without burning your wood out from under the can. Have a watch at this pretty entertaining video and with the winner to boot!
Mike and I defintely did pretty well. I was impressed with our concise piles of wood and perfect V-shaped coffee cup stand.
15 minutes of blowing was no joke! The coffee can seemingly had heat resistance in it. Even with flames like this!
Birling
Probably the most anticipated event of the day was the birling competition. Unfamiliar with birlling? Britannica defines it as “[Credit: John Wetrosky]outdoor sport of the North American lumberjack. Its origin can be traced to the spring log drives of eastern Canada and the New England states, particularly the state of Maine, during the early lumbering era in the 19th century, from which it moved westward to the Great Lakes region and then to the Pacific Northwest.” The sport involves a floating log and two participants. Who can stay on the longest? Well. the Winner can!!
You don’t just find birling logs floating in the water! They have to be carried, and they aren’t light!
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I mounted the Birling log. First off, remember it’s October in Alaska. That means the water isn’t warm. IN FACT, a nice ice skim was built up around the edges of Lake Bellaine when we arrived. However, that didn’t stop me from taking on competitor Ben in a log rolling extraordinaire. Our first bout ended up being a ‘tie’ when we fell into the water at the same time. I wasn’t as well balanced on the second attempt and went down quickly. Oh well, just more time to be warm! You can see the photo of us mounted on the log and then we were off like a couple of whirling dervishes! However, Ben ended up victorious!
Jumping onto the birling log with Ben. Things to note: 32 degree water, small log, the goal is not to fall off.
The birling was done on a bracketed basis. This meant that it just kept getting better and better as the winners weaned themselves away from the losers. I thought I would include these two videos here of the women’s and men’s final to show some really good birling! Note how they control the log and can actually reverse the direction of it! Much more sophisticated than my lightening quick feet trying to keep up with the momentum of the log.
So, that was pretty much it! The last thing to do was haul that dang birling log back up the hill and trailer it. Rather than just take pictures I decided to throw my back into it this time.
How to make hauling a heavy log harder??? Add a skinny fence opening!
Once again, it was a great day and I’d like to thank everyone who put together. Thanks for reading everyone! I’m very excited about this new blog format and being able to put videos straight into the page. I’m sure there will be more of that in the future! More soon from up north in AK!
We always associate certain pivotal life events with the places where we were; the events we remember often have very similar themes. Where was your first kiss? Where were you when you found out you were pregnant? Where were you when your grandmother died? Where were you when your son was born? There are points in our life so significant that we can remember the color of the walls, what she was wearing, how fresh the grass was cut and if we enjoyed the food. We can smell, sense, hear, touch, feel the environment we were in. We may even reach out when thinking about it in an almost trance. These events in life tie us together because they are part of being human and human nature.
Today is 9/11/2013 and we all know what happened 12 years ago. But where were you? I know that’s really the question that everyone asks when we talk about this event. It’s the only way many of can relate to it. We weren’t there to feel the fear, the uncertainty, the death, the ash, and see the bravery. So, we connect to it any way we can. I personally was in Mr. Hanson’s math class. It was 8th grade and I had never heard of the Trade Centers. I remember watching with curiosity trying to understand why the event was so important to me that class had been postponed so we could watch. I have to thank the naiveness of my mid-western, rural upbringing to even think “it must be an accident” when the first plane hit. When the second plane smashed into the towers I did not even understand the significance of ‘terroristic act’. I understand now how lucky I was/am, because at my age of 14, there are so many people who do know, and it fills their lives with constant fear.
Today’s ceremonies and memorial services remembered those who gave their lives. They also acknowledged our ground forces in the middle east and the ongoing conflict Syria which has left 10’s of thousands dead with no end in sight. However, I think remembering 9/11 should also cause you to think further than the US border. I think that remembering 9/11 should also bring you closer to those current events which still haunt, torment and demean people everywhere. Where were they the day their families and lives were changed by terrorist acts? As you go through your daily lives please take time to remember where you were and what that means to you.
As part of my thoughts on 9/11 today Amazing Grace came into my head; it actually is what drove me to even write this blog in the first place. I find it to be one of the most moving songs and entirely applicable to the world around us. I sat and thought about world events as I played over and over on my guitar. I recorded the piece below and the lyrics are as follow (not that you don’t know them):
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun.
So, I don’t want this to be too melancholy, but I hope meditate on where you were and use it to connect you to the world around you. I would love to hear where you were in the comments below!
