Chasing the Snow: Part 2

After a long happy soggy day of hiking rainbow ridge, we now needed to come down and find a campsite. The sun doesn't set any more, but we still need to sleep! We decided to drive further on towards Paxon, hoping to camp by some of the lakes over there. But as you can see, the snow just kept getting deeper and deeper

Summit lake: does it ever thaw??

We turned around and headed back towards some gravel washes around creeks we crossed over. We set up camp beside a creek at 11 pm.

And apparently we parked ourselves on the moose highway - we saw 5 individuals!

Dash and his driftwood/rock sculpture

We hiked down to the river to see what we could find... and to throw more rocks at ice floes.

Fox skeleton on the side of the creek

Pasque flowers - proof that we saw pretty things and not just gruesome dead things!

The Alaska range from Donnely Dome

Chasing the Snow: Part 1

Rainbow ridge - a feature with a name that belies its steepness and boneyard of Dall sheep and unlucky birds. I severely underestimated how extensive snow can be in May in the Alaska Range.

Looking to the south you can see the highway heading towards Paxon, junction with the Denali Highway.

Our favorite pastime on this trip became 1) throwing rocks at ice floes in the river and 2) rolling giant snowballs downhill.

"You look really good from behind, and I bet you would look even better from the front - can I take your picture?!"
                                   - Christine

Dall sheep skeleton left from a hunter kill sometime last winter. We started looking for a kill when we hiked past chunks of sheep fur scattered in the willows like large cotton balls.

The group standing above the first steep ascent, but still far below the high pass on rainbow ridge.

The Alaska range as we were leaving Delta Junction, heading towards rainbow ridge.

Geometric designs in Ice

 
 Nobody Ever Suspects the Quiet Ones, watercolor and ink
 Although it may (tentatively) be spring here in Fairbanks, and the sun no longer sets, I still maintain a perspective with a healthy dose of morbidity.


Today at the watershed, snow melt was happening in earnest. The overflow ice that freezes at night around the tree trunks was left high and dry in the daytime as the water level dropped, leaving behind "ice skirts" that shattered or tilted at crazy angles as the day warmed up.

 Polygon tunnel

 Ice skirts, which fell off the trees with loud crashing and much splashing! And disorienting to walk through

 Alligator-belly-ice

 SNOWFLAKES!!

The water was pretty high out at the field site (CPCRW). Maybe the truck could have made it across, but it's hard to know how things behave on ice (there was still a lot of ice below the water!)

 I felt bad walking around on these delicate crystals. Talk about an elephant in a china closet. I've lived that now!

 This is from the set of bear tracks going down one of our ATV trails. Looks like s/he had been walking through the afternoon before... luckily for us

 Frozen bubbles at the edge of the flooded path. You could pick up the frozen bubbles, but they wouldn't do to ship anything to your friends living far away.

 Look at that rich gold water! Just thinking about all the organic matter giving it that hue makes me excited for field season! It was a little sketchy to try to cross this flooded section of trail though.

 Everybody Paints Poppies, watercolor and ink
These also remind me of nasturtiums. Mmmm edible flowers...

Haribou, caribou antler and snowshoe hare
I'm starting to dabble in sculpture.