Home, sweet Toolik

 The sunset view from the deck outside the dining area. Not. Too. Shabby.

Back in Alaska!

Well hello again, and happy 2023!

I am back in Alaska for a third spring. With no more quarantines to prevent bringing COVID into camp (which makes me sad...I LOVE quarantine!) and a sooner start date anyway, I am up in the tundra a month earlier than I have been before, and it's been so fun to see a couple glimpses of the northern lights and be in camp when it's so quiet (just five of us here as I type this!).

I was not sure what it would be like to make the nine-hour drive north from Fairbanks to Toolik this time of year (well, last week), but the day was gorgeous and the Dalton was in great shape. And I got a kick out of getting to drive on the patches that were still just ice.

So here are some photos of the drive, and I'll pop in every so often in the next couple months to send you some pics from around the tundra neighborhood. If you're bored of northern Alaska photos by now, sorry! Come back in July for something new and different.

The drive down the Dalton was gorgeous

 Heading toward Atigun pass, the day was so windless that the roadside ponds mirrored the mountains.

And we drove into a land of trees and springtime.

Now I'm in Fairbanks, soon to head to the airport to continue the trip south. So that's all from me, from Alaska, for now.

I'll be back "here" (blog-land) soon, coming to you from northerly climes in another part of the world. COVID-and-all-else willing, see you in the second half of this month...in Scandinavia!

Today I said "so long for now" to Toolik

 Sure hope to be back again. I do enjoy this place a lot.

A morning at the Imnavuit weir

I got to go help Science Tech (and friend) M take yesterday morning's meltwater flow measurements for a long-running project.

Three weeks ago, six of us went out to this site for two full afternoons of digging down to the ground level through 4+ feet of snow, and it's kind of shocking to see that endless field of frozen white now look like this...

I'm going to miss this sky.

 

Arctic Ground Squirrel Seeks Trashy Snack

He seemed to think I was in competition for his treasure and he could scare me away by rearing up and cackling at me. 

Okay, I was a little scared. 

And...now it's snowing again.

 Big, beautiful, fat flakes that start melting on touchdown.

The state bird of Alaska is back in town

The first mosquitoes of the season are big, but slow and dumb. I think I'll be getting out of here just in time to avoid the smaller, faster, more vicious ones. Not upset about that!

Just one week left in camp...

...and feeling nostalgic for something that hasn't even ended yet. I stopped for a moment in my peregrinations around Toolik to appreciate the beauty of this quirky, far-flung place.

Snow retreating, sky dark

 

Toolik Lake Inlet is running!

 The sound of running water is so unexpected, it seems hilariously loud. Spring has sprung, for sure...

Ice fishing!

We were doing catch-and-release with Arctic char, measuring and tagging any we caught to track populations over time. I have this weird memory of ice fishing in the dark some time in my past, but I cannot place it any context and think it might just be a dream I once had. So now I've actually been ice fishing.

C & G ice bathing

 

I had to make multiple trips down to the ice bath (with sessions reheating in the sauna in-between) to work up my courage to go under. First time I just walked down there to take this picture of them. Second time I stood in it and splashed some ice water on myself. Third try I sat down and was in it up to my neck. Fourth time I went under (lots of cursing involved). Fifth time my goal was to go under with a little less panic, and I guess I kind of succeeded. But every time I promised myself I would never do it again. Maybe now that's true.

Last weekend's project

Friend C wanted to be able to go in the lake to cool WAY down during sauna time, but the lake is still frozen. 

So she rallied me and friend G and a bunch of shovels...

...and an augur...

...and we went to work for two hours to make ourselves a bathtub in the lake ice.

As luck would have it, even though we stopped drilling with a foot of ice still below the bottom of our tub, so that people could stand on the bottom of it, we hit a fissure in the ice and the tub began filling itself as we finished the drilling. Tomorrow I'll show you the results!

Muskox chilling at Pump 3

 Can't see any in this shot, but there were babies!!

Bonfire season has begun

 

Oh, hi!

A Toolik outdoor web cam caught this shot, nearly a month ago. Too perfect. And way better than any photo of caribou I've managed to take. I feel for these guys. I would not like to be reincarnated as a caribou. In the winter they're nearly starving and/or freezing to death. In the summer they are plagued to near insanity by mosquitoes. What a life. I'm glad they're getting a little bit of springtime to enjoy.

 

Then the fog rolled in.

 

Like I said, just one junk view after another