A Pirate's (Interpretation) Life For Me!

Yesterday I boarded the cruise ship Holland American Line and traveled to the terminus (ending point) of Hubbard and Turner Glaciers.  I, along with two other rangers Freddie and Jared, boated up to the glacier about 10 miles or so away.

Gummy didn't even get sea sick!  Check him out in the Crow's Nest (where the captain navigates the ship).



Long way down... cold water too!!!

 I was just a spectator this time around, so I was able to watch Jared's presentation on the Hubbard Glacier and the National Parks, and watch a presentation on the Native peoples of Yakutat, Tglingit (pronounced "clingit") Tribe history by Burt, Lydia and Ted.

The Hubbard Glacier is HUGE! It raises over 250 ft high and then below the water is another 250 ft! It's crazy to imagine something so massive! The glacier is 7.5 miles wide at its terminus (bottom/face) where it flows into Disenchantment Bay.

I got to see my first seal and pup together relaxing on some glacier ice..... so cute!

And some more pictures of us getting towards the glacier......



TURNER GLACIER

And to add to the experience I had to get on and off the cruise ship by having a boat charter us and move along side the cruise ship, going 11 knots, and then climb up a rope ladder!  I felt like a pirate!!!!

YEAH ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL ADVENTURE!

Tonight I will be kayaking on the Situk River and tomorrow and Friday EARLY morning I will be surfing.... YES SURFING!!!!!!  I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!





YOU Think of a Good Title Here.... The stories are just TOO GOOD!

Glacier water + fresh salmon = BEARS!

Don't get too anxious for me, I haven't SEEN a bear; but they made their presence know by leaving fresh tracks and scat when I woke up in the morning! Check out this track below!

So the goal this week was to collect data on a fresh water fish, smelt.  Using gill nets and minnow traps we were on the hunt for the illusive fish. (http://www.gma.org/fogm/Osmerus_mordax.htm)

I was working with 2 fresh water fish researchers/biologists at Wragnell-St Elias National Park, Molly and Dave.  It was such an amazing trip that turned into one big adventure and BEAUTIFUL WEATHER!  I was sunburned by the end of day 1 (yes, believe it Floridians!)!!

DAY 1:  Fly into Sudden Stream and explore and collect data on smelt.  We boat up stream towards a lake created by melt water from the Malaspina Glacier and set the minnow traps and cast out gill nets.  Glacier ice was floating by all the time!  It was amazing!

Since these pictures were taking by me.....  oh geez ya'll know I did work too!  This was our first fish, stickleback (top picture) and a sockeye salmon that was about 50 cm in length!  HUGE fish in my book, but the largest salmon here in Alaska is the chinook salmon which can get almost 90 cm in length.

Here's the stream, Sudden Stream, with the St Elias Mountain Range in the back  and Gummy below.

Simply breathtaking view of St Elias......  4th highest peak in North America at 18,000 feet (below).



Gummy and I had our first taste of fresh glacier water from Sudden Stream and our first piece of Glacier Ice.... YUMM!!!! Cold and PERFECT!

Now this picture below is to show you how much light is out at 2:30 AM..... and a 3rd Quarter Moon phase too....

Gummy wanted to make friends with the wildlife and then enjoy a little campfire......  done the old fashion way with a spark from a rock and straw........

Gummy and Wolf

Gummy and Grizzly



Glacier Ice from Hubbard Glacier that drifted onto shore from Disenchantment Bay!  SOOOOO  FRESH!!!!!



HUBBARD GLACIER --> ADVANCING GLACIER



It was such an amazing trip!  Bears were always there and every morning was a new bear track......  YIKES!  But I actually felt really safe and comfortable in my tent! 





One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.......

Today I'm off on a research adventure!  I will be taking fish samples at two streams; Sudden Stream and Esker Creek.
I will be camping on the beach for 3 nights and 4 days and return to Yakutat on Friday!  I can't wait! 

Below is a satellite map of where I will be.  The cabin is there that you see in white.

I'm going to be loving it!

See you all Friday!

Little Airplane, BIG Glaciers........

Yesterday was a 2 hour flight through the coastal area of Yakutat Bay to Icy Bay.

Seeing the glaciers was AMAZING!  Up at 1,000 feet we got an arieal view of Hubbard Glacier and Turner Glacier.  Hubbard Glacier is the thing to watch around here because the glacier face (front) is pushing towards land, called Gilbert Point.  If the glacier locks with the other side it will cause the Russell Fjord (lake made from melting glacier) to be blocked from draining out into the bay.  If the lake can't drain, the water levels will rise drastically!  In 1986 the lake levels rose 90 feet!  And the fjord was blocked again in 2002.  This will change the ecosystem and economy around the fjord greatly!  Salmon do their runs up Sitka River and that won't happen with all the extra volume of water and all of the sediment flowing!  That, in turn, changes the economy around our area too......  BIG PROBLEMS, but I have to remember that it is a natural process.... the Earth changes and does it without our permission! 

USGS links:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-001-03/
http://ak.water.usgs.gov/glaciology/hubbard/index.htm

Face of the tidal glacier, Hubbard.  ADVANCING!  Which means it is getting larger; beat that climate change!

Where the glacier MAY hit Gilbert Point, closing of Russell Fjord from the bay.........

Huge crevasse!

Malaspina Glacier:  largest glacier in North America!  It took us over 30 minutes to fly over the darn thing!  To get the whole thing in a photograph, you would have to be IN OUTER SPACE!!!!

That's some high quality H20.  You may ask: "Why is the water that beautiful teal color?"  Well because the water is so dense it is able to absorb all colors of the visible spectrum (rainbow) except blue is reflected back at us, so that is why we see the blue color.

Waterfall off a cliff from a melting glacier.

Radio point from one of our National Park towers......

The beautiful terrain!

All Day Hike: Russell Fjord

Yesterday their was no lack of adventure --> from hiking all day I got to see my first iceberg, walk through snow, see the reminance of a bear scratching an itch on a tree, bear scratches at least 4 m up the tree and so many mosquitos it was actually maddening!

Hi, first moose; I named her Athena!

The most beautiful view I've ever seen!

AMAZING!

GUMMY!

This is Sitka Spruce: we were picking the tips to make spruce tip ice cream.  It will be made with the Summer School kids when we do a week on edibles!  YUMM!!!!!!!!

That bear ate a lot!

Air strip!

BIG BEAR!!!!!

Bear scratching post!!!!!

This bear was REALLY stretching!  It reached almost 4 meters!!!!!!