Interior Alaska field work

We started a project in March where we have this large, great team of people investigating the relatioship between permafrost and regional hydrology in Interior Alaska. We have field sites from the Jarvis Glacier in the Alaska Range to the Tanana Flats across from Fairbanks and the Caribou-Poker Creek Research Watershed north of town.

In April we went to the Jarvis Glacier watershed to do some snow surveys and investigate the watershed.

In May we hitched a ride on an Air National Guard Pavehawk helicopter to some field sites in Tanana Flats.

Unloading equipment from a hot helicopter of that size is somewhat exciting. They were putting us down on some floating and mushy material so they did not want to shut down. The rotor wash is enough to knock you over.

An aerial view of an area that burned in 2010.

Close up of the same terrain.

Using a tall guy like Eric to install a pressure transducer to monitor water levels.

Miriam checking out the cores we got.

I like the motto of these combat rescue guys: "We fly where others have failed."

Here I am installing another pressure transducer.

The Tanana River in Fall foliage.

A forest fire near Fairbanks.

Fall moose hunt 2011

I went on a moose hunting trip to the East Forkof the Little Delta with my buddy TomT. We flew into a beautiful spot right below Mount Hayes and set up camp nearby. Unfortunately, my camera (and the photos from the flight in and the first few days of the trip) werelost somewhere between when I shot a moose and went running over to check on the downed critter.

It was a classic experience. I was hanging out glassing the area and heard a wild bugling sound above me. Over the course of a few hours I heard him call and returned with my own cow calls. He came working down my way and I had a good sight line and brought him down. A nice 45 inch bull.

Me in the classic "with rifle" redneck pose.

TomT for scale.

It took us until late that night and into the next day to ferry the moose to camp. The moose was about a mile and a half, slightly up hill, from camp. But most of that was deep tussocks and not the easiest packing for 100 pound loads.

We got the moose and our camp packed up and started down the river. It was about 40 river miles total. About half of it was beautiful interior Alaska river floating. The other half was spent with us lining the boat through rocky rapids, around sweepers, and across braided channels. We had to empty the boat at a few locations where logjams were too big to cut through. It was a pretty epic float out and took us four days.

We had a SOAR (thanks Ken!) and a small packraft (thanks Brent!).

Me flexing for some reason. This SOAR Pro Pioneer is a pretty amazing boat. It navigated the rapids and channels with a large load quite well.

Nice spot to stop and line around the large spruce tree sweeper ahead.

We floated right by some tall gravel cliffs.

TomT in the midst of a large lining event. Not fun.

We dumped into the Tanana and had a few hours of great floating to the take out.

Random Quartz Lake photos

An assortment of summer time Quartz Lake photos.

Sarah had a cool idea to make a bunch of drawings wishing Emmy (my Mom) a happy birthday. Then she posted them around and took photos of them and sent it as one giant photo mobile.

Czecking out the Czech Republic (and Germany) August 2011

I had a geochemistry meeting in Prague in August and took a few days off after the meting to explore the Czech Republic and Munich, Germany.

The buildings, architecture, and culture of Prague are so old, refined, and spectacular that it is a great place to visit. People have lived there since 200 B.C.

One of the entrance towers to Old Town.

The Old Town Square at night. This area has buildings that are over 400 years old. The Nazis firebombed the Square and it was eventually the main location where the Velvet Revolution started.

The Astronomical Clock on the left (built in 1410 and the oldest astronomical clock that still works) and Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (said to be th inspiration for the Disney Castle).

The cinnamon rolls are quite tasty.

There is music everywhere you go.

Prague Castle and Charles Bridge (fourteenth century) in the distance over the Vltava River.

I almost got my head cut off by this armor-clad dude.

Sculptures along the Charles Bridge.

Prague from the Castle.

Saint Vitus Cathedral.

This hot dog/sausage was absurd.

I walked around the city quite a bit. By the third or fourth day I realized that there is no pavement or concrete anywhere- it is all stones, stonework, inlays, and amazing cobblestones throughout.

The Jewish Cemetery has people buried 12 deep and the first inhabitants were placed there in the mid-1400s.

I took a day trip to Kutna Hora where the Sedlec Ossuary contains the bones from 40,000 black death victims. A one-armed monk was charged with stacking the bones when they ran out of space. In the late 1800s a woodcarver was put in charge of "ordering" the bones. He decided to make a bunch of creepy sculptures that are hard to acurately depict on film.

As you enter the walls have decorations (art?) made from bones.

The creepy chandelier is impressive.

This is a coat of arms.

A closeup shows the raven poking the eyes out of a skull.

These are skulls of people killed by blunt force trauma.

Saint Barbara's Church.

A bar/pub/lunch stop.

Typical pub fare in many languages.

Milunić and Gehry's "Dancing House" supposedly inspired by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Really cool.

A serious Prague dinner.

I took a day trip to Karlstejn Castle which is quite impressive.

Should have bought this shirt for a large number of friends that appreciate gag gifts and ridiculous shirts.

Jubilee Synagogue in Prague.

The countryside from he train to Munich.

Within minutes of arriving in Munich I am accosted by these sassy lederhosed lasses.

New Town Hall (late 1800s) in Marienplatz. The Rathaus-Glockenspeil is comprised of the green framed people on the upper part of the tower. It comes to life three times a day.

Rathaus-Glockenspeil closeup.

A closeup of the Mariensaule, built in 1638 to celebrate the Swedish army and the plague sparing the city.

German togs for sale.

The most famous bar in the world (according to them).

Drunk locals partying and dancing. The place goes through some hungreds of gallons of beer a day.

Some sort of anti-meat "art" on display in the Marienplatz. These women showed up, stripped down, got ketchup dumped on themw and junped into these meat package looking things.

A view of Munich from the top of St. Peter's Church.

The insanely baroque/rococo interior of Asamkirche.

The gold work is amazingly ornate.

There is a small river/creek flowing through town and an armyof people line up to surf the waves formed when the creek pinches below this bridge. A giant crowd gathers to watch.

Mostly inebriated people floating in th current downstream.

The source of the inebriation- beer hall.

Back to Old Town Square ion Prague. A nice local meal and fine local brew.

Marionettes are on display at quite a few shops.

Not sure why anyone would commemorate this terrible late 70s TV show but here you go.