Agashashok River, Noatak National Preserve (7/7 to 7/12)

After 4th of July in Selawik, took a few days in Kotzebue to catch up on sample processing, data entry, and prepare for the next trip out to the Asik Watershed on Agashashok River.  I'm starting to get used to the constant flip flop of locations, packing of bags, and tracking down of gear.

After landing in Kotzebue from Selawik, Gwen and I noticed that our flow meter was nowhere to be found.  Not familiar with flow meters?  I'll explain.  An adjustable pole has a small impeller on the end, which when pointed upstream is spun by the moving current.  As the impeller spins, each spin iscounted and displayed on a screens, allowing flow in a given river to be measured.  

So, back to where it actually went.  In Selawik, the meter was packed into the airplane's rearback compartment along with the tail prop.  Freight isn't typically placed there which resulted in the meter remaining on the plane as it traversed all over Alaska.  The meter was in Anchorage when finally it got tracked down and was sent back to Kotzebue.  Upon reaching Kotzebue, the meter was sent to every office except Fish and Wildlife.  Many calls and an interesting email chain later, the meter was back in our hands.  What a mess.

With the flow meter on it's own adventurer, Gwen and I boarded a bush plane and trekked out to our study site, arriving later in the evening.  After setting up camp, we took a hike up to a tundra ridge, and then followed the ridge line up to a small peak.

Bears are always on the mind when hiking but admittedly, my vigilance has wained a little.  That changed on this hike.  I was ahead of Gwen,  about to crest a tundra ridge when I noticed a bear running for the woods about 400 ft away.  As soon as it hit the tree line, it turned, sat, and sniffed the air to see who was coming.  I stopped in my tracks, said, "Hey Bear!" calmly a few times before Gwen got to where I was.  Gwen noticed another, much darker Grizzly to the right tucked further back into the trees.  We watched the bears. The bears watched us.  A curiosity standoff.  Gwen and I slowly backed away to give the bears space and continued to talk loudly but calmly.  The bears seemed to be waving to us as we backed off, standing up on their haunches and gently pawing at the air.  After a minute or two, they nonchalantly sauntered deep into the trees. 

Following our bear hike, had a warm dinner and hit it early.  Most of our time this trip would be dedicated to taking tree cores, reestablishing study plots, and taking tree measurements.  In theory, these tasks are simple and shouldn't take much time.

Reestablishing plots involves; 1) finding the tree with a location tag called the reference tree, 2) surveying the area around the plot to determine if any old stakes can be located, and 3) measuring a 20 m by 20 m square around the reference tree.  If all the trees were clearly marked, thick vegetation wasn't present, and triangulating produced perfect squares everytime, this task would have taken a few hours.  But, a whole day later, only three plots got completed.  With nerves more than a little fried, Gwen and I were frustrated and spent.  A perfect time for a side trip hike that turned into a 2 hour diversion.  Each time a crest was reached, it was, "Well, it looks to be only a few more minutes to the next one.  Want to see what's over it?"  This philosophy brought us to a weather station I'm sure people have forgotten about and a great view of the Agashashok River.  Plus, tensions are eased by a steep hike and beautiful views.  

The final full work day in the Noatak was dedicated to collecting water samples, taking tree cores, and tree diameter measurements on as many plots as possible.  Around lunch, things began to get dark and a storm began rolling through.

Thunder bellowed but lightning never followed.  The view from the ridge down into the valley was spectacular.  A drastic change from the blue sky view of only a day ago.  Good weather luck ran out and we paid for it.  Rain came down lightly at first and then picked up to a steady and hard rain.  Not a downpour, but still got soaked to the bone.  Did not have a dry spot on my body.  After the rain had subsided, any mosquitoes in hiding came out and were just brutal.  Pigpen from Charlie Brown, his dust cloud that encircles his every movement, that was Gwen and I but with mosquitoes.  That really put me over the edge.  The first time I can say I have been miserable on this trip.  Everything soaking, wet feet being torn up from hiking, mosquitoes so thick their hum is deafening, just too much.  I got back to camp, went right to my tent, removed all my clothes and just brooded under the covers until I was warm again.  An Oreo instant cake mix helped ease my pain too.  

From this point on in the trip, weather never got any better.  From the rain storm, the Aggy river had come up so much that the inflatable raft had to be blown up to reach sites on the opposite bank.  Probably a 2 to 3 foot rise in under 12 hours.  On my way back over to check the weather station, I did see a rainbow low on the tree line but still visible.

Rain broke enough to pack up camp, but our pick up arrived late and the rain came back through.  We hurried to cover things with tarps and as the rain began to fall, I hurriedly set my tent up to give us some shelter.  There we waited until Jared (Bearing Air) pilot was able to swoop down and pluck us out.  Never have I been happier for a warm shower and big stack of pancakes.  Yep, hot coffee and pancakes for dinner.  

  

Selawik (6/20 to 7/5)

Airplanes and boats have replaced the car and bike as my main form of transportation to work.  Following a "few days off" in Kotzebue, filled mostly with work and quick spurts of seeing new friends, I returned to Selawik.  Sonny met Gwen and I with the boat after helping shuffle gear from the plane to the small storage area.  Mosquitoes hit hard and I unfortunately forgot my head net in my backpack.  So thick that even breathing in, the mosquitoes would swarm your nose and mouth.  Protein for the day.  As soon as work at each station was finished, Sonny would get a smile and gun the boat to loose the mosquitoes.  Fortunately, a wind came up for the quick walk to the tundra pond and the mosquitoes died down enough for concentration to be actually directed at work and not keeping the bugs out of my eyes, nose, and mouth.  Never.  Forgetting.  The.  Head.  Net.  Again.  

Walking to the tundra pond, Eriophorum or cotton grass as Sonny calls it, dotted the landscape with little puffs of white.  Sandhill cranes also made an appearances on the tundra too.  More and more wildlife is coming out.

After sampling the three lower stations, Sonny dropped Gwen and I back off in Selawik to eat a quick lunch and gather the rest of the gear together for the trip upriver.  During the two hour trip to the cabin up Selawik River, I sit in the back with Sonny. Every dozen minutes or so he points, shouts something that is only partially audible over the boat motor din, and gives frantic hand gestures followed by a smile to convey some local knowledge, who has caught what where, or some hunting experience he has had.  I've begun to develop the skill of deciphering the concoction of communication with the bonus of the auditory guided tour keeping the ride interesting.   Most of the time though, I have to ask him what he pointed out when the boat runs out of gas.  Below is a typical fish camp.  We pass numerous of these, most of them having fish hanging out to dry.  The main catch is Sheefish, which I hear are very tasty.  

No fuel gauge on the skiff, you kind of just sputter to a halt, look around wildly to see what happened, and then realize that your fuel is gone.  Not very exact.  Sonny has also been pointing landmarks out to me and interesting navigational tidbits.  For example, at one point in the river, we boat about 20 minutes following the mature river path only to end up about 100 or so feet north of where we were twenty minutes before.  Think of bunny ears when you tie your shoes and that is the shape of the river.  

Reaching the cabin, the tundra is starting to bloom and is greening up nicely.  The lagoon's water level is also down about a foot and now getting off the boat doesn't involve sinking to your ankles in water at the dock.  Mosquitoes are denser than ever here though and running gear up from the boat is a gauntlet.  They just wait for you and swarm in the willow tunnel engulfing the elevated dock.  

At the cabin, a natural rhythm develops and after a day, everything goes like clockwork.  Sleep, eat, work, and then repeat for about four pretty solid days.  One day involved travel to the upper river sampling station.  On this trip, Sonny taught me how to drive the boat.  It's pretty straight forward.  Key start, forward and reverse lever, and a twist handle throttle.  It's sensitive when you first start moving and puts your wrist at an awkward angle so my first acceleration attempt was less than smooth.  Once the boat gets going, you adjust the motor and turning becomes a breeze.  However, after about an hour or so of throttle and turning, the arm gets a little tired.  

After upriver sampling, Sonny guided us along a back way to the cabin that follows a back channel of the river, narrowing ever tighter before opening to flat open floodplain areas with abundant bird life.  Saw lots of owls, little goslings, and other creatures diving as the boat sped past.  The goslings were still very awkward in their movements and the older ones would dive for protection, popping up in random places calling frantically to find the others.  Or, if they were younger, the would swim as fast a possible away.  The best way I can describe their movement is to picture an Olympic speed walker (their hip movements will blow your mind), but put that action on a three hundred pound man in an inner tube  Not graceful by any stretch.  Now picture repeated groups of this.  Hilarious.  Unfortunately, didn't bring the camera with me.  Mistake two of the trip. 

Gwen and I returned to Selawik after a few more days in Kotzebue to restock food, send out samples for analysis, and tie up a few loose gear ends.  A communication mix up kept us in Selawik for an extra day, which was nice as I was able to catch up on reading, napping, and stretch my legs around Selawik a little more. 

More wildlife began to emerge on the next trip up Selawik River.  Lots of Moose, mostly females but a few young bulls were nibbling on the banks of the river.  Even caught one swimming across and racing up the bank to avoid the boat.  

After sampling the Upper Selawik, Sonny brought out a fishing rod and Gwen and I took a few casts out into the Tag River.  We didn't catch anything, but did get a few nibbles.  Would have liked to catch a Sheefish.  No worries, doing catch and release.

I know what you're thinking.  Waders IN the boat!?! What an idiot!  I have a reason.  The upper station's water level drops so drastically that someone always has to climb out of the boat, move the monitoring station, and then pound it back into the much.  Don't like wearing regular shoes for that task.  

Following fishing, Sonny guided the way along the back route again, and this time I had my camera and caught a few decent shots of owls along the way.   Hard to take photos from a moving boat.  On some sections, it is so shallow along the back route that Sonny has to gun it so the boat can skim across the water.

Another highlight of the trip was that I tried Caribou meat.  Shot by Sonny himself, he had a big pot of it cooking and gave Gwen and I each a piece..  First meat in over 8 years but figured you couldn't get more natural than subsistence caught, tundra reared, wild Caribou. 

Gwen and I made it back down river in time to enjoy Fourth of July celebrations in Selawik.  Since the community is so small,  the airport is shut down so everyone can gather on the gravel strip and participate in races, contests, and just mill around.  Both Gwen and I competed in foot races.  Gwen finished second in her age group while I finished dead last.  At least my form looked good.

When the villagers found out Gwen and I were game for the contests, I somehow got signed up for the Iron Man.  A quick swim across the channel, followed by running back across the bridge and part of the runway, finished with a biking section.  I looked pretty ridiculous.  I had no other clothing so swam in my work pants and boots.  One lady wanted me to swim in my boxers but I was afraid my white legs would blind Eveline if I did.  

You can see me with the tiny, child sized life jacket at the back of the pack.  The start was a quick sprint to the river.  I made up a lot of ground on the short swim as it seemed no one in the village was a good swimmer.  About half the field dropped out during the swim.  I thin managed to make it to my bike in sight of the front runners but, the biking leg didn't go so hot.

My problems could have been due to the fact that my bike was borrowed from an 8 year old.  Makes biking little tricky, but managed to finish in 5th and even held off one other biker.  Once i crossed the finish line, Peyton, the 8 year old whose bike I borrowed, promptly asked where his money was for loaning me the bike.  Not negotiated beforehand I might add.  He drove a hard barging and I told him I would have a dollar waiting for him next time I was in town.  Hustled by an 8 year old.