Week in Serpentine, part 2

Wednesday was by far our worst day, in terms of weather. We all awoke in the morning to wind rattling the entire building and rain pounding at the poorly insulated windows. When I decided to brave a trip up the hill to the outhouse, it felt like being on a boat in a small storm, the whole structure rocking back and forth and a cold draft coming up through the hole, bringing with it all the wonderful aromas an outhouse has to offer. Lovely experience.

Week at Serpentine, part 1

Monday morning I found myself once again traveling the long, dusty dirt road to Quartz Creek, the airstrip where we were to meet our bush plane to be dropped off at Serpentine Hot Springs in Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. Also known as Iyat in Inupiaq (meaning "cooking pot"), Serpentine is one of the most visited areas of the preserve, as it has an old bunkhouse and bathhouse pumped in with water from the hot spring, and has for centuries been known as a place of healing and spiritual energy. 

First night in the backcountry

Made it back from my first two-day-one-night stay in the backcountry. Headed out again tomorrow morning so I will attempt to be brief with the highlights from my 530 photos I took. 

Travel limbo

Today has been both exhausting and disappointing. And it's only 3 o'clock.

Obviously, since I'm writing this, I'm not out in the field like I was supposed to be. Everything started out as planned this morning -- we were out of the bunkhouse by 6am, on the road, and heading 80 miles into the fog to a landing strip about 30 miles from the preserve.

Into the Unknown

Super stylish flight suit

I don't even know where to start! Tomorrow at an ungodly hour of the morning, I'm taking my first trip into the Alaskan backcountry for the work assignment I've mentioned before to the village of Wales and Ikpek Lagoon.

Preparations swung into full gear today when our NPS media specialists arrived from Utah. We had a long meeting to go over flight procedures, gear allocation, filming and photography shoots in the village, and pretty much every logistical detail you can imagine.

Overflight trip

Yesterday was our long-awaited overflight tour of Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, and this time it went off without a hitch. 

Our ride was a Cessna 208 Caravan, which just fit out 8 staff members, plus the pilot and copilot. I was seated in the front left, directly behind the pilot. 

Our excited crew

Take off was smooth and the ascent to our 500 ft altitude was thrilling. With a huge window all to myself, I felt like I was just hanging in the air, bobbing over bumps in the air turbulence and leaning into the tight banking maneuvers around mountains and hills.

Banking out towards Salmon Lake

The mountains

Grizzly bears

Our first exciting find was a pair of grizzly bears -- the first bears I've ever seen! -- galomping across the tundra. The pilot did three tight turns over them so we could get photos, but unfortunately mine didn't come out well, as I was battling the churning of my stomach and the shakiness of the plane.

After that, my stomach turned for the worse and after the flight I found out that pretty much did everyone else in as well. At the time though, I assumed I was the only one feeling sick, so I toughed it out in silence. Fortunately, the scenery was spectacular enough to keep me distracted.

Kuzitrin River

 The Kuzitrin River was fascinating -- strange curves and oxbows formed serpentine patterns through the tundra, some parts of the river not even connected. Amazing geology and hydrology going on there.

Kuzitrin River bend

Lava fields

Our next landmark was the Imuruk lava fields. The black once-molten rock stretched for miles, as far as the eye could see.

Our wing, perpendicular to the ground

 Above is the main lava dome, from where most of the lava in the field came out.

Serpentine Bunkhouse 

 This is where I'll be staying starting on Monday. It has its own landing strip, and a bathhouse where the hot water from the spring is pumped. I'll be helping with maintenance and hiking to get photos of the preserve.

 The rock formations around Serpentine are called "tors" and are made from volcanic activity underground. It somehow pushes up the rocks in this area.

Plane wreck on a hillside

BELA is also known for its maar lakes. We have the largest maars in the world, which are formed from lava  underground coming in contact with the permafrost layer and creating a violent explosion.

A moose

Along the bank of one of the lakes was a moose! Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of this guy either, but it was cool to see.

Research camp on Devil Mountain Lakes

Devil Mountain Lakes, THE largest maars in the world

 From the maar lakes, we headed to the coast of the Chuckchi Sea. This was a long stretch of very interesting wetland formations, small native villages, and we even got to see the Russian island of Big Diomede through the incoming fog.

Unfortunately we were running behind schedule so we had to cut out our last flyover and head back to Nome through the mountains.

Heading into the mountains

More mountains

Glacial valley

By the time we landed, everyone was quite queasy, but I think we all enjoyed the trip immensely -- I know I certainly did! I feel like I understand the preserve a lot better now, and can't wait to explore it more in-depth this summer.

Fortunately, I will starting this week so I'll be totally out of touch after tomorrow for about a week and a half.  I'll try to post at least one more update before I leave, and then lots more when I get back.

Weekend explorations

This weekend we were fortunate enough to have the use of a car, so 4 other women and I (3 coworkers and 1 of their friends) planned on camping out at Salmon Lake, a local campground about 40 miles north of Nome. 

Unfortunately, the weather deteriorated quickly by the time we left, and when we arrived at Salmon Lake, it was pouring rain and the air was thick with helicopter-sized mosquitoes. Nonetheless, we walked around a bit, threw a fishing line in, and explored for a while to see if the weather would turn.

We hoped to camp in the grassy field next to this old abandoned cabin. It was creepy enough for any horror movie, but not too creepy for me to climb inside and check it out.

The inside was quite dilapidated and pretty much as sketchy as you can get. Broken glass, strange odors, rusted cans, and insulation littered the floor, walls and ceiling.

 The second floor was even worse, so I didn't spend much time up there for fear of the floor falling out.

Bird nest on top floor window

Well, long story short, we decided to cut our losses and enjoy a leisurely road trip back to Nome, to sleep in our warm, dry, mosquitoless beds. Even though I wouldn't have minded camping, I was happy with the decision. 

Part of the large herd

So the next we slept in, had a big pancake breakfast, and then headed out on the Teller Highway, the third of Nome's 3 roads out of town (all of which inevitably dead-end in a town or randomly in the tundra). Our first stop was to see a huge herd of muskox at the edge of town.

Along our way, we stopped at a few places that looked interesting, first a nice slope tundra where the clouds were finally breaking.

Possible wolf scat

Interesting tundra ground

Flock of redpolls (?)

We drove further, stopping at a few rivers to throw a line in. Saw lots of salmon (both pinks and reds), but none were biting, so we eventually headed back.

Our last stop before returning to the bunkhouse was a massive abandoned dredge on the edge of town by the mining area at West Beach. One of the women I was with had been inside of it before and wanted to show us.

I think these are sluice boxes

It brought back memories of exploring old mine shafts in South Dakota a few years ago, only this was much more brightly lit and obviously a well-used hangout for various folks. We found no one inside though, and had the whole vessel to ourselves to explore the depths of the strange chambers and rickety catwalks.

Inside the top level

Flash photo down a pitch-black hatch

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, although I don't have time right now to describe it all in depth. If you want to know more, just ask, but otherwise, enjoy the pics.

Aviation training

Over the last two days at work I feel like I've significantly increased in my preparedness for life in the Alaskan wild -- although I am still undoubtedly oblivious to the many things that can and will go wrong. Nonetheless, B3 Aviation was probably one of the most interesting courses I have ever taken.

Salmon catch!

This is both the best and worst sequence of pictures I have ever seen, but hopefully you'll get as good a laugh out of it as I did. In fact, it represents a very proud (though not solemn!) moment in my life:

My first salmon catch!

The epic bike ride

The weather has finally warmed up! With a high of 70 today, two of my coworkers and I decided to go for an afternoon bike ride around the area. One of them had already planned it out -- I wasn't expecting anything more than a couple hours along one of the roads before heading back to the bunkhouse. Little did I know, I was in for one of the most epic biking trips of my life so far.

our local muskox herd

The first part was actually one of the hardest for me; even though I've been staying active, I'm still not exactly fit for the long inclining hills that require you to drop into low gear just to make it to the top. By the time we got to our first intersection about a mile and a half out of town, I was almost ready to head back! Still thinking we only had a few miles to go though, I stuck with it. Besides, it was too perfect of a day to spend cooped up inside.

The Nome-Teller Highway

We took the Nome-Teller Highway -- one of our 3 main road systems -- out of town and up towards the mountains, before turning onto Kougarok Road, a semi-improved dirt road that runs east-west beyond our closest mountains (in the photo above).

Cotton grass field

Before getting too far though, we stopped to frolic in a dense cotton grass field on the side of the road. That stuff is pretty magical.

SO FLUFFY

Unfortunately I didn't take any other pictures along our trip, which I am now regretting, so hopefully I can paint a vivid enough picture with words from here on. We eventually turned right onto Dexter Bypass, the road that leads up through the mountains to the Kougarok Hwy.

Up and up we went, past the outlying homes and gold mines in the foothills, towards the big grassy ridges with just a little bit of snow left melting at their peaks. By now it felt sweltering hot, but fortunately it was also super dry and the icy wind off the tundra made the heat surprisingly bearable.

Eventually we made it to an ascent that was just too steep to bike, and so we walked (and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked) as the occasional car roared by, kicking dust in our faces. It was great fun, nonetheless, as we sometimes chatted, sometimes trudged on silently admiring the grand views of the mountain range before us.

At the top of the hill, it became clear that the trek up was more than worth it. For the next 2-3 miles, it was literally all downhill along a steep, winding dirt road that made hairpin turns around the mountainside.

The ride down was a pure adrenaline rush. I have never ridden so fast in my life! White-knuckled and grinning, I just held on and couldn't stop laughing the entire way, as terrifying as it was. I was quite disappointed when we reached the stop sign at the town of Dexter where the road evened out, and I saw that the Kougarok was all uphill again to our right.

Nonetheless, we continued on, taking our time as the sun beat down upon us and the wind was suppressed by the mountains around us. Past little farmhouses, gold mines, fishing camps, and abandoned buildings we pedaled on. I fell into the comfortable rhythm of changing gears up and down the hills, feeling the grit of dust in my teeth, and pedaling steadilty.

We continued 8 miles along this road until we came out of the mountains again and the freezing wind picked up again on the tundra. By now we could see the Bering Sea on the horizon, just beyond one more monstrous hill. This last stretch pretty excruciating, as we were pedaling uphill against the wind. At least I had gotten used to it now, and managed to pedal all the way up without walking.

At last we made it to the sea. We chained our bikes to a sign, scrambled down over the rocks, and collapsed exhausted in the warm sand. By now the air was at least 10 degrees colder with the relentless sea breeze, but it felt good after all our exertion under the hot sun.

We took a break on the beach for a while until we got cold, and then pushed through the final stretch -- once again uphill and into the wind, 2 more miles back into town.

By the time we got back, my legs were throbbing with soreness. And no wonder -- it took 5 hours (including breaks) and we figured out we rode a total of 20 miles, through mountains, hills, and tundra, almost all on dirt and gravel. I gotta say, I am quite proud of myself for staying with it even though I'll be sore now for days! It was totally one of the best days yet.

Independence Day in Alaska

Fourth of July is a big day in Nome. As a federal holiday, our office was closed so we all got the day off and spent it enjoying the town festivities. Just like the Midnight Sun Festival a few weeks ago, yesterday featured a parade downtown -- only this one was quite a bit longer and even more patriotic, and the whole town gathered afterwards for street games. 

'Merica all the way

"Staying Afloat" float

I don't know what this is.

A convoy of practically every four-wheeler in town

I don't know what this is either, but I want it. 

One of the most interesting things to me was seeing the Discovery Channel there, filming Bering Sea Gold! The guy in the picture above is one of the gold miners featured on the show, and during the Nome 4th of July program he got up and donated $20,000 from Discovery Channel to a town project. Huge media stunt, but I guess it was good in that it's doing a little something to benefit the town.

The film crew was everywhere

So I guess in a few months when the next season airs, look for me in the background in the 4th of July episode! I'll probably be in there looking cold and ridiculous somewhere. :)

The iconic Iditarod sign

Bicycle race

After the parade and the short program with presentations by local scouting groups, the National and Alaskan anthems, and the Discovery donation, the street games kicked off with bicycle races for all ages, followed by foot races, 3-legged races, and the other classic small-town festivities.

I didn't stay for all of it, but instead joined my housemates and a couple of our acquaintances from town to go salmon fishing at the mouth of the Nome River. Since I still don't have a fishing license, I just watched, and walked the beach, enjoying the afternoon sun that had finally burned off the lingering cloud cover. It was the warmest it's been since I've been here, but unfortunately the temps dropped back down again today with a dark drizzly sky. Our group caught 3 pink salmon total, and brought them back to eat later.

Overall it was a great day, and a fun mid-week break -- and probably one of the most interesting Independence Days I'll ever have!