July

This summer has been different from any others I've had! It finally feels like summer in Fairbanks...this weekend it was in the 80's with sunny skies and it felt great! Justin and I went down to camp in Denali NP and took the bus into the park. We weren't able to see Mt. McKinley but we still had a great time! As always I went overboard taking pictures, but I have attached a few. We met up with my friend Leah and her friend Courtney who are both working in the park this summer. They are both coming up to Fairbanks this weekend for the Tanana Valley Fair which should be fun! I haven't been to a fair in a long time!

One of the two caribou we found walking along the road

The second caribou we saw tried to charge the bus!

Courtney, Leah and I on Mt. Healy in Denali NP

Denali Village down below our hike

Justin and I 66 miles into the park

There was a rubber ducky race down the Chena River through downtown Fairbanks. Justin and I both entered but neither of us won :( Quite a sight to see though!

In early July I took a soils field course up the Dalton Highway. This is the highway the Ice Road Truckers go up to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay. It was a very cool trip! Every day we looked at 3-4 soil pits. Since there is continuous permafrost north of Fairbanks, for most pits we had to use the jackhammer. We camped everynight except for the last two nights where we were able to stay at Toolik Research Station just north of the Brooks mountain range. All I have to say is that Alaska is BIG! It took us 9 hours to drive from Toolik Lake back down to Fairbanks and Deadhorse is another 3 or so hours north of Toolik Lake...and Fairbanks is only the middle of the state! It was a really cool trip and I learned a lot about Alaska soils!

Soil profile dug down to the permafrost before the jackhammer.

The mosquitoes were AWFUL!! I snuck this of someone's back....but we all had this many on us! Thank goodness for bug nets!

Me at Atigun Pass for all you Ice Road Tucker watchers!

At the Arctic Circle! Every night we camped we were above the arctic circle!

Me giving the jackhammer a try! It might look like I know what I'm doing but I couldn't control that thing for the life of me!

Me at the Deadhorse general store! I made it!!

Unfortunatley BP has the Arctic Ocean blocked off around that area so we weren't able to get that far. I guess it was about 8 miles away. It was so foggy and flat though there was no hope of seeing it from where we were.

For the rest of the summer I will just be working on my research. Justin is headed up the Dalton for the next few weeks so I will have some extra time to make more bags! I made another one which I will post pictures of at some point, but I made it for my friend Andy at home and she doesn't want to see it before she gets it! In 15 days I will be back in Maine for just over a week and I am SOOO excited!! I have a lot planned and I can't wait to see everyone!!! :)