from the beach to the snow

In February, I embarked on a longitudinal study of the west coast of North America. Results? California is warmer than Alaska. 

The annual Dal Ferro gathering at the beach is always a lovely way to spend the weekend. The beach seems to get smaller every year, but what is still there is great for exploring. And who can argue to lots of foam and sandpipers galore?

sandpipers feeding at the wave line

zillions of gulls

tiny sand pyramids shaped by the wind

My next stop was Port Angeles, Washington, for my last bit of field work on the Elwha River. My job with the USGS ended in March thanks to the Trump administration, so I had to pull all of my instruments and things out of the ocean and estuary. We had pretty spectacular diving conditions, which is not always the case on the Elwha. I saw my first pteropod (snails that fly around the ocean) and some really neat salps (free-swimming tunicates). We recovered all my instruments AND they all collected data. If that isn't a good way to walk away from a project, I'm not sure what is. I will miss the Elwha and the great people I've had the pleasure to work with over the last four years. It is a special place and hopefully I will get to visit again in the future. 

bye, bye Elwha beach!

The last stop on my west coast tour was Anchorage, Alaska, to see a good friend. My visit coincided with the Anchorage Fur Rondy (hip way of saying rendezvous) so there were all sorts of interesting things to see and do. First up were the sled dog races through the middle of town. Sled dogs are serious about their jobs...they have to use a snowmobile to keep the dogs from running off before the race starts!

harnessing the pooches 

a string of VERY vocal dogs ready to run!

and they're off!

if you've ever wondered how you would transport
twenty sled dogs, wonder no more...

While the dogs were off running the 25 mile course, there were plenty of other things to keep us entertained. The snow sculptures were amazing! Many of them were still in progress when we walked through, so we got to see the different tools and techniques people use to make the sculptures, which was fascinating. We couldn't quite figure out if the tools were made for sculpting snow or if they were borrowed from other trades. One sculptor was using a very large, beautiful ice saw from the late 1800s/early 1900s to saw big chunks out of his pile of snow.  

a very recognizable hair style (Einstein)

giant Yoda

raven and man

The weirdest part of the Rondy? Outhouse races, hands down. The race started with a parade of all the outhouses followed by a round-robin tournament of outhouse racers in three different categories. The course was short, but the turnaround was often the scene of crashes and dashed dreams of outhouse championship.

outhouse racers

After all the excitement of the Rondy, we opted for some quieter activities the next day at Hatcher Pass. We snowshoed for most of the day in two locations. Our first hike was around an old gold mining settlement. It was fun to see various pieces of the old operation peaking out from under the snow. Our second hike led us far away from civilization. The quiet and peacefulness was divine. 

old mining operation

We got back to Anchorage and were welcomed by this in the backyard...

I know the urban moose is not an uncommon sighting in Anchorage, but it was a bit startling for me to see one laying at the foot of the neighbor's steps, fifty feet from my window. 

While I enjoyed by brief time in the snow, I was quite happy to come back to central California where we use plows to move mud instead of snow.