I Heart Sharatin

Yesterday I did a quick climb up Sharatin and got in a long spectacular ski.  I am off on a remote survey next week and have lots of things to do before I leave.  But it was sunny, supposed to get stormy, and the mountain called.  My garden will just have to wait a little later to get planted this year.  And perhaps the dandelions will get more of a reprieve than I usually give them.  Oh well.  The ski was definitely worth it!

I was surprised at much more snow we have on the mountain since I last went up there with Nora a couple of weeks ago (click here for post).  Two weeks ago things were looking pretty dismal for late spring skiing, but since then we have gotten a lot of new snow on high.  On Sharatin I put my skis on 600 feet in elevation lower down the mountain - and there was 3 feet of new snow where before there had been none!

I climbed to the top and even found powder on the shaded, north facing slopes leading into the big bowl.  Excellent skiing! I skied for over 2 miles on snow for my run out.

Today it is stormy and raining.  Time to do chores and pack for my trip.  Patrick

Small bear tracks. This little guy made a beeline right over the mountain - no deviations from a straight line

More Snow and Sun

Lately we have been in a good weather pattern.  It has snowed quite a bit and the cold storms have been interspersed with sunny days.  Freezing nights and sunny warm days - perfect!  I think they call this 'maple sugar' weather in New England because it get the sap running in the maple trees.

Because of the little snow squalls every time I have gone skiing this week my tracks from the day before were mostly covered up with the new snow.  Mother Nature's Zamboni - like the big hot mop that fixes the ice at ice rinks.  Patrick

Pussy Willows

While on survey earlier this week Molly and I came upon a stand of blooming pussy willows.  None of the other willows were blooming quite like these ones were.  I realized that there is a HUGE variety of willow species on Kodiak.  Most of them do not even have the fuzzy little flower.  They all look very different from each other.  And yet I call them all willows.

Later we got back from the survey, and I took Nora to St Mary's for the public speaking contest held jointly with the Kodiak Christian School.  The best speakers from each school did their rehearsed speech.  Nora got third place for the 6-8th grade speakers.  So proud!
Patrick

Nora shows off her 3rd place award from the public speaking contest

Windshield Survey

Earlier this week Molly and I did an archaeological survey of Kalsin Bay.  We did the survey from my car - or as Molly called it, 'a windshield survey'.  We drove from place to place and then got out and walked around various areas using the probe to look for buried archaeological deposits.  Since there is currently a pond at the head of this bay I was hopeful the valley would be more like Salonie rather than Middle Bay -  Full of ancient sites.  But no it ended up more like Middle Bay - we did not find any sites older than 2000 years.  Perhaps there was no lake in the past?

I also realized that the seal hunting sites at the head of Womens Bay are late summer sites.  Alutiiq hunters were after the seals chasing the fish into the lake.  The ancient settlements up at the shallow tributaries and lake outlets where we have found battered bayonets used to spear fish are late fall sites.  Alutiiq hunters used their brand new spears to hunt seals and then later in the fall went up river and used the same spears as impromptu gaffs to spear spawning fish.  Patrick

Molly on a terrace that once overlooked the sea - perfect place for a site - only no site there

Another perfect terrace with no site on top

Lion's got claws

Yesterday we woke up to snow flurries and a 'possibly up to 1/2 an inch of snow' forecast.  I just assumed it would be one of those days where it flurried off and on with the snow melting pretty much immediately on contact with the ground.  Then it started to snow REALLY hard.  By the time I drove to work the roads were getting covered with snow.  At work I looked out the lab door window on occasion, and it just continued to snow and snow!

When I quit work it was still snowing and as I drove out the road It got snowier and snowier.  A snowplow went by going the other way and sprayed my car with snow.  Through the windshield it looked like full on winter.  A winter wonderland with all the spruce trees bowed down with snow.  I could not believe it!

As I approached the pass it was practically a whiteout and there was a foot of dry powder on the road.  The top of the snow was scraping the car's under carriage.  I started skiing up the mountain, and suddenly it started clearing off.  I thought could it actually get sunny?  And it did!  Of course I had forgotten my sunglasses, and so by the time I got near the top I was skinning with my eyes closed.

Fantastic skiing and I skiied all the way to the car which I have not been able to do for over a month.  By the time I got back to town all the snow at sea level was gone and the roads black and dry.  Wow!  Patrick

Blowing Snow

For the last week or so the lion of winter has made a slight comeback.  We have had overnight temperatures in the low 20s and I have even put cloth game bags over the garlic shoots to protect them from freezing.  Garden planting plans have been put on hold, and this past weekend it even snowed in town.  On high there was even powder in places and it was such a 'cold storm' that most of the snow blew away.  Yesterday the mountain tops were hazy with blowing snow.

Still the lion's coat is a little ratty and he is missing most of his claws.  It's cold over night but by midday all the south facing slopes are baking in the sun.  The snow in town did not stand a chance and was mostly gone by evening.  Still the lion holds sway in the shaded woods, north facing slopes, and, of course, on high.  Spring has been delayed.  My lawn is green but not getting green quite so quickly anymore.  Patrick

Early April

Already eating last year's kale

A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks - spring sprung but then in the last week winter has made a half hearted comeback.  We have had actual hard frosts and it even snowed for a bit at the house.  One night it frosted so hard that I even covered the garlic with cotton game bags to protect them  from the cold.  But in general spring is still most definitely coming out on top.  My lawn is already bright green and I fear that in the next week I will have to mow it for the first time.  This will be the earliest lawn mow ever.

On Pyramid in a normal year the snow pack is at its deepest sometime in late April.  But this year we hit the peak around mid march and it has been in retreat ever since.  Still the snow pack is not as bad as it has been in other years.  We still do have some pretty good skiing.  I'm still cheering for winter!
Patrick

Pyramid in a whiteout wearing 'real' ranger

Helicopter survey scenic

Pyramid does not have as much snow as usual for this time of year

Tale of Two Bays

Probing for buried archaeological deposits on old beach ridges

Yesterday Molly and I surveyed Middle Bay for the landowner, Leisnoi Inc, and found very few archaeological sites.  But this in and of itself is a very interesting discovery.  In archaeology sometimes not finding something creates more of an interesting pattern than finding lots and lots of stuff (click here for another example).  Figuring out why you found nothing is where it gets interesting.

Over the past 15 years we have done a lot of archaeology in neighboring Womens Bay and there are archaeological sites everywhere.  In particular there are a great many sites older than 4000 years (10 of them by my count) and most of these are on old terraces at the very head of the bay.  Womens Bay and Middle Bay look pretty similar so you would think they would have similar archaeological resources.  But not so - yesterday we surveyed hard and only found one prehistoric site, and there are no known sites in the bay older than 4000 years.  

We looked very hard too, and in all the same sorts of places as where we found sites in Womens Bay.  We walked old shorelines and used the soil probe to look for buried archaeological deposits.  We probed the tops of flat terraces over looking the bay and river.  Nothing.  In Womens Bay you can't throw a shovel without having it bury itself into a 4000 year old site, but not so in Middle Bay.  Why?

Perhaps there is a geologic reason.  Maybe all the older sites have eroded away.  But no - it seems to have a very similar geologic history to Womens Bay.  We could see all the same analogous paleo shorelines and terraces.  Both bays have remarkably intact archaeological records with shorelines that have prograded out away from shore rather than eroded with time.  So if these sites ever were there in Middle Bay they should still be there.

I suspect that there is a biological difference between the 2 bays.  I think there was something in Womens Bay that was lacking in Middle Bay.  My theory is that until about 4000 years ago there was a large lake in the Salonie Creek valley, and that it probably had a productive red salmon run much like Rosetead Lake out at Pasagshak does today.  Seals chased the salmon into the lake and both species attracted hungry Alutiiq hunters.  

4000 years ago there was a large volcanic eruption and Kodiak was covered with ash (much like the 1912 Katmai eruption).  I think the ash filled the shallow lake and that was that - no more lake.  Of course this is just a theory.  Now to test it we have to go examine the Salonie Creek valley for evidence of a lake.  Patrick

Traipsing through a cottonwood grove while checking on likely places for really old archaeological sites

We got one! A prehistoric housepit - it probed positive for charcoal

Molly documenting erosion at an archaeological site

Alas no sites in view - but also quarried for gravel back in the day

Pretty cottonwood tree bark

Beautiful day for a survey