A touch of Fall color

 

Highbush cranberry

The last few days on  dog walks I noticed a touch of Fall color under the trees in Abercrombie. Usually the last place for fall color is under the trees.  But I noticed that in addition to red berries the high bush cranberry leaves were already red.  And some nearby salmonberry leaves had turned orange too.  These were the only salmonberry leaves I've seen anywhere that have turned and I wondered if there was some 'off gas chemical' or something from the high bush cranberry that made the salmonberry sympathetically change color too?

I also noticed the pond Lillies have turned yellow.  Everything else is very much green under the trees.  You know it is really Fall when the Devils club leaves turn yellow.  But for know the devils club is all bright red berries and very much green leaves.

Patrick

good blueberries this year

salmonberries turning color early

The pack on patrol

Yellow Pond Lillies turning yellow

Devil's Club red berries but no yellow leaves. .. yet

The Crew

 

Wesley, Me, Alex, Danielle, and pilot Jay

This year was a little different from past years at Karluk Lake. This year we camped rather than staying in a cabin. That meant that the crew had to deal with camping adversity as well as the excavation.  And we came through with flying colors. 

For the excavation we opened up and excavated 45 square meters, completely excavated a house and portions of 2 other structures, and also excavated 10 meters to sterile outside the structures.  That is a lot of dirt to move and we did it well too.

And then we had to deal with bugs, Pushki burns,  collecting and splitting firewood, and living in tents for 2 weeks. And here we excelled as well.

This year we also had a smaller crew than the last few years. The year the crew was Wesley WWP, me PGS, Alex MAP, and Danielle DJR.  And then there was the pilot Jay who flew us in and out of the field.

Patrick

This was a hard house to map

Pretty Views

 

Some more pretty views from Karluk Lake. We were camped in a stunning spot, and while, at times, the bugs might have been atrocious. They were not always bad, and one did get used to them. At night I always left my tent door open, and when I'd wake up there would always be a view - even in the middle of the night. 

In the morning until around 10 AM our camp would be in the shade of the tall mountains. So it was always cool in the mornings.  Then in the evening the sunset would go on forever as the sun set behind the mountains on the other side of the lake.

Patrick

Wolfbane - Poisonous berries!

Early August

 

I abruptly left for Karluk Lake on August 7th and had been camping on Afognak Island until just before that.  Then I was on Karluk Lake for the next 2 weeks.  So I never really got to post all the photos from early in August.

The photos all look like ancient history now. Back then everything was so green. Since then it has barely rained and the landscape is turning yellow and brown. The juicy salmonberries the dogs and I enjoyed on walks are now past their prime, and are often sour.

Back then it was high Summer - now it is the beginning of Fall.

Patrick

Petroglyphs on Afognak

fleabane

Our camp vs the other camp

 

Our camp cook tent and woodstove

We camped at Karluk Lake but every few days we'd get invited over to the Kodiak Brown Bear Center (KBBC) on Camp Island to meet their bear viewing guests and tell them what we'd been finding. We'd also get a shower, some internet time and a very good meal.

Camp Island was a HUGE contrast with our camp. At our camp there was no total escape from the bugs, and the meals were hearty one pot wonders cooked on the woodstove. At the KBBC camp it was total luxury - a dining room with an amazing view and gourmet meals.

After our meals on Camp Island we'd go back to our rustic little camp to sleep.

Patrick

The view from the dining room at Camp Island

Bug nets required at our camp

Camp Island food

Bugs in our cook tent

Danielle showing off our lunch food - Kodiak salmon canned in Costa Rica that made it back to Karluk Lake (just not to spawn LOL)

Karluk Lake

 

Karluk Lake is huge. It is so big that it is almost like being on the ocean.  I kept on expecting the tide to go out, but no it is always high tide on a lake. The lake is actually a long fjord carved by a glacier, and the mountains are pretty sheer on either side.  The topography is actually a lot like nearby and adjacent Uyak Bay - except Uyak Bay is salt water while Karluk Lake is fresh.

In the morning there was often fog on the lake.  Other times it would be flat calm and all the mountains and clouds reflecting on the surface.  And when the wind came up the lake developed white caps and got rough quickly. We also found that because of the lake the wind only blows in 2 directions - up the lake or down the lake.  The mountains channel the wind to one direction or the other.  During bad weather you could often see rain at the southeast end of the lake whereas the northwest end was dry and in the 'rain shadow'.

Of course the lake is also home to millions of spawning salmon, bears, loons, sticklebacks and you name it.  It is biologically a very rich place and you can see why people chose to build villages there. 

Patrick

A short video showing what it is like on Karluk Lake in the summer

frosted fireweed