Sunday, August 26, 2007

Lake Kinaskan, Day 3

It rained off and on all night and into the morning. By about 10 AM we could see that it was going to clear off soon, but the clouds still obscured all the mountains and there were still scattered rain showers so we decided to stay put for one more day. Since this may be the only time we ever go through this area it would be nice to actually see it.



By about noon it had started to clear off with even some patches of sunshine interspersed with showers. I took advantage of the opportunity to clean the windows and back end of the trailer with lake water. Now we can see out our windows again, and people behind us can see that we are not just a dirt covered box going down the road.



By 2 PM the sun was shining so we decided to drive down the highway about five miles where a trail leads to another lake and Cascade Falls. It sounded pretty so off we went. In the five miles from the campground to the trail head we drove through two showers and it was raining hard when we got there. Scratch that idea. We returned to our camp site. The sun was out and we could see snow on all the mountains surrounding us when the clouds lifted just a little. If it clears off tomorrow morning it should be beautiful.



We had more of our halibut for dinner. Afterwards we talked to the campground host about the falls we tried to go to this afternoon. She said it is good we did not try since it requires a boat to cross the lake to the trail on the other side. She agrees that it is not well marked and should be addressed. There is a trail from the end of our campground that goes along the lake side. She said it was OK for a while, but did not think we could get all the way to the river that flows out. She was right. It was a muddy mess that could better be called a path than a trail. Ok well, we got a little exercise.



Dianna figures we have now experienced all four seasons on our trip. She considers the snowfall last night and the below freezing temperatures to be winter, so as we head south we will probably get to experience fall all over again. We have seen the foliage changing at different rates as we have gone south. A trip like this really gives you a perspective on how plants and animals react to the changes in climate. By now on the North Slope it is not getting above freezing during the day and winter has already set in. All the animals everywhere are migrating south, as so are we.

3 comments:

  1. You made a happy ending to my day, reading your last four entries. It's hard to believe winter, although today was only 106º here, I think. And I wish we had some of your rain. It feels to me as though the monsoon season is about over, and we had only one good rain all summer, but we had 27 days over 110º, which tied the record. We are all ready for a little break--nothing but hot sunshine and brilliant blue skies, day after day! The only consolation--winter's coming.

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  2. The "snowfall last night" was just on the mountains around you, right? So you haven't really experienced winter yet...

    I'm surprised that on the North Slope it isn't getting above freezing any more -- in August! You were there just a couple of weeks ago -- was it warmer then?

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  3. Yes, the snow was on the mountains. However, today we drove up to see Salmon Glacier and there was snow still by the road. It had not melted yet from last year. They did not plow the road until July 15!

    I was trying to be dramatic, not literal. In truth it is still getting into the low 40's in Deadhorse during the day. It will continue to get above freezing during the day until late September.

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