critters

This was taken from our kitchen window. He was sitting on a lamp post enjoying what was left of a fish.

morning commute

So the trip to work each morning has been pretty fun. In the area we've been working in recently, we've needed to be up high to map. Yesterday we had some cloud cover (but no rain, hard to imagine now) so we couldn't get to the top of the hill. Our pilot Andy was able to get us just below cloud level though. He calls this a toe-in, when only part of the skids are on the ground. I was dropped off first when he had his other skid on the ridge and hopped out of the rear left. Then Andy spun the helicopter around to drop off Jo from the front passenger seat. Needless to say we've had a blast flying around! The views are amazing.

The net here is still really slow but we'll keep trying to put more pics up!

Chignik

So after over two weeks without internet, we're finally back online. We've been in Chignik now for over two weeks and have had the opportunity to fly over some of the most amazing scenery I've ever seen! Never have we seen so many towering waterfalls, one after the other, almost every few seconds it seems as we're flying. Many fall straight into the ocean or lead to a stream surrounded by nothing but alder and grass. Now and again there is the odd moose, plenty of bald eagles, and even sea otters laying on their backs just outside Chignik Bay. Of course, it isn't all roses, it's been raining since June 5 and has only quit for a few hours since. Field work can be rough and not all that fun with all the rainwear and gear we're lugging around, but we make the most of it. Haven't had to shoot a bear yet but we've seen plenty, even a few near our field area that the chopper pilot chased off for us. Words aren't enough so we'll try to get some more pics up soon. Our connection is quite slow so we may not be able to get pics up as fast as we'd like.

Happy Father's Day Dad.

few more pics

Went on a really fun ATV tour with Alaska Earth Sciences geologist Andy the other night. We buzzed up the road towards Hatcher Pass but it's still not passable due to snow. Apparently the state will plow it only after July 4, if needed. We also went down to one of the creeks in the valley to the south. Good fun. A couple of pics from this outing and from Jo's wanderings while mapping are on the Flickr site. She took a few nice shots of the old turn-of-the-century workings.