Tag: winter

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #73 – COLD

I used to embrace the cold. I worked ski resorts in Colorado for 15 years.  For ten of those years, I worked at the top of the mountain, at 11,000 feet. I’ve seen some savage storms, and brutal cold.

I spent 10 winters in Alaska. Five of those winters were in the remote Interior rural community of McCarthy. I  watched the frost creep up the nails on the inside of the door of the cabin my first winter there, and marveled at the cold, colder than anything I had ever experienced.

The coldest temperature I’ve ever seen was 53 degrees below zero. That’s cold, so cold my thermometer didn’t go that low. I had to call a neighbor with a better thermometer to find out just exactly how cold it was!

Richardson Highway, Alaska
I used to embrace the cold when I spent my winters in Alaska.

I USED TO embrace the cold. Then I learned to drive and bought a car. Now I’m a snowbird.

I didn’t get a driver’s license until I was 50. I didn’t want to be part of the problem. I was worried about my carbon footprint long before the term “carbon footprint” was ever coined. I rode bikes, took buses, and lived in communities where you didn’t need a car to get by.

Kluane National Park
I’m OK with snow, just not on the road.

But in order to get a job promotion with the Park Service, I had to get a driver’s license. It was a prerequisite for the job.

I can definitely correlate my aversion to cold and winter with when I acquired a vehicle. I just don’t want to drive icy roads in nasty weather!

AlCan Highway, Canada
This is why I don’t do winter anymore!

I’ve decided I’ve seen enough cold. There’s a lot of beautiful places to see in this world, and they’re not ALL cold & snowy in the winter.

But there are things about winter, and the cold, that I miss. The beauty. The serenity. The quiet. Sun sparkling on the snow. Snowshoeing. Most of all, the northern lights.

Kluane NationalPark
There ARE things about winter that I miss.

So, occasionally, I treat myself to the tiniest taste of winter. I just make sure I have an escape route or the luxury of waiting for a good weather window so I can get out without driving those icy roads.

I needed to travel across practically the entire state of Colorado this past weekend as I transitioned from visiting my family to my next housesitting gig. I was lucky. I hit the perfect weather window, with a big storm in the mountains Wednesday to Friday, then a bluebird weekend for travel before the next front came through on Monday.

Great Sand Dunes National Park
On my way down from visiting my family in Denver, I stopped at the Great Sand Dunes. It was cold. The wind was bitter. But it was beautiful.

I’m in southwestern Colorado now, Durango to be exact. Although I am in the mountains, the desert and relief from snowy roads is less than an hour away.

Durango isn’t big, but it is a bit bigger than I usually like my towns to be.  I’ve gotten a little lost a time or two. I’m surprised at how much I enjoy it. Although the desert is close, Durango is definitely a mountain town, vertical topography rising in every direction. The wild is still close. Driving down an urban street in the heart of town, you see deer strolling the sidewalks like they own them. I like that.

Million Dollar Highway
Durango is beautiful.

It’s snowing on this Thanksgiving day, but it’s a gentle snowfall, not a raging blizzard. It isn’t even sticking to the driveway, although the frosting on the trees is very pretty. It IS cold, though. BRRRRRR!!

Since it is Thanksgiving, I’m pondering gratitude and the many things I am grateful for. Throughout this year I’ve been more consciously grateful, on a day-to-day basis, than ever before in my life. I’m thankful for my many blessings.

Keystone Canyon, Alaska
COLD waterfall

I’m thankful for my family and the time I’ve been able to spend with them recently. I’m thankful that my mother, although quite fragile at 91, is still with us. I’m thankful for my home in McCarthy and the amazing community there that I am privileged to be a part of. I’m thankful for work that I enjoy and that I feel is important.

I’m thankful for my many friends, wherever they are in this wide world. I’m thankful for the freedom that allows me to travel and see more of this amazing planet we all share. I’m thankful that my little Toyota truck is still going strong at 285,000 miles and I hope it continues to treat me right.

San Juan Mountains
Just a tiny taste of cold…

I’m thankful I have food to eat and clothes to keep me warm. I’m thankful for wine and chocolate – oh, and raspberries. Can’t forget raspberries.

I’m thankful for the shelter that keeps me out of the cold. And I’m thankful for the cold – the little bit of cold I’m getting a taste of right now – because it will make the warmth that much sweeter later. What I’m especially thankful for, though, on this snowy Thanksgiving weekend, is that I don’t have to drive any treacherous icy roads today!

San Juan Mountains
Southern Colorado Rockies

Thanks, Tina,  for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Cold.

 

 

 

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Kluane Lake Changes

I dropped this blog rather abruptly in April when my ranger job started back up. Living remote like I do, I had limited internet access. But my job ended Friday, and this ranger is rambling again. Follow my journey as I head south.

Traveling down the Al-Can Highway through Canada, one of my favorite parts of the drive is skirting the edge of Kluane National Park in the Yukon. Kluane is our sister park. Mt. St. Elias, the 2nd tallest peak in both Canada and the U.S., is shared by both Wrangell St. Elias and Kluane. They’re both part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the largest protected areas in the world.

Kluane Range

But you don’t really see the most spectacular part of Kluane from the road. The really BIG mountains and glaciers are hidden by the Kluane Ranges. What you DO see is Dall’s Sheep and beautiful scenery as the road is sandwiched between the mountains and Kluane Lake.

The highway runs next to Kluane Lake for about 40 miles. It’s a big lake. In fact, it’s the biggest lake situated entirely in the Yukon.

Kluane Lake

But the lake is changing, getting smaller. The Slims River, THE major river feeding the lake, has disappeared, a consequence of climate change.

The Slims River used to run about 12 miles from the Kaskawalsh Glacier to Kluane Lake. However, the glacier has retreated about half a mile, and something called stream capture has taken place. Now all the melt from the glacier flows into the Kaskawalsh River, eventually emptying out into the Gulf of Alaska. The Slims River is no more.

All that’s left of the Slims River is this pool in the foreground.

This signals big changes for Kluane Lake and the surrounding ecosystem. Scientists estimate the lake level will drop a meter or two, affecting fish populations. Until vegetation gains a substantial foothold, the land near the southwest corner of the lake will be subject to substantial dust storms. Eventually, though new growth will fill in, possibly creating grasslands and meadows at first, bringing in a host of different plants and animals.

This isn’t the first time the area has seen dramatic changes. Like Wrangell-St. Elias, Kluane is a young, dynamic landscape, constantly evolving. About 350 years ago, the Slims River ran in the opposite direction, draining Kluane Lake into the Gulf of Alaska.

Will this dry lakebed become a meadow?

At that time, the glacier was growing, and a lobe dammed the Slims. This caused the lake level to rise about 40 feet. The lake waters cut a new outlet, going north – what is now the Kluane River.
What will the future bring? Will we be able to watch grizzlies dig for roots in the former lakebed within a few years? It’s possible! I look forward to experiencing the changes as I head up and down the AlCan each year.