Riddick now associates the boat with freedom, and climbs right in. No life jacket yet for the dog, but it is a good idea.

All dogs love the Bench......Tim, Katie and Matt settle in. Furniture all of a sudden makes sense.

Every once in a while, friends from Anchorage get a wild hair and drive to come visit. Hewette, March, Gilbert, Matt and Vilhauer came up for a night of sitting on the floor and drinking wine.

Riddick is the new dog, my new dog, a different model from Jimmy. Betsy took her time picking Riddick out from the shelter. This one comes when you call and isn't quite as 'complex' as Betsy's dog. He will climb down cliffs without fear (or even looking), swim the Mat river if needed and loves a long commute in the morning. A good backcountry dog.

Everyday life

Raft guides are everywhere around here, as it is a rafting company with a glacier wing. I am the sole glacier guide for Nova, so I often sit and watch them load boats in the morning as I wait for clients.

Back Online

Finally got around to locating the good free wireless spot in the valley, so here's some pictures of my summer (Bill this time) working for Nova river runners in Hick's Creek, right downhill of the Yurt.

This red trailer is my cubicle, where I run the glacier- related wing of Nova.

Riddick

Photo of Riddick on the first day- he's already settled into the boating and hiking routine with Bill- can't wait to try him out skijoring.

cool moss

so right now I forget the name of the moss- this is its sporophyte stage- but there is some lowbush cranberry- vaccinium vitas-idea and some equisetum sylvaticum in the photo too- still working on those latin names.

Looking north(eastish) from Brigadeer road in the YTA- you can see the Granite Tors in the distance
Looking east across the hilltops in the YTA area- we hike 5 mile transects off this road
shady northside creek icepack in the YTA
4-wheeler access in the YTA- this day was 2-3 miles on 4 wheelers and 15 miles on foot- all paid hiking time!

working on the Tanana

Almost back to town- Fairbanks is just around the corner- you can see the first houses.


We've been accessing forestry mapping transects and inventory plots (FIA) by boat along the Tanana and Salchaket. Jimmy prefers this boat to the packraft.