And so it begins...

Checking in at the airport this morning, the lady at the bag check looked at me and then at my field backpack.


Lady - "Where are you traveling to?"
Me - "Oh, about 80 miles north of Fairbanks, near the beginning of the Dalton Highway."
Lady - "What are you doing up there?"
Me - "We delineate wetlands. We are dropped off by a helicopter in the middle of nowhere and hike around all day digging holes." Her eyes got so wide I thought they were going to pop out of their sockets.
Lady - "You're going to work OUTSIDE??? Do you realize how cold it is up there? Do you have warm clothing?"
Me - "Oh yeah, I've got some warm stuff. I'll be good, thanks for the concern."
Lady - "Do you have bunny boots?"
Me - What the hell are bunny boots??? "No, no bunny boots, just rubber boots, thick socks, and toe warmers."
Lady - "Oh Lordy! You need to get yourself some bunny boots. You're really going to work outside?? You'll freeze! Oh dear..."


This conversation went back and forth for awhile. I finally moved on and let my roomie check his bags in. After going through security, he told me that the lady was really concerned about me and that she wouldn't stop talking about how we're going to freeze out there. Surely it can't be THAT bad!


So this morning I woke up, put on my usual field gear, and headed outside along the boardwalk to the cafeteria for breakfast. When I inhaled, my nose started to feel kind of funny. What on earth is going on?!? Then I figured it out - the condensation on the hairs in the inside of my nose were freezing. The bed-induced warm circulation left my hands and feet. I almost ran back and grabbed by down jacket for the 100ft walk to breakfast but I didn't. Instead, I quickened my step and jogged down the boardwalk. At the end of the boardwalk there's a thermometer. Holy Jesus! I rubbed my eyes. It was 10 degrees outside. I AM going to freeze.


I've biked in 10 degree weather before, but walking around all day in it is a different story. Heck, we barely even walk out here - we walk at most 1/3 mile, dig a hole, and sit there for a good hour looking at the soil and plants and then move on. It didn't really "warm" up until 1pm and by then the temperature had only risen to maybe 25 degrees. We were cold. I had two toe warmers in each boot, handwarmers, a thermal top, t-shirt, wool sweater, down vest, rain jacket, work vest, thermal bottoms, rain pants, wool hat, and thick socks and I was still cold. Even the 200+ pound people in the company are freezing their asses off. And this time, there is not only permafrost beneath the soil, but also a good 4-6 inch layer of frozen ground I have to break through before I even hit pliable soil. And then I hit permafrost 8-16 inches down. Every day the layer of frozen soil deepens.


They're predicting snow later this week. Supposedly, we don't work when there's 1/2in of snow or more (we really can't because it would cover the vegetation we need to document). Not that there's much vegetation to speak of anyway - the leaves have already fallen from the trees and most of the plants have died for the winter. The snowhill cranes have already flown south for the winter, but we press on to get the job done. We're out here until October 4th - only time will tell who gets frostbite or hypothermia first. It's been warming up a bit (upper 20s, lower 30s) because the clouds have been moving in but that can only mean one thing...snow or rain.

Monday

Tuesday