Talkeetna Mountains

2018/05/28

Life without Anana

With the recent passing of my beloved Anana I’ve once again learned the grieving process is not the same for everyone and the pain of loss can be extended far longer than one might assume to be ‘normal’.  Another facet of my grieving involves doing routines or rituals which were associated with the recently departed; I think I get some catharsis by doing so.  It was this inclination which encouraged me to take a walk up the unmaintained portion of East Barge Drive to the crest of Bonanza Ridge which the locals also call ‘Exercise Hill’.  I’d made the hike many times in my first few years living up here as this ridge is maybe six tenths of a mile (0.97 km) east of my house.  It appears to involve an elevation change of around 300 feet (91.44 meters) and this happens in a fairly short horizontal distance hence its local moniker.

Icy Road Up Bonanza Hill

Qanuk & Anana at the start of the unmaintained portion of East Barge Drive heading up Bonanza Ridge

Anana, Qanuk and I had made the crest many times and sometimes walked further east to some of the small clumps of houses; we did so in muddy spring conditions, hot mosquito ridden summer afternoons and cool overcast autumn days.  Last Thursday saw a partly cloudy early morning with gentle (8-12 mph or 12.87-19.31 kph) breezes and an air temp of 42° F (5.56° C); as such it was a perfect morning for a walk.  I was missing Anana and wanted something to occupy my attention so a trip up Exercise Hill seemed like a good choice; it would be the first time I’d made the trek without my ‘little’ angel so doing it would mark a ‘first’ since her passing.  I put on my walking gear, grabbed my walking staff and Qanuk and I headed out.

Hot Anana at Riven-EBD

A very warm Anana at the start of ‘Exercise Hill’ road

The walk to the swamp at the base of Bonanza Ridge was familiar territory and we covered that in no time even with its rolling terrain.  I was pleased to discover there were no mosquitoes or similar in the swampy area; this bode well for our climb!  Qanuk ranged far out in front of me and crossed back and forth as I continued up the ever-steepening incline.  As mentioned this portion of the road is unmaintained and the surface is often composed of loose rocks which can make footing a bit tenuous.  I carefully picked my way through some of the rougher sections while Qanuk continued to range further and further out in front of me.  I could tell he was impatient with ‘his’ fat old human who just couldn’t make the climb with any speed!  Thanks to my fifteen months of daily stepping – I now target 12,000+ daily steps – my legs didn’t have issues with the climb but my aerobic conditioning just wasn’t up to the same standard.  I was forced to briefly stop twice to catch my breath; this further frustrated Qanuk whom now was running down to me and then back up the ridge (Oh, the strength and energy of the young..!).  But I persevered and finally made the crest of the ridge.  Even with the cool air I was sweating profusely and made a note to myself I needed to start adding some real aerobic conditioning.  I paused for a time to take in the views and throw a stick for Qanuk.  We then walked a bit further east onto the Borough maintained portion of East Barge Drive; the walking was much easier on this segment.

Qanuk on Exercise Hill Crest

Qanuk at the crest of ‘Exercise Hill’

I took some time to reflect upon the beauty of the suddenly green boreal forest against the blue sky, the snowy ramparts of the Talkeetna Mountain foothills to the east and listen to the songs of numerous birds.  I watched Qanuk spending so much time investigating all sorts of odors and noises; while doing so it occurred to me without Anana he was exhibiting many more of his German Shepherd Dog traits.  When Anana was with us he could rely on her nose and ears to share in checking out the ‘wilds’ but now it was completely up to him.  As we started back down the road towards home I watched Qanuk more closely; he was much more alert than ‘normal’ and was continually leaving the road to investigate all kinds of signals.  I came to realize just how much influence Anana had upon his behavior; her Mal characteristics really ‘smoothed out’ a lot of his GSD traits like being hyper-alert, protective and barking to alert unknowns.  I remembered back to the first six months after I brought Anana home; that awkward puppy had so much to teach me and I needed to understand her motives and drives.  I had raised a number of GSDs before work related travel forced me to forgo such companions for over three decades so I did know a bit about canines but the breeder was so spot on when she warned me Mals were not like ‘other’ dogs!  I had to re-learn a lot of what I thought I knew regarding canines in order to do justice to Anana’s upbringing.  This was a slow and often frustrating process but probably more so from Anana’s perspective than my own.  However, we slowly learned from each other and eventually came to understand what battles we could fight and which were best left unchallenged.

As I headed west on East Barge Drive towards home I realized I was going to have to go through another ‘realignment’ process with Qanuk but at least this time it would mainly be just remembering so many of those former learnings.  As I considered this concept I remembered all those wonderful times with Anana along with all the hilarity and love she brought into my life.  My ‘little’ angel has been removed from our lives for just three and a half weeks yet in some ways it feels like forever.  I will never forget ‘my girl’ but I also owe Qanuk the best life I can give him and that means once again becoming aware of ‘my boy’s’ wants, needs, desires and requirements.  It is a task I take seriously as well as a labor of love.

Bonanza Ridge Looking East

Looking east from the crest of Bonanza Ridge; the foothills of the Talkeetna Mountains are just visible wreathed in snow

 

Bonanza Ridge Looking West

Looking west from the crest of Bonanza Ridge

  

2017/01/24

Wintry Wisdom From ‘The Last Frontier’

Wow, what a difference a week can make!  Just seven days back we were entering a substantial cold snap that lasted four full days during which we never saw temps rise above 0° F (-17.8° C) and our lowest temp was probably a bit below -40° F (-40° C).  I write ‘probably a bit below’ because my two electronic temperature sensors stopped transmitting between -34° F (-36.7° C) and -39.7° F (-39.8° C); I did see -39.7° F (-39.8° C) on my Ambient weather station outdoor temp sensor at 05:20 Thursday (January 19th) morning but when I finally arose around 07:30 the sensor was no longer transmitting data.  Given the sun didn’t rise for another two hours I’m sure we dipped below -40° F/° C on that frigid morning.

One key learning was honored with my order of an 18” bi-metallic dial type thermometer good to -60° F (-51.1° C); I will not have to guess at low temps below -40° F/° C from this point forward.  Despite having lived in this area for almost three and a half years until last week the coldest air I’d experienced was Chicago’s record low temp of -27.2° F (-32.9° C) which occurred on January 20, 1985.  Although memory can be a tricky thing, especially across 32 years, my remembrances of that Chicago cold snap were of much colder temps.  However, I’d wager the humidity was higher in Chicago and there were winds to 40 mph (64.4 kph) which were producing wind chills colder than -70° F (-56.7° C).

Living within an immense span of boreal forest – if in doubt just look up Talkeetna using Google Maps and pull out to view the northern half of the Susitna Valley – has the advantage of really degrading wind.  We do see substantial winds off the Talkeetna Mountains to the east and The Alaska Range to the north but while the tops of the birch trees – around 35 feet (10.7 meters) in elevation – might be really swaying in winds probably gusting to 30 to 40 mph (48 to 64 kph) I rarely measure even 5 mph (8 kph) breezes at ground level.  Thus during the cold snap I saw very little in terms of wind chill.  This allowed me to replace the lithium battery in my Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station’s sensor platform in -30° F (-34.4° C) temps while maintaining complete comfort.  I’d learned the value of layering outdoor clothing when facing Alaskan winters early on.  Only my fingers became a bit chilled when I had to swap my insulated mittens for poly pro glove liners to do the actual ‘fine’ work of swapping the batteries.

My buddy Sarge installed a pair of exterior storm doors on my front and back doors during his October visit and I was impressed no end regarding their insulating ability.  I’d wager my main floor stayed at least 3° F to 5° F warmer thanks to these doors.  I haven’t seen many places that utilize storm doors up here; the most obvious issue would be any door opening out onto an unprotected area.  If we were to receive 12” (30.5 cm) or more of snow it might be impossible to open the storm door.  Thankfully my front door opens onto my front porch and hence snow build up is not an issue; when it is snowing I do try to keep the back porch cleared more often to facilitate getting the door open once the snow ceases.

I also learned a very important lesson regarding said aluminum storm doors; when the exterior temp drops to -25° F (-31.7° C) one shouldn’t touch any of the bare metal with bare skin!  Doing so produces the equivalent of an electrical shock as it almost instantaneously pulls the heat from one’s skin.  This is also true regarding the window glass; I started keeping a pair of poly pro glove liners at the front door so when I needed to let the kidz out I could put one on before pushing the storm door open.  In addition I learned that the brutal cold can have deleterious effects on internal hardware; see the following picture of what happens when ya try to force a frozen hinge to function:

frozen-front-door-hinge

Mostly frozen main door hinge just inside the mud room

This particular hinge is part of my front door which is in the mud room.

My first winter in this area I learned of the necessity of keeping air circulating within one’s dwelling during cold snaps.  My initial inclination was to close off a couple of second floor rooms which were not in use.  Because my dwelling began its life as a cabin and has since had a number of additions, including the second floor, the air circulation is almost non-existent.  During a three day run in December of 2013 when temps never reached zero and lows were dropping to -25.2° F (-31.8° C) I entered one of the shut up spare rooms to find the windows looking as such:

ne-br-window-121813

East facing window in spare bedroom on second floor after room was closed up for two days when temps ranged from 0° F (-17.8° C) to -25.2° F (-31.7° C)

Needless to say I was not happy and quickly determined it was best to just deal with the cold air coming from the unused rooms while leaving them open such that some air could circulate!

My new home is an amazing place and Alaska is always teaching me something new; I need only keep my eyes and ears open and learn of her ways.  There are many folks out there who think I’m borderline insane for seeking out such cold weather extremes; I suppose one could make such a case but then I’ve always loved the cold and, not surprisingly, loathed the heat especially when coupled with humidity.  I did venture out briefly when the air temps were below -30° F (-34.4° C) and the conditions were amazing.  The air was clear like I’ve never seen previously and the ‘immense silence’ was even more…immense!  Just breathing took on a new feeling as air at such cold temps definitely causes one’s lungs to ‘tingle’.  I remain in awe of this incredibly majestic albeit amazingly extreme state; while not for everyone those bitten by the ‘Alaska bug’ can never get enough of her magic…

2013/12/11

Talkeetna Winds; Sign of Changes Coming!

The longer I’ve lived in Talkeetna the more familiar I’ve become with not just the local weather but general weather trends of the ‘immediate’ area which I’ve arbitrarily chosen to be around 80 miles in any direction from Talkeetna.  I do know that heading south from Mile 7.1 on the Spur can see air temps decrease by as much as 6 degrees F when finally reaching the intersection of the Spur and the Parks Highway (7.1 miles).  Yet then heading north on the Parks Highway to Trapper Creek which is around 18 miles one can see the air temp increase by as much as 12 F!  While I have yet to really dig into the local topology I’m betting the network of hills and valleys that radiate out from the south side of the mighty Alaska Range are prime components of this variability.  In addition the location of glaciers and the wind patterns off the Alaska Range will also figure into the equation.

Across the last four months I’ve come to notice that Talkeetna gets very little in the way of high winds and this is especially true when looking at areas within that ‘immediate’ range.  This morning a CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network) station in Palmer (straight line distance around 65 miles SSE of Talkeetna) reported a wind gust of 78.1 mph while the local airport reported gusts to 73 mph; Wasilla observed gusts to 54 mph while Denali National Park & Preserve reported gusts to 48 mph.  Yet here in Talkeetna our airport reported gusts of ‘just’ 32 mph.  The extremes reported in the Wasilla and Palmer areas have a lot to do with the presence of three glaciers in their immediate vicinity as well as the Talkeetna Mountains and the Chugach Mountains.  However, all of these sites will regularly report wind speeds and gusts well above those in Talkeetna.  Thus, when we do begin to see wind gusts above 30 mph it’s definitely getting windy and that means the weather is going to change.  Given the fog, freezing rain and drizzle of the last week most of us are more than ready to see that change!  Assuming the NWS forecasts are accurate we’ll be seeing lows dropping to around -20 F with wind chills in the -35 F to -50 F range beginning tonight.  Although the current air temp is 22.1 F at 10:24 AKST its forecast to be just -3 F by 17:00 with wind chills around -25 F.

I’ve noticed I’ve become sensitive towards hearing wind; after all, we just do not get a lot of it and so to hear it sighing through the pines and birch trees is a bit unusual.  I awoke around 00:55 this morning and then lay in bed awake and listening to the song of the wind for another half hour or so before I finally drifted off to sleep again.  In windy conditions I can hear the creaking of the birches as well since they surround my house and reach up to fifty feet and higher.  In classic boreal forest configuration they are tall but very thin and lack much in the way of limbs until one hits 12 to 18 feet in height.  Because of their relatively thin trunks as versed with their heights they are susceptible to a lot of ‘waving’ motion in high winds.  This explains a lot of the creaking and groaning I hear during periods of high winds.

Without question the presence of more robust winds in the Talkeetna area means a change in the weather and often a fairly substantial change.  This current event will be no different given we’ll be dropping from high temps in the upper 20’s to high’s in the minus single digits in less than 24 hours.  In addition as these winds are expected to continue across the next 36 hours we will be seeing night-time wind chills in the -30 F to -50 F range.  And all the locals from Willow north along the Parks Highway also know that wind often means an interruption in the electrical grid as our power is generated in Palmer and thus travels many miles across areas which do get strong winds to make it to places like Talkeetna, Trapper Creek, Broad Pass, Summit and Cantwell.  I’ve become enough of a local to have already made sure the generator is fueled and ready to go when – and it is a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ the power drops out.

For now I’ll have to be satisfied with the cold as there doesn’t appear to be any sizable snow events in the near term.  It’s definitely neat to understand that any time one sees relatively high winds in this area the weather will be guaranteed to change and often it will embody the extreme shifts that seem to be one of the hallmarks of Alaskan meteorology.  Time to break out the battery blanket and the oil pan warmer; all things I’ve come to regard as requirements when wintering in Alaska just as is the routine of prepping my generator when the winds begin to blow…

2013/11/04 Image

Since So Many Folks Seem To Enjoy Glaciers…

exitglacier-p-distance

This is a shot of the Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords NP with its run-off in the foreground; the glacier is just a bit north of Seward in the Kenai Peninsula.  It is an alpine style glacier and sadly has been retreating very quickly across the past few decades

Portage Glacier 2

Here is the Portage Glacier which is located in the northern Kenai Peninsula; it is a classic Alpine Glacier

AK 8 Alaska Range w-Glacier

The Alaska Range is full of glaciers and there’s an unnamed glacier sweeping down from The Alaska Range foothills in this image taken from the Paxson end of the Denali Highway (AK 8).  This image was taken in early September of 2002 and although it was snowy and cold in the immediate vicinity of the mountains just getting a few tens of miles to the north or south saw sunshine and air temps in the fifties.

Matanuska Glacier Head On

The toe of the mighty Matanuska Glacier as seen from a school driveway off the Glenn Highway.  This glacier cut the Matanuska Valley which runs for over 100 miles east-west and separates the Chugach Mountains to the south from the Talkeetna Mountains to the north