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OK, its been two years since I updated this page, my apologies....
fresh snow  The weather really had us fooled in February, its been so warm amd dry we thought spring was here!  That all ended this weekend.
my new office in Idaho   This picture is across the houses behind my office looking up at Cottonwood Butte, previously home to a radar facility.
A recent hike at the Humbug Spires Wilderness Study Area   note the shorts!  
Here is an old picture from my second trip out of Alaska this past September .  I was only an hour out of town when I got delayed by a  fatal car accident.  Traffic was stopped for a couple hours.
A self-portrait standing above Muncho Lake in Upper British Columbia.  This is one of my favorite stops along the highway.  I hope to spend a few weeks exploring around there one summer.
The old Dodge seen above is gone in trade for a 4wd toyota pickup having it this winter was very helpful.

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November 2th (tooth), 2002

Weather here is holding and staying pretty warm, highs around 30.  We are down to less than 8 hours of daylight.

So, the trip.  Went to FL , GA , NC, and TN.  It was nice to be in FL while it is still hot.  I am used to being there over christmas time.  It was great to see everyone! even Odie . 

The paddling trip: my friend paul had the master plan, we  put in on the Hiawassee River upstream of the Ocoee River.  Paddled for 3 days to Skull Island, right across from Sequoia Nuclear Facility.

Our first day was perfect for paddling and floating along, stopping for a rest , or to check out  a cave .

Day 2: The fishing tournament was on.  Erinn won hands down.  After landing 4 species of fish (in one fishing hole) she decided it was time to take advantage of the warm sunshine and  glass smooth  water .

How do you feel after 3 days of paddling? 1 2 3 4

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September 22, 2002  (I think I have the links straightened out now)

Today was beautiful.  Warm, near 60 degrees and clear blue sky.  The leaves are almost totally off the trees now and everyone was out one last time before winter hits.

I was inspired to go take some pictures of the riverboats here on the Chena River today.  My dad likes riverboats.

There are 4 that I know of, the Tanana Chief and Discovery , Discovery II , and Discovery III .  There is also a funny little pontoon boat that gives tours from the Princess motel (as in princess cruise lines).  The Discovery III was being put on a barge-like float in preparation for winter.  It was listing badly and I thought it might have been a better idea to pump the water out a little more equally on both sides.  I have never seen the original Discovery out on the river, but I have all the others.  They mostly take tourists down to the confluence of the Chena River and the Tanana River.   

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September 13, 2002

OK, its friday the 13th, aaahh!!  A good day to ad pictures of the fall colors I took this week.  The colors are probably better today than when I was out with my camera tuesday.  But it has been cloudy both all week so the pictures aren't that great, but they get the point across....

 

1)the lawn at my office and the chena river.  I was hoping the red home-made skiff across the river would show up.

2) the office , you can see the window the office web cam is in, kind of a web cam of a web cam

3) a view from my typical evening ride of the hills NW of the university

 

So, what types of plants change color up here in Interior Alaska???  There are two species of deciduous trees here, Aspen and Birch.  There are alder and willow along the creeks and we areas (and all kinds of tundra bushes that I don't know what are).  Lots of nice oranges and yellows (and reds in the tundra areas).  These blend in with the spruce that just stays green all year.

 

4   5   6   more views from sheep creek road

 

7 8 9 10   pictures from ester dome road, a steep gravel road.  part of the equinox marathon course.  

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September 2, 2002

Just got back from Valdez.  Wanted to get out again before winter sets in.  The fall colors have turned the river bottoms bright yellow and the tundra shows shades of red.  Saw 3 brown bears on the way back.  Better to see those guys from the car than from your tent.  The moose hunters are out in force.

We arrived Friday night and scoped the place out.  This was our first trip to Prince William Sound so we wanted an easy overnighter to test the waters and see what we were getting ourselves into.  We got some great advice from Paul at Anadyr Adventures and decided to get an early start saturday, thanks Paul.  

Loading we had great views of the early morning sun. 1 2   On the way to Shoup Glacier we passed a nice beach and stopped for a break.  We also passed cliff mine , Valdez had several productive gold mines.

Once we reached Shoup Bay we decided to look for a camp site and eat and sleep while waiting for high tide to paddle into the inner bay.  The inner bay was all glacier until about 1980 when it started to melt dramatically.  There is also a very productive and noisy kittiwake rookery (over 20,000) at the mouth of the inner bay. 1 2 3  4

Our timing was perfect we floated in a narrow passage on the tide, paddled around and floated back out with the tide!  A relaxing evening paddle before hot chocolate and a warm sleeping bag.  Some shots from the inner bay 1 2 3 4

To take advantage of the tides and avoid the afternoon glacier winds, we packed up and headed back to Valdez early the next morning.  We stopped again at the beach for a break in the sun .  Nice views of Gold Creek state park area.  The port was smooth as glass all the way back.

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Here are a few new shots of paddling at Chena Lakes recreation area.  You can see the leaves are starting to turn, today is August 25.  view , repaired bow , superstar

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Earlier this summer I took a trip up to the North Slope to help with a Breeding Bird Survey.  It ended up taking us 5 days to do two surveys.  It was over the summer solstice and we had snow storms that delayed our surveys.  The last two days were real nice.

 

self portrait  on a long walk from camp on our last day

the pipeline with Atigun Pass in the background

during the winter thick auf ice forms on some creeks, looks like a glacier (and I don't know how its spelled?)

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Later I had the chance to go out to Nome on the Seward Peninsula and help with some field work.  Nome is an interesting place.  Kind of has a southeast alaska feel to it, but with a very different climate.

 

Here you can see Erinn  wishing there were more GPS satelites and less mosquitoes

Nome has a extensive sea wall to protect it from the Bering Sea storms

There is a small port in Nome, all fishing boats, larger vessels transfer cargo out in the sound

We also got to see a " real alaska cabin " miles from any road or navigable waterway.  I find it interesting that aircraft are the normal transportation method used to get around "the last frontier".

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Here are some various pictures to share

 

Me at the Splash-n-Dash July 4 race 2001

A few pictures from a trip with my dad around Oregon 1 2 3

I remember the feeling I had when I paddled the kayak I made for the first time

Me again, by that big tree

Email me the name of this peak and win fabulous prizes!

The second place I lived here was a big improvement over the dive below.

It was also close to UAF's great trail system.

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Here are the old pictures:

B.C. Mountains along inside passage

Sunrise , also in BC on the

ferry from Bellingham

Office in March

Driveway and house

Sunset at mendenhall lake near Juneau

The bow of my kayak after moving

View from the dive I stayed in when I first got  to town (I eat lunch at that subway about once a week)

 

 

All pictures are property of shawnservoss.com