Martin drilling and using a chainsaw while standing in water on ice at Mystic Lake, 3 December 2002.
I arrived at Mystic Lake Lodge at around noon today after an almost 2-hour flight from Fairbanks in the smallest aircraft (Cessna 185) I have ever travelled in. It was fascinating to fly at altitudes of only 2000-4500 feet and a speed of 110 knots and see the details of the ground below. It was quite a contrast to those fast, high altitude jets.
As someone with a dodgy inner ear, I was somewhat concerned about the potential for motion sickness, but fortunately there were not many bumpy bits, although circling Mystic Lake to lose altitude for landing was a little gut-wrenching. The lake, actually lakes, lie very close to the mountains of the Alaska Range, and it is very windy and thus turbulent for small aircraft today.
One of my first questions upon arrival was to ask if I was where I thought I was. There is no Mystic Lake on any map of this area, and I believed that Mystic Lake Lodge is actually located at Amos Lakes. And so it is. You'll find the lakes tucked in against the north side of the Alaska Range, SW of Denali National Park and about 80 miles east of McGrath. It's a beautiful spot, with the lodge located on a narrow isthmus between the two Amos Lakes.
The lakes have 15-20 cm of ice (we'll know more precisely tomorrow) on them and there is basically no snow on the ice. It's either melted or been blown away, or both. The air temperature today was +6°C. This is ridiculous. It's earliest December and far above freezing. I'm relieved that there is actually ice that is thick (safe) enough to walk on. The ice has an almost polished appearance, as if a Zamboni machine has been running around on it. If I could skate, I imagine that the skating would be wonderful.
Tomorrow, Fred McElroy and I will at least put in the line of stakes to mark the measurement transect, measure the ice thickness and install the hot-wire gauge. Snow measurements will have to wait for the return of the snow.
Martin drilling and using a chainsaw while standing in water on ice at Mystic Lake, 3 December 2002.
Fred and I marked out a 200 m transect with a stake every 10 m. We thought we might as well use the space available; the Amos lakes are quite large and the weather was favourable (too favourable, really).
The ice thickness varied between 18.7 cm and 19.5 cm late this morning, but it is probably less now. Today has been warmer than yesterday (+11°C this afternoon. Good grief!) and there is about 5 mm of standing water on much of the ice owing to melting. At 4 pm we were out on the ice again wedging the stakes back in the holes that had been enlarged by the melting. If you didn't know there was ice on the lake, you might look out and think that it was open water out there. It's very disconcerting considering the time of year.
It was fairly calm early in the morning, but the wind picked up again and is now blowing quite persistently with occasional strong gusts. Basically we have a chinook that is amplified by the strong southerly and warm air flow off the Pacific Ocean. It reminds me of Calgary, Alberta, and my days as a graduate student. I have my fingers tightly crossed for colder weather and freezing of all that water on the ice.
Fred and I were out on the ice yet again this morning to repair the damage done to the line of stakes by the wind and high temperatures. Overnight the stakes had either dropped into the holes, which had been further enlarged by the meltwater, or been blown over. The ice was about 2 cm thinner than yesterday, thanks to the melting.
On the brighter side, the meltwater had either drained away or frozen, so we were walking on dry ice rather than sloshing around in water. It was also nearly calm, and there were some wonderful ice crystal formations on the newly frozen pools
This time we drilled holes only part way into the ice, put in the stakes and then packed slush in the holes to hold each stake, we hope. We also had to re-install the hot-wire gauges, which had been blown over, too. When I left Mystic Lake, the stakes and hot-wire gauge looked good. I hope they remain that way.
The plane arrived at Mystic Lake soon after 1 pm and I was on the ground in Fairbanks at 3:20 pm after an uneventful flight. Then I slipped on the ice and sprained my wrist. C'est la vie.
Next week I travel to Shageluk to visit Joy Hamilton. Who knows what this bizarre autumn will throw at us there?