June 27: Slope Mountain

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:32 am

We spent the morning packing (boooring but necessary); this afternoon we took a hike up Slope Mountain about 20 minutes away to the north (veeeeeeery cool) with about a dozen other Toolik campers.

We hiked through across the tundra and though tall-ish Arctic willows (perfect bear habitat… Had we been hiking singly, more elaborate precautions would have been necessary.) It was also perfect Dall sheep habitat.

We hiked up a streambed.

And up the side of the mountain.

The view from the saddle (about ¾ of the way up) was extraordinary, if a bit hazier than usual (a tundra fire in the north sent smoke all the way to the Brooks Range).

At the saddle, we decided to keep hiking, reaching the summit a short time later. When we reached the summit, some people rested.

Penney soaks in the sun’s energy… If she had cells with chlorophyll, she’d be growing like crazy (and would be green too).

Some people took in the view.

Yo is a super-fast climber, and led the trip to the summit.

And some people got ready for a roller coaster ride… MILLIONS of feet down! (if not millions, many hundreds… okay: about 60 feet).

Elizabeth, Lori, and their friend perched on the edge behind their sedimentary safety bar.

And some people kept on climbing!

The hike up was relatively gentle… The hike down was STEEP!

Penney about to disappear over the edge.

And we enjoyed the profusion of tundra flowers.

Interesting Fact to Make You Smarter
If you were to put all the ants in the world on one side of a scale, and all the humans in the world on the other, the scale would balance. There are over 6 billion people on the planet and LOTS more ants. I thought ants were ubiquitous (found everywhere)….

But the ants are NOT here! (or are present in much smaller numbers than at lower latitudes) I have seen mosquitoes (hee hee hee)…

… and midges, flies, bees, dragonflies and butterflies. I have also seen spiders (though not very many).

Living in the Arctic, being frozen for part of the year requires a certain chutzpah… social insects seems to have a tough time.

I ended the day with a jump in the lake, and a most spectacular sunset, er, sun-lower-in- the-sky.

Penney’s haiku

Loon

For whom do you weep?
Gentle fowl dressed for mourning
In your wake, leave grief