SCHOLARSHIP DAY 42: Working in the Alaska University Lab

Yesterday's fieldwork earned a lie-in today, although I never expected to sleep solidly right through until 10am. Ironically, after my extended morning relaxation, came a rush and panic as I had only an hour and a half to have a shower, cook breakfast and get down to the university. Well, I managed it, but only just, arriving at the university a little after 11:30am.

I was looking forward to this morning, as I had been invited by Margaret Darrow (from the Geological Mining and Engineering Department) to work with her in the 'Soils Laboratory'. She's one of the professors I'm working with on the Brooks Range project, and the samples we were working on today were from a previous trip she made up there last weekend. The laboratory is in the basement of the building, with all the main pipes fitted along the ceiling of the endless corridors.

The laboratory work today was inspiring, especially because the work is for an offical study, not just for teaching purposes. To do the tests we want to do, the soil has to be dried first. Some of the soil samples we have are quite saturated, and some are dust-dry. My black mid-layer was caked in the stuff, especially because Margaret asked me to unload the samples into the oven trays! But I wasn't going to say "no" to an opportunity to be involved in leading academic research.

So, off we went, with a trolley of samples, to another laboratory, with a larger baking oven. I was put in charge of wheeling the trolley- never a wise thing to do in my opinion. I obliged though, and before long, we were loading the cans and the trays of soil into the oven. It's 100 degrees C in the oven, although you wouldn't really know it when you place your hand in it. I've dried samples before, back in England, and from my experience it takes some substantial time before its 100% dry.

Until they are dry, that marks a pause in our laboratory work. So we exchanged our 'goodbyes' and I went off to do some shopping. Fred Meyers, the main supermarket here in Fairbanks apart from Safeway, is offering good deals at the moment, probably explaining why the shop was very busy. I got the necessities and headed back to the hostel.

With the afternoon free, I decided to make use of the gloriously sunny day and took a trip to Creamers, to walk another trail. Unlike the others I've walked so far, this one -the Seasonal Wetlands Trail- takes the traveller on a journey through, well, wetlands. With the sun shining without a cloud in its way, thr grass vegetated fields looked lovely.

 Where the trail ends up, is at a bird observatory. To be honest, it's an assemblage of wood on the edge of the forest. I couldn't see or indeed hear any, however, and I was sure that my arrival must have frightened them. I did find something of mycological interest; death and decay is very much the theme here currently. Autumn leaves are decomposing into leaf litter, and dead bark is being plagued by these; not being an expert, I can only predict that this is a kind of canker.

The Sun was starting to set, and the fields were becoming a little more red coloured, as if someone had just spread a wash of paint over them. It's a wonderful landscape; it may not be mountainous, feature active explosive volcanoes or earth shattering earthquakes, (and some who like adventure may not think of it as 'that interesting',) but if you have an eye for natural beauty and an ear for tranquility, these wetlands are a traveller's paradise.

But there comes a time when the sub zero temperatures start to make the experience a little unbearable, and so off I went, trotting slowly back to the hostel.