SCHOLARSHIP DAY 48: Walking with Foxes

It's amazing the effect a small dusting of snow has on a city; outside my dormitory window this morning, Westwood Road was looking very different. Whether Fairbanks received any more through the night, it's hard to tell. College Road, a main road, has been ploughed, however, and it looks like traffic is functioning better than yesterday afternoon. After getting my journal up to date, and having breakfast, I decided my first 'proper' winter walk was in store and so gathering up my gear, I headed out. The reading when I left was 21 degrees F (about -6 degrees C) and although for Britain this would be considered to be 'unbearable', I feel I have become conditioned to this extreme cold now, and the thermometer was therefore not a deterrant for my plans of winter walking.

Fairbanks, and probably most of Alaska, receives snow that's very different to that which (sometimes) falls over Europe. (I use 'sometimes' because I know England's track record!) What's most contrasting about it, is snow particle size. Seriously, they're smaller, and so makes the texture much more fluffy and possibly easier to manage. Trotting along the pavement, through the inch thick white fluff, I caught notice of delicate snow covered vegetation. So delicate that an extra large exhalation of air would send it all to the ground.

My walk east of the hostel, I knew, would eventually lead me to Creamers. Ah, how regular my trips are there these days. Truth be told, I visit because it's one very diverse area of land, and I always come away from it having learnt something new about Alaska. I was curious to see how much of the farmland was snow covered, and from first inspection from the outside of the site, I estimated the majority of it.

Creamers Dairy Farm, typically white, blended so well in the current snowy conditions. The structure of the site, I thought, would make a lovely setting for Santa's grotto, in the coming months. Since the snow has fallen, I have incidentally defeated the urge to play Christmas songs on my ipod. It's only a matter of time, I feel.

It never ceases to amaze me how each day of this scholarship is special in its individual way. The weekend just gone was obviously very special, as I was amongst the wilderness, hiking through the Brooks Range. Creamers Fields, today, couldn't offer the majestic mountain range or wonderfully carved glacial valleys, but it did provide me with yet another wild animal sighting.

A Red Fox! I didn't know for sure to start with, and advanced carefully forward to gain a better view, trying not to frighten it as I did. As luck would have it, it wasn't scared by my ridiculously obvious red waterproof jacket, but to my suprise trotted closer to me. Against the white, the red fur really is highlighted.

I continued through the now glazed boreal forest, hoping I could get to the other side of the field for another viewing. The whole experience of walking through Spruce and Birch is so much different than a couple of weeks ago; so much more magical. I didn't unfortunately spot the Red Fox again. But it's certainly taught me one thing: going out amongst the snow, in sub-zero temperatures, for hours on end is well worth it!