SCHOLARSHIP DAYS 72, 73 and 74: My final Brook's Range Adventure

 "The further one goes, the less one knows."

Lao-tzu (6th Century BC)

 

With only one more week here in Alaska, before I head down the US West Coast, I am inevitably meeting many 'lasts'. Last Sunday, I did my last walk through Creamers Fields. A few days ago I attended my last lecture at the university. I am now into my last week at Billie's Backpackers, and just this weekend, I went on my final adventure to witness the extraordinary sublimity of the Brook's Range; to encounter for the third and final time the compelling force of the Frozen Debris Lobes.

Ronald and I had company on this particular trip: Margaret Darrow, from the Insitute of Northern Engineering and the Geological Engineering department of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. (Now, that's a job title and a half!) Margaret has been working on these frozen debris lobes for the last year with Ronald and has been an important part in the research thus far. We left on Friday afternoon on our five hour journey to Coldfoot, where we would stay over the weekend. The Dalton Highway this time didn't offer much in the way of viewpoint or photo opportunity, not because it didn't meet up to it's usual grandeur. I'm sure it did, but the sun set pretty much as soon as we left Fairbanks and therefore the long journey's visual highlights became a monotonous reel of darkness.

We got up reasonably early on the Saturday morning, in anticipation of a long day's work on the Frozen Debris Lobes, and arriving at mile post 219 at about 8:30am, we set up the base stand of the DGPS. The DGPS machine we call Vivienne, and the base stand is called conveniently Vivienne's mother. (The researcher's sense of humour will never cease to amaze me.) All I can say is lucky ol' Vivienne's mother, here to enjoy this beautiful view for the next few hours!

Our morning would consist of me going off with the DGPS (this large ranging pole which can record the position of this lobe), on my own through the wilderness. It would be my last little solitary experience in Alaska's vast primeval backcountry; a land mass composed of natural commotion and organic complexity. My hike through this labyrinth of untamed chaos as the Sun was waking up, was an inspirational one. I spotted a Grouse on my travels, a Snow Hare and a Red Squirrel. Nothing like the wolve's howling like I heard on my last trip, but still a comfortable and fulfilling array of wildlife.

 

I arrived back to meet Ronald and Margaret, finishing their work on the gyroscopes. Here's another way of documenting the movement of these 'slow moving landslides' we call Frozen Debris Lobes.

The destruction caused by this lobe is visible all over this feature; some of it is easier to spot than other parts. Trees are perhaps the easiest way to capture it in a photo. Trees, no matter how sturdy they look, can be ripped, twisted and even uprooted as a consequence. This tree looked as if it was literally walking!

Our afternoon's work would be a group effort to hike to all the stakes we hammered last week. An invigorating hike it turned out to be, with steep climbs to achieve, but at least we managed to keep warm, and in places, broke out a sweat! The views from the tip of the lobe were expectedly stunning. On a clear day, like it was on Saturday, it was a privilege to be amongst the splendour that this landscape so freely offers anyone who passes through it.

 

My three visits to the Brook's Range have been, literally, life-changing experiences. I have experienced a landscape-manifested sublimity that no part of this planet has ever offered me before. To comprehend this wilderness would somehow withdraw from its sheer beauty, and yet the sole reason why I have made these three excursions is partly one that attempts to solve its many mysteries. I will, of course, remain interested in the Frozen Debris Lobes, but even for a geomorphologist, there comes a time when you have to stop, put down your tools, and just stare. For those with an ear for nature's melody, an eye for purity and an untainted panorama, and a wanderlust in the wilderness, the Brooks Range is a must-visit, and I for one, am extremely fortunate to have been given that incredible opportunity.