CGPS in Kodiak

Days 19-20: July 9-10, 2009

2009-07-10T21:09:00.003-04:00

We spent most of Thursday morning packing our gear and cleaning the house, and by midday we were ready to go. We had a quick lunch at Andy's and watched a photo slideshow and then departed for Kodiak Airport. For the next 18 hours, we made our way back to New York (with a quick stop in downtown Anchorage for dinner). We flew through the night from Anchorage to Dallas and then on to LaGuardia, and we were excited to arrive home to our families.

Stay tuned for a final post in the next few days, which will include more photos and a few videos. Here's a photo of our group, with Andy, at the Kodiak Airport. Click the photo to see the full-size version.

Day 18: July 8, 2009

2009-07-10T20:53:00.002-04:00

"Sudden Movements is almost as fun as Hide the Cub." --Gus Halper

With our work completed, we slept in today until 9am, had a leisurely morning, and headed to the beach. We timed our arrival to coincide with the low tide; by 10:30, the beach was enormous and completely flat. We played a game of soccer and a game of ultimate Frisbee, though our field was eventually washed away as the tide came back in. We moved away from the rising waters to enjoy sandwiches for lunch; a few of us even swam to beat the heat, as it reached about 70 degrees today. It was a fun experience to swim near Kodiak Harbor, as the air was hot, the water was cool and refreshing, and snow-capped peaks rose not far from the beach.

We left the beach and headed for Pillar Mountain, which rises over the village of Kodiak. The mountain is the site of the island's cellular towers as well as three new windmills. Kodiak gets most of its energy from the Terror Lake hydroelectric dam; when the mills come online, the island will get almost all of its energy from renewables. Each windmill blade is 200 feet long, and they emit a soft, eerie hum as they rotate. The summit of the mountain offered a wonderful panorama of the harbor and the nearby mountains, and we enjoyed the views and some more time in the sun.

We came down the mountain to make a quick stop in Kodiak and then returned to Andy's for dinner. After some downtime at the house, we headed through the woods to Crow Beach for a bonfire. As Ethan and Andy gathered driftwood to stoke the flames, the rest of us laughed around the fire, skipped stones into Monashka Bay, and took photos of a spectacular sunset.

In two weeks of work, we moved thousands of pounds of earth during our trail maintenance, and we collected almost 4000 pounds of marine debris (no small feat, considering most of it came in small pieces of plastic). So the night on the beach offered an idyllic conclusion to a wonderful trip. We went to the beach with just a bit of newspaper and a match, and within 20 minutes we had a fire roaring on the Alaskan shore. For the next three hours, we were content -- pleased, even -- to just enjoy our world. The fire crackled and snapped, the waters retreated as the tide went out, the sunset blazed along with the fire...this all might sound a bit saccharine, but it was fulfilling to know that in just 18 days, we helped to improve the condition of this wonderful location. It was just as satisfying to realize that we actually could make such an improvement, not by leaving these locations untouched, but rather by inserting ourselves gently into the environs and helping to secure their future. We tweaked the premise of "leave no trace" a small amount and instead left behind sustainable trails and clean beaches. Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/mtgn9e

Day 17: July 7, 2009

2009-07-09T05:38:00.003-04:00

We began the day with a pancake breakfast and then headed out for more bear viewing. As we approached the beach in the skiff, we could see the mother (from Monday) and her two cubs. We made our way to a bluff over the Thumb River and watched them as they napped on the riverbank. As we watched, we caught sight of a few other bears spread across the area, and one of them crossed the river about 20 meters from us.

After watching these four bears for about 30 minutes, our bear guide led us back to the skiff. On the way, we looked up yesterday's mountain and spotted the trail we'd blazed. Coming down the trail was a sow with a cub, and they covered the difficult terrain much more quickly than we had. We watched intently as they reached the lake shore -- about 200 meters from us -- and made their way into the lake for a quick swim. After making their way back to the beach, both bears headed in our direction, and they eventually passed within 20 feet of us.

Farther down the beach, these two bears were turned back by the sow and two cubs. So, we had a second close viewing, this one from about 15 feet. We and the bears kept our distance from the other, and the bears moved into the grass as they approached and then came back to the beach once they were past us. It seemed the sow was only looking for food; the salmon aren't running yet in the Thumb River, and it spent the entire time eating grasses.

We eventually made our way back to Camp Island, had a quick lunch, and then departed by floatplane. One group had an aerial tour of Kodiak's last glacier, while the other saw a herd of mountain goats on a mountaintop snow pack. After our arrival at Trident Pass floatplane basin, we returned to the Island C in order to offload the marine debris. With the help of a boom truck and 13 sets of hands, we unloaded the debris in about three hours.

We returned to Andy's and enjoyed pizza for dinner. Tonight was relaxing, as we took advantage of the creature comforts at Andy's -- like electricity and running water -- and we also played more Scrabble. Click below's for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/nn39gn

Day 16: July 6, 2009

2009-07-09T02:00:00.001-04:00

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Control freak. Now you say control freak who." --Andy Schroeder

Andy made breakfast hash this morning, and then we headed out onto Camp Island to pull orange hawkweed. The hawkweed is an invasive species on the island, and it threatens the pushki plant which makes Camp Island a natural bear habitat. The plant is a member of a dandelion family, and it grows fairly close to the ground. In thick waist-high vegetation, the tiny flowers were difficult to find, but we returned to the cabins with a few hundred plants.

After lunch, we decided to explore a nearby mountain. The hike was slow-going at first, as the terrain was rough, the vegetation was thick, and the climb was steep. And, in such a remote location, there was no trail up the mountain. So, moving in a train of 11 people, we literally made our own trail and climbed for about three hours. After gaining about 1800 feet of elevation (out of 3000), we decided to stop and just enjoy the views over Karluk Lake, Thumb Lake, Camp Island, and the nearby mountains. It was spectacular Alaska scenery -- again -- and we reveled in the fact that we were 11 of the very small number who'd ever been up that mountain. (It's remote enough that it remains unnamed.)

On our hike down the mountain, we watched a few bears play and hunt in the Thumb River and Karluk Lake. By the time we reached the shore of the lake, the bears were only a few hundred meters in the distance, so when we boarded the skiff to head back to the cabins, we headed first in the direction of the bears. We watched intently as some ursine drama unfolded on the beach, just 100 meters from the skiff. A mother with three newborn cubs headed in the direction of a larger sow with two older cubs; the smaller mother was heading into the wind and the larger one was out of sight, so we were expecting a confrontation. At about 10 meters, the smaller bear caught wind of the larger and began to retreat with her three cubs. The larger sow (and her two cubs) took off down the beach to give chase, and eventually the two mothers squared off. They tangled with each other for about 30 seconds and eventually retreated in opposite directions. The encounter wasn't fatal -- or even that vicious -- but both bears moved swiftly and were quite territorial. (In today's photos, the smaller sow is on the right, showing her teeth.)

After our return from bear viewing, we took a quick dip in the lake to cool off and then enjoyed a dinner of hamburgers and grilled chicken, macaroni and cheese and vegetables. A few of us also enjoyed a turn in the island banya, and then we turned in for the night. Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/kqy44a

Day 15: July 5, 2009

2009-07-08T04:06:00.005-04:00

(Note: After several days with no internet access, we're back in Kodiak. We posted entries for our time on Shuyak Island and our first day on Camp Island, and we'll post the remaining entries by Thursday. Check below for descriptions and photos.)

"Ummm, I ordered a vegetarian meal?" --Mike Pauker

"Is it a little stuffy back there? I'll put down the window." --Josh, our floatplane pilot

We finished packing early this morning and headed to Trident Pass for our floatplane rides. We traveled in two separate planes, and the rides were incredible. We essentially flew down the spine of Kodiak Island to Camp Island, so for most of the journey, we looked out the windows at mountains on either side of the plane. It was a spectacular way to see the island. We wore headsets and enjoyed chatting with our pilots, and both Josh and Adam were friendly and willing to answer our questions. And, as you can see from our Quote of the Day, one benefit of flying at 3500 feet is that we could actually roll down the window (!!) in order to control the temperature of the cabin.

We landed in Karluk Lake and unloaded on Camp Island, where we went to work making lunch. The cabins are sparse but functional; the shelves are fully stocked, and we collect and boil lake water in order to cook and clean dishes. After lunch, we went for our first bear viewing expedition. We saw one large bear in the Thumb River and another bear on the edge of the lake. The cabin manager, Alex, said there were relatively few salmon in the river, so the bears may be hard to find this week. These first two animals, however, were really impressive. As large as they were, they moved over land and through the water with ease.

We managed to visit Camp Island on one of the hottest days of the summer, and by the time we returned from the bear viewing, we were all uncomfortably hot and sweaty. So, even though the lake was frigid (it's fed by the North Pacific), we all wound up in the water for a quick, refreshing dip. As cold as the water was, this was one of the highlights of the trip so far. Our morale probably hasn't been higher than during the 30 seconds or so we all whooped and screamed together in the water (mostly out of enjoyment but partially out of a fear of frostbite). Justin even managed to stay in for a full 20 minutes, and since Mr. Hoek offered him 50 cents per minute, Justin made a quick ten dollars!

Tonight's dinner was grilled chicken, broccoli, and Kraft macaroni and cheese. Katie and the interns also made an apple dessert and a chocolate chip bar dessert for today's birthday celebration. Mr. Hoek turned 30, and his family sent a few cards and about two dozen photos from the past 30 years; a few of the interns really enjoyed seeing photos from his "Awkward Years".

We turned in by about 11:30pm, and we'll start tomorrow with an invasive species removal. Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/ms53gn

Day 14: July 4, 2009

2009-07-08T03:48:00.003-04:00

We slept this morning until 8am and awoke for our final breakfast on board. After filling up on pancakes and bacon, we split into two groups. One group paddled the kayaks toward Whale Pass while the other group visited a nearby cannery. The kayakers enjoyed the wildlife on the water, and we spent some time watching a tide rip in the middle of Kuprianov Strait. (A tide rip is a section of water where the current moves quickly.) We could see the rip from a distance, and as we paddled closer to it, we could hear just how quickly the water was moving. It was pretty impressive, as the water sounded like river rapids, but it was flowing through the ocean strait. We watched as a group of gulls took advantage of the current. They'd fly to an upstream spot in the rip, drift several hundred meters with the current and feed on small fish as they drifted, then fly back to the beginning of the rip and drift down again. The paddlers eventually pulled out at a beach in Whale Pass, and the Island C came to pick them up. The other group spent about two hours at the cannery, where our deckhand Emily played guitar with Gus.

After loading the boat, we set our course and headed back to Kodiak. The return trip took about six hours, and we passed the time watching the wildlife and scenery, enjoying the sunshine on the decks, fishing, and watching episodes of Scrubs. After arriving Kodiak Harbor, we unloaded the boat and bid farewell to the crew. We saw this week that life on a boat presents some interesting challenges. There are plenty of places in the archipelago where the water is too shallow for the Island C, and there are also plenty of places where there aren't docks to use. So we'd anchor the boat in a deep bay or cove and then shuttle around in the skiffs. We also needed to adjust to the gentle rocking of the ship, and we took sea showers to focus on water and energy conservation, as well. The boat itself was pretty incredible: with a fuel capacity of 15000 gallons, the Island C could easily sail from Kodiak to Seattle without needing to refuel. It could store almost that much freshwater, as well, and it had no problem accommodating the 16 of us. There was also plenty of space for us to store all the debris we found -- it was the ideal vessel for this part of our voyage.

And the language on a boat is wonderful, too: port, starboard, windward, leeward, galley, head, gangway, wheelhouse, helm, boom, winch, skiff, hawser, cleat, gaf...saying any of these words with a gentle spray in your face makes you feel like a genuine mariner.

We finished the evening with dinner at Henry's Restaurant and a birthday celebration for Emily. We had burgers and cheesesteaks for dinner, and Betsy (Andy's girlfriend) brought a Cupcake Cake for dessert. Back at Andy's, we unloaded our gear, did a bit of laundry, and prepared to travel to Camp Island. Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/mt7ao5

Day 13: July 3, 2009

2009-07-08T03:05:00.002-04:00

"Mike, it's essentially just a glorified sparkler." --Trevor Jones, captain

We were back on a normal schedule this morning, and we were awake at 7am and on the beach by about 8:15. Today was our last day of marine debris cleanup, and we collected more debris today than any other day this week. We removed the remaining three sections of webbing/netting/fishing line, and the first section easily weighed between 250 and 300 pounds (it took four of us to drag it down the beach to load in a supersack). We collected close to 1000 pounds of debris today, which was a nice way to finish our week of cleanup. We're split on whether we prefer trail work or debris cleanup. In the first case, we started with mostly untouched woodlands and left behind a trail; in the second, we began with a beach strewn with fishing detritus and tried to leave behind nothing.

We returned to the Island C at about 1pm and sailed out of Big Bay. At this point, we're pretty efficient at moving from one place to the next. It takes all of us working together, but we can load the debris into the holds, hoist the supersacks onto the upper deck, load the kayaks into the skiffs, hoist the skiffs to the upper deck, and bring up the anchor in about 30 minutes. We sailed southwest in the Shelikof for approximately eight hours, and we passed the time watching the incredible scenery. There were spectacular snow-capped mountains on both sides of the strait; we also saw a small pod of fin whales and two large groups of Dall's porpoises. The porpoises were thrilling to watch, as both groups approached the boat from the south and turned around when they reached us to swim out in front of the boat. Standing on the bow, we watched as the porpoises leapt and dove just feet in front of us. A few of us also watched movies and spent time in the wheelhouse with Andy and our captain, Trevor.

Katie delivered tonight's presentation, and she spoke about environmental engineering and New York City's drinking water. We finished the evening anchored in Port Bailey, between Bare Island and Dry Spruce Island, where we celebrated the Fourth of July by using flares as makeshift fireworks. Ships like the Island C are required to carry flares to signal for help in times of distress, but the flares expire after three years. Since flares typically never get used, most vessels have a surplus of flares onboard. So, after alerting the Coast Guard of our location (yes, really!), Trevor fired two parachute flares from the deck of the boat and the interns burned smoke flares. It wasn't completely dark out -- because it never is -- and it technically wasn't even the Fourth in Alaska. But we had to alert the Coast Guard, so we all agreed this was just as dramatic as the Macy's display over the Hudson River. Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/npqr7l

Day 12: July 2, 2009

2009-07-08T03:01:00.001-04:00

We altered our schedule a bit today and slept an extra hour (until 8am), and we awoke to French toast for breakfast. (Mike, the cook, made it with bread he made onboard, and it was excellent. We realize, however, that details like these might change your perceptions of our voyage!) After breakfast, we sailed out of Carry Inlet and headed for Big Bay, which is on the west side of Shuyak Island. The voyage around the northern edge of the island took about four hours, though we did stop for an hour to do a bit of fishing. We brought up four more large halibut, so there will be plenty of fresh fish for the next three days.

We arrived in Big Bay by mid-afternoon and went right to work on a nearby beach. This particular beach was almost a "double" beach -- it faced Big Bay on one side and the Shelikof Strait on the other; Mount Douglas and Fourpeaked Mountain rose in the distance across the strait. (The Shelikof is named for Grigorii Shelikhov, who in 1784 became the first Russian to defeat the native Alutiiq people.) Last year's ITN crew cleaned the same beach about a year ago, but it was again littered with debris. We worked for four hours and collected more plastics and fishing gear, but this particular location had four large sections of netting, webbing, and fishing line that were caught in massive pieces of driftwood. A team of three of us removed one of the sections, but we saved the other three for tomorrow when we can come back with a reciprocating saw. It's difficult to cut through the webbing and hawser, and the hawser itself is quite heavy: just a four-foot section weighed between 10 and 15 pounds. Tangled in the same collection of line was a section of high-seas drift netting, which has been outlawed by a consortium of Pacific Rim nations, including the United States. Andy took a photo of the precise location and tagged the photo with latitude/longitude coordinates in order to report it to the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation.

At about 6pm, we returned to the ship for dinner. We were joined by the Shuyak State Park rangers, and we shared an excellent chicken dinner. For dessert -- and Gus's birthday! -- Mike made a delicious chocolate cake. Gus opened a birthday present from home, and we're all jealous of his custom-made t-shirt. After dinner, we loaded the skiffs and followed the rangers back to the ranger station. The station itself was spectacular; Ranger Kevin Murphy, who led our efforts at Abercrombie State Park, custom built the station over a three-year period during the late 1990s. He and his crew used only timber cut from the site, and you can see in today's photos just how nice it is. It's also the epitome of a ``green'' building. The rangers use only wind and solar power, their water is collected in a cistern from rainwater runoff, and they get hot water by heating a five-gallon container on the wood stove. (For a high-efficiency shower, they connect a hose and valve to the bucket.) It hardly seemed like hard living, though, with a banya out back and world-class views out the front door.

We left the ranger station in the skiffs and cruised to the base of Mountain 508, which is named for its elevation (in feet). The trail to the summit was narrow and steep, but we made quick work of the hike. Our reward was a gorgeous sweeping vista of Big Bay and the Shelikof, and most of us took photos from the top. We traveled back down the mountain and returned in the skiffs to the Island C, where we cleaned up for an hour and then turned in for the night. Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/m2rxsz

Day 11: July 1, 2009

2009-07-08T02:57:00.001-04:00

"Where the h@ll is everyone?!" --Justin Stewart

After breakfast this morning, we piled into the skiffs and cruised out of Carry Inlet to today's beach. We split into three teams and worked until noon, and we collected about two dozen garbage bags and filled four supersacks. Jasmine found her souvenir for the trip -- a glass float! -- and we found even more commercial fishing gear. We managed to pack all the garbage and the twelve of us (our engineer, Harry, worked, too) into the skiffs, and we returned to the Island C.

Upon our return to the ship, we met two kayakers who paddled over to the boat. They were visiting Shuyak from Anchorage, and we invited them to share our soup and sandwiches for lunch. After lunch, we again split into a hiking group and a kayaking group. The paddlers visited a white sand beach and saw a harbor seal with two pups; the hikers made their way through the spruce forest and along the beach, where they saw two jellyfish washed up onshore. The hikers also made VHF contact with the park ranger station, and the rangers are expecting our arrival tomorrow. Hopefully they'll help us get a quick message to our families.

Andy gave tonight's evening presentation, and he offered information about the mammals of the Archipelago. By now, we've seen several of these mammals, so it was informative to have some more information about them. At the end of the evening, Harry returned from an hours-long fishing voyage, and he arrived with three more large halibut. He and Jasmine filleted them on the back deck -- it looks like there will be more good eating for the rest of the week! Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/l26bbe

Day 10: June 30, 2009

2009-07-08T02:48:00.001-04:00

"Which is it: every time there's a rainbow a unicorn is born or every time a unicorn is born there's a rainbow?" --Jasmine Rebadavia

We began the day back on Perevalnie Beach. We worked in two groups: one hiked to an adjacent beach (through a beautiful forest), while the other stayed closer to the original beach. We found items similar to those we found yesterday -- including a second hypodermic needle, as well as more floats and plastic bottles -- and we finished in that location by mid-morning. After our work on the beach, we headed back to the Island C and loaded the debris into the holds. We also loaded the four kayaks into the two skiffs and then the skiffs onto the upper deck of the boat; it's impressive how efficiently we make use of the deck space, as the Island C is carrying all of us, our gear, and six smaller boats.

Around noon, we brought up the anchor and made a 90-minute transit to Carry Inlet. The weather was cool and misty, so we stayed inside for the transit and amused ourselves with the Movie Game. When we arrived at the inlet, we brought the skiffs and kayaks back down and split into groups for the afternoon. Yesterday's hikers were today's kayakers and vice versa, and today's scenery was just as spectacular. The paddlers enjoyed a long, relaxing voyage. They stopped at Red Buoy Beach, which was cleaned last year by ITN, and found it to be in good condition. Moving on, they made their way to Skiff Passage, where they had to wait for the tide to bring higher water in order to make it through the passage. After an hour or so -- of sunshine on the beach! -- they paddled on to Middle Lake, where they portaged their boats back to the edge of Carry Inlet. From there, it was just a few minutes back to the Island C. The hikers made their way through another plush, mossy forest and hiked around three lakes. The wildlife was abundant again, as they saw ringnecks, loons, black oyster catchers, and cormorants; they also saw a beaver, several otters, and two porpoises.

After dinner, Rich presented some information on the birds of Kodiak Archipelago. There's an incredible variety of birds here, some of which travel between Hawaii and Alaska with the changes in the season. Several interns took their first sea shower today -- get wet, turn water off, lather up, turn water back on, rinse -- and we turned in for the night. Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/lp883x

Day 9: June 29, 2009

2009-07-08T00:18:00.005-04:00

"RADIO!!" --Jake Teperman

Today was our first day of marine debris cleanup. The Island C is anchored in Back Bay, so at 8am, we boarded the skiff and traveled the remaining distance -- about a quarter of a mile -- to the beach. We walked the entire beach -- also about a quarter of a mile long -- and placed the garbage in yellow plastic bags, and we were surprised by the variety of items we discovered. It seemed most of the debris originated on commercial fishing vessels, as we found a few dozen floats, ranging from the size of a baseball to the size of a beach ball. We also found lengths of rope and sections of netting, as well as scores of plastic bottles and pieces. We found bottles from North America, Asia, and Australia; we could tell from the labels, many of which contained no English.

We had a few big discoveries today, though. Most floats in the world's commercial fishing fleets are made of heavy duty plastic, but at one time, Japanese boats used glass floats. So we were excited today when Mike found one, in a grassy wetland about 200 meters back from the beach. (These are considered collector's items; Andy has found only three in his years in Alaska.) We actually did more cleanup near this location than on the beach itself, and we were surprised at the size of the debris we found. In addition to the glass float, we also found a steel float with Russian characters on it; both of these were too heavy to be carried by wind so far from the water. This indicated to us one of two possibilities: they were deposited by either a once-in-a-decade high tide or by the 1964 tsunami. This made clear the importance of our efforts today. If a storm surge could deposit these items so far from the beach, a similar surge could also recapture them and carry them back to the ocean, and we started to realize the ocean environment extends far beyond the beach. Finally, we also found an enormous Yokahama boat fender, which is a bumper used between two ships when they meet midsea. This particular fender was so large that we had to leave it; Andy is thinking of asking the Coast Guard to come airlift it off the beach.

After loading the bags into two supersacks, we loaded the debris back onto the skiff. We traveled back to the Island C, used the boat's crane to lift the debris onboard, and stored everything in the hold below deck. We had a quick taco lunch and then split into two groups, with one group in the kayaks and one group hiking the nearby terrain. The two groups had an unexpected rendezvous about 90 minutes after departing, as the kayakers pulled out at a beach and the hikers were across the bay on a rocky point. Yelling across the distance, the hikers were able to convey there was a bear nearby, though the kayakers weren't sure where. Andy grabbed his radio from his kayak in order to communicate with the hikers, who could see the bear on the next beach. The kayakers put back in and paddled into the next cove, where a large brown bear was resting on the beach. We stayed in the boats, about 75 meters from the beach, but the bear soon heard our chatter and awoke from his nap. He stared at the paddlers for a few minutes, moved down the beach, and eventually headed into the high grasses, but it was an exciting way to see the first bear of the trip. Both the hikers and paddlers saw other wildlife, including more puffins and sea lions, as well as a seal, otters, and some deer.

Tonight's dinner was again exceptional -- halibut enchiladas (with our catch from yesterday), as well as chicken and rice. It seems Mike, our cook, is Alaska's Top Chef, and we're amazed at what he can do in a tiny galley with no groceries within 80 miles. After dinner, we heard a presentation from Rich, our biologist, who worked for 33 years at NOAA. He provided a wealth of information about Alaska's fisheries, and he offered details about everything from the different types of boats to the different species of fish. We finished the evening with a showing of The Wedding Singer ("See, Billy Idol gets it. I don't know why she doesn't get it?!''), and then retired to our sleeping berths for the night. Click below for some photos from today.

http://tinyurl.com/n6lxey

Day 8: June 28, 2009

2009-07-08T00:10:00.007-04:00

We woke early this morning to pack and make our way to the Island C; after loading our gear and meeting the crew, we were under way. We were joined by Trevor (our captain), Harry (the engineer), Rich (the biologist), Emily (the deckhand), and Mike (the cook). Several of us napped as we pulled out of the harbor, but we gathered again for lunch and a safety briefing, where Andy and Harry gave instructions and details about life on a ship.

About halfway to Shuyak, we dropped a few fishing lines in the water; before we knew it, we had five large fish flopping on the deck. Justin led the way with two halibut and a rockfish, but several of us eventually landed fish. We easily had enough to accompany our hamburger dinners, and there's plenty more on ice for later in the week. The highlight of this fishing, however, was watching the interns take turns with the filet knife. Under Rich's watchful eye, they produced a few nice filets as well as a few fish organs. We took turns holding the heart of a halibut, passing it around the deck amazed that it was still beating, outside of the fish. We had several other wildlife sightings, too: we saw several whales breach in the distance, puffins flying and swimming not far from the boat, and we also passed not far from a sea lion breeding ground. And we saw dozens of gulls, most of which were flying behind the boat as we worked at the filet table.

After dinner, Andy gave a brief introduction to marine debris and this week's project. We'll eventually have more information to share about the work; have a look at NOAA's webpage (at right) for more information about marine debris. Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/msjt5q

Day 7: June 27, 2009

2009-06-28T02:37:00.003-04:00

"At one point, I tried to get everyone to call me Schroedkil -- it didn't catch on. It was during my heavy metal phase." --Andy Schroeder

We started the day back at Rotary Park working on the new trail, and we again moved along the trail as a train. At this point, we've each used all the tools, though a few of us have developed our preferences. Gus just may be the finest bow saw user in the state, and Emily, Hannah, and Jasmine all used the reciprocating saw today to fell small trees. Mike has become an accomplished lopper, and he brings down branches of all sizes. Justin prefers the Pulaski for removing stumps and the vegetative matter, while Jake uses the pick mattock for the same purpose. Ethan seems to be something of a Trail Wizard, appearing just in time -- with the appropriate tool -- to help with whatever situation presents itself.

We finished the work day by grilling hot dogs at the Rotary Park pavilion. Andy invited some ITN board members to meet the interns, and we walked the trail together after we ate; everyone was impressed with our progress. We felt a significant sense of accomplishment tonight, as we cleared several hundred feet of trail in just two days. It's gratifying to think about what we created: a sustainable trail to serve Kodiak hikers for years to come.

We depart tomorrow for Shuyak Island, so we stopped tonight at Walmart for last-minute supplies. We also purchased fishing licenses for the trip, so we'll throw a few lines in both on the way there and on the return trip. The prospect of landing a halibut is exciting, both because they're huge fish but also because just one fish would easily feed our entire group, with plenty to spare.

Shuyak is at the northern end of the Kodiak Archipelago, and it's so remote we won't have access to cell signals or the internet. So, this will be the last blog post for about a week. We'll write a post each day and post them all on our return, but this is it for now.

Finally, here are a few photos from today, including a before and after shot that might indicate how much we cleared these last two days.

http://tinyurl.com/mdp8uk

Day 6: June 26, 2009

2009-06-27T02:49:00.005-04:00

"Really? We're going to relive the moment over and over again?!" --Emily Saltz

After breakfast this morning, we went to work on today's project: cutting a brand new trail through Kodiak's Rotary Park. The trail itself runs along a hillside, but we couldn't cut the trail at the bottom of the hill because the terrain there is marshy wetland. Instead, we built the trail right into the hillside, which made for difficult work. The technical term for this type of trail is a "bench cut", which means we cleared a corridor for the trail and then leveled and flattened the grade, which created a "bench" into the slope.

We've added some great new tools to our arsenal in the last few days: the weed whip, the reciprocating saw, and the machete (yes, really -- Emily and Justin are naturals with it!), and each was quite useful today. To create the corridor, we worked as a 12-person train. The advance group worked with the machete to knock down grasses and salmonberry. The next group used weed whips, bow saws, and the reciprocating saw to bring down small trees and large branches, while the rear team used Pulaskis, picks, and McLeods to strip the vegetative matter from the ground and flatten the grade. The work is tiring but rewarding; at the end of the day, there were a few hundred feet of trail where this morning there was only heavy brush.

At about 4pm, we headed into town for a quick outing in the kayaks. We paddled briefly around Kodiak Harbor and delivered the kayaks to the Island C, which is the boat we'll take to Shuyak Island on Sunday (click the link at right for information about the ship). We also made a quick stop at Harborside Coffee for coffee and snacks -- the Harborside Mocha is reason enough to visit the island!

The night was filled with walks to the beach, a quick run, conversation and card games. Here are some of today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/r8anms

Day 5: June 25, 2009

2009-06-26T02:45:00.002-04:00

"I make a hot meal. You come home 30 minutes late. You smell like the pub?!" --Mike Pauker

We made our way this morning to the Island Lake Trail, a community trail owned by Kodiak Borough. We again split into two teams: one to do brush work and the other to place anti-skid strips on a 200-foot boardwalk. The brush work is becoming more familiar, and we're quick to assess which tool to use for each task. The boardwalk work was straightforward but lengthy: we glued down over 100 strips of mineral paper and drove ten nails into each strip. After lunch, we worked together to finish the brush work, and then we headed to the Kodiak Fisheries Science Center (NOAA). The highlight was the Touch Tank, a large, open saltwater tank where we could hold starfish, sea anemones, sea cucumbers, crabs, and sea urchins.

For dinner tonight we had fresh, locally caught king salmon, and dessert was s'mores by the campfire. Tomorrow our work will be a bit different, as we start from scratch to cut a new community trail in Kodiak.

Click the link for today's photos. A few are labeled with captions.

http://tinyurl.com/ll85hu

Day 4: June 24, 2009

2009-06-25T00:50:00.005-04:00

"If we use the `A' here, we'll have OR-A-TENT and SIX-A-SOFT." --Gus Halper

After breakfast this morning, we headed back to Fort Abercrombie State Park. We all started together at a beach location and worked to gather stones; the stones would serve as the steps in a stone staircase on one of the park's trails. This was some of the most demanding work we've done so far, as each stone weighed between 80 and 100 pounds, and we collected about 20 of them. We moved them from the beach to the trail in the bed of a pickup truck, but we first had to move them from the beach to the truck. We worked in two and three-person teams, lifting the stones from the beach and carrying them about 30 yards to the truck.

After gathering the stones, we split into two crews. One crew worked to install boardwalk over a low spot in the trail, so hikers could avoid the wet, marshy areas that formed after rainfalls. This team worked to level the trail grade, arranged the timber, and used power tools (!!) to fasten the planks to their foundations. The second crew went to a hill on a different trail to work on the staircase. They cut into the hillside in order to place 19 individual stones, leveled the grade, and filled in around each one.

On our way home, we stopped to see tomorrow's assignment. We won't be in the State Park but will instead work on a community trail in Kodiak. We'll continue to work like we have the past two days, but it also looks like we may have to use a jack to raise and level a small pedestrian footbridge. We arrived home for an excellent dinner: chicken, pasta, veggies, and salad, and we'll put all that fuel to good use tomorrow.

Scrabble has become something of a post-dinner ritual, and both Justin and Gus have proved to be solid players. Perhaps we'll see a bingo before the end of the trip. Finally, we think we've solved our photo problems, so here's a slideshow from our first four days. Click the following link; when the first image appears, mouse over the photo to control the show. Enjoy!

http://tinyurl.com/mcae48

Day 3: June 23, 2009

2009-06-24T04:27:00.003-04:00

"I feel like I'm at a Super WaWa." --Ethan Zubkoff

After an early breakfast (raspberry white chocolate scones!), we made our way to Fort Abercrombie State Park to start our trail work. We had a brief orientation session with Andy and park ranger Kevin Murphy, both of whom explained the basics of tool safety. The tools themselves have fantastic names: the pick, the pick mattock, the Pulaski, the McLeod, the lopper, the rock bar, the bow saw. Each serves a specific purpose, and just saying the names a few times made us feel like genuine trail workers.

We worked in two teams during the morning. One team cleared small brush -- like salmonberry plants -- and larger objects, like stumps and fallen trees. The other team did rock work -- pulling up large rocks from a new trail -- as well as restoration work, which involved covering an old trail with moss and tree limbs.

After lunch, we worked as a group to cut and excavate six drainage ditches on the trail. The trail itself has some steep grades; if the water runs down them too quickly during large runoff events, the trail erodes. The ditches were about fifteen feet long, two feet wide and six inches deep, and the soil was incredibly rocky. The work is strenuous and quickly generates sore fingers, wrists, and shoulders, but the "office space" -- surrounded by moss-covered spruce trees overlooking the Gulf of Alaska -- makes it easy to stay motivated.

After dinner, we walked through the woods to nearby Crow Beach, where we spent a few hours walking the beach, taking photos, and having wheelbarrow/piggyback races. The stones on the beach were perfect for skipping, though a few of us need some work on our technique. Our last stop of the night was in a traditional Alaskan banya, an outdoor cedar sauna/steamroom. From the door of the banya, we overlooked Monashka Bay -- not bad for Day 3.

We're having a little trouble posting large numbers of photos, so hopefully we'll solve that problem in the next day or so. Here's a nice group shot of our time on the beach tonight, with Pyramid Mountain in the background.

Days 1-2: June 21-22, 2009

2009-06-24T03:49:00.003-04:00

"It was like, wake up. You're in Alaska. Go hike!" --Emily Saltz

After 17 long hours, we arrived safely on Sunday in Kodiak at 10:30 local time. We were greeted at the airport by Andy Schroeder (the founder of Island Trails Network), and we made our way to Monashka Bay, where we'll be staying until the weekend. After a quick orientation at the house, we headed for bed -- at midnight -- with the sun still on the horizon. It really did feel like the longest day of the year.

We slept in a bit on Monday morning, had breakfast, and headed out to hike Pyramid Mountain. The hike was strenuous, in part because the weather changes quickly and dramatically on the island. We had sunshine, a quick, driving rain, a rainbow, and gusting winds all in the span of two hours. We gained over 2000 feet of elevation (see the terrain map below); four of us climbed a bit farther to summit the mountain. The views were breathtaking, though difficult to express in a blog post.

The trip downhill was just as exciting, as we decided the best way down a large snow pack was to slide on our butts. The real work starts tomorrow, but today was a wonderful introduction to Alaska.

Here's the terrain map and a photo of our hike.

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Tougher in Alaska, CGPS Edition

2009-06-18T00:10:00.024-04:00

On Sunday, June 21, a team of eight CGPS students and two chaperones will join a crew from Island Trails network for a three-week project on Alaska's Kodiak Island. We're making the trip as environmental stewards; we'll be doing trail maintenance, invasive species removal, and beach debris cleanup. While it's the biggest state in the nation, it's hard to describe the size of Alaska, so this image might help. Alaska is bigger than Texas, California, and Montana -- combined -- and it's also bigger than the 22 smallest states, combined. The state of New York would fit within Alaska's (land) borders 12 times over.

Kodiak Island is the second largest island by area in the United States (behind Hawaii's Big Island), and it's bigger than both Rhode Island and Delaware. Follow the links at right for some information about the island itself, the village of Kodiak, and Island Trails Network. Here's a map of the island; you can zoom in or out, move left or right, or click the `View Larger Map' link (beneath the map) to really explore. Feel free to follow our progress, and don't hesitate to leave comments. We'll be gone until July 10, and we'll post project information and updates, photos, and maybe even a video or two.

View Larger Map