On November 10, 2007, after two months of mostly focusing on classes, I was itching to get out and remind myself that I really am in Alaska.  Not to offend polynomial regression, but there’s a level of satisfaction that comes from standing knee-deep in light, fluffy mountain snow that I just wasn’t getting sitting in stats class staring out the window.  So I freed up a day to head out the Steese Highway about 90 miles and try my luck at ptarmigan hunting before winter grew too cold.  (It was a balmy -5°F on this date.)  I had no reason to believe the hunting would be particularly good in the Eagle Summit or Twelvemile Summit areas, but I like the scenery.

As evidence that classes fried my brain a bit, I present the wonderful pictures I took on the way out there:

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Weren’t those great?   Yes, I know you could judge them much better if you could see them.  Unfortunately, I took a couple dozen pictures before I realized there was no memory card in my camera.  So you’ll just have to take my word for it that the Steese is a pretty drive at that time of year.  Here’s where I ended up, near the put-in for the Birch Creek float trip:

It was midday, but at that time of year it’s always dawn or dusk.

I crossed over frozen Twelvemile Creek.  A layer of frosty crystals the size and shape of Corn Flakes covered the smooth surface of the stream ice:

Looking closely at the surface above, you can see that I wasn’t the first one to cross here:

There’s proof that caribou migrate through this area at about that time of year, too.

Upon crossing the river I walked a half mile down the valley toward Birch Creek, following the same game trail as that caribou.  The snow was nearly knee deep, but walking was fairly easy because it was some of the lightest snow I’ve ever been in.  It parted in front of my feet almost as easily as fog, and I covered ground quickly.  There was one bit of ptarmigan (or grouse) sign, a short series of paired wingtip and body imprints on the delicate surface of the snow.  But that bird seemed to be long gone.

That was all.  The ptarmigan hunting was a bust.  So was the first 2/3 of the photography.  But I still came home pretty pleased.