An amazing six days in the mountains

Tom and I got back last night from 6 days of trekking, working and having fun in Sequyoah/Kings Canyon NP. We hiked over Bishop Pass, (which is just under 12,00o ft), and then descended west through Dusey Basin all the way down about 100 brutal switchbacks until we reached the Middle Fork of the Kings River and checked in with the Rangers living there. Then we took the John Muir/Pacific Crest Trail up river about 4 miles to Leconte Lake and after a long total of 17 miles, set up camp. Next day we found over 200 mountain yellow-legged frogs hopping around Leconte Lake, which was a great sign. We set up the exclosures for our experiment in several tadpole congregation sites, toughing out the numbing 4 degree water. Next day we hiked out and back up the switchbacks into Dusey Basin, where there was still some daylight left for some fly fishing, and I caught three little rainbow trout to add a little bit of protein to our pretty pitiful backcountry diet. Next day we then headed south a couple of miles of Knapsack Pass and into the Barrett Lakes Basin. For the next day and a half we set up the experiment in two separate lakes. Sometimes we'll get to a lake in the morning and will have to wait for some of the ice to melt because to get good nutrient variability readings we need to know exactly where the tadpoles are going to aggregate. The mohawk snowman smoking a cigar is a product of this waiting period. We also found some good boulders to climb on, and then there are always pushups and crunches haha. After our fifth night, Tom and I stashed our bags near Bishop Pass, which is at the base of Mt. Agassiz, towering at 13,893 ft. We made our way up the steep slope, and summitted it around 1 pm. The views were INCREDIBLE, and I couldn't have picked a better spot to devour my precious, last ration of salame, cheese and crackers.

Overall, the trip was great, and we were able to get all of the parts of the research we needed to get done, done. We'll be going back to the spots we've worked at so far again several times to do a bunch of algae and nutrient sampling (and hanging with the froggers).

gettin ready for a BIG trip

Bright and early tomorrow morning, Tom and I are heading out for a six night trip into Sequoyah/Kings Canyon NP. We've packed a bunch of research equipment, some of which we'll install in several lakes in the Barrett Lakes and Lecont Lakes area. We have to cover a lot of ground to get into our first site, so tomorrow we'll be trekking a mere 17 miles!! My boots are working great so far, but Tom recommended I get some sort of insoles, so I'll be gellin' with some Dr. Scholl's inserts, and hopefully that'll make the miles a little easier. I'm also bringing my fly rod, because I've heard that there a couple of good fishing lakes near where we'll be working, so hopefully i'll be able to add some wriggling, alpine trout to our dinner menus.

Into frozen, northern Yosemite

On Sunday I went into Yosemite NP with the grad student I originally interviewed with, Andrea, and her field assistant. We left from Tuolumne Meadows and headed north about 10 miles, the second half of which was off trail. There is a ridiculous amount of snow up there, and hiking through it can be really slow goin. We arrived at a small lake called Conness Lake (the A on the map) in the late afternoon, and immediately began catching frogs. When the sun goes down, it gets colder than it already is, and the frogs go down into the bottom of the lake for the night where we can't get at them. We caught 14 adult frogs and swabbed em' all so that through DNA analysis we can determine the bacterial communities that live on their skin, and through that try and figure out what bacterium help the froggies overcome the deadly Chytrid fungus that is killing so many of them off. It was really fun catching the little guys, even if they weren't having very much fun. We camped in the only snow free spot within at least a mile, and from which we could make out the north face of Half Dome in the far distance. This morning we hiked out by a slightly different route and once we were out of the snow, wound our way through the amazing Tuolumne Meadows. (By that time, we were at mile 12, and I was more thinking about how sore my feet were than the scenery haha)

Waiting for the ice to melt.....

It was a record winter for snowfall up here in the Eastern Sierra, so it's taking longer than expected for the ice on some of the lakes to melt. If there's ice in the lakes we wanna study, it means that the frogs and tadpoles are still hibernating at the bottom of the lake, and we can only do the experiments and surveys if the little guys are active and up at the shore. We've had to postpone going into the backcountry for several days, so in the meantime I've been getting to know the Mammoth Lakes area as well as some of the other people who are working here at SNARL. I've found a couple local bouldering spots that are fun, I've done a little bit of day hiking, and most of all I've been fishing a bunch!! Many of the lakes and streams in the area are stocked with rainbow trout, so even a newbie like myself can have some luck. I went fishing yesterday afternoon with one of the other field assistants staying here, and we caught ourselves some delicious dinner.

First Trip!

On friday, Tom (the grad student) and I drove south from SNARL about 70 miles to get to the trailhead at Onion Valley. From there we hiked over the Kearsarge Pass (11,760 ft), which marked the transition from John Muir Wilderness into the Sequoyah/Kings Canyon National Park. We went about 11 miles total the first day, camped for the night, then went a couple of miles to a small lake in Center Basin that so far has not been infected by the Chytrid fungus which is rapidly killing the Mountain Yellow-legged frogs to near extinction. The top right picture shows Tom placing one of the small, cage exclosures we are putting in the lakes that prevent the tadpoles from eating the algae, but still allow the nutrients in their poop to get to the algae. There's a ton of snow up there still, and many of the lakes we intend to work on are still frozen. This one was only 6 degrees Celcius haha, and anchoring the exclosures to the lake bottom is just a little bit brutal. As the lake got warmer later in the day, more tadpoles and frogs appeared (bottom left).

At these relatively high elevations the UVs are intense, so we try and stay covered up by wearing nerdy hats, but my hands still got roasted. All in all the trip went really well. Tom has spent over 500 nights in this area so I'm doing my best to keep pace, and I'm learning a bunch from him....this summer is going to be a lot of hard work, but after getting this first trip out of the way, I am super excited for what's to come...

Lab life...

This picture to the left is just 100 meters from the lab (in the trees), where I'm living quite well in one of the several houses.

Feedin' an army!

Planning for 70 days of eating in the backcountry is far from easy. This is just the start, and I'll definitely be re-stocking along the way. Ridiculous amounts of trailmix, dried fruit, granola + dry milk, PASTA + red sauce mix, quinoa, Clif protein bars, oatmeal, peanut butter, jelly, quinoa, mashed taters, salame, textured vegetable protein, couscous, tortillas, instant brown rice, tea + cocoa, vitamins, jerky, pretzels......i got it all.