Dry Valleys

Before I start make a mental picture of this map, or just understand what I am talking about. It will make much more sense.
Or become acquainted with this website. It will just help me.

Been quite busy lately. A good deal of my time here at the camps is spent preparing meals, cleaning, gathering water, and just keeping things together. At McMurdo it was spent running around frolicking in the volcanic goodness of Ross island. The last 7 days I have been here have shown me more than I have ever hoped to see. We started at lake Hoare camp. This camp is run by Rae Spain. She has been here for a while and knows all the ins and outs. Hoare camp is run by three large solar panels built by NASA and fully power the station. There are 3 labs outside the main building, and a couple of Rocket toilets. Rocket toilets are exactly what they sound like. You poop in them and they produce a lovely aroma filling the air around camp that reminds me of burnt hair and Middle Eastern Oil refineries. Thats right! It smokes your waste to reduce the weight to bring back to the States for processing.
I have written about the valleys somewhere, but have been too busy to transcribe it right now. So instead I am just rambling about the valleys. And since this is Mu'rka, I will just add a lot of pretty pictures so no thinking will be required.

Lake Hoare Hilton. Balloons = Amy's Bday

Granite walls above Hoare Hilton

You can kind of glimpse the moon between the rocks. Difficult when it is bright out.

Lake Hoare ablation (sand melting ice in amazing shapes) below peak 1882

Nick and I killing Jenga during our Sat night 80's party!

The Hoare Hilton and its modest accomadations

The mountains surrounding Lake Hoare which is around 150 ft, rise 6000 ft to precipitous points smeared with granite walls that are cut into pieces by the quartz veins and other minerals. There is something surreal here.
We started out after setting up camp by opening up Andersen H1 stream guage. Pretty simple. You switch the empty N2 tank with a full one and swap the storage modules that have been recording stream data since the stream team was here last summer. We then took an ATV up lake Hoare to the Suess glacier and eventually arrived at House H2 stream after passing a number of mummified seals. Opened that guage with a few problems but we will fix those soon.

1882 in the clouds. 1882 is the height in meters. Brilliant name.

My tent at Hoare below Canada glacier

Doing what I do best!

Typical Flume on stream. This is Andersen stream about 40 m above Lake Hoare

House Stream, flume, and guage box below suess glacier

That night we hiked to Canada glacier and checked out some wicked ice falls. Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
Since I am by myself I was able to get my very own GA! (General assistant). Matt Herron. He has been very helpful in opening up stream guages and is super chill. Sandra Liu also accompanied us to F6 camp.

Canada glacier ice falls and ice tongue to the right(about 1500 ft high)

Mt Erebus above McMurdo from Canada glacier

Me on top of Canada glacier looking South

Nothing to say but sun doggin it.

Hike down from Canada along a natural moraine ridge

Canada glacier cascade?

The Kiwi's "Porsche of the sky"

All electronic controls

Lake Fryxell and my future home for the majority of 3 months

At F6 the first day we stole Fryxell camps ATV and opened up a number of guages on the South end of lake Fryxell, and the next day we opened up the guages on the North side. That night we all went looking for some scandalous stream guages up in the hills. We found one of the two and then played Scooby Doo and split our own ways on to enlightening vision quests. While I did not gain any great overpowering perspective, I was overpowered by my perspective. The hike was great.

Not a bad view to wake up to every morning

A seal that made it pretty far. But not far enough to the ocean on the other side of the continent

Typical guage box with Nitrogen and stuff and stuff

Sandra and Matt. Not a bad gig.

Hard at work on a frozen stream.

This seal made it about 4 miles up stream away from the ocean to lay frozen in this desert.

Life under the ice in form of algae

Canada glacier and ice falls from Fryxell

The Matterhorn. No picture in the world can do this mountain justice.

side of a random snow patch

Commonwealth glacier through a ventifact

Beauty is everywhere even if it is a rock in a desert

Another glimpse of Canada glacier and ice falls from the top of my hike

Commonwealth glacier from the hike

Lake Fryxell from the hike. Our camp is at the bottom right of the lake. Or SouthEast corner. Canada to the West and Commonwealth to the East

And to the far East is the ocean and New Harbor.Water in the far background

One more shot of Canada

A stunning Cobra Ventifact!

Balanced rock in a different desert

Balanced Rock.....s

I guess one more shot up valley towards Hoare wouldn't hurt

Typical moss found in the stream bed that grows everywhere when wet

Today we flew over the hills to the Wright valley and the Onyx river. The Onyx river is the longest river in Antarctica and looks kayakable at high water! How do I bring my kayak down to Antarctica? Science cargo? It also flows away from the ocean?!?!?! WTF.
The Helo was stunning as we dropped through beautiful territory to the Kiwi huts at Lake Brownworth, then to Lake Vanda. The valleys here are all the same, and yet as different as night and day. Taylor valley has crumbly rock surrounding jagged peaks, while Wright valley is composed of similar rock, but is all sand with more plateaus than points. Flew back to F6, Sandra took off for Hoare, and Matt and I are here waiting until tomorrow when we will be whisked away to lake Bonney.

Mt. Erebus from the flight to Wright valley

Landing in the wright valley

Onyx river below lake brownworth and some glacier?

Every valley is exactly the same and totally different...

The Kiwi hut at Lake Vanda at the end of the Onyx river

Lake Vanda

Crystalline snake patterns of ice and bubbles. At the head is algae frozen at the end of the crystals

Lake Vanda with amazing mountains in the background

cool glaciers

More wright valley

1500ft wall?

Cockpit

Had to sneak one more Vanda in there with the mountains that remind me of Ridgeway Colorado

some 12,000 ft mountain above Taylor valley that we can't see from the ground

Looking upvalley from a helo above commonwealth glacier

This is where I have caught up to. Nothing poetic, pretentious, or blasphemous here. Just good ole' Picture talkin. Enjoy, Cheers.