Wednesday 6 May 2009

Fairbanks #3, around Fairbanks

Spring has come! After 2 weeks with warm weather with several days over 20˚C most of the snow around Fairbanks has now melted and the birch trees are starting to sprout their leaves. Very little in terms of spring flowers though, nothing like Tromsø. The warm weather is also causing the rivers to break up, with some severe flooding along the Yukon river. The village Eagle some 200 km southeast of Fairbanks is being swiped away by enormous ice blocks in the worst flooding in recorded history (see photos on: http://newsminer.com/photos/galleries/2009/may/05/2009-breakup-flooding/2030/). Also the Chena river, which flows through the centre of Fairbanks, showed a spectacular breakup flooding on Saturday. We missed it, unfortunately, as we were hiking up in the hills, but saw a photo in the local newspaper (http://newsminer.com/photos/galleries/2009/may/05/2009-breakup-flooding/2019/).

Below is a selection of photos from around Fairbanks, moose walking around the house, skiing in the Delta Range 150 km south of Fairbanks, Denali national park and some photos of the local hills.


Moose around the house

Moose around the house (taken from bedroom window)

Breakup in Denali national park

Railway bridge, Alaska range

Dall sheep

Camping on the Castner glacier

Skiing down from Triangle Peak towards Castner glacier

'Girl's' trip to Castner glacier and Thayer hut

Thayer hut

White mountains, north of Fairbanks

Near Chena Hot Springs, west of Fairbanks

Tanana river, just south of Fairbanks

Hiking up Murphy Dome in 23˚C on May 2nd