Tundra Times

I love this time of the year on the tundra!  Blueberries dot the ground cover and brilliant red cranberries are ripening.  The bugs are pretty active.  I always have to laugh about the BUGS!  We live in a pretty windy place. Until you want to pick berries, "What wind you will say?" as there is usually none this time of the year!  Like one elder told me years ago, "If you don't like the bugs just wait for winter!" Reassuring when you are swatting black flies and mosquitos and trying to pick berries.  Yesterday we were out picking berries in between all the small rain squalls that were blowing across the tundra.  All rather dramatic as you would be able to watch the squall build in the distance and then see it approach your spot on the tundra.  We would get a good healthy dose of rain.  The rain would move on and things would clear for a bit.

The tundra is green and lush as can be right now.  Fishing for silvers (salmon Coho)is supposed to be fantastic.  Early fall on the tundra is a time of abundance.  This morning the temperature at about 5:25 a.m. was +38ºF which is a wonderful sign of things to come.  The air is now cool and crisp just like it should be as fall starts to approach on the tundra. Changes happen fast and can be very dramatic in the northern latitudes.

Water just isn't always clear but with the help of a filter, it is drinkable.

Water is always a bit of an issue for us out here.  We are in a village which has water for the most part.  This time of the year with a lot of people coming through for sport-fishing, the cannery is up and running processing fish, and the school district has new teachers coming in for training.

All of this places extra demands on the village water system and supply.  Then there can be issues with old pipes, pumps, electricity.  Presently our water looks like this with a nice golden yellow hue.  This means we are on a boil notice and I am hauling water from a friends house that lives up the road who is on a well.  Yesterday as I was heading up the road I thought, "Well the winds are not blowing 40+mph, and it is not -20ºF or colder!"  I am grateful!

Looking south across the tundra to Nulato Hills.

End of summer Fire Weed gone to seed.