By Claire Boyle, Carleton College
After a glorious night of sleep on the very much beloved Phil’s couch, two Round River students awoke, well rested and ready for our trip to the Llewellyn Glacier. Our four other companions emerged from their tents in Phil’s backyard, which were probably comfortable as well, also ready to embark. After a few last items were packed in our bags, we hopped in the Duchess (the name of our pickup truck for the summer) and drove down to the dock to meet our boat. Despite a small incident involving bird poop and a certain student’s backpack, our spirits were high as we began our boat ride to the south end (Send) of Atlin Lake.
We were on our way to the terminus of the Llewellyn Glacier, which is part of the Juneau Icefield, to set up camp and hopefully do some science. The Llewellyn Glacier is retreating which provides an opportunity to view depositional glacial features such as recessional moraines, and to observe patterns of vegetative succession in newly ice-free areas. We arrived at the Mount Adams trailhead on the south end of Atlin Lake around mid-morning. The weather was lovely, and we considered lunching right there at the lake. Unfortunately, we opened the sausage bag only to find that our Canadian Superstore No-Name-brand Old Cheddar and summer sausage were still frozen solid, and thus inedible for the next several hours.
Although this was a disappointing discovery, we began our hike feeling good. The Mount Adams trail was the first place that we had gotten to observe plants typical of coastal ecosystems in addition to the alpine vegetation we had been observing throughout the summer in the rest of the Atlin area. On our way to the Llewellyn terminus, we observed many species that were new to us, including devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus) and cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum). After a brief break to swim in a lovely (and very cold) little swimming hole, our group emerged from the trees and into a broad valley. We paused for a quick ungulate survey, during which we observed several confusingly goat-shaped snow patches in addition to some actual mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), including a female with her kid.
After a delicious lunch of thawed summer sausage and cheddar cheese, we finished our hike and set up camp. The weather was sunny and warm, so we did some swimming before a dinner of fancy ramen (instant ramen with chopped vegetables added). We went to bed feeling optimistic and excited for a long day of hiking and science in the morning.
Unfortunately, our plans did not come to fruition, as we awoke the next morning to constant rain. As we reluctantly prepared to exit our tents, Ben let us know that we should stay dry and remain in our tents, at least for a little bit so the rain could slow. We retreated to our respective tents, and most of us crawled right back into our sleeping bags to wait out the wind and rain. To our dismay, the rain persisted, and we continued to huddle in our tents, some of us dry and some slightly damp. One member of our crew described their sleeping pad as a raft in the small body of water that their tent was becoming. We ate a soggy lunch during a brief interlude where the rain slowed and emerged again for dinner several hours later. Although it was disappointing to miss out on conducting science at the Llewellyn terminus, we enjoyed beautiful stormy views of the glacier, and huddled into one of our tents to play Hearts (the card game of the summer) with a very soggy deck of cards before bed.
Camp during a rare moment of sunshine at the terminus of the Llewellyn glacier.
The Llewellyn glacier under rainy skies as seen from the kitchen of our camp.
The next morning, we woke up feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep and a full rainy day of napping. We packed up camp, hiked out to the lake, and were picked up for a boat ride to another beach, this time with two honorary furry captains. We arrived at our new campsite and set our gear out to dry. During the rest of our trip, we hiked up a mountain, encountered a bit more rain (which thwarted our summit ungulate survey plans), conducted a makeup impromptu ungulate survey at the lake, took a plant ID quiz in the field, found a moose (Alces alces) carcass on the shore of Atlin Lake, caught zero fish despite our best efforts, played the most intense game of Hearts ever, and built a raft from logs on the beach which later made a harrowing journey about two meters from shore. Though the weather was not always in our favor, our trip could certainly be labeled a success. Perhaps future Round River students will one day have the good fortune of conducting a rain-free vegetation survey at the Llewellyn terminus, but we made the most of our rainy days, and were content to fondly recount this trip’s adventures from the comfort of Phil’s couch when we returned.
Louis making sure things run smoothly.
Nia takes a play break midway through our journey.