By Lily Bosworth, University of Utah
My name is Lily, and I’m a Geological Engineering and Geology double major from the University of Utah. In the past couple weeks I’ve learned that being in a remote place changes the way I view my choices. Although I’m subject to the elements and far from any source of aid, I get to choose what to make of each day, and the opportunity to be in this vast land frees my spirit.
This weekend we got to camp on the edge of Surprise Lake with the Taku River Tlingit’s two full time land guardians Trevor and Shauna, and their biologist Mark. Surprise Lake is a long, alpine lake East of Atlin that fills a glacially carved valley with jagged towers of granite. Our campsite was near a creek’s delta that made a sandy beach with an excellent sunset view, and we got to pitch our tents in a forest of tall, thin lodgepole pines with a soft, mossy carpet. As you might have gathered from my majors, I get pretty darn excited about rocks, especially the way geologic and hydrologic features impact the way life is lived in a region, so being around this spectacular scenery was a blast.
Our trip began on a rainy morning, which made for a cold boat ride to the site, but low clouds dramatized the vertical granite peaks and made us wonder just how high they went. After setting up camp some of the students chose to take another rainy boat ride to the farthest end of the lake to look for nesting artic turns and make note of shoreline erosion. The Taku River Tlingit are doing these surveys to see how a dam that produces power for Atlin and raises the lake’s water level is impacting the ecosystem. No artic turns were out braving the rain, but we did get to explore a collapsing cabin that had once been used as a midpoint between Atlin and towns to the East. Many spiders had made webs among fallen logs in the cabin, and where lichen hadn’t overgrown exposed walls there were names carved in the wood dating back to 1926. One name was recognized as the father of a Tlingit man who lives in Atlin.
The following morning the clouds still hung low, but we set out to explore the mountain behind our camp to see if we could find a mineral lick one of the Tlingit elders had told stories about. First we followed an ATV track that had been used by a mining prospector, and then we bushwhacked our way up to a hanging valley, climbing ever closer to the misty clouds. The valley was above tree line so we had an open view of more rock walls on either side of us, and serene Surprise Lake behind us. Once we reached the end of the valley after following a game track through birch and willows the clouds had begun to lift, exposing a vertical stone wall blackened by wet lichen. The wall was topped with a steep grassy slope cradling nine grazing stone sheep, so high above us and well camouflaged they were only visible with binoculars. We took a moment to observe the sheep, identify the low growing crowberry shrubs and white, gray and black-specked granite gravel at our feet. As we walked back to camp Trevor found a sharpened piece of gray green chert that must have been used as a skinning tool by a Tlingit person long ago.
As we returned to camp the clouds lifted and moved on, giving us a long evening of northern sun. The lake was glassy, reflecting the surrounding mountains, and rippling with the occasional jumping fish. Some of us took a few steps, or a full dip, into the cold, clear lake before having a filling dinner around the campfire, and everyone had retired to their tents by ten o’clock after the full day of exploring beautiful, wild terrain.