Photos!

After some downsizing and through an internet session at the Community center, I can finally upload some photos!  I apologize for the weird organization of them...my internet connection ends in 1 hour!

Ripple pattern in the flood plane of a river bed...I just think it looks really cool

 Hike north of Vortec, along N river towards the divide (aka the high point where the river begins from)

 The main source of N river seems to be a large snowfield, and what we thought to be the watershed divide.  This picture is near the bottom of the snowfield, the wider river in the center of the image was a slow moving slush river feeding into the fast moving (brown) main river channel.  It was an in interesting contrast in color, fluidity, movement and sound

 rock and ice, what much of our surroundings look like. The snowfield and ice sheet are in the background.

 The crew (Lu, Laura, Kyla and Markus) walking back from the divide.  The hills on the left make up the terminal moraine of the ice sheet.

 "Ice Cliff" sample site.  The equipment is for filtering water for DNA and RNA analysis; Markus is in the background collecting a 20L carboy of water that flows out of the ice tunnel.  This water probably originates as surface melt and cut down through the ice, and out the bottom, here, where we sample it.

 ice cliffs and surface melt water falls to the right of the above sampling site

 The Ice Cliffs have to be at least 100 feet tall... maybe more.  They are hidden behind a terminal moraine (aka really big rock pile) that you have to hike over... My first time hiking there was a really fantastic experience :  The landscape appears to be sloping rock piles and snow until you hike up a small pass, and get around the moraine... suddenly a mile long stretch of 100ft high ice cliffs appear with waterfalls cascading down the face.

 Another striking pattern on the ice cliffs.  It almost looks like an aerial photo of rivers over sand, but its made by surface melt coming down the cliff face.

 one of the larger waterfalls at the ice cliffs

 ice cave/tunnel/chute that we collect water from (Ice cliff site)

 Ice Caves (not to be confused with Ice cliffs!) along a river.  basically a river cutting through a  semi-permanent (I think?) snow/ice pack

 mud layered on rocks in the river flood plain by the ice caves

 biggest ice cave!

 Kyla and Markus measuring river discharge

Sample site: Vortec.  The rocks in the foreground are a sandstone that preserved symmetrical ripple marks, indicating that at one point there was a beach with waves that sculpted theripple marks in sand, before it was lithified (turned into rock!).  The background is the ice cliff above where we sample North river, the funny "m" shape in the cliff was sculpted by water.  Rock are constantly falling off the ice cliff and dropping into the water at this site.

 Old Tunnel into the permafrost that used to be useful for studying permafrost ice, until...

 ...the tunnel just filled in with a really thick plug of ice.  oops!

 Ice ramp!  This was made to drive trucks onto the ice sheet so they could get to camp century, a base carved into the ice!  The ice camp is not maintained anymore, and the ice ramp has caved in (the big rift you can see in the pic!)

 a moulin (ice sheet river) that we sampled.

 lake with icebergs that sits at the edge of the ice sheet

more of the lake!