It is amazing to return to Healy and see the changes in the land! Where there was white, now there is green. Where there was snow, now there are leaves and flowers. Where there was stillness and silence, now there is the sound of countless insects and critters buzzing and moving every which way.

    Alaska is now in moving in to summer mode. When I left at the end of April we were shoveling snow from the study site and spring was just beginning to show itself. The snow was becoming patchy and the days were beginning to seem longer.

    Cabin in the summer
    This is what the cabin looked like when I returned in early summer.

    The cabin has a whole new look to it also. In the first place, we can now actually drive a car all the way up the road right to the front door. The dog’s yard has been transformed in to a much more wet place due to all of the rain that now falls. The temperature here today was in the mid 70’s and very nice.

    The dog yard changes in the summer
    The dogs have much more time to relax during this time of year.

    I will be working some new people for the next two weeks and showing some more of Denali National Park, as we get out for a bus ride and hike tomorrow, and then work through the class on climate change next week. Elizabeth will return on Sunday and it will be good to catch up on things with her and find out what is going on with the research these days. I will not go out to the study site until Sunday or Monday, but when I do I will show you just how much it has changed since the last time I was here. We will be looking at carbon flux and a whole lot more!

    The back deck in the summer
    The back deck looks very different from when we were freezing bubbles in the winter.

    My first moose of the summer
    And just as I finished my journal for today the dogs began to bark and when we looked out from the deck there was my first moose of the summer!

    Author
    Date
    Location
    Healy, AK
    Weather Summary
    Sunny with scattered clouds
    Temperature
    75
    Wind Speed
    0

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