Blue stain on Spruce tree

Another white day, but as you see i found some color.
What i call a white day, you maybe call a grey day. But out here in the woods it's white, it's light.

About the photo; as i was marking the trail towards the meadow, Which i marked with yellow ticker tape, I came upon this healthy looking big Spruce tree.
I had never seen this blue color on bark. The yellowish white is Spruce sap (pitch). and the orange is the inside of the tree.

That the bark is coming of, maybe means that the tree is not so healthy.
I wonder if the blue is; blue stain fungi (Ophiostoma sp.)
which is mentioned with the occurrence of the Spruce Bark Beetle.

If you know for sure, what this Blue is, please let me know. Thanks

Merry Christmas

teepee frame

I went to visit a friend, and took this picture in her yard.
You see a raven on the left and a magpie on the right.
She says it is a great perch for Bald and Golden Eagles, they can see all the Gophers in the field.

As you see it was a very white day.
Beside visiting I stayed inside to wrap up some of the bison.
I made 2 dozen little packages. 1 Liver - 5.5 lb/2.5kg. 2 Hearts 3lb/1.5kg each.
That is a lot of organ meat. Alexander loves heart and I liver.

The hearts had a lot of fat and i am rendering that on the wood stove.

This morning i listened to Don's stories of the hunt. Exciting and fun. We had some good laughs. But no kidding ,it is hard work, and nothing easy about it.

Wood Bison hunt

On December 1 the Bison hunting season opened.
Some places in the world the Bison are an endangered species.
Not here! It is a long story and i am sure you can find all the information on the Internet. -the Yukon or Aishihik Wood Bison-

My house here, is right in the middle of their pasture.
Which is an area bigger then my home country (Holland).

And sure enough, yesterday the hunters(my husband one of them) went searching in all those.....
Maybe it is secret, you might know what hunters are like?
So all i say is ; over the hills, and through the forest, crossing rivers, in a far away corner of this great land;
They got a Bison!

Today they (the hunting party had grown) went back to get the rest of the animal's remains. Sure enough to come back with two more.

I know what i will be eating this winter.
I am very grateful for that.

Glacial lake Champagne

I just did some searching on the Internet, about this 'long ago lake'.
Here in the Yukon, i always find there is still lots too be studied.
And when i find something on the Internet, Yukon publication are not always so accessible; "Grant Lowey" (he is a friend) " i couldn't add your article to my favorites for some reason." "So you know." Another article took me forever to down load.

Having overcome all obstacles! What i know now is sooo interesting.(to me)

Some point in time when Lake Champagne was a lake;
The highest water level was 772 meters. And indeed that is exactly the height of 'Don's descent' ( our back yard sledding hill).
Following that mark of 772 meters (on Google Earth), it does follow my beach trail.
Of course it is the other way around, my trail follows the high water mark.

For reasons, you can read on the Internet, the water level drops to 744 meters.
On google earth again, i see that that is exactly where there is a ridge. I have spoken about this ridge many times, it is where i overlook the highway and the Mendenhall River. At the South-West end of the fire smart.

Going down again, both the water level in the past and me now walking.
The water level drops to 714 meter.
Which is the height of the bluff on the South side of the Highway.

Marvellous!

Beach trail

My oh my, it is not easy to be a biologist, geologist, historian, etc. all at the same time. Especially if you never have gone to University like me.
Anyway i am, once again, trying to find out, when the place where i live was a lake, and my house almost on the beach. Accordingly to the literature i have, these lakes happened several times.
Lake champagne; last time it was here, probably 3000 years ago.
Which really is not very long ago, and i can clearly see some sort of beach.

Hence my 'beach trail'.
This morning in full sunshine and blue sky, I went up to 'Don's descent' with Pelly, Nora and Jane. The top of 'Don's descent'. is on the 'beach'.
As we are on the top, we see a low, flimsy cloud in the South East.
The three of them stay on the hill to board and ski, whereas i follow the trail west.

Through dips and gullies. Again something i don't know; what is the word for those gullies formed by the water? My trail tries to stay on top where the beach is flat.
I come upon fresh Moose tracks.
In the meantime the cloud is growing.
I go down by the old gravel pit, to find farmer Brown's new bulldozed bush road. I follow an old road towards the power line. And his new road is actually very close to the power line.
Well now we know.
Now i am this far, i don't want to go onto it, and decide to back track and take another trail which might take me up to the beach again.
Indeed i come out on a ridge.

Looking over the 'sea' the clouds are rolling in now. See picture.

The reason for this picture is ; from here you can see, I am on a high point, looking East, you see another ridge and behind that, on the right, the spot on the beach where my trail ended.
By now i am carrying my skis anyway and decide to go as straight as i can to that spot. I make a little loop to the left as to avoid the deepest part of the gully. Close to the left they connect, as on top of a cirque.
Amazingly it is beaches all the way and i come out right on top of the old gravel pit where my beach trail ended.
On skis again and i am back at my party in no time. There is a moose sausage waiting for me. Yummy!

In the mist!

By the time we leave we are back in sunshine again.

Now typing, clouds descended upon us.

An old giant

It's cooled off a bit this morning, there 's a North wind.
I go for a walk North. From the North we are protected by the mountains. I am walking on my blue ribbon trail, it goes uphill, over drumlins and eskers.
In between them (they run East-West) the glacier(long time ago) gauged out a flat piece of land. I follow a creekbed to a meadow. From the meadow I see through the trees another drumlin, farther north, that will be my destination for today.
The sun is coming out again and that's where i see this tree. It is taller then all the life trees. Once there was a bigger forest i suppose.

On my way back i find the entry of an old creekbed, which too suggest a wetter period in time. The creekbed is amazing; rock sides, and a tangled forest in the bottom. It hasn't snowed for a few weeks. Some snow is still trying to hang on the trees though. There is no wind here in this narrow place. Snow in big clumps and drapes, hangs on to the willows.

In this world here there are hard well worn trails from the little animals.All i see are some squirrels.

And as a bonus on top of the last esker, I get a beautiul view of 'moose skull lake' the 'pyramid', and from here, a sunny white 'tyler mnt.' in the background.
A single Grossbeak sings a song for me!