Break Time
Posted by skyblu on March 14, 2007
PRESAGING SPRING
Well, a Chinook has blown for two days and the snow is becoming slush – that’s a technical term for a real mess. Running in ankle deep mush is not a fun thing. There is pavement showing and there is dust everywhere. The glacial flour is mostly from ground up obsidian and it’s dark and the remaining snow is a dirty mess.
The park is closed for the transition season, and it’s nicely eerie without the whine and rumble of snowcoaches, and certainly without the screams of visitors talking to each other and their cell phones. Here’s a picture of Old Faithful without tourists babbling. Just me and a bison that was not at all interested.
I’m collecting and reconciling the last data from the winter travel, and I’m going to leave the instruments on to see if I can get a lower bseline with the fewer vehicles now that the park is closed.
The higher elevations are still a very nice white, and the reflective surfaces are still making for ‘raccoon faces’ on the occasional skiers. Next weekend is the big snowmobile blowout here, and there ought to be a wonderful spike in the pollution.
It’s not spring yet – but we’ve had a couple of days that let us know it’s around the corner. I’ll be away from the computer until the weekend. Some fishing – it’s been too long, and a lot of work will keep me in the guest room of my friends place.
=============
IN THE TRENCHES
There is a very interesting post in the “RANGER X” blog about hidden identities & in-fighting, and NPS waste – read it if you have the time.
