Fall Overnight

Fall Colors

Arctic Lupines

The leaves on the willows literally changed overnight. Yesterday I went fishing a little ways upriver and all of the leaves on the trees were still green. Today we went fishing upriver and all of the leaves on the willows are now yellow.
The salmon are really starting to deteriorate now and don't put up much of a fight anymore. Supposedly trout are starting to enter the river down near Kotzebue, so I hope that they make it here pretty soon.

Pink Salmon

Spawned out Chum Salmon

Dead Salmon
Doggy (male chum salmon)

Now that the salmon are done spawning they start to die. As the river is dropping they get left high and dry on the bank. They also smell pretty bad. I guess the stench gets pretty overpowering by the end of September.

2nd graders fishing by themselves out getting "Sivaqs" (fish eggs)

I found another spot for grayling upriver from our place. I also saw a lot of bear tracks but no bears. After a few weeks of being high and dirty it is cool when the water is clear again. You can see the salmon everywhere.

Grayling



Bear Tracks

I overheard one of the students the other day saying that since that there are a lot of flies around the caribou are near. I have not seen any caribou yet. I did see a moose out of the window of the school. I watched it meander across the field by the school and disappear into the willows. I could not tell if it was a cow a bull but there was not a calf with it, so it could have been a bull.

Fish drying racks

The fish racks are where the bears were spotted hanging around near town. I want to see how the natives dry their fish. I think their supposed to start smoking the salmon but maybe they don't smoke fish near town because I haven't seen or smelt fish being smoked.

Weekly Panoramic

I started a new thing where I am going to try to take a panoramic picture every week from the overlook by our house. Here is week one. I was going to try to take a weekly picture from the overlook on the way to the pit, but then I decided that might turn into a chore if we weren't heading that way.
-Brett