Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas Day - Hiking at Devil's Den

Some pictures from a Christmas Day hike out to Yellow Rock in Devil's Den with some fine examples of erosional forces, exacerbated by trail use.


left - Upper trail as it exits onto Yellow Rock.
right - Looking SE from atop Yellow Rock, Lee Creek at base




Lower trail as it exits onto Yellow Rock.

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Friday, December 12, 2008

Winter Break

So, this winter break I was offered a job doing some site re-evaluations in the Boston Mountains west of Mountainburg, Arkansas in the lower Ozarks. Perfect, I thought... make some extra money over the winter break and get to hike around in the mountains for a couple weeks. I start this Sunday so I figured I would check the weather for the next several days, since I'll be outside the entire time.

Unfortunately, the forecast isn't what I was hoping for. It looks like a cold front is coming in on the exact day I start.

It's going to be a cold one.

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Saturday, February 2, 2008

A Day of Snow

Living in Fayetteville has changed our relationship with the seasons. In Austin, we got only two seasons - hot and warm. Around here, we get a nice mix of all four seasons. Our first introduction to this was last winter where I remember on several occasions the thermostat in my car measuring 10 degrees on my way to class. That certainly was a shock to our central Texas bio-systems. However, as we roll into our second winter season in Fayetteville, we are enjoying our first snowfall and expecting a few more to visit us before the winter season turns to a perfect spring.

Where the city of Austin would have shut down completely, things happened as usual around here with not much of a stir. Sharon headed into work the next day and I went into the field. It was quite nice for me being down along the Mulberry River working in a picturesque setting - albeit for very violent reasons - listening to the river move downstream interspersed with a subtle cacophony of remote sensing equipment beeping and investigators qualms about informant details. Odd, I know, but something different...a major benefit of field work.


Bubba and Jenny explored the fresh snow but not for very long.

Our eerie backyard filled with wintery ghosts and ghouls.

Sharon heading out to work. Same routine, different colors.

My drive into the Ozark National Forest to work in the morning.

Not many people drive down this road, regardless of the season.

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