Grizzly Lake

I spent this past week at Grizzly Lake, located kind of in the northwest region of the park. I got to fly there in a float plane which was pretty cool. I was able to see a lot of the terrain and we flew through the mountains. The whole purpose for the trip was to do a fishery survey of the burbot in Grizzly Lake. Burbot are a kind of bottom dwelling fish, that sort of look a little like catfish in body shape, so they have that snaky shape to them. They are super slimy and difficult to hold onto. I almost made it the entire time without a fish really turning on me, until the second to last fish started to freak out and it smacked me in the face with its tail, stupid fish.

The work entailed setting 25 hoop traps with cut up herring in the ends and letting them sit a day. Then we went back to the traps and I hauled them up into our little boat. If there were fish in the trap we emptied them in a big tub with water and then drove them and the trap to the shore so we could mark them and get measurements. I was charged with restraining

the fish which is why I got smacked in the face with the tail. The traps were broken down and reset in another part of the lake, and on and on we go.

The trip would have been great if it wasn't for the weather. Most of the week was just miserable. I’m not exactly sure how cold it was but it felt pretty dang cold, it was windy and rainy the first 2 days. The lake water was 45 degrees. I was just chilled to the bone and not having any fun. Those first few days I was counting the hours until we were done with the work and just hoping it would go faster. The 3^rd day the rain stopped and I was really happy

about that, but still the wind and cold wouldn't let up. The 4th day was great, there was actually sunlight
: D so awesome!

On the whole I am glad I went. I was able to fly in a float plane, I saw a lot of new wildlife (including one very pissed off beaver who was not appreciative of us in his lake), I caught my first Alaskan fish, and most importantly I figured out I sure as heck don’t want to be a fish biologist : )

Note: Most of these pictures are from the last day, because that was the first time I was warm enough for my brain and body to function properly

My first grayling

This is how I slept at night, so ca..ca...cold