The “Sunshine” Coast

Dianne and I arrived up in Alaska a few days ago, after two weeks with Justin and Shannon in British Colombia. It was absolutely beautiful there, despite rather dismal weather (Sunshine Coast? I think not.) It did put a damper on our fieldwork. Here are a few highlights from the trip:

We hiked the Skookumchuck Narrows trail, in Egmont. The hike was a bit longer than any of us expected, mostly because none of us could convert from kilometers to miles. We had both sunshine and rain, and more notably hail. It wasn’t exactly golf ball-sized, but it did make us run back under the trees for shelter. Only a few moments later, we saw a rainbow. We even caught a glimpse of a sea lion in the inlet, but I think our oohs and ahhs scared him off.

Our trip was early in the season, and many of the lakes we went into didn’t have a lot of stickleback activity. On one of our rare nice days, we went out to Ambrose Lake. It was secluded, and there was a short hike in. We got the lab’s first collection of fish from this lake. I unfortunately lost one of my fins in the water, and Justin bravely swam to retrieve it for me.

Justin and Shannon spent a few days observing fry behavior in Garden Bay Lake. Dianne and I went in search of female stickleback for observations in Hotel Lake. Unfortunately, there was not a stickleback to be found! We’re hoping to see more activity when we return to BC in a week, with Susan and Josh.