In Alaska, getting to a research site can be a bit different

You go where the science is.

In Alaska, that can mean traveling by dog team.

“I had never done that, and it was definitely more difficult than I thought it would be,” said Kaytan Kelkar, a University of Alaska Fairbanks Ph.D. student focusing on periglacial geomorphology.

But he succeeded on a shortened trip conducting snow surveys inside Denali National Park and Preserve in mid-March.

Kelkar is assisting in long-running work by UAF Geophysical Institute research assistant professor Louise Farquharson, who is monitoring geomorphological change focused on hillslopes underlain by permafrost at various locations in and around the park. 

Kelkar’s March trip was focusing on collecting snow depth data to better inform his permafrost modeling efforts for a section of the Denali Park Road corridor that is prone to landslides. Snow plays an important role in ground thermal dynamics.

The original plan for Kelkar’s trip was to travel entirely by dog team from the park’s headquarters for three days of research. The trip would be with National Park Service rangers and the sled dogs from Denali’s well-known kennel.

That adventure was shortened drastically, however, because of a possible federal government shutdown at the time.

Instead, Kelkar and the Denali dogs had a day trip while the science equipment was taken to the research site by vehicle.

“I got to feed the dogs, harness them and take off the harnesses,” he said. “It was the whole experience.”

Despite the setback, Kelkar and three dog teams did go on a nine-mile trip near the research site, departing from park headquarters but not traveling on the road. Kelkar drove a sled tethered to a sled driven by a park ranger.

“When we got out, the trail was rather narrow with trees on either side,” Kelkar said. “Avoiding the trees was definitely a challenge. But I made it through.”

Did he fall off the sled, a common occurrence for a novice musher?

“Definitely. Five or six times.”

And did he adhere to the directive written on the Park Service sled saying, “Never let go!!!”

“I stuck with that instruction.”