If you're ever in Alaska, don't pick any water lilies or Lilly pads. It' against the law. The reason: the Lilly pads are critical habitat for an unusual creature known as the Wood Frog. Which brings us to the famous baseball player, TedWilliams. When Teddy Ballgame died, his son, you might recall, tried to have Ted, or maybe it was just Ted's head, frozen, with a view toward bringing Ted back in some distant future.
Well, the Wood Frog, which needs lily pads, actually freezes during the long Alaskan winter. Then it more or less returns from the dead in the spring. So we need these Wood Frogs if for no other reason than maybe we can unlock its cryogenic secrets and thus bring back Ted Williams, or at least his head.
Anyway, took two short hikes this morning after camping near the boundary of Wrangell-st. Elias NP. First one gently downhill through fir forest on mossy trail to a bluff overlooking a glacier-fed river. Scenic as always.
The second was to see some Mud Volcanoes. The mud volcano site, when you first arrive, looks like a round, flat patch of mud about the size of a soccer field. It contains, however, Little potholes filled with water, and the water constantly bubbles. The bubbles, it seems, are caused by escaping methane gas from a coal seam underneath.
After that, yet another scenic drive (yawn), north toward Fairbanks and directly through the middle of another massive mountain region, the Alaskan Range. Camped at a state park site fifty miles or so outside of Fairbanks. Enjoyed a delicious camp dinner of reheated pre-cooked ham, crackers, carrots and cocktails.
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