Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

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In the dining car, there never seemed to be more than two knives for four persons. Mountains now seen in distance, then more relief closer up on the landscape. Generally very third-world looking. Ramshackle wood houses. Changed time zones. Reached Arkhara, bleak and about dark (9.30 p.m here). There were a few women selling food at the train station. About a 20 minute stop. We didn't see an automobile in the whole town (nor, except for Tygda, next morning, did I see one in the whole main part of this trip, though there were some toward Chita, more later.) More likely there would be an old and odd-looking truck, often with a leftover from the military look. Looking something like a cross between an old military truck and a chicken coop. Maybe also an abandoned cab or bed of a truck. Reached Magdagachi, a big railroad yard, and some apartment buildings. Ten minute stop, but we couldn't get off. There are no paved roads to be seen. June 18, Wednesday. Waked at 5.00, with a stop at Tygda, another bleak village. Some 5-6 automobiles seen here. There is some adventure getting your face washed in the toilet. There is a hot and cold tap, but only cold water. You have to hold up a plunger under the spigot while you get a trickle of cold water. You can't drink this water. To brush your teeth, you get boiled water from the samovar at the other end of the car. Although we are only 50 miles from the Chinese border, there is no Oriental look at all to the towns, either the architecture or people, as before in Khabarovsk. The Russians built the railroad and dumped the settlers along it. More wooden houses, with big piles of stove wood outside. Breakfast. Stopped at a village ? and got out about ten minutes. Notes from a lecture in the dining car: This is permafrost country. It may not be so on the hills but in the valleys, and perhaps on northern exposures and not southern exposures. The permafrost is in patches, often small pieces, 10 sq. meters to 40 sq. meters. Betula verrucosa, Populus tremuloides, Pinus sylvestris. Population density in Siberia is quite low, mostly along the railroad, or the rivers, lakes, roads. Only about 100 frost free days here. The richest land on Earth per capita is Australia, though it is quite short of water. Sign noted, 7,255 km. to Moscow.
Bhurats, a group of Oriental Mongolian tribes. There is a saying, "There is a dead body under each railroad tie." Alcoholism is a problem with the locals. The life expectancy is 53 years for men, for women 71. There are weights on the power poles, with a pulley rig. The dramatic temperature changes alter the length of the wires, and this is the way they keep tension on the wires. There are power poles put up with piles of stones on swampy and permafrost areas. These are really stones in a wire basket to weight them down. They still pop out in 8-15 years. There is nothing in the villages remotely resembling what we would recognize as a store or shop. No advertisements. The Russian scientists (especially Elena Kossovich, met later) want to do some biodiversity collecting and surveying around Lake Baikal, and they take this opportunity to do so, as, left to their own resources, they have no opportunity to do so. This is the world's largest remaining wilderness (Russian Far East, p. 10). Only 1% is protected overall, and the land is being privatized rapidly. In the 1930's 21 million persons were prisoners here, about 25% dying each year. In 1937, 7 million were exiled by Stalin to refill the camps. (Russian Far East, p. 11). Reached (Y)Erofey Pavlovich, named after Khabarov, his given names, during language class. Got off. Women selling food (pix). Late lunch. 2.00 p.m. Pulsatilla patens, Pasque-flower, by the railroad. Mostly in fruit, but a few in flower. About 4.00 p.m. Stop at Amazar. Got off, took a couple pictures, and another Rossia train pulled in the other direction and blocked the view and access to the women selling food. Women were filling up the car's water tanks. Lots of telephone poles down or nearly down in swampy ground. The wildflowers have been rather good all day. Reached Mogocha about 5.45 p.m. and got off train. Women in booths selling food (pix). The name of the town is on the train station and silhouetted against the blue sky. This is said to be the harshest place to live on the Trans-Siberian railway, because of the permafrost and the intense summer sun. After dinner, we heard a rather intense account by a Russian naval officer, in charge of a naval newspaper, of his 20+ years trusting the Communist Party, of his sense of confusion and change, and the mixture of good intentions and corruption in the post-Soviet political period. sign, 6,676 km. to Moscow, about 10.00 p.m.
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Trail Log 1995-1997 Holmes Rolston,
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1995 January 4, 1995. Wednesday. Ad
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"Winnow" - the root is wind, vent,
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Worker's Directory. He gave me a co
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7 year. Leaving the hospital comple
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9 Bougainvillaea. Many kinds, all w
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11 Gerenuk - a very long necked ant
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13 I took a bird walk on my own, as
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15 francolins egret, unidentified e
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17 2 males, old males 3 females, wi
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19 somewhat better on the return tr
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21 mahogany trees wild fig trees ga
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Continuing, we crossed a long, flat
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25 50 zebras 1,000 zebras on one si
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27 impala giraffe and baby zebras c
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29 Robin chat stone chat northern d
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31 We drove back around in the lake
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33 small park. Jane Goodall's resea
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35 July 6. Thursday, continued. Met
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37 July 10. Monday. Drove to Kruger
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39 The guides go first, Jan up fron
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But it was getting dark and we didn
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43 Lions roaring as we got up in th
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45 little egret giant kingfisher pi
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47 At Skukuza, I separated from Joh
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stand your ground. Be bold and nois
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51 Red-billed woodhoopoe, with call
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53 we found a rhino horn (pix), whi
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55 giant kingfisher darter (anhinga
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57 distance away to the four winds.
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59 We were visited that evening by
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61 the township with an enrollment
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63 University of Cape Town. Lovely
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65 the trashiest of all. Afternoon.
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67 August 16. Wednesday. Day of mee
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69 momentary. Went in to the Shelte
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71 on the limousine down. December
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73 birds than we thought we might r
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lawn). A near relative is Araucaria
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water supplies are put in a couple
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track in the snow. We left about 11
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4 coyotes in snow. 1 immature bald
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Two coyotes came down the road in f
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Spain, surprisingly, as there are i
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Australia July 1 - August 19, 1996
Page 103 and 104: July 10, Wednesday. Drove to Laming
Page 105: We drove through the rainforest and
Page 109 and 110: QUT. Elizabeth Saxon, sat beside me
Page 111 and 112: Eucalyptus trees here are often dea
Page 113: and barely survived. Antechinus stu
Page 118 and 119: floods and drought, much compacted.
Page 120 and 121: it later deteriorated. Wombat kille
Page 122 and 123: Seminar at 2.15 p.m Chris Mortenson
Page 126 and 127: Then to Murdoch University, lecture
Page 130 and 131: This cave is the pouch of the femal
Page 132 and 133: Huge streams pour off the rock in a
Page 134 and 135: ut not all that messed up. Turned a
Page 136 and 137: Trail Log 1997 February 22, 1997, S
Page 138 and 139: much better in the lower, protected
Page 140 and 141: To Tower Junction, then to Tower, l
Page 142 and 143: Back to the ranch. The coyote was a
Page 144 and 145: crows are unusual inside Yellowston
Page 146 and 147: as a bell in contrast to yesterday.
Page 148 and 149: I went up on a higher hill to try t
Page 150 and 151: Siberia and Lake Baikal June 15-29,
Page 152 and 153: Russia has an 80-year old system of
Page 157 and 158: Reached Zilovo, about 10.15, about
Page 159 and 160: City tour on a nice day. Population
Page 161 and 162: second oldest 2,000,000 years. It h
Page 163 and 164: Communism unraveled, and that, we t
Page 165 and 166: Thalictrum foetidum Grimmia calcare
Page 169 and 170: Walk to Shaman Rock. From the rock,
Page 171 and 172: Viola rupestris Euphorbia alpina Pl
Page 173 and 174: Lychnis sibirica Schizonepetala mul
Page 175 and 176: wapiti, elk (American term), red de
Page 177 and 178: July 16-18, 1997, Tuesday through F
Page 179 and 180: Events in Ft. Collins area: July 28
Page 181: Camped at Sarto Creek, in flats nea
Page 184 and 185: Shuttle back to Missoula, arriving
Page 186 and 187: Polygonum viviparum, Alpine Bistort
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Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

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