... Continued from Donnelly Dome: Yeti Attack Part I
Donnelly Dome is a small hill set in a river valley near Delta Junction. Snow-capped mountains loom in the distance, and all around new green struggles up through the ashy remains of Alaskan fire seasons. When the fires burn and smoke fills the valley it looks like someone paved the woods with quick-crete and sod.
But the fires are still a ways off. The woods are thawing out of hibernation, and though the mountains still have their frosty crowns, down below it is muddy. Crystal lakes that mirror everything serve as watering holes for the local denizens. Evidence of these creatures habitation of the area litter the valley, no longer hidden by winters cover.
My team easily identifies the droppings of buffalo, moose, rabbit, wolf, black bear, and a single pile of brown bear. Yet one sample eludes classification. Twenty meters from the crystal pond is a giant boulder, possibly a chip once cleaved from a mountain by glaciers thousands of years ago. Atop the rock are the scattered remains of various animals. Here and there we pick out gnawed pieces of rabbit, fox and lynx. We've found someones kitchen, apparently. Nearby, Turtle discovers two smaller rocks which appear to be its latrine. The two rocks together are about a quarter of the size of the larger, and between them is a space no more than half a meter. It is in that space we find the hairy, unidentified scat.
Too be continued...
But the fires are still a ways off. The woods are thawing out of hibernation, and though the mountains still have their frosty crowns, down below it is muddy. Crystal lakes that mirror everything serve as watering holes for the local denizens. Evidence of these creatures habitation of the area litter the valley, no longer hidden by winters cover.
My team easily identifies the droppings of buffalo, moose, rabbit, wolf, black bear, and a single pile of brown bear. Yet one sample eludes classification. Twenty meters from the crystal pond is a giant boulder, possibly a chip once cleaved from a mountain by glaciers thousands of years ago. Atop the rock are the scattered remains of various animals. Here and there we pick out gnawed pieces of rabbit, fox and lynx. We've found someones kitchen, apparently. Nearby, Turtle discovers two smaller rocks which appear to be its latrine. The two rocks together are about a quarter of the size of the larger, and between them is a space no more than half a meter. It is in that space we find the hairy, unidentified scat.
Too be continued...
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