Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were done.

The recording was pretty wild, though. We camped in the prime site at Conners Lake here: https://goo.gl/maps/sQHsSzHRqWem7Kuo7

The lake itself was frozen solid to a depth of at least three feet (I know because I tried to drill a hole to drop a hydrophone through. Got down to 2 1/2 feet & gave up). Neither one of us was prepared for the sound of the heaving and cracking of a frozen lake, though. It’s difficult to explain… swelling as it froze harder at night, cracking as it "warmed up” during the day. The cracking of the ice and slapping of the water beneath created these beautiful echoing “bloops”. I’m uploading some to Soundcloud as I type. It’ll help illustrate.

Unfortunately, as we weren’t expecting it, we didn’t have a clue how to record. We tried a variety of ideas and built up a good list of tactics I’m keen to try again. Next year. After I thaw.

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were done.

The recording was pretty wild, though. We camped in the prime site at Conners Lake here: https://goo.gl/maps/sQHsSzHRqWem7Kuo7

The lake itself was frozen solid to a depth of at least three feet (I know because I tried to drill a hole to drop a hydrophone through. Got down to 2 1/2 feet & gave up). Neither one of us was prepared for the sound of the heaving and cracking of a frozen lake, though. It’s difficult to explain… swelling as it froze harder at night, cracking as it "warmed up” during the day. The cracking of the ice and slapping of the water beneath created these beautiful echoing “bloops”. I’m uploading some to Soundcloud as I type. It’ll help illustrate.

Unfortunately, as we weren’t expecting it, we didn’t have a clue how to record. We tried a variety of ideas and built up a good list of tactics I’m keen to try again. Next year. After I thaw.

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were done.

The recording was pretty wild, though. We camped in the prime site at Conners Lake here: https://goo.gl/maps/sQHsSzHRqWem7Kuo7

The lake itself was frozen solid to a depth of at least three feet (I know because I tried to drill a hole to drop a hydrophone through. Got down to 2 1/2 feet & gave up). Neither one of us was prepared for the sound of the heaving and cracking of a frozen lake, though. It’s difficult to explain… swelling as it froze harder at night, cracking as it "warmed up” during the day. The cracking of the ice and slapping of the water beneath created these beautiful echoing “bloops”. I’m uploading some to Soundcloud as I type. It’ll help illustrate.

Unfortunately, as we weren’t expecting it, we didn’t have a clue how to record. We tried a variety of ideas and built up a good list of tactics I’m keen to try again. Next year. After I thaw.

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were done.

The recording was pretty wild, though. We camped in the prime site at Conners Lake here: https://goo.gl/maps/sQHsSzHRqWem7Kuo7

The lake itself was frozen solid to a depth of at least three feet (I know because I tried to drill a hole to drop a hydrophone through. Got down to 2 1/2 feet & gave up). Neither one of us was prepared for the sound of the heaving and cracking of a frozen lake, though. It’s difficult to explain… swelling as it froze harder at night, cracking as it "warmed up” during the day. The cracking of the ice and slapping of the water beneath created these beautiful echoing “bloops”. I’m uploading some to Soundcloud as I type. It’ll help illustrate.

Unfortunately, as we weren’t expecting it, we didn’t have a clue how to record. We tried a variety of ideas and built up a good list of tactics I’m keen to try again. Next year. After I thaw.

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were done.

The recording was pretty wild, though. We camped in the prime site at Conners Lake here: https://goo.gl/maps/sQHsSzHRqWem7Kuo7

The lake itself was frozen solid to a depth of at least three feet (I know because I tried to drill a hole to drop a hydrophone through. Got down to 2 1/2 feet & gave up). Neither one of us was prepared for the sound of the heaving and cracking of a frozen lake, though. It’s difficult to explain… swelling as it froze harder at night, cracking as it "warmed up” during the day. The cracking of the ice and slapping of the water beneath created these beautiful echoing “bloops”. I’m uploading some to Soundcloud as I type. It’ll help illustrate.

Unfortunately, as we weren’t expecting it, we didn’t have a clue how to record. We tried a variety of ideas and built up a good list of tactics I’m keen to try again. Next year. After I thaw.

This nice, long chamber was further up the beach from the previous chambers. As such, it had a nice long surge and drain without ever staying full.

Another angle on the same surging chamber as before. I tried to focus a little more on the sloshing, but it's difficult to get a good aim when dangling mics from above.

This is the archetypical coastal glugging hollow to me. Drained of water, you can hear the approaching surge through the hollow rocks. When it fills up, though, it's like a giant sloshing can. Only when the water drains does it sound like the open channel it really is.

This hollow gets deep. When the water was drained I could walk on the wet sand. After the surge, though, the fill limit was 2-3 feet.

I'm not entirely sure what I feel about this one. One the one hand, everything sounds so oddly distant. On the other, I remember seeing the seaweed dances with the surge as the water flowed through. I'll let you decide what you think.

I love that anticipatory sound of water rushing between the rocks as it approaches. The "peek-a-boo" nature of the final water eruption just tickles my funny-bone.