So many people never get out of McMurdo, I was so lucky to get a trip to the Dry Valleys, one of the most spectacular places in Antarctica and all of the Earth. Antarctica is a dessert, and the Dry Valleys are one of the driest places in Antarctica... They get virtually no snow, and what does hit the ground just gets blown away.... There are glaciers in the mountains above the Valleys, and during the heat of the summer (NOW - Dec/Jan) there is glacial melt.... small streams flow into the valleys and form lakes. The lakes are liquid during the heat of the summer, but are frozen on the surface durring the rest of the year... In the Valley I went to, the Taylor Valley, the last lake in the chain is Lake Fryxell... No water flows out of Lake Fryxell. These lakes & streams in the Dry Valleys are amazing. Pretty much there is nothing living in and around them.... There have been some micro-organisms discovered in the lakes recently. The water I drank out of the stream near Lake Fryxell is the freshest water I've ever tasted, freshly melted off of a million year old glacier. It was such a good trip! I was helping some scientists study the streams.... More of the story to follow with the photos here.....

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