Making the long slog to the lower 48

We set out on our long slog back to the south. We weren’t planning any sightseeing, just 6-8 hours of driving a day plus stops for breaks and lunch. What I had clearly forgotten was the condition of the Alaska Highway. My recall was that you had to pay attention, but that all the chatter about potholes and frost heaves was a bit overstated. Well, I stand corrected! In much of the portions of the Alaska Highway we have done so far, we had to keep our speeds down to under 50 in order to have time to slow for road damage. I guess you just gotta love it!

I recalled that every town along the way had RV parks, and every RV park had a motorhome and car wash set up. We never used them on our way north, but the heavy rains we have been experiencing combined with the miles and miles of roadway under repair (mud and gravel only), I know I am going to have to use one soon. By the way, I had stopped for diesel and decided to begin to remove some of the mud layer from the Equinox – if I hadn’t, the entire windshield would have been brown! Again, all I can say is you gotta love it!

Talk to you soon!

Whittier Alaska

Another new spot for us in Alaska, Whittier has a bit of an obstacle in store. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, named for the chief engineer of the Alaska Railroad and former Mayor of Anchorage, runs 2.5 miles under Maynard Mountain and is the only way to access Whittier by car. The tunnel is a single lane, including an active rail line.

This impressive tunnel built originally only for the Alaska Railroad was completed April 23, 1943. It is the 2^nd longest highway tunnel in North America, and the longest combined highway/rail tunnel. To deal with its single lane, traffic is allowed out of Whittier on the hour, and into Whittier on the half hour, and is closed to vehicular traffic as a train approaches, with elaborate staging areas and signaling systems

In Whittier, nearly the only thing to do is cruise or fish. There are less than a handful of small gift shops, 3 restaurants and two hotels. The only dwellings we saw here was a high-rise condominium complex. The harbor is chock full of fishing vessels, and as we left Whittier to head back to Anchorage on Friday afternoon, the boats were pouring in for the weekend.

Back during the cold war era, Whittier was home to Camp Sullivan. With the rail line into Whittier, it was the first stop for troops entering Alaska to defend it against the Japanese in WWII. Camp Sullivan was abandoned in the late 1950’s as the perception of the need for cold war era facilities declined.

On the cruise we plied Prince William Sound in search of glaciers. We really didn’t have to go too far as the Whittier Glacier hangs right above the town itself. The view of Whittier with the glacier hanging overhead from the Sound is pretty cool.

Even in mid-August the glacier carved walls of the Sound are completely littered with waterfalls, and they are all rushing with water. Especially near the base of the glaciers, the falls were raging torrents.

We visited 6 glaciers in all, venturing within about 1,000 feet of both those that touch the water in Blackstone Bay. Blackstone Glacier was named by the famous surveyor Mendenhall for a miner who disappeared never to be seen again in 1896 carrying mail to Whittier. Beloit Glacier was named for the college in Wisconsin, as were most of the glaciers lining the Prince William Sound. The distinctive bright blue color of the glacial ice stood out even more than usual due to the slight overcast. We stood on the outer decks of the ship and listened as the glaciers periodically calved, the thunderous cracking sound bringing back memories of our visit to Harvard Glacier 20 years earlier.

On our way back to Whittier we were lucky enough to spot a dozen or so Sea Otters casually relaxing in the calm waters of the Sound. While we didn’t see any babies resting on tummies – the spring young are already off on their own – it was fun to watch these guys just chillin. It seems like they don’t have a care in the world!

We will begin our venture back to the lower 48 in a couple of days.

Talk to you soon!

Kenai Fjords National Park

We had visited the Park many years ago on our cruise of the Internal Passage. However, we had only been on the water, taking a fjord cruise out of Seward. While we enjoyed that immensely, we had always wanted to return and put boots on the ground.

We headed to Cooper Landing to do some escorted hiking. The weather wasn’t spectacular, quite rainy, so the normal trails were muddy. However, we were able to hike around on the lower more stable trails and we actually had really good luck spotting a great number of the resident Bald Eagles.

We surprised our guide a bit. We spotted this Spruce Grouse, which our bird book indicated had habitat here. Our guide at first said that we obviously had mistaken a Ptarmigan as a Grouse, as he had never seen a Grouse in the area, and he had been guiding here for 15 years. After I showed him the picture I had taken, he reluctantly agreed it was not a Ptarmigan – indeed it was a Spruce Grouse!

Not only did we spot resident Bald Eagles but we had really good luck, despite the weather, in spotting some resident Black Bears. We had seen Brown Bears (or Grizzlies or Kodiak Bears) in several of our destinations. However, there are Black Bears in Alaska and we had yet to see them.

We got a very special surprise. We spotted a big Black Bear up on a hillside that seemed to be moseying downhill a bit. Next, we spotted some more bush movement, and spotted her cub. For whatever reason, she decided to bring her cub down to within 30 feet of us. What a treat! And they didn’t just spot us and skedaddle – they hung around and put on a show. They were so close we could hear them sniffing for food!

Talk to you soon!

Sitka

We had been to Sitka 20 years ago when we were on a cruise of the Alaska Inland Passage. My memories of Sitka were strong, and its Russian heritage compelled me to return. We were happy to do so as we were able to knock a couple items off the bucket list.

When here before, we did not make it to the Sitka National Historic Park. Situated in the heart of the town of Sitka on Baranov Island, the Park preserves historically and culturally significant sites and artifacts related to the 1804 battle of Sitka between the Tlingit and Russian forces, during which the Russians reestablished their control of Russian America after losing it in the Tlingit attach of 1802 which drove the Russian forces out.

One of the most impressive features is the historic Totem Park. In the early 1900’s, district governor John Brady acquired totem poles from all over Alaska for display at the Park. The Totem trail is quite impressive.

So, when we were north of San Francisco we visited Fort Ross – the furthest south of the Russian settlements in North America. Fort Ross was abandoned and sold to John Sutter – yes, the California gold rush guy at Sutter’s Mill – and had one of only 4 known buildings still existing in North America that were built by the Russians in the early 1800’s. Well, the second we discovered on Kodiak Island, the oldest building in Alaska, was built in 1810 as headquarters for the Russian American Company. Alexander Andreyevich Baranov was appointed the first Chief Manager of the RAC, and essentially became the Governor of Russian America.

The last two were in Sitka. We visited building 29 in downtown Sitka which was built by the Russians as a residence of a higher ranked individual in 1835. Although there have been some modifications in the work to preserve it, historians believe it to be the finest remaining example of Russian secular architecture in Alaska.

Finally, we made it to the Russian Bishop’s House – having seen all 4 of 4, we checked this off the list. Back in those days, Tsar Alexander I gave the Russian American Company (RAC) the exclusive rights to trade in all the Russian claimed areas of North America. However, one of the stipulations was that the RAC financially support the Russian Orthodox Church. As such, the RAC built this home in 1841, worthy of a nobleman, for the soon to be arriving Orthodox Bishop of Sitka. We toured it, and concur.

The home served both as a private residence for the Bishop as well as a place to hold services before a cathedral could be built. After the uneasy times with the locals in the first years of the century, in 1834 Father loann Veniaminov, generally referred to as Father Innocent, was transferred to Sitka. He devoted himself to the Tlingit people, learned their language and customs, and won them over to the Russian Orthodox religion. He did it not by rejecting their beliefs and customs, but by showing how they fit into Russian Orthodox beliefs and practices.

We visited Veniaminov’s grave on a hill overlooking Sitka harbor. Father loann Veniaminov was glorified as a Saint in the Russian Orthodox Church on September 23, 1977, as a result of a request from the Orthodox Church in America, giving him the title “Enlightener of the Aleuts, Apostle to America.” His grave site is modest, but the location impressive if only for the views.

We visited the Cathedral of St. Michael. When the Russians settled Sitka, they named the settlement Archangel in honor of Michael the Archangel. After Innocent had been successful in Sitka, a cathedral was built in 1844. However, fire destroyed the original cathedral in 1966 – at the time it was the oldest church in Alaska. The cathedral was reconstructed based on original drawings, and many of its icons, doors and ornaments were saved from the fire, and incorporated into the replacement. 

It turned out that we had the penthouse suite at the Sitka Hotel – the only room on the 4^th floor, with a private outdoor balcony on the roof. While we had to hike our bags up one flight of stairs from the 3^rd floor up to our room, the views of the town and the harbor were well worth it.

We visited the Alaska Raptor Center here. They focus primarily on Bald Eagle rehabilitation. At the time of our visit, they had 20 injured Bald Eagles that were being nursed back to health after surgeries to correct whatever injuries they had – broken wings from hitting objects, gunshot wounds, fencing, etc. They heal the birds and release them back into the wild. They do get birds that are too injured to be able to be released, and those become permanent residents.

We also visited a bear rescue facility called the Bear Fortress. Housed in tanks from an abandoned Japanese pulp mill, the Center specializes in taking in bear cubs that would otherwise have to be shot under Alaska laws. They can’t currently rehabilitate and release under Alaska law, but they are hoping that new laws will allow them to do that in the future. For now, the bears they have are just being saved from a bullet.

Right next to the Sitka National Cemetery is the Sitka pioneer’s cemetery. We found many a gravestone hat indicated that the residents had been buried while Sitka was a Russian settlement – prior to the 1867 acquisition of Alaska as part of Seward’s Folly. This guy not interred until it was America was even from our neck of the woods, as Al Roker would say.

While Sitka did not feel as Russian as I remembered from our visit 20 years before, it was a wonderful few days, and the weather was outstanding!

Talk to you soon!

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

Back in Anchorage we grabbed a float plane to take us to Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. One of the many National Parks and Preserves in Alaska that can’t be reach by car, it was only about an hour flight from here. Interestingly enough, we left from the largest float plane base in North America, right next to Anchorage International Airport. When the float planes take off from here they fly directly over the main commercial runway and the conning tower, rather than try to go around. I guess it makes sense that they may pose less of a congestion hazard that way.

We flew to Lake Crescent in the heart of the Park. Lake Crescent is at the base of Mount Redoubt, a massive volcano that is very active. At a little over 10,000 feet, we had to weave our way through peaks and valleys in order to get to the lake. Mount Redoubt has erupted as recently at 2005, which scientists insist was the first actual predicted eruption that was accurate. Although there were no rumbles while we were at its base, we could see volcanic steam rising from its active vents.

Equally as fun as Katmai National Park, Lake Clark was different. At Katmai, all the salmon were jumping the falls, and the grizzlies made an unusual accommodation so that a dozen or more would hang together, and leave each other alone as long as their personal space wasn’t encroached. It was almost like a gallery set up for display. At Crescent Lake, the fish are near the shore all along this 9-mile-long lake. Rather than seeing all the brown bears together, each fished diligently, but alone.

After landing we boarded a deck boat and spent the next 6 hours hunting for bears. Mostly we found then hunting alone, just ambling along the shore line catching any salmon who got too close. It was fun to see them suddenly stop, sniff the air and listen, and then spring into action. Not every attack was a winner, but enough were to make it worth the effort. Only one time did we see two bears hunting in the same bay – a young juvenile was being tolerated by a huge adult male – as long as the young’un kept on the other side of the bay.

We were lucky enough to see a momma grizzly with two young cubs that our guide thought were likely born this year. The momma hunted the salmon, then dragged the catch up on shore to the waiting cubs, leaving it for them and heading back into the water to catch another. We couldn't see the cubs devour the catch, but could sure hear them. They snarled and screamed like they were fighting over who would get 

the biggest share. Our guide thought they were just cub playing sounds.

By the en

d of the day we had watched a total of 13 bears hunting the shores of Lake Crescent. I don’t know if it is really true, but our guide said that 13 was a personal record for her this entire season. Whether it was or not, we were still very happy with our extravaganza.

Talk to you soon!

Epic voyage - the Russians - and one Alaskan

We made several stops to engage with the local Siberian populations Most of the villages were subsistence villages – while they had some vehicles, the had no roads outside of their village except for 4WD paths that allowed them to interact with other villages. There were no roads connecting to the grid. Any supplies they needed that was not provided by the land and mother nature had to be shipped in a container by sea, or in an emergency could be brought in by float plane.

Every single village we visited, even though the population may be less than 100, had a museum that they were proud to welcome guests to. Most of the contents of the museums were artisan crafts, and every one had some ivory carvings. In one village we met the local elder carver, who was teaching his two young daughters the trade. While we could not bring Walrus ivory back to the US with us, they are not prohibited from making art with the ivory they harvest in their annual allocation of subsistence hunting.

Outside Uelen Village we passed by Cape Dezhnev. In 1648, long before any more currently known explorers even attempted these waters, Seymon Dezhnev sailed from the Kolyma river on the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr River on the Pacific, being the first Euro-Asian to pass this point. While the indigenous folk had plied these waters for centuries, the Russians named it Cape Dezhnev, and erected a monument there in his honor.

We learned that the folks living here had the same genetic background as those on the Alaska mainland. As the theory goes, the indigenous inhabitants of the Siberian Peninsula crossed the land bridge back when North America and Asia were all a part of Pangea. Apparently, the genetic connection is very strong, even stronger than say the genetic connection between those in the Alaska mainland and the islands of Southeast Alaska. As you visited the villages and museums, you saw the tools, same weapons, same dolls, same artistic designs – there was very little different in either the dress or customs on each side of the Bering Strait.

Each village greeted us with a gathering of ceremonial dancers. The dress and dances were uncannily similar, as well as the instruments used. We learned about throat signing – the Inuit cultural music made by forcing air in and out over the singer’s vocal cords making very guttural sounds, often sounding like grunts, burps, and even sounding at times like an aboriginal digeridoo. It is traditionally performed with two women facing each other in more of a battle royal or round robin. In Provideniya we watched an Inuit mother perform along with her son – it was both bizarre and magical.

The villages also honored us by putting out feasts of what they considered delicacies. I tasted whale meat, whale blubber, walrus and seal. While I didn’t find the whale or walrus to be palatable at all, the seal actually tasted a bit like salmon, and I considered it almost tasty. This proud gentleman and his daughter set up our spread at Vankarem Village, and were thrilled when any of us would taste their gifts and smile. His daughter made some refrigerator magnets honoring their local wildlife, so I had to pick one up. This was the only village where the locals were happy to take US dollars.

In Proliv Senyavina we found the remains of an early hunter’s camp that took advantage of the natural hot springs that flowed into the river. The early hunters actually built a crude but effective concrete tub and channeled just the right amount of the hot spring water to make it usable, and yet nicely hot. How could I resist not bringing my suit and taking a dip along the north coast of the Siberian Peninsula?

Near Yttygran we visited the Russian National Park conserving the whaling site of intuits for centuries. While historians don’t know exactly the reason that the locals placed these whale ribs upright in an arched shape, they assume reasonably it was intended to make the spot where food caches were stored. Because of the permafrost, when the Inuit would kill a whale, they would dig cache in the ground and store all the excess meat they didn’t need currently, and the cold ground would preserve it. Scientists believe that the bones marked the locations of such caches.

Almost every village we visited was part of a Russian National Park. All the villages had local bear populations, and since the cruise staff were not allowed to bring firearms onto Russian soil, we were always under the watch and protection of National Park rangers who were very heavily armed. Luckily, there was no need for any of them to discharge their weapons while we were there.

The last town we visited was a bit more cosmopolitan. Anadyr has a population over 13,000, and is the administrative center of the Chukotka region. In keeping with Putin’s theme, the governor of Chukotka and benefactor of Anadyr was Oligarch Roman Abramovich, an Israeli-Russian billionaire. To a great degree he was responsible for the development of Anadyr as an important Russian port, with more amenities than its size otherwise might dictate. In addition, the fact that he owns the Chelsea Football Club in West London made all the Brits on board excited to visit!

We actually got a nice and badly needed visit ashore. In addition to the perfunctory museum, we walked through the nightlife district, peeking in the shops and noting all the restaurants and bars along this busy street. Unlike Provideniya, Anadyr was teeming with people, families and locals in general out on walks. It was a pleasant final stop to say goodbye to Russia for now.

Back in Anchorage we came full loop on our unsuccessful attempt to reach Wrangel Island. In 1921, Ada Blackjack, an Inuit born in Nome Alaska, joined an expedition set up by Vihjalmur Stefansson to Wrangel Island in an effort to inhabit it with the intention to claim it for either Britain or Canada. With 4 experienced explorers, Ada was intended to be the seamstress and cook for their planned one season visit. However, in 1922, Wrangel was iced in all summer and no supply boat could reach them. By 1923, all 4 of the explorers had perished, and only Ada remained when the rescue boat arrived in late summer. We visited her grave in Anchorage to pay homage.

Talk to you soon!

Epic voyage - the animals

The list is unbelievably long. We may have actually seen more mammals than we even saw birds, if that is even possible. At Yttygran Island we searched for wildlife in the ship’s inflatable Zodiac boats. On our way back from the Island we found ourselves in a migrating pod of Orca Whales. We stopped and positioned the Zodiac in what appeared to be their path, and got a spectacular show. We were maybe as close as 100 feet away at times as they surfaced!

In Penkigney Bay, we thought we smelled Musk Ox again, but knew they were back in Nome. What it was instead was a massive haul out of Walrus. Behaviorally, they sun themselves on low bars adjacent to the water, usually narrow points to allow quick escape should a bear or fox decide to saunter on by. At this haul out they estimated there were 800 Walrus, but just doing some finger counting from our 100-meter distance, I suspect it was far closer to 1,000.

Pegnigney Bay, as a National Park, regulated how close to the haul out you could come – no closer than the 100 meters I mentioned. However, many of the Walrus were in the water, and found our Zodiacs to be of interest. Since there were no regulations on distance when the Walrus were in the water, we got to within 20 feet or so from their quizzical starring. It was comical!

Near Vankarem Village we had a chance to see a Ringed Seal. A Ringed Seal is a True Seal in that it has no ears. There are True Seals and there are Eared Seals. The Seals in the Arctic don’t have ears, and from what our naturalist told us, we were very lucky to get to see one of these guys – very rare!

While we didn’t get to land on Wrangel Island, that was OK. In 1921, a crew of 4 men and an Inuit woman, Ada Blackjack, was left on Wrangel Island on a mission to claim it for Canada or Britain. They were to be there a year. In 1922, the island was iced in, and a resupply vessel was never able to land. By 1923, all 4 men had perished, and only Ada was left to be rescued when a boat was finally able to reach the island in late summer. So, I guess not being able to land is reasonably common. We did, however, spot this Polar Bear hunting on the ice a few miles from the Island.

Near Uelen Village we got a clear view of one Steller Sea Lion. Named for Georg Wilhem Steller, a botanist who had sailed with Vitus Bering on his 2^nd expiation to discover America in 1740. Steller identified and named a number of birds and mammals – one we see all the time in the West but never knew where the name came from, is the Steller Jay. Of all the mammals that Steller identified and named, 2 of them, the Steller’s Sea Cow and the Spectacled Cormorant became extinct during his lifetime.

In the bay near Provideniya we spotted several Grey Whales migrating to the cooler waters of the summer for breeding purposes. We also spotted some Blue Whales, but from the distance we were, it was pretty hard to identify which were the Blue and which were the Grey. Our naturalist told us that the majority of what we saw were Grey Whales. It was always fun to try to predict which of their surfacing motions would result in a proud display of a fluke as they dove deeply on every 4^th or 5^th breath.

At Cape Kuvyeem we spotted what would turn out to be our only land-based mammal – this ground squirrel checking us out to see if he had anything to fear. I guess you argue that the Polar Bears are land-based as well, but we only saw them on the ice, so I have to consider them to be ice floe based.

In Enmelen we finally got a glimpse of a Harbor Seal – another True Seal. Our naturalist had spotted a couple along the way of our trip, but we had not been able to get eyes on them. We were pleased to finally get eyes on one. We also spotted some Dahl’s Porpoise at a few of our stops, but they surfaced so slightly that there was never really a way to get a good picture of them. All you could see was a dark bump surfacing, and occasionally a small dorsal fin.

Anadyr was a spectacular final stop on our cruise. We had seen Orca, Blue and Grey Whales along the way, but in the harbor of Anadyr, the Beluga Whales were everywhere! Looking out from the ship, it was not uncommon to see up to a dozen spray columns from the Belugas surfacing and breathing. And as soon as those dozen spouts slowly disappeared, another half dozen or dozen would appear in a different direction. For the most part we only saw spouts accompanied by a white bulge surfacing on the water. I only saw one time where the whale showed a bit more.

Talk to you soon!