Reminder about the National Parks Special

I just wanted to remind people about the National Parks special beginning this Sunday evening on PBS. It will be in 6 parts - 2 hours/night each night this week. It has been getting a ton of huge press lately. Here's an interview with Ken Burns on NPR from this past Friday. Click on the link to hear the interview and see some beautiful pictures: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113201245

He was also on the Colbert Report on Friday, and I love that show, but it doesn't offer anything substantial, so I won't post it.


On an unrelated note, Smithsonian Magazine's most recent issue had a story on the Red Knot -a bird I highlight in the limate change exhibit I curated at the NJSM. This bird makes the longest migration of any species on the planet each year and is on the verge of extinction. Here is an audio slide show they provide

Katmai National Park

Day 4 (afternoon), August 18, 2009

Katmai National Park

Ok, sorry for the long delay. I believe I left off with us flying to Katmai National Park (http://www.nps.gov/katm/index.htm), on the mainland across from Kodiak Island.

Katmai National Park is another ENORMOUS park in southwest Alaska on the coastline. It was originally created to protect the "Valley of 10,000 Smokes" a famous geologic anomaly, but is also famous for its brown (Grizzly)bears and other pristine wilderness and wildlife in an incredibly beautiful part of Alaska. For those of you who know about Timothy Treadwell, this is where the nut job got eaten by the bears. For those of you who don't know about it, you should rent the movie "Grizzly Man". Discovery Channel has created a series out of his home movies, but these move a bit slower than the movie/documentary. It's good and worth the time, even though I just gave away the ending.

You can click on the pictures if they're too small.

Closeup of Geographic Harbor

We flew northwest of Kodiak across the island, then across the Shelikof Strait, and then over the mainland coastline, which is rugged, gorgeous, and nearly uninhabited. Soon we flew into Geographic Harbor inside Katmai National Park, eventually landing near the head of the harbour at the mouth of the ? River. Josh dropped us off on the river delta, and we waited while he brought the plane out to deeper water - the tide goes out quickly here and would leave the plane stranded if he left it there. When he came back, w walked slowly and in a group to the spot where we would watch the bears. From out spot on the delta we could already see a lot of them. Anyway, we walked over near another group of people from another flight tour company on Kodiak, and a group of well-healed photographers who were there with the 3-foot long camera lenses as part of one of those small scientific cruises - the boat was moored offshore. I'd love to do one of those one day. Especially to Antarctica.

Anyway, I could spend a week describing everything about the bears, but I'll let the photos tell the story. I've set up a slide show below of all of our pictures and those from Ed and Jeanette. There are hundreds of pictures, and there are some really good ones. Here's a short description: This is one of the coolest thing most people would ever do. You're sitting quietly literally only a few feet from the bears. You're not on a ledge, there's no fence, no blind, - nothing. You're literally feet from the bears and they know you're there, and for the most part, don't care. As long as they don't think your a threat to them, either aggressively or in competition for food, they pretty much don't care that you're there. But, there is literally nothing keeping them from coming right over and slicing you in pieces with their giant claws like "Wolverine" from X-men (that's the only nerd-comic book reference you'll ever hear from me - I hate those movies), or biting through your head with 1 chomp. It is intimidating and exhilarating, all at the same time. Just one story: when we 1st got there, Josh's friend Joe told us that it is very unlikely that they'll get too close to us, but if they do, just stand up and clap your hands - they don't like that. Well, just minutes after getting there, there was one bear - the biggest - that was clearly the dominant male in the area and was bullying a smaller bear near us. This guy was huge and mean, and had the scars on his face to prove it. Well, the small one got too close, and "scar" roared and started chasing him - this all started only about 3 feet up stream from us. Well, the small one started running away from the big one, RIGHT TOWARDS US!, with the big one right behind him! Sarah got really nervous and quickly stood up and started clapping. I wasn't ready and just pointed my camera towards the action holding down the shutter button. (I was sure I got some great shots, but then realized the freakin' lens cap was still one - as I said - it was unexpected). The little bear ran right towards us and then veered off only a few feet away and ended up running between us and the other group of photographers only about 20 feet away. Fortunately the big one didn't follow (or I may have crapped my pants) - when Sarah and Joe stood up and clapped, the big one stopped and walked off. Anyway, it was one of the coolest things that's ever happened, to me anyway.

Here are some videos of the bears so that you can get a taste of what we experienced:

So, why are the bears here? They're feasting on the salmon runs. You can just watch, literally waves of salmon swimming up stream in this very shallow river, which is hardly more than a wide stream. It is amazing to watch these bears chase and catch the fish. They do a fair amount of chasing, but they catch plenty. While feeding they hardly go more than a minute or 2 between finishing one and catching another. The drive in these fish to swim upstream must be incredibly strong - obviously plenty survive this bear gauntlet, but to fight against a strong current, try not to get eaten by so many bears, eagles, Josh's dog Kody, and so many other things . . . It's just pretty remarkable. Enjoy the slide show:

As for the scenery - even if there were no bears, this would be an unbelievable place. This is truly one of the most beautiful spots I've ever been. You have a crystal-clear harbour teaming with wildlife, surrounded by steep, rugged terrain with a few high waterfalls in view. It is just an amazing place. Some more videos:

Bears with some scenery. Josh's plane and the tour boat are in the background. Those white patches on the mountain sides arevolcanic ash not snow.

We were there for quite a while, but when we had to leave it was still too soon. We walked slowly back toward the water's edge as Josh went to get the plane, and we loaded us and headed out. However, the adventure had only just begun. Before we left Kodiak one of the tourists with us asked Josh if we'd get to fly to other places in the park. Josh said it was possible, but rather unlikely as it was pretty windy today, and is always more so on the coastlines. However, once we took off after bear viewing and "testing the waters", it turned out the weather was nearly perfect. So, we flew along some gorgeous coastline in the park, over some incredible mountain peaks and active volcanoes, mountain ice fields and glaciers, and amazing tundras. This was like the flight of a lifetime and I'm sure most of these things are shrouded in clouds most of the year.

After flying around for a while, we landed in Hallo Lake, which is created by and located at the base of Hallo Glacier.

Some great video Sarah took as we approached the bottom of Hallo Glacier.

Flying over the very end of the glacier and the terminal morraine.

Landing in Hallo Lake

As you might imagine, it was quite chilly since we were litteraly only ~100 yards from the base of an enormous sheet of ice. This place was incredible too. I know that if I always use superlatives to describe everything, people are going to think I'm just exaggerating, but this really was an amazing place. No sign of humans anywhere. Just a gorgeous blue-green lake with ice bergs floating in it, a rocky shoreline with moose tracks, miles of tundra in every direction, and 1000-foot high cliffs nearby. Unbelievable. I just wanted to walk off into the bush and go exploring. There are just too many amazing photos from this leg of the trip, so I'm going to create another slide show rather than trying to pick out a few of the best.

Unfortunately, it was getting late and the sun was approaching the horizon, so we had to get going. Really too bad, but this had really been an amazing day.

Alaska Trip - Day 4

Tuesday, August 18, 2008

There's a lot to write about on this day. We did so much - it was an amazing day.

After another great breakfast, we drove a little ways to the north of Kodiak to White Sands Beach. This is a beautiful beach at the head of a small bay with several hiking trails that originate from here and head off into the surrounding forests.

Closeup of White Sands Beach

The coolest thing about this beach though is the sand - it is one of the few beaches on the island (at least that I know of) that is sandy, and, the sand is a lixture of black volcanic and white quarts sand. That, combined with the very low relief, means the water creates a lot of beautiful patterns in the sand ripples when the tide comes in and then goes back out. I was just going to post a couple of the better pictures, but the patterns are so varied and amazing, it would be beter to make a slide show. Most of these are of the sand, but some are of the surrounding scenery, which is amazing.

We decided to walk around the right bank of the beach at the base of some low cliffs, which meant walking through the surf a bit, so we went back to the car to put on our hip waders. By the time we got back to the beach just a few minutes later, we could already see that much of the beach we were just walking on was now under water. As I said, this beach is very flat, so in some places you can litterally watch the tide come in or out. Anyway, we walked to the right side of the bay head and easily crossed the river that empties into the bay. There were lots of salmon in there.

I always like walking along rocky beaches because there is so much life there. Chitons, limpets, seaweed, starfish, anemones . . . and that's just in the water. Then you have all of the beautiful, incredibly green plants growing in and on the very black cliffs and rocks.

We didn't walk too far or too long because the tide was coming up fast and we didn't want to get trapped out there. So we headed back, except we made the mistake of trying to cross the river in the same spot that we crossed it the 1st time. We quickly realized this mistake. While it was no problem the 1st time, the tide had come up too much. I was the only one who got across without getting wet, Ed and Sarah got slightly wet, but Jeanette got a good amount of water in her waders. It was pretty funny. We're rookies, I guess.

Sarah and Jeanette trying to get back across the river without getting wet.

Since most of us were wet, we went back to town instead of hiking on some of the trails here as I had planned. On our way back to town we stopped at a nice bluff on the road overlooking the ocean and the bay forming White Sands Beach.
We got back, dried off, had lunch, and then since we didn't have a ton of time before we needed to meet Josh at the plane, we went downtown to check out the tourist shops.
It wasn't long before we had to meet Josh at the plane. He said there was a good chance we'd get to go on a bear view this afternoon, but when we got there the trip was in doubt because the paying customers were no where to be found, and since we were just freeloaders getting to go because of the generosity of Josh's boss, the trip would have to be canceled if they didn't show up. Fortunately they did, and it was only a little while before we were on our way. The paying customers were a nice couple from Oregon, I believe.

Ok, the morning was great, but the afternon was AMAZING! Since the afternoon was in a national parkthough, by convention, I'll have to save that for the next post. Stay tuned!

Surprise! It's a(nother) Tiger!

For those of you who don't already know, we're having another baby. Yes, this was a big surprise, and yes, it's going to be another boy, so don't even ask!

Extra Pictures for the Alaska Trip

Please take a moment to go back over the last few posts about our trip to Alaska. At the end of each post there are extra pictures, courtesy of Ed and Jeanette. There are some really good ones, but more importantly, they took pictures of things we forgot to, thus filling in some holes. More posts coming soon.
Jason

Alaska Trip - Day 3 (Part B)

Monday, August 17, 2009 (afternoon)

Ok, sorry for the delay. We went to the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse this weekend. We'll post a blog on that soon. I just got Ed & Jeanette's pictures form Alaska, so check back on this post and the others on Alaska - I'll likely be adding some of their pics as I get a chance to go through them.

Ok, after fishing and exploring around Pasagshak, we made it back into town and Trident Basin in the afternoon. We met Josh and were soon on the plane, headed northwest toward Uganik Bay on the north side of the island. More on that in a minute. 1st, some pictures from the flight over.

Some of the mountains above the treeline.
Same Mountain Goats on top of one of the mountains.

One of many crystal clear glacial lakes on top of one of these mountains. Josh said when conditions are perfect, he can land in this lake.

Back down near sea level on the north side of the island, at the head of the bay.

Josh flying.

We landed near the head of Uganik Bay so that Josh could deliver something to a retired couple that lived in an awesome cabin here. Talk about my dream home!! I wish I had some pictures of it. This is a beautiful bay with steep wooded hillsides and a beautiful estuary at the head. As we took off again we saw some sea otters. We only flew for about a minute when we landed again. Perfect timing, because Ed and I were starting to feel bad with the plane bouncing around a bit.

We landed at an old cannery on the east side of this bay. There we met a friend of Josh's, named Bill. He was a very friendly guy who was the resident care taker of the facilities. He gave us a very comprehensive and fascinating tour. This place used to employ hundreds of people at a time, many of which were college students from all over the world, each summer during the salmon runs. They canned literally tons of pink salmon each summer. The big salmon boats would pull up to the docks, unload their cargo, and then they went back out for more. This place was opened in the late 1920's and was in operation until 2001, but then changed owners a couple of times, and in the process, some very nasty environmental problems were discovered. They'd like to reopen the place, but have to fix those problems before they do. Until then, they hire men like Bill to keep the place in working order and to occasionally store set net boats from the salmon fishermen.

This is really a fascinating operation. He took us throughout the grounds, showing us where they process and can the fish, the living quarters for the workers, the store, dining hall, wood working and metal fabrication shop, and his living quarters. There was also a post office and communications office. He keeps in touch with people with internet and has a satellite phone, but other than occasional deliveries from people like Josh and fishermen, he's completely alone. It must be an incredible amount of work keeping this place up!

This place was really fascinating and I loved that we stopped here. In some of the rooms it felt like the workers had just left and were expecting to be back the next day. There were a few things left on the store shelves and boots left in the dining hall. According to the caretaker, they probably were expecting to come back. Many of the workers came back each summer, and the change in ownership was unexpected. Apparently this cannery work is good money. Very good.

After we said our goodbyes, we got back on the plane and had another very quick flight over to Quartz Creek Lodge ( http://www.quartzcreeklodge.com/ ) to visit the Pingree family.


Josh brought Sarah, Jon David, and I here last time we visited, 4 years ago. This lodge is MANY miles away from anything that you could consider to be a sign of civilization. The entire place was built by hand by the family. David, the father, moved to Kodiak years ago from Massachusetts, met Pam, the mother, and they've built an incredibly beautiful place with a wonderful family. To Sarah and I, it feels like the Swiss Family Robinson. They have a wind turbine (new since our last visit) and a hydrological generator in a stream behind their lodge for all of the electricity they need, a sauna, outdoor hot tub, cabins for a few guests, and of course their big, beautiful house with a big deck that overlooks the bay and ocean on the horizon. They catch, hunt, and grow most of what they eat. They know just about everything there is to know about their environment and how to live in it.


They host only a few guests at a time, and the guests can do just about anything, from whale watching and birding, to big game hunting and fishing. Last time we were here they took us fishing for halibut, crabbing, and whale watching, and it was amazing. This time though, we arrived late in the day and there was no time for that. As we pulled up to their beach they were cracking open their fresh catch of snow crab on rocks on the beach.

We visited for a while outside. They showed us how they diverted part of the waterfall/stream behind their house and installed the hydrological generator. Genius! They have a nice little garden in the yard and home-made toys for their kids. On the path to the hot tub there were some trees that had just been knocked over in recent nights by bears going through their property eating alder berries. Most of us worry about dogs, maybe raccoons going through their garbage. Others worry about one of the largest land predators on Earth.

After enjoying a beautiful sunset on their deck, we and 1 other nice retired couple from Washington state came in to enjoy an amazing dinner. Pam is a wonderful cook, but I have to say - when the ingredients are this fresh (caught that day, sometime only minutes before), it might be hard to mess things up. Appetizers were crackers with a nice cheese and smoked salmon. We had 2 different styles of King Salmon, ling cod, salad, a chicken stir fry (I think that was a special order for Jeanette - they don't have chicken very often and were actually very excited about it. Imagine that - considering chicken a special treat because you eat the freshest-possible finest-quality seafood every day - what a life!!!), and the piece de resistance - the crab they had just caught and steamed. Everything was delicious, but the crab is amazing. I don't often order crab in restaurants because it is not only expensive, but often too much work for the little bit of meat. These crabs are enormous - 1/2 a crab is plenty of food for most people. Also, don't even think about butter for these crabs - that would be insulting to crabs this good! Ed and I both ate a lot more than just 1 half, but I think we both would have tried to eat our weight in crab if we didn't care about embarrassing ourselves. Oh, and then we had a really great dessert, a new creation made by Amy, the 2nd oldest daughter. So new it didn't even have a name yet. ANYONE who wants to experience a real Alaska outdoor adventure should come here.


Well, I can't believe I don't have more pictures from this part of the day. I guess we didn't take many because we took so many last time we were here. I love visiting this wonderful family and seeing how they live. They have a life I can only dream of - living off the land in one of the most productive and beautiful places in the world. I would love to spend some time with them and just absorb everything they know and how they do it. What an amazing life!

Josh let me fly for a few minutes on the way home. You might think this would make a slightly nervous flier more at ease. Let me tell you, it did not. I don't know how to explain it very well, but suddenly it was very clear that I was in control, and if ANYTHING went wrong I wouldn't have a clue what to do. It's also weird because he's let me fly before and it didn't bother me. Anyway, it was probably better that I gave it back to Josh after a short time - I didn't see her, but 2 others in the plane saw Jeanette's face while I had the controls, and she had a look of complete terror. I think because soon after I took control the plane made a couple of slight drops. That certainly wasn't me! I hate those drops.

We got back pretty late, and even though we were tired, it was a really amazing day. Looking back on it, it is hard to believe we did all of that in 1 day. That's one of the great things about summer in Alaska - the days are so long you can do so much - which is nice, because there is so much to do, even on a relatively small and largely uninhabited island.

Extra pictures from Ed & Jeanette

The view from the Pingree's cabin.

Part of the Pingree's cabin.

A mail box painted on the outside wall of one of the cannery offices.

More parts of the cannery.

The cabin at the head of the bay where Josh dropped off a package.

Alaska Trip - Day 3 (Part A)

Monday, August 17, 2009

Man, so much to talk about for this day. Better get started.

We got up at a decent time, but got out of the house late because we had a good breakfast, plus I went to fill up the car and buy some flies for fishing at the outdoors store downtown.

Once we finally got out of town, w drove down to Pasagshak. There is only 1 road south out of town, and after about 45 minutes it splits - to the left is Chiniak and to the right is Pasagshak. Today was an absolutely gorgeous day with deep blue skies and warm sun with a cool breeze - just like the last time I went to Pasagshak years ago, and since there are real sandy beaches here, it just felt like beach weather.

The drive is always beautiful and interesting. The road was only paved a little ways outside of town last time I was here, but now the entire thing is paved. The road takes you past the coastguard base (the largest in the country) and then around the head of 3 bays. After the 3rd, you are farther inland and come tot he fork in the road, and then not long afterwards you drive past a village beside a stream near a beautiful bay, and then to a couple of beaches. The 1st one is Surfer's Beach, but that one was full of heavy equipment, like they were collecting a lot of the beach sand for something. Weird and disappointing.

So, we kept driving on to Fossil Beach. This is a beautiful beach situated between 2 long ponds and is accessible only on a road that is pretty rough and steep. There's also a great stream emptying one of those ponds that then cris-crosses the beach. The beach is strewn with huge logs that have washed up on shore. There are also beautiful mountains in the distance across the bay.

This beach is only a couple hundred yards long and has dirt cliffs at each end, and in each cliff there are tons of fossils. Nothing spectacular, but cool nonetheless. I was to the more southerly cliff and climbed over the rocks and debris for as far as I could go. I didn't want to keep everyone waiting though, so after a while I went back. Ed had gone exploring and Sarah and Jeanette had apparently been gooffing off because later on I found several pictures like this on Sarah's camera.




Once Ed got back we drove out slowly so we could pick some Salmon berries. We were in Kodiak for the very end of the season. The pickings were slim, but we found plenty to eat throughout the week.

One of the cool things about this end of the island is that there is a NASA launch complex here (http://www.akaerospace.com/klc.html). They launch satellites and sometimes missiles for the Missile Defense Shield. It's pretty weird to see such large and advanced, modern buildings and structures so far out here away from anything. It's also weird to see buffalo (bison) around here too. Many years ago a guy brought bison to this part of the island hoping to make a successful commercial venture out of it. I don't think it was very successful, but they're still here, breeding, and free-range. We drive near some on our way back toward the north.


It didn't take long to get back to a stream near the NASA area. I forgot the name of this stream, but on the way out it was FILLED with fishermen. Fewer fishermen now, but still 5 - 7 the entire time we were out there, which was quite a while because we were catching lots of fish. They were almost all pink salmon, though I heard some guys say they saw a couple of silvers. Someone else saw a a seal swimming in the stream. Anyway, there were lots of salmon, I I got tons of bites, several fish came off the line while fighting, but I landed several others. I think we went home after a couple of hours with 3 females, and 1 male that another fisherman caught and gave to us wen he noticed I was cleaning them to be eaten. He said the male pinks are better to eat anyway. These are really beautiful fish, with their pink strip and dark spots on their top half on a green background. They fight hard, too! My arm was wearing out.

Sarah got in the act too! I was cleaning one of my fish when I looked up and saw her fishing with my rod. She had a little luck - she aught a dolly varden about the size of my hand (I can't believe we didn't take a picture!!!) A guy there said they were good to fry up, but this guy was so little it wouldn't be worth it. Now Sarah wants to get "his and hers" fly rods - her's bright pink of course. I'll quit fishing before I go anywhere and fish with her with a bright pink rod.



I always like cleaning the fish because you learn so much. These females are absolutely FULL of eggs. Literally, 80 - 85% of the body cavity is filled up with bright, perfectly round, orangey eggs. Makes you wonder what their body cavity is filled with when they don't have eggs. I saw on a show somewhere that you can eat the eggs straight out of the body - lots of good energy and protein. So, Ed and I ate some. They were kind of like small, warm, slimy, salty grapes. Not very tasty, but I've had worse.

We didn't really want to leave, but had to get back by 3. Plus, we really needed to get those 3 fish on ice. So, we headed back, and about 1/2 way we stopped at Kalsin Bay Inn for ice. This is a this little dive bar in the middle of nowhere. I was glad to stop too, because I've never been here and it looks cool. It was pretty rough on the inside - looks like a fun place to hang out. Reminded me of an old gaucho bar near our field site in Argentina - in the middle of nowhere.

Ok, I'll have to write about the rest of the day tomorrow. I don't want to hold it up anymore.

Bison around Pasagshak

Salmon Berry - we were a little late this year, but there were still a few around. They're great!

Spazzes caught in the act!

Ed didn't have too much luck this day, but better luck later.

Sarah and the whopper Dolly Varden she caught. They just attacked any salmon eggs or egg-looking lures. Good to know for next time!

Fishing

The scenery around the river that we were fishing in.