Beaver Watching

The weather has been in the low 70's and quite lovely. Each evening I go out "Beaver Watching."

Beavers are incredibly cute animals. Why, they remind me of my little animal!

They are highly motivated to eat, are quite rotund, and especially busy, as the stereotype suggests.

Did you know beavers talk to each other with little guttural sounds? Yes! I heard them last night!!!

There are a pair of beavers who seem to be accumulating branches to make a new lodge. Maybe their parents kicked them out of their birth lodge. You can easily hear them crunching and munching away.

 I can't tell you how much I enjoy watching these innate architects!

July 27, 2011

You may have heard there was a serious bear mauling incident that happened 35 miles away from here in the Talkeetna Mountains. A group of teenage boys were on a solo hike as a final challenge for their NOLS Outdoor Leadership Training. When crossing a river, the boy in front saw a bear and apparently freaked out, screamed and ran. The sow saw this as a threat, and tried to protect her cub. She caused him some serious injury and tried tearing up a few of the other boys who also ran off screaming in terror. The entire incident lasted probably only a minute but 4 of the 5 kids had injuries, two serious.They were very fortunate that the one uninjured boy had training as an EMT, and  they had a way to call for help with an avalanche beacon. Hours later, a plane flew in to transport the more seriously  injured 2 boys.....

You can imagine, this has a rather negative consequence for the "hiking in the wilderness" business I am in. Many of the hikes we have scheduled have been cancelled. I am afraid, some egocentric hunter will go out and think he is justified in killing this animal.....

Not to be terribly mean, but, I hope the boys who ran screaming flunk their training. They did the absolute wrong thing, which endangered their lives, and very possibly the bear's life. I also think NOLS should re-think their agenda for teenagers hiking solo in bear country in Alaska.

Moral of story:       Don't mess with Mama.
                             Talk a LOT when hiking, even if alone. Singing and reciting poetry are fun.
                             Who cares if quiet, ignorent hikers think you are nuts?
                             Constantly scan the scene for signs of bear.
                             NEVER APPROACH A BEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                             NEVER RUN or SCREAM if you see a bear nearby!!!!!!!!!
                             CALMLY talk to the bear and
                             slowly and carefully get the HELL out of its way!

Before leaving Brooks Camp

I wrote this:

7/16/2011

I brush my hair here, in the place of my dreams.
I pull the strands from the brush and
let the gentle wind take them.
I wish to leave a part of myself here
for the birds to use or to
slowly melt into the soil.
I leave a part of my heart here
and already long to return.

Why do I love this so much?
What is it that has lassooed
so tightly around my heart?

It must be the bears lumbering
along the pumice filled beach
at the edge of  Naknek Lake,
or the immature bald eagle soaring
overhead eyeing the river for signs of salmon.
Maybe it is the piercing repetative song of the golden crowned sparrow,
or the deadly monkshood, winking at me
with her deadly beauty.
It could be the porcupine, drinking so innocently from the lake in the evening,
or the vast Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes,
whose volcanic ash paints a landscape
so mysteriously powerful,
so raw in its cataclysmic transformative ability,
so beautifully pinkish and rust and striated,
 with a tuft of mountain harebell here,
and a spiral shaped alder there.
It beckons me to come in further,
walk inside her inner boundaries to Novarupta,
and the Baked Mountain Cabin,
and Mageik Lakes.
the Katmai Caldera,
and sandy, pumice-filled-desert-like landscape
surrounded by 14 active glaciated volcanoes,
some steaming, all majestic and volatile.
It is painful to leave this place.

I want to stay.

Interesting Quotes

"Really, I didn't like Alaska. It rained, almost every day, at least 300 days out of the year."
John C. Hawkes

"To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world."
John Muir

"If you are old, go by all means, but if you are young -- wait! The scenery of Alaska is much grander than anything else of the kind in the world. And it is not well to dull one's capacity for enjoyment by seeking the finest first."

Henry Gannett of the US Geological Survey in 1899

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike."   - John Muir

Go now and then for fresh life. Go whether or not you have faith. Go up and away for life; be fleet!  I know some will heed the warning. Most will not, so full of pagan slavery is the boasted freedom of the town, and those who need rest and clean snow and sky the most will be the last to move.

-  John Muir, John of the Mountains, 1874

God's love is manifest in the landscape as in a face. - John Muir

A few snow crystals were shaken down from a black cloud towards midnight, but most of the day was one of deep peace, in which God's love was manifest as in a countenance. -John Muir

"It may be that the Alaskan Indians are doomed. Those who are fighting for the natives with all their hearts and souls cannot believe that this will be the end of all their efforts.

But if it be so, let at least the memorial of their names remain. When inhabited wilderness becomes an uninhabited wilderness, when the only people who ever make their homes in it are exterminated, when the placer gold is gone and the white men have gone also; let at least the native names of these great mountains remain to show that there once dwelt in the land, a simple hardy race who braved successfully the rigors of its climate and the inhospitality of their environment.....

                                                                        and flourished.

                                                                        -Hudson Stuck

                                                                        The Ascent of Denali

"Slow down and enjoy life. Its not only the scenery you miss by going too fast, you'll also miss the sense of where you are going and why."

                       Eddie Cantor

"Keep close to nature's heart....and break away, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean"

                         John Muir

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.

So throw off the bowlines,

Sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore."

                               -Author Unknown

"Wilderness itself is the basis of all our civilization. I wonder if we have enough reverence for life to concede to wilderness the right to live on?"

                                 -Margaret Murie

"Wilderness is a resource which can shrink, but not grow...."

                                   -Aldo Leopold

                                    Conservationist

Kenai Peninsula-

I have a strange work schedule! 2 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 1 day off.......strange!
Instead of hanging dormant, I took a long road trip to visit the location of my first job in Alaska: the Peterson Bay Field Station of Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, across Kachemak Bay from Homer.
I had a remarkable, inspiring time!!!
Driving down, I passed some of ALaska's most easily seen active volcanoes: Redoubt, Iliamna, and Augustine. They exude such power!!!

Iliamna

Kendra and her friend Sarah visited me that summer of 2001, and the FIRST thing I saw upon arriving, was the drawings they made while visiting!!! Kendra made an exquisite Opalescant Sea Slug, and Sarah made an Aleutian Moon Snail. Such a warm welcome!!!

I hiked the trails, and saw signs of recovery after bark beetle
infestation killed 90% of the spruce trees. The tide was very high and I sat at my familiar perch above the stairs watching the water rise. I said hello to the sun dew (carniverous) plants at the bog, the beautiful monkshood flowers, and hiked to Earthquake Point, a place with a view like no other, where I did lots of writing and gazing when I worked there. The blueberries and currants were ripe and provided great trail snacking! This is major bald eagle country. One was guarding its nest--I saw a baby's head and heard the soft peeping!!

I slept in a yurt, the same one my Mom stayed in when she visited and took care of an injured kittiwake. The next day the tide was lower, (but not very low) so I visited octopus dens (no-one was home), brittle stars, peanut worms, urchins, anenomes, clams, and crabs galore.

I love this place so much!!!!!

After returning to land via water taxi, I visited the Homer Spit, business district, and stopped in Hope for dinner. (good veggie burger and Moose's Drool IPA)

I am felling quite spiritually renewed!! The scenery is so fulfilling!!!!!!

Hope, Alaska

Katmai National Park July 12-16

I am just back from a sensational, extended weekend. I flew to the Alaska Peninsula to visit my most favorite place, Katmai National Park, where I was a ranger in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
It has been 7 years since I worked there, but there has been a magnetic pull for me to return since the day I (sadly) left.

It is hard to explain how enthralled I am here.....bears wander in search of salmon, the pumice beach along Naknek Lake buzzes with float planes landing and leaving, thick schools of salmon churn in the water, slowly heading upstream to spawn, the woods contain miles of colorful flowers and berries, but best for me, is the Valley of 10,000 Smokes.

View of volcanic ash from Ukak Falls

Mysterious Designs upon the ash sculpted by wind, rain, and falling rock



I find the Valley so remarkable, powerful and alive with wicked beauty. I love wandering along the ashflow, noticing a lone mountain harebell, an alder growing in a low spiral, a swooping swallow in search of bugs. People have died falling into the Lethe River- I honor them as I walk, imagining the terror they felt as they were pulled away and down into the cold ashy water. I am sorry for their families, who will never see them again....no one has ever been found who fell into the Lethe.

There was bear and wolf sign, moose droppings, a small dead mouse with tiny, delicate hands and feet..... I hiked around to familiar places and watched as the Lethe River fused with Knife Creek, forming the Ukak River.

Confluence

At night, the wind swept through, searing and furious. I hid in my tent which rattled and shook for hours, until the wind subsided, as rapidly as it began. The moon was full and glowing over Mt. Mageik, one of the 14 active glaciated volcanoes surrounding the ashflow. I gaped wild with awe. In minutes, the fog covered it and it disappeared.

                                                                        Mt Mageik

 

It warmed my heart to spend time with Imes, who began working the same year I did. He is a "Bear Technician" and full of jokes and funny stories about the trials and tribulations of managing people around great Alaskan brown bears. We shared memories and laughter, salmon and lake trout.

I hope to return and work at Brooks Camp again. I feel unfinished there, and long to spend more days, walking along the mountains of volcanic ash, or the pumice filled beaches, dodging bears, laughing over an Alaskan amber, watching the dynamic landscape and breath-taking seasons of change.

                                                           Brooks Lodge

Hooked....

Size Matters

Such a FUN WEEKEND!!!!

It is a blast to have time off!! I have had a very gratifying weekend.
It started by driving 3 hours south to Anchorage. A moose crossed the highway right in front of me. Thankfully, it is so large and easy to see that I could slow down and easily avoid it. I visited the Alaska Public Lands Visitors Center, and the Alaska Theater to see films and displays. One was on the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964 and the theater chairs buckled and jolted to simulate the force of the 9.4 magnitude quake, which is believed to be the second most powerful earthquake in recorded history. I enjoyed another film on the Aurora Borealis, and live music and dance by a Yupik group. I enjoyed their haunting music so much, I bought their cd.
 Later, I drove to Girdwood, to meet up with my friend Raven, who I worked with during the summer of 2005 at the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka. We went to visit the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, which is a facility that cares for non-releasable or orphaned Alaskan animals. I was thrilled to see muskoxen and moose at close range. I am so glad there is a place for these beautiful animals to rest in safety and be cared for.

Afterwards, we drove to Raven's apartment in the wild, weird and interesting town of Whittier, right at the edge of Prince William Sound.

To get there, you have to drive through a 2 and a half mile tunnel through a glaciated mountain full of melting snow and cascading waterfalls.

Tunnel

The town has only a little over a hundred year round residents, and 500 something seasonal employees, (affectionately nicknamed "half-witts") so they built a residential "Tower" to house the employees, where Raven lives.

The Whittier Tower

I was able to stay in Raven's guest room, which had a killer view of the harbor, and the living room overlooked the glacier and waterfalls. It is really handsome scenery!!!! It even had running water, a flush toilet and a hot shower!!!

Today, Raven was able to get me a free ticket on the glacier viewing boat she works on. We went out for 6 hours viewing black legged kittiwakes, stellar's sealions, sea otters, and numerous tidewater glaciers. It was SSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOO   FUN!!!

Kittiwake Nesting Colony

Black Legged Kittiwake

My Mom took care of an injured kittiwake while visiting me during my first summer in Alaska! It was a pleasure to see a huge group of these beautiful fish eating birds.

These gorgeous blue glaciers evoke such mystery and raw power!!!! Our world is so fascinating!!!!!!

Surprise Glacier