All good things must come to an end...

A momentous occasion occurred since my last posting.  A once-in-a-lifetime event that relegates one's personal thoughts to bucket lists and mid-life crises.  Like myself, those who have been there know what I am talking about.  Those who are nearing it have prepared in some way, maybe unknowingly, maybe with anticipation, maybe with trepidation, and maybe even morphologically (damn gravity).  Yep, Cathy hit the big 4-0 and I was honored to help her and her friends celebrate the occasion. 

Although Cathy had picked up some sort of unfortunate bug/virus/mutation that left her a bit under the weather she was a trooper and slugged her way through the festivities of the day.  A beautiful log cabin with beautiful views overlooking Lynn Passage was rented and the momentous event brought together friends and family, some of which haven't seen one another for quite some time.

The log cabin is in the left side of the picture.  Great views from the hillside.

Sunsets have been scarce since I came to Juneau.  It was worth the wait.

This is from the same porch (just a different angle) as the last sunset picture but nearly two hours later.  It was a long, memorable and fitting sunset to celebrate Cathy's birthday.

We saw this baby porky (Erethizon dorsatum) during a walk.  I couldn't resist throwing it in here.

I returned yesterday from working in Crooked Creek which is located on the Kuskokwim River in the northeast portion of an area known as the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in western Alaska.  The trip required a series of plane rides with each plane getting progressively smaller the closer we got to our destination.  The village has about 130 residents and is only accessed either by boat or air (via a single ~2000' long slightly bumpy gravel landing strip).  Traffic within the village consists mostly of ATV's (and snowmobiles in winter) with a limited number of personal vehicles also being used. 

The airport (the blue building) and the beginning of the runway.

The surrounding landscape is made up of tundra and mountains.  Seeing, and experiencing, the tundra was a first for me and I am completely awestruck and amazed at the beauty and uniqueness of it.  We spent most of our time walking through it, digging in it, and identifying (Cathy did most of the id's, but I managed to help on occasion) the plant life which resides on it.  A lot of steps were like walking on a waterbed (which occasionally sprung a leak - waterproof boots were a must) with solid ground randomly interspersed.  I also experienced permafrost for the first time and even though I was well aware of its existence I was fascinated by the concept of frozen ground being as close as 14" from the surface in August. 

View from one of the hillsides overlooking Crooked Creek and the Kuskokwim River.

Bog cranberries (Vaccinium oxycoccos) and lichens - both pretty common vegetation on the tundra.

View of mostly black spruce (Picea mariana) from one of our work sites.

We stayed in a lodge which is only one of three places in the village which has running water.  The remaining homes rely on a central area called a washeteria for laundry and potable water.  With the exception of the places with running water the sewage facilities consist of "honeybuckets" which are emptied by residents into the sewer lagoon. Cathy and I were there to delineate wetlands for proposed projects which would eventually bring updated plumbing, sewer and road facilities to the village.

The lodge from the helicopter - thanks for the picture Karl.

I enjoyed my first helicopter ride which was a fantastic way to see the landscape of the delta. A land survey crew that was staying at the lodge were nice enough to let me join them as they flew to area mountain tops to retrieve some of their survey equipment (thanks again Karl and Sarah!).

I'm in there somewhere.

More mountains.

View of the open tundra in the area. 

One of the mountain ranges as seen from the helicopter.

From the top of one of the mountains.

I was hoping to see a grizzly which has been eluding me since I got here but it wasn't meant to be - looks like I will have to return at some point.  It was by no means a let down as I did see a couple of bull moose (Alces alces) and a cow during what I would classify as early rut activity.  The pilot was kind enough to circle them and allow me to take some pictures, which proved difficult while trying to hold the door open and steady the camera with the zoom lens on.  I did manage a few non-blurry pictures.

A bull approaching the cow and a second bull noticing.

Hormones kicking in...

...still pretty early to chance an all out battle.  Admittedly, I sure would like to have witnessed one.

The lonely - for now - cow.

I am headed back to Wisconsin with a number of firsts I can cross off my mental checklist.  The trip has been an amazing opportunity for me and would not have been possible if it wasn't for Cathy and her crazy idea to let me help her out for the summer.  I owe a deep felt gratitude for her generosity and will be forever thankful for the opportunity, her willingness to put up with all of my questions, leading and pointing the way in various explorations, and for giving me numerous places to stay the last few months. 

Thanks, dear "old" (however, not quite as old as I am) friend.

It's a bear's life...

A couple of romps the past week have produced some great scenery and a number of bear encounters.  The first bears were actually in Cathy's neighborhood (apparently a hot spot for bear activity) while I was walking back to Cathy's.  I wasn't paying attention to much other than the steepness of the hill I was trudging up when I caught a glimpse of movement to my right.  Across the street and to my right, in the driveway of a house, two sub-adult black bears were reared up on their hind legs taking turns batting at one another.  My first thought - where is the mom, second thought - I had nowhere to go as a ridge to my left was too steep, and third thought- they look like teddy bears with perfectly groomed and plush fur.  My presence didn't seem to bother them; they just kept pawing each other and ignored my slinking off.  Not expecting to see much between the bus stop and Cathy's house I unfortunately didn't have the camera with me and missed the opportunity of photographing these two beautiful bears.

The next day I took a hike on Perseverance Trail.  The trail head for this popular trail originates in downtown Juneau and follows the route of an old mining road - reportedly the first road in Alaska.  The two previous days had been warm - for Juneau standards - and I picked this day because it was supposed to be cooler, which it wasn't.  Despite the unseasonably warm temperatures, the mostly cloudless sky allowed for some great views.

The trail follows aptly named Gold Creek for most of the length of the trail revealing plenty of waterfalls.

On my way back I decided to take a side trail to an old mining camp area.  Turning onto the secondary trail required taking a sharp corner that provided a brief blind spot to whatever may be on the trail ahead.  Of course, there was a black bear in the middle of the trail as I rounded the path supplying a definitive answer to the age old question "Does a bear *#%@ in the woods?"  He (interesting how I pick "he") was apparently embarrassed being caught in such a predicament and sauntered away from me; I decided to forgo that section of trail.

I continued on my way, deciding to keep a camera in hand instead of in my backpack.  (Un)fortunately, there were no further opportunities for photo ops with bears but I still managed a few more pictures of less intimidating subjects.

The green in this moss is spectacular, not sure if the picture does it justice.

Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)

Later in the week, figuring I have been having some luck seeing bears, I went back to the Mendenhall Glacier area were bears are commonly seen feeding on the salmon in the streams.  Within a matter of minutes I came across a bear family hanging out - literally.

The sow was trying her best to get some sleep, but her two cubs would have none of that and kept swatting and play-biting each other.

Eventually the cubs had enough of each other and climbed a little higher on the tree to play with mom.  Mom then climbed down to where the cubs were.

And seemed to take out her maternal frustrations on this unsuspecting branch.

Eventually, the sow made it to the forest floor and rambled off.  The occupied cubs seemed unaware that mom had left the tree; once they realized it they wailed for awhile as they searched for their "misplaced" mother.  Eventually, they were reunited and she led the cubs to a stream where the salmon were plentiful.

Once they made it to the ground and into the underbrush it was amazing, and a bit unnerving, how quickly they blended in with their environment.

A cultural experience...

Exploring beyond Juneau, a city which has no roads connecting the capital to anywhere else, is an interesting and a somewhat time consuming proposition.  Last weekend we took a trip to Prince of Wales Island which is approximately 200 miles (as the raven flies) south of Juneau.  To get there I flew out of Juneau at 10:30 am, arrived in Ketchikan around 12:30 pm (after a stop in Sitka to let off some passengers and pick up more), took a 5-minute ferry ride across the Tongass Narrows (from the Ketchikan International Airport to Ketchikan, where the "Bridge to Nowhere" - made infamous to those of us in the lower 48 during Palin's 2008 campaign - was to have been built), caught a ferry at 3:00 pm, arrived in Hollis at about 6:00 pm, and then took an hour drive to our lodge in Craig.

The island itself is large - either the third or fourth largest in the US, depending on where the information is coming from - at approximately 140 miles by 45 miles.  There are twelve communities on the island with about 2500 residents (by my calculations).  The history of the island is strongly rooted in Haida culture whose people historically occupied the southern half of the island and Tlingit culture whose people occupied the northern part of the island.  The main impetus for our trip to Prince of Wales was to witness a Haida totem pole raising in the village of Hydaburg.

The experience for me was nothing short of amazing.  The sense of community and, possibly even more apparent, the pride in the culture, was unlike anything I have experienced during my life. 

All told, four replica totem poles were raised over a period of two days.  We spent Friday in Hydaburg and were able to see the first two poles get carried a half-mile from the carving house to the totem pole park.  The poles were raised by willing and able community members and visitors using ropes and man power, all to the beat of traditional drums and song.

Following the raising a feast of traditional foods (and some non-traditional foods, i.e., spaghetti) was held in the local school gym and was open to anyone.  There was plenty of halibut (I had it prepared at least four different ways), salmon (two different ways), venison, crab (Dungeness), shrimp, and herring eggs on kelp available.  To gather the herring eggs, fronds of kelp are placed in areas of the ocean where herring are known to congregate.  The herring then lay eggs that stick to both sides of the kelp.  The egg-laced kelp is then collected again and placed in boiling water.  The texture is what was most obvious to me as the eggs popped while chewing; the flavor was quite good and was similar to other seaweeds I have eaten.

The top is all kinds of seafood dishes, and the bottom is the herring eggs on kelp - apparently I am not ready for food photography yet...

After the feast, there were dance performances put on by members of the village as well as visiting villages from SE Alaska.  The energy in the dancing was very electrical and involved all ages of the community beginning with a group of the younger generation.

...or indoor photography.

On Saturday Cathy took us on a tour of a few other parts of the island.  One of the stops was in the village of Kasaan where we hiked into another totem pole park that is in the middle of a forested area. 

We saw many of the remarkable views the island has to offer, but only saw a small portion of the entire island. It is easy to understand what the attraction continues to be for the people who live on and who visit Prince of Wales.