August 08, 1991 - 'Focus' Forays Far Into the NorthC8 The Suffolk Times • August 8, 1991
`Focus' Forays Far Into the North
By Paul Stoutenburgh
When you become familiar with the
natural world around you, it doesn't take
long to realize that no matter where you
go in this great country of ours you'll see
familiar faces. Barbara and I just returned
from a two-week camping trip in Alaska.
We flew into Anchorage, as modern a
city as you'll see anywhere, and rented a
car. Then at I I o'clock at night we set up
our first campsite right outside the city.
Even at that late hour it wasn't really dark
for they have 20 hours of daylight this time
of year. From then on we were on the road
seeing this great state and all its mysteries.
At the airport we had seen our first
familiar face, the starling that has spread
across the continent from the East Coast
where it was fast introduced from the Old
World.
We had heard much about Denali
National Park and so we headed for this
six - million -acre wilderness. Because of
the park's official wilderness designation
park officials allow only buses to transport
people the 85 miles into this spectacular
country. We took the all -day bus trip and
saw grizzly bears, moose, caribou and
Dall's sheep. These, of course, were not
familiar faces and our camera clicked
away as much as possible even if the
sheep were only white spots on the far
side of the mountain.
Grizzlies With Cubs
Two of the grizzlies had cubs that
romped and played near their mother, who
seemed to pay little attention to what was
going on about her. At one point
Focus on
Nature
Barbara's sharp eyes picked up a short-
eared owl feasting on some unfortunate
rodent. I spied a peregrine falcon that I'm
sure nested in the ledges of the steep cliffs
that lined the roadway. In place of crows,
ravens soared above and hoarsely called
their alarm. At one stop we saw the
familiar junco we see during the winter
here on the East End. Now it's nesting in
its remote northern wilderness. Another
winter resident we see occasionally, the
redpoll, was taking its summer break to
rest and rear its young in the far north.
The scenery was magnificent with Mt.
McKinley always dominating the scene.
Its vast snow- covered summit captures
your eye for it stands above all the other
snowcapped mountains. Throughout the
entire two weeks we would always see
snow - covered mountains somewhere
along the way. Each night we'd take
advantage of all the daylight we could and
then flop into bed exhausted.
We traveled and camped up to
Fairbanks, stopping here and there to
photograph a moose by the side of the road,
a soaring bald eagle or some tiny
wildflower alongside a clear, rushing
stream. At Portage, on the way to Seward,
we filled our cooler with glacial ice for it
was here I finally got that close to a glacier.
We splurged and took a boat trip into
the Kenai Fjords National Park that has
only two miles of roads. The rest is daz-
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Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
LUPINE —These colorful clusters of blue are always a welcome sight
whether they are along one of our many side roads here on the East
End or along a mountain road in Alaska.
zling fjords and snow - covered mountains
— therefore, the boat ride. We saw gulls
but of a different kind than we have here.
The big glaucous- winged gull dominated
the maritime waters while the mew gull
was found everywhere inland. We see our
counterpart to the glaucous- winged gull
occasionally here on the East Coast during
the winter.
Birds and More Birds
Our boat trip took us to bird islands
where we saw three kinds of puffins,
murres, murrelets, thousands of kittiwakes,
cormorants, etc. It was a bird paradise. We
also saw their harbor seal, similar to the
ones we see in our waters here in the
winter. There were also huge sea lions
sprawled out on the rocky ledges basking
in the sun.
The trip to the glaciers that abound
throughout Alaska was awe - inspiring. Our
boat became dwarfed below the towering
high cliffs of ice and it was a bit nerve-
wracking when you heard the great chunks
breaking off with a tremendous crack and
roar to drop into the sea below. The ship
would wallow in the swell of the waves
from the caving in of these glacial chunks.
We had to get a bit more of the maritime
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feeling, for much of Alaska lives around
its watery edge, so we headed to Homer
where fishing rules. Like our own
Montauk but much much larger there were
party boats and commercial fishing boats
of every size and description. Here they
boast the halibut capital of the world and I
believe it. Some were brought in and hung
up weighing over 180 pounds.
Half our weather was perfect, the other
half was Alaska's true weather — overcast
and showery. Many a morning we took
our tent down wet and packed it away in a
plastic garbage bag. Yet our sleeping gear
was always dry. Thank goodness for
modem tents.
I can see why people go to Alaska to live
and I can see why some people go and then
leave. It's a harsh but beautiful country. We
watched sockeye and silver salmon being
caught from the river banks almost like
fishing in a barrel. Everything was
overwhelming. We also saw the poverty
and heartbreaks of some who just can't
seem to get it all together. The area is so
vast and in most cases so inaccessible that it
appears to me this will be the last foothold
for our wildlife when all else is gone. Man
has started to erode its treasures but the ch-
est is still loaded with gems.
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