Tag: Alaska

Alaska-Yukon Road Trip: Lake Laberge & Advice from Raven

Lake Leberge-Yukon Territory
The Marge of Lake Laberge. Yukon Territory, Canada.

Tim Troll & I found many hidden beauties and many blind allies that required backtracking in our 10-day wandering road trip on a 2700-mile exploration of the Yukon Territory and Alaska (Spetember 24-October 10)

Lake Laberge is a mysterious lovely lake, the scene for Robert Service’s poem:

Rocky Plants - Autumn Leaves-Lake Laberge-Yukon Territory
Rocky Plants – Autumn Leaves-Lake Laberge-Yukon Territory

 

The Cremation of Sam McGee

The northern lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see,
Was that night on the marge of Lake Labarge
I cremated Sam McGee…

 

 

Typical conversation:
Bill: “Stop here for a photo!” (screeching tires). “Where do you want to go now?”
“How about down the fork to the left?”
“Where does it go?”
“No idea, but it looks like the road heads toward the river.”
“Yeah, that sounds good… is there food? Never mind, we’ve got what we need.”
Brother-in-law Tim is an excellent voyaging companion.

And then, of course, there’s the chance that a raven will help point to the right path.      (maybe?? or is it a trick?)

Apricot Sunrise Reflections – Keku Islands

Keku Islands-Keku Strait-Alaska
Keku Islands-Keku Strait-Alaska

Apricot Sunrise Reflections – Keku Islands. Kake, Alaska.
Serene, yet expectant, a sunrise of high promise.
The sea remains calm, but seen from above, the rocky Keku Islands streak across the surface of Keku Strait as if racing in blurred speed.
I want to return to this landscape rich with seals, humpback whales, marbled murrelets, and salmon.

Salmon: Eating the Landscape

Bright Coho Salmon - Eating the Landscape
Bright Coho Salmon – Eating the Landscape

Bright Silver Salmon. Juneau, Alaska. August brings Coho Salmon, aka Silver Salmon, flooding back to the streams of Southeast Alaska.  Glistening, powerful fish, I love wading out to fly fish or spin fish in the saltwater channels.

Follow the lives and deaths of salmon if you want to trace the paths of nutrients & energy in Alaska ecosystems. Salmon feed everyone-humans, bears, gulls, eagles, shorebirds, other fish, insects, crabs. EVERYTHING.

And salmon die in the streams after spawning, bringing nutrients to forests and other streamside plant communities.

I thank the salmon when they give their lives to me. Eating these salmon unites me with their lives and the endless circle of my generations and theirs. The salmon and I are one with the landscape.

Auke Lake Reflections

Auke Lake Reflections
Auke Lake Reflections

Auke Lake (Áak’w in Tlingit, literally ‘little lake’). Juneau, Alaska. Beyond the lake low black line of hills, the Coast Range mountains rise above Mendenhall Glacier.

This one day of mirrors and mountains and water remains one of my best memories of Juneau.

Transfixed by Wonder Light. Icy Strait, Alaska.

Icy Strait Sunset-Southeast Alaska
Icy Strait Sunset-Southeast Alaska

Transfixed by Wonder Light. Icy Strait, Alaska.

If I had been driving in a city, I might have abandoned my car to gaze at the light of gold in Icy Strait.

Fortunately, I simply walked to the stern of the Wilderness Explorer where I remained until my return to earth.

Far into the brilliance, a fishing boat slipped across between the black edges of the terrestrial world.

On an @UnCruise.

Steller’s Jay Feeding 6-day-old chicks!

Steller's Jay feeds 6-day-old chicks
Steller’s Jay feeds 6-day-old chicks

Steller’s Jay feeding 6-day-old chicks near our window today. Juneau, Alaska. The chicks lie silently in a pile at the bottom of the nest (see my gallery for photos of just-hatched chicks).

When the adult arrives at the nest, it gives a sharp chirp.
Suddenly the open mouths of the chicks appear above the rim of the nest cheeping for food.

Steller's Jay feeds 6-day-old chicks
Steller’s Jay feeds 6-day-old chicks

I’ve been very surprised that both parents forage for fairly long periods of time, leaving the nest unattended for 5 to 15 minutes or more.

The adult regurgitates food that it has eaten, often crushing it into smaller pieces, and then distributing.

The nestlings are extremely competitive and insistent, cheeping and jostling each other.

But the nest is deep, so at least for now, they don’t seem to in danger of falling out.

They continue to beg with upturned heads and cheeps after the adult is gone, so I don’t think their eyes are open, or at least that they have good sight. Then they settle back into a silent amorphous heap until the next food arrives.

 

 

 

Steller’s Jay Eggs Hatch!! 4 New Chicks!!

Steller's Jay - 4 Hatchlings just out of their eggs
Steller’s Jay – 4 Hatchlings just out of their eggs

4 Steller’s Jay Chicks hatched from eggs outside our window yesterday (May 4)!
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri). Juneau, Alaska.
Quick photo taken while female was away from nest to get food.
These are “hatchlings”. They do not have feathers or down, just bare skin.
Their eyes are still closed.
When they grow fine down and open their eyes in a few days, they will be called “nestlings”.

 

 

Steller's Jay guards its nest on our porch. Juneau, Alaska.
Steller’s Jay perches on our porch, guarding nest. Mount Jumbo (Mount Bradley) in background. Juneau, Alaska.

The male & female built their nest just 60 cm (24 inches) from our window on April 14.
Since then, the female has sat on the nest. She left sometimes to find food, but the male also helped feed her.
We can’t see into the dark nest, and it is highly backlit, so photography is difficult.
I bought a Selfie Stick (my first) that lets me extend my phone to the nest through our window.
I’m using my iphone & a Bluetooth remote trigger.
Uncle Bill and Aunt Kate have new family members!

 

Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri): Cyanocitta is a genus in the same family as crows and ravens.refers tor the deep blue color.
“Stelleri” is for Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German botanist, zoologist, physician and explorer, who sailed with Vitus Bering on his 2nd voyage in 1741, pioneer of Alaskan natural history.
Steller’s name is attached to species as diverse as sea lions & this lovely jay.
The male & female built their nest just 60 cm (24 inches) from our window on April 14.
Since then, the female has sat on the nest. She left sometimes to find food, but the male also helped feed her.
We can’t see into the dark nest, and it is highly backlit, so photography is difficult.
I bought a Selfie Stick (my first) that lets me extend my phone to the nest through our window.
I’m using my iphone & a Bluetooth remote trigger.

Ice Cave Vanished! Mendenhall Glacier

Ice Cave in Mendenhall Glacier vanished, a casualty of climate change
CLICK IMAGE Video as I explore a Fabulous Blue Ice Cave. Feel the satin of ice, strangely warm to touch.

Click image for video: This fabulous blue ice cave that I explored in 2017 has vanished. Feel the satin of ice, strangely warm to touch. Look through 1.2 meters (4 ft.) of clear ice. Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska.

I mountain biked across frozen Mendenhall Lake in February 2017 to visit this ice cave.

Completely alone in the cave, I had time to sit quietly with the sound of flowing water, surrounded by shimmering blue walls. Eventually, I narrated this short reflection on a place that would disappear forever.

I visited the cave several more times in February, finding crystal boulders of ice that had fallen from the roof.

The cave has completely vanished as the glacier melts and retreats, melted into water that fed Mendenhall Lake and river last summer, an ephemeral creation and ghost of changing climate and rapid glacial retreat.

Over the next couple of Alaska Billy Blog posts, I’ll continue with more photos and thoughts about this cave and the Mendenhall Glacier.

For additional photos and stories, please visit me on Instagram. I post one photo and story each day.

Instagram: @bhfootloose

 

 

 

 

Western Hemlock tree broken by wind

Western Hemlock is the most abundant tree species in Southeast Alaska.
Western Hemlock is the most abundant tree species in Southeast Alaska.

Western Hemlock is the most abundant tree species in Southeast Alaska. It can reach an age of over 1,200 years, a height greater than 70 m (230 feet), and a diameter over 2.7 m (9 feet).

Wind is the primary cause of disturbance in the Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest of Southeast Alaska. Wildfires are infrequent and generally small due to the high rainfall, which ranges from 127 cm (50 inches) to over 508 cm (200 inches) per year.

Windthrown Old-growth Hemlock
Windthrown Old-growth Hemlock

 

Storms can windthrow large patches of timber, but in old-growth forest (generally over 300 years old), most openings are very small, averaging less than 0.8 hectares (2 acres). With small openings, the pattern of trees in mature forest is a mixture of sizes and ages.

The Western Hemlock tree in the photo has been broken by wind. Because bedrock is close to the surface resulting in thin soils and shallow roots, trees often are uprooted by the wind. Since this tree broke, we know its roots were strong.

It’s easy to focus only on the beautiful green forest of living trees when we walk in the woods. But both standing dead trees and logs on the ground are extremely important ecological parts of the forest.

Many wildlife species depend on dead wood for food, shelter, nesting, perching, and escape from predators. As you hike through the forest, take time to observe the many forms of dead wood. Look for the evidence of use by wildlife.
Like so many of the features of the forest, the values of dead wood also create high quality fish habitat.

Nugget Falls roars into Mendenhall Lake

Nugget Falls cascades into Mendenhall Lake; Mendenhall Glacier in
CLICK PHOTO TO VIEW VIDEO: Nugget Falls cascades into Mendenhall Lake; Mendenhall Glacier in distance

Nugget Falls roars into Mendenhall Lake, Juneau, Alaska. Follow the creek as it flows into Mendenhall Lake (frozen), and you can see the foot of the Mendenhall Glacier in the distance.

The snowy peak prodding the blue sky is Mount Stroller White (1,570 m; 5,150 ft). The forested ridgeline in front of Stroller White that ascends to the left is one of the shoulders of Mt. McGinnis (1,289 m; 4,228 ft).

Nugget Creek arises from Nugget Glacier, flowing down a valley that separates Mount Bullard (1,288 meters; 4,225 ft.) from Heintzleman Ridge. My IG Post from 11/27/2017 shows me on cross country skis with Mount Bullard in the background.

A dam and a 198-meter (650-foot) long tunnel were constructed by the Treadwell Company during the heyday of early hardrock gold mining in Juneau. This hydroelectric facility provided electricity from 1912 to 1943, just one of a number of hydroelectric plants that put Juneau at the forefront of early industrial use of electricity, including electric locomotives.

Nugget Falls is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Juneau along with the Mendenhall Glacier. It’s also one of our favorite 30-minute hikes of exceptional beauty and the power of the waterfall.