Alaska Outdoors

This photo shows a view of Manhattan from the window seat of a New York to Seattle flight. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
This photo shows a view of Manhattan from the window seat of a New York to Seattle flight. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
The author looks over a mountain near Ketchikan in the late evening sun on an alpine deer hunt. (Courtesy Photo / Abby Lund)

I Went to the Woods: Turning the corner

The corner from summer to fall is a casual turn.

The author looks over a mountain near Ketchikan in the late evening sun on an alpine deer hunt. (Courtesy Photo / Abby Lund)
A female hairy woodpecker brings insect prey to chicks in an excavated nest cavity. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)

On the Trails: Cavity-nesting birds

Hole sweet home.

A female hairy woodpecker brings insect prey to chicks in an excavated nest cavity. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)
Courtesy Photo /Chris Arp 
Harry Potter Lake, at the top of this photo, as it looked four years ago, perched 10 feet above and 30 feet away from the creek that in 2022 received most of its water.
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Alaska Science Forum: If a lake drains in northern Alaska…

Rarely do people get to see it.

Courtesy Photo /Chris Arp 
Harry Potter Lake, at the top of this photo, as it looked four years ago, perched 10 feet above and 30 feet away from the creek that in 2022 received most of its water.
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Ryan John glasses the edge of the Sag River as it meets the unforgiving, flat tundra on its way to the Arctic Ocean. (Courtesy Photo / Jeff Lund)

I Went to the Woods: North slope caribou

I had stopped hopping from tussock to tussock attempting to keep my feet dry. Frequent missteps and sneaky depths had put water over my gaiters… Continue reading

Ryan John glasses the edge of the Sag River as it meets the unforgiving, flat tundra on its way to the Arctic Ocean. (Courtesy Photo / Jeff Lund)
A blue darner dragonfly perched on hands, shoulders, and heads. (Courtesy Photo / Ralf Gerking)

On the Trails: Sights and sounds from the trails in late summer

Winged wonders abound.

A blue darner dragonfly perched on hands, shoulders, and heads. (Courtesy Photo / Ralf Gerking)
Elizabeth Hall, assistant paleontologist for the Yukon government in Whitehorse, stands in her office laboratory.  (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: Secrets of an ancient horse of the Yukon

The Yukon is a great place to find the preserved remains of ancient creatures.

Elizabeth Hall, assistant paleontologist for the Yukon government in Whitehorse, stands in her office laboratory.  (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
From left, Kelsey Dean, watershed scientist with the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, and Kaagwaan Eesh Manuel Rose-Bell of Keex’ Kwáan watch as crew members set up tools to drag a log into place. Healthy salmon habitat requires woody debris, typically provided by falling branches and trees, which helps create deep salmon pools and varied stream structure. (Courtesy Photos / Mary Catharine Martin)
 

The SalmonState: Bringing the sockeye home

Klawock Indigenous Stewards and partners are working to a once prolific sockeye salmon run.

From left, Kelsey Dean, watershed scientist with the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, and Kaagwaan Eesh Manuel Rose-Bell of Keex’ Kwáan watch as crew members set up tools to drag a log into place. Healthy salmon habitat requires woody debris, typically provided by falling branches and trees, which helps create deep salmon pools and varied stream structure. (Courtesy Photos / Mary Catharine Martin)
 
A northern oriole used dietary carotenoids to make its feathers bright orange. (Courtesy Photo / J. S. Willson)

On the Trails: The colorful world of birds

Colors are produced by cell structure, which can scatter light rays, making iridescence, and by pigments, which absorb or reflect particular wavelength of light. Pigments… Continue reading

A northern oriole used dietary carotenoids to make its feathers bright orange. (Courtesy Photo / J. S. Willson)
A little fish called a graveldiver had hidden under a flat rock. (Courtesy Photo / Aaron Baldwin)

On the Trails: Bricolage — this and that, bits and pieces

There were good minus tides in May and June, and I went out with some friends to take a look at the intertidal zone in… Continue reading

A little fish called a graveldiver had hidden under a flat rock. (Courtesy Photo / Aaron Baldwin)
Red salmon gather at a Gulkana Hatchery fish weir that prevents them from going upstream on the east fork of the Gulkana River.(Courtesy Photo/ Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: High-country Eden for sockeye salmon

“It’s the largest sockeye hatchery in the world. Two-hundred and sixty miles from the ocean.”

Red salmon gather at a Gulkana Hatchery fish weir that prevents them from going upstream on the east fork of the Gulkana River.(Courtesy Photo/ Ned Rozell)
Wild iris (Iris setosa) comes in a variety of shades, from the usual purple to pale lavender or reddish. (Courtesy Photo / Denise Carroll)

On the Trails: Considering variation in flower colors

There’s way more than blue genes.

Wild iris (Iris setosa) comes in a variety of shades, from the usual purple to pale lavender or reddish. (Courtesy Photo / Denise Carroll)
A Hills Bros. coffee can found at an old cabin on the Fortymile River. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
A Hills Bros. coffee can found at an old cabin on the Fortymile River. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
White sand beaches aren’t entirely rare in Southeast Alaska, but they are special nonetheless, especially on warm summer days. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: Adjusting the itinerary

It’s not that anglers want things to be difficult, we just enjoy the payoff of time and experience…

White sand beaches aren’t entirely rare in Southeast Alaska, but they are special nonetheless, especially on warm summer days. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
Courtesy Photo / KMHocker photo 
Recently emerged mayflies landed on our caps and hands, perhaps resting from the rigors of courtship dances.

On the Trails: Fun in Gustavus

A walk near a shallow lake was the highlight.

Courtesy Photo / KMHocker photo 
Recently emerged mayflies landed on our caps and hands, perhaps resting from the rigors of courtship dances.
Discovery Southeast naturalist Richard Carstensen speaks to a group of hikers about the origins of the wetlands during a break on the hike. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Discovery Southeast naturalist Richard Carstensen speaks to a group of hikers about the origins of the wetlands during a break on the hike. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Three 2-year-old black bear cubs look hunt spawning sockeye salmon in Steep Creek at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on Thursday, August 16, 2018. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Annual Steep Creek closure goes into effect

As of Friday, the non-elevated portions of the Steep Creek Trail are closed, the U.S. Forest Service announced. The annual closure of parts of the… Continue reading

Three 2-year-old black bear cubs look hunt spawning sockeye salmon in Steep Creek at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on Thursday, August 16, 2018. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
The Valley of 10,000 Smokes pictured during a visit in 2018. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Gillis)

Alaska Science Forum: 110 years since the largest Alaska eruption

“Stretching as far as the eye could reach … were hundreds — no, thousands — of little volcanoes.”

The Valley of 10,000 Smokes pictured during a visit in 2018. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Gillis)
The whorl of seed-bearing follicles of fern-leaf goldthread is more robust, but similar in form to that of three-leaf goldthread. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)

On the Trails: Buttercups and their relatives

“Buttercups”—the name conjures up an image of lots of bright yellow flowers, which we enjoyed recently in Cowee Meadows and which brighten the roadsides. But,… Continue reading

The whorl of seed-bearing follicles of fern-leaf goldthread is more robust, but similar in form to that of three-leaf goldthread. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)
Mountain view from Mt. Roberts featuring Hike for a Pint passport and water bottle for this summer’s event. (Courtesy photo / Meghan Tabcek)
Mountain view from Mt. Roberts featuring Hike for a Pint passport and water bottle for this summer’s event. (Courtesy photo / Meghan Tabcek)