Watching Southeast Alaska Humpback whales is a favorite activity of residents and visitors alike. Being such large marine mammals, it’s hard to believe that these giants subsist on the smallest of sea creatures; animals like herring, capelin and krill. Watching a pod of whales using bubble nets or making a dive to capture prey is […]
Arctic Discoveries: Images from Voyages ...
Based on his experiences in Alaska and the circumpolar north reaching back to the early 1960’s, John Bockstoce has arranged many of his photographs into chronological themes that detail Alaska, the North Pacific, Canadian Arctic, and North Atlantic. Arctic Discoveries presents these photographic themes based on Bockstoce’s travels working as a historian and archaeologist in […]
Skagway and the White Pass Route
For over a hundred years, Skagway has served as the primary port access for the Yukon Territory. A small town at the northern reaches of Lynn Canal, Skagway attracts nearly a million visitors a year. They come to see the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, ride the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad (WP&YR), […]
John Muir Comes to Alaska – Escapades in
Naturalist John Muir first explored Alaska during a trip to the Island of Wrangell on July 14, 1879. Muir wasn’t impressed, saying “the most inhospitable place at first sight I had ever seen…There was nothing like a tavern or lodging-house in the village, nor could I find any place in the stumpy, rocky, boggy ground […]
Alaska Glaciers are in Significant Retre...
Research Geologist Bruce Molnia of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has authored a comprehensive report on the condition of glaciers in Alaska that bears an obvious title The Glaciers of Alaska . Glaciers are ubiquitous features of the Alaskan landscape and contribute to our mental image of the Great Land. A disturbing conclusion for […]
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
Alaska’s Aleutian Islands span some 1,200 miles across the North Pacific Ocean dividing the Bering Sea from the Gulf of Alaska to the south. An area rich in seafood, coastal communities in both Russia and Alaska depend greatly on the marine resources of this region. Terry Johnson, a Marine Advisory Program Agent in Homer, Alaska […]