Alaska, the last frontier
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"The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the union. The Dipper is for the Great Bear—symbolizing strength."
So wrote Benny Benson, a 13-year-old Aleut living at the Jesse Lee Home for Children in Seward as he submitted his entry for an American Legion contest for a new flag in 1927. It has flown over the state ever since. The further north one goes, the higher the Big Dipper is in the sky. At the latitudes of Alaska, it is very high in the sky and familiar to just about everyone in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Alaska. |
Humpback whales diving in Favorite Passage, Juneau, Alaska
There is something magical about Alaska that is so strong an attraction that many flock here each summer. Humpback whales diving into cold water below snow-covered jagged peaks no doubt has something to do with it. Juneau receives nearly a million visitors a year from the cruise ships travelling the Inland Passage. Like many others, I knew from an early age I wanted to see Alaska.
When I was a park ranger at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon way back in the 1960's and 70's, I put in for a job at Glacier Bay National Park. I got the job, but two weeks before I was to report, the position was eliminated. I ended up at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park where I ran Union College Environmental Education Center. It was during my time there that I met my wife "in a cave in Kentucky" as the story goes. Neither of us had been to Alaska, but our Pennsylvania-born daughter, Bess, gets married to a "Coastie" (member of the U.S. Coast Guard) who gets stationed on the Buoy Tender Sycamore and moves to Cordova, Alaska.
When I was a park ranger at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon way back in the 1960's and 70's, I put in for a job at Glacier Bay National Park. I got the job, but two weeks before I was to report, the position was eliminated. I ended up at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park where I ran Union College Environmental Education Center. It was during my time there that I met my wife "in a cave in Kentucky" as the story goes. Neither of us had been to Alaska, but our Pennsylvania-born daughter, Bess, gets married to a "Coastie" (member of the U.S. Coast Guard) who gets stationed on the Buoy Tender Sycamore and moves to Cordova, Alaska.
Heney Ridge, Cordova, Alaska
Annette and I made our first trip to Alaska in 2005 to visit the daughter that beat us there. Here we discovered just how long the summer days are and exactly why Alaska is such an enchanting place. I should note that we flew there over a period of 30 hours from Johannesburg, South Africa through Atlanta, Georgia to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Anchorage, Alaska to Cordova. My suggestion: don't do that! But we did it again in 2007 when the kids moved and we flew from Joburg to Juneau.
In 2008 I helped them remodel a bathroom and spent a very rainy month in Juneau. One late evening near the end of our stay, a beam of light came through the window. I yelled to my wife and she ran downstairs and met me in the garage as we headed out the Dredge Lakes to enjoy the sun--one of only four times in a month--riding the bikes well past midnight in the light. I was hooked and asked Annette if I could apply for a naturalist job and she said yes. She now considers my 30 years in Georgia as but a detour in my life with the ultimate end in Alaska.
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So now I work from April to October for Gastineau Guiding Company as a naturalist guide and take folks from the many cruise ships that come to Juneau out on whale watching trips, science adventures, photo safaris, and hikes to the Mendenhall Glacier. We bought a place to live in Juneau, but still return to Georgia for the winter.
In 2008 I helped them remodel a bathroom and spent a very rainy month in Juneau. One late evening near the end of our stay, a beam of light came through the window. I yelled to my wife and she ran downstairs and met me in the garage as we headed out the Dredge Lakes to enjoy the sun--one of only four times in a month--riding the bikes well past midnight in the light. I was hooked and asked Annette if I could apply for a naturalist job and she said yes. She now considers my 30 years in Georgia as but a detour in my life with the ultimate end in Alaska.
̶
So now I work from April to October for Gastineau Guiding Company as a naturalist guide and take folks from the many cruise ships that come to Juneau out on whale watching trips, science adventures, photo safaris, and hikes to the Mendenhall Glacier. We bought a place to live in Juneau, but still return to Georgia for the winter.
Since my first trip I've been taking notes and photographs. When I completed my field notes for 2009, I realized I had accumulated enough information that a book could be made of my observations and "Notes on the Natural History of Juneau, Alaska: Observations of an Eclectic Naturalist" was born. From the book:
This is a personal account of the landscapes and things that live on them—my definition of natural history—that I’ve encountered and made note of during my time in the Juneau area of Southeast Alaska (SEAK). My first visit here was from July 20 to August 1, 2007 visiting my daughter who recently moved here. In 2008 I spent a month from July 4 to August 4 when it rained every day. In 2009 I took a job as a Naturalist Guide for Gastineau Guiding and lived in Juneau from April 11 through October 4. I returned for a second season in 2010 and again in 2011 when my wife and I bought a condominium here. It is now in the rhythm of my life to spend half the year here. These notes are an accumulation of experiences and observations throughout the Juneau area from that time.
This is a personal account of the landscapes and things that live on them—my definition of natural history—that I’ve encountered and made note of during my time in the Juneau area of Southeast Alaska (SEAK). My first visit here was from July 20 to August 1, 2007 visiting my daughter who recently moved here. In 2008 I spent a month from July 4 to August 4 when it rained every day. In 2009 I took a job as a Naturalist Guide for Gastineau Guiding and lived in Juneau from April 11 through October 4. I returned for a second season in 2010 and again in 2011 when my wife and I bought a condominium here. It is now in the rhythm of my life to spend half the year here. These notes are an accumulation of experiences and observations throughout the Juneau area from that time.
Twelve years in the making, the book has gotten large. So large that it is now split into two volumes, Plants and Animals.
It is freely available to anyone who might find it interesting or useful using the links below. These are PDF files created to be the smallest file size. If anyone needs higher resolution, send me an email and we can hook up through Google Docs and get you those files.
It is freely available to anyone who might find it interesting or useful using the links below. These are PDF files created to be the smallest file size. If anyone needs higher resolution, send me an email and we can hook up through Google Docs and get you those files.
| natural_history_of_juneau_vol_1_2021-06-15.pdf |
| natural_history_of_juneau_vol_2_2021-05-26_small.pdf |
A little show on what Alaska means to me
On a fated trip to Juneau's Costco in 2013 for only a bag of Heritage Coffee (Juneau's own roaster), I found a Blu-ray set of all the original Star Trek movies. I just had to watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. I thoroughly enjoyed laughing my way through it, not having seen it in at least a decade. I realized that it came out in 1986 and thought to myself that I had no way of knowing that 23 years later I'd be living with humpback whales in the state I so dearly wanted to see more than a decade before. Life is funny, as sometimes you do get what you want, just not when you thought you wanted it.
Digital Shaded-Relief Image of Alaska-USGS I-2585, In the Public Domain