fish hatchery visit

Tuesday was an unusually sunny, warm day, perfect for our planned visit to the Ft Richardson Fish Hatchery and the Native Heritage Center.
After showing driver's licenses, registration and proof of insurance for the vehicle, and a background check to be sure we weren't terrorists, three of us were admitted on base and drove to the hatchery. Our tour was given by college intern and future biologist Megan who was an extremely knowledgeable guide.

Begun in the late 50s to provide fish for post lakes, the hatchery raises Arctic Char, Grayling, Rainbow Trout, Chinook (Red) and Coho (Silver) Salmon. It is run by Game and Fish today. We began indoors at a run that held about 100,000 Arctic Char fry. The trough here is an automated feeder. Some of the fish are held for 3 or 4 years before they are released into sport fishing areas.

A new hatchery off the base is almost ready to be open to the public. It will be totally indoors but that will help avoid a variety of biological diseases with better controls and less chance of disease for the fish. The tanks at the new hatchery will be similar to this one: a 20-ft. diameter round tank containing around 9,000 fish, in this case rainbow trout. Fish from the base are currently being transported to the new one and ultimately the base facility will close down. Fish from this tank will be pumped out of the tank through tubes soon to the outdoor tanks that were our last stop.

Moving outdoors, we saw long tanks that had 2 and 3 year old Coho or Silver Salmon. The awnings are so that the fish don't get sunburned! I never thought about a sunburned fish, but in a natural setting, fish congregate in shaded areas, under growth, in the shade and that's exactly what they are doing here crowded together under the shelter.

The last stop were tanks that held 2 and 3 year old rainbow trout, some soon to be released. One big surprise to all of us was that all these fish are sterile! The eggs are removed and subjected to 10,000 psi pressure which alters the chromosomes and you end up with 3 "X" chromosomes instead of XX or XYs. This is done so that hatchery fish will not affect wild fish by cross-breeding with them.

Colorful Rainbow Trout

Girdwood - Part 2

A few miles from Alyeska is the road into Crow Pass, a 26-mile trail that follows the historic Iditarod Trail back to Eagle River Nature Center. On the way to that trailhead is Crow Pass Mine, a National Historic Site. Mining operations here began in 1898 and the buildings are original.

Gold was removed with sluice boxes and from 1922 till World War II the mine averaged 700 ounces a month which today would equate to $1,050,000 a month. The largest nugget found was the size of a chicken's egg! You can still pan for gold or use a sluice box and people who come here do find flakes and occasionally small nuggets.

Heading back up Turnagain Arm we ended the day with a stop at a bridge to see people fishing for salmon.

Girdwood - Part 1

Girdwood is a small town southeast of Eagle River in the Chugach National Forest, home of Alyeska Ski Resort, and our destination last Thursday. We drove the Seward Hwy down Turnagain Arm, named after one of Captain Cook's aborted attempts to find the northwest passage.

After a stop at a very informative Forest Service office we headed to Alyeska for a hike. The lodge there is new and, as I'm finding all over Alaska, has flower beds that are abundant in variety.

Winner Creek Trail goes through a thick spruce, birch forest with blueberry bushes lining much of the path. Not many berries though - either previously picked or not yet on. Some of the trail has a boardwalk as pictured here making it an easy walk.

There are a couple creek crossings and this rocky, glacial stream runs fast in spots.

The reason I wanted to do this hike was the hand tram about 2-1/2 miles in. You hop in and haul yourself across, unless you are lucky enough as I was of course, to have help on one end. Fun ride across!

Next on the agenda, Crow Pass Mine, Girdwood - Part 2.

bike and kayak time

I finally got on a bike in Alaska yesterday and it felt great! We went to Eklutna Lake, got free rentals since we're volunteers and went the 12.7 miles out along the lakeside trail to its end at Serenity Falls. The route is for bikes, hikers and ATVs, but ATVs are only allowed there 4 days a week and even on "their" days, most of the time the trail splits so that you rarely ride with the 4-wheelers. Very nice.

It was a good trail by the lake for the first 8-9 miles, then got quite rocky in sections. We were on bikes with hard seats so you can imagine how that felt by mile 12.7 to say nothing of mile 24 on the return! But the waterfalls were worth it.

We missed the trail that takes you an extra mile of walking to a glacier, but we'll do that next time. And next time we have a contact who says he'll get us ATVs to do the mileage. They also have rental kayaks that we could use and we could kayak out and return by bike.

Our kayaking took place on nearby Beach Lake after work one evening. A local volunteer who has several kayaks took us and another volunteer here to the little lake which is seldom crowded and where no motors are allowed. No camera was taken, so picture this: a still lake, bit of a breeze, surrounded by mountains in the distance, quietly paddling across the lake, loons calling out with their haunting cry, and then a bald eagle flying overhead carrying what was left of its fish dinner! Really! He came right over us as if to show it off, turned and flew into the trees. We saw him later sitting on the shore not caring much about us at all. It was a very peaceful evening. Back by 9:30 (still looks like maybe 5:30).

Saturday was a marathon over Crow Pass that began in Girdwood and ends here at Eagle River. 26 miles, about a 2500 ft elevation gain, 3 river fords, and the winner finished in 3 hours, 28 seconds! Alaskans definitely take summer seriously. We'll backpack the pass later hopefully in a 2-day trip and enjoy the sights.

days off

We’re getting into a routine now at Eagle River Nature Center – 3-1/2 days on, 3-1/2 days off. Not a bad schedule! I work in the center for the most part talking to visitors, collecting fees and beginning next week, leading a nature walk in the afternoon some days. Tom has become their volunteer maintenance man and is doing wonders organizing a shop as well as repairing needed things. He is also in the nature center occasionally when it’s real busy and I call for help. It’s a well done interpretive center with a “close up corner” where kids are encouraged to touch and play with anything they see. Most people come here to hike the trails and see, well,nature! Still waiting to see our first grizzly.

On days off we use the volunteer vehicle when it’s available and go hike trails and see other areas of Chugach State Park. Saturday we went to the base of Alpenglow Ski Resort, which is adjacent to Richardson Air Force Base, and hiked to Rendezvous Peak. The day was sunny and warm at the bottom, but the view from the top showed totally different weather. A brief rainbow was a lovely sight to see too. There is a good view of Anchorage (or would be on a clear day), and Knik Arm is shining in the sun.

The ski resort is not big, but the slopes are not for beginners. When you get off this chair lift, you’d better know where you’re going!

Sunday was spent in Anchorage. The flowers in the park were amazing including a few giant cabbages.

First stop was the log cabin visitor center.

Before it began raining we hit the outdoor market, more of a flea market than the farmer’s market they have on Saturday and Wednesday, so we’ll go back for that. Then we went by the Ulu factory where they make ulu knives, a traditional Inuit knife that used for skinning caribou and moose. Still used for that today, but also used in the kitchen for veges, etc. We walked a bike path then to a salmon viewing platform on Ship Creek. It’s a little early yet, but we did see a few silver salmon hanging out on the bottom and occasionally rolling over, flashing their silver skin. In a couple weeks the salmon will spawn and we’ll see them in the river at the Nature Center too. Last stop was the Alaska Public Lands Information Center where we took in a ranger led interpretive walk on Alaska history and saw a movie on bears. Looking forward to seeing more when the sun is shining.

Eagle River Nature Center

Our stay at Donnelly Creek has ended and we are now at Eagle River Nature Center for our next volunteer job. Got to spend a little more time in Fairbanks before leaving where we visited Pioneer Park again and basked in a hot, sunny afternoon. Then on the 6th we caught a ride to Eagle River with a local named Dirk. I think I'll leave a short description of Dirk for another post as he was another AK character, but here's a picture of our lunch stop where he unexpectedly treated us to smoked salmon, hummus and veges, and the last piece of his blueberry-apple-sour cream birthday pie!

We had a brief view of Denali in the far, far distance outside Fairbanks then clouds in, so here's the view of clouds in front of McKinley (Alaskans call it both).

Eagle River Nature Center is a non-profit within the Chugach State Park, the 3rd largest park in the US at 1/2 million acres. The center is at the end of Eagle River Rd and has many trails, daily interpretive hikes and NO camping.

The views are grand. In a couple weeks the salmon will be swimming up here and we're told we'll be able to watch bears out in the distance having dinner.

The longest trail is the Crow Pass Trail that goes about 27 miles to Girdwood and requires a river ford of glacial temperatures. We'll be doing that sometime probably as a 2-day backpack.
Lots of folks hike it daily and it looks like some of them have a bit of help carrying gear!

Today we hiked a trail in Eagle River called Baldy. Once on top, you can follow the ridge for a couple miles more. On a clear day you can see Denali, but this was not one of those days. The views, though hazy, showed Anchorage, the Knik Arm, and beautifully green and red vegetated mountains. The first picture shows Baldy with Knik in the background. There are many, many social trails on the side of the mountain. We took a wrong turn, missed the main trail and ended up bushwacking straight up which was an adventure! Walked the ridge out toward the view of the second shot.

gold, moose & rhubarb

With a nice warm, sunny day it seemed like a gold (good) time to check out a couple of local streams cascading down from the nearby mountains for any color (panning speak for gold flecks in pan). One Mile Creek is about 8 miles from Donnelly Creek and it is a nice clear running creek that on this day was warm enough to stand in and not have frozen feet.

After reading several books on the techniques of panning we set out armed with armchair knowledge and our gear. OK, the gold may be the scenery around and the fun of being outdoors, but we did save a few little shiny pieces that stayed in the bottom of the pan.

After lunch at Ruby Creek we investigated a side road and on the way out spotted the wildlife viewing of the week, a Great Horned Owl.

On the way back, we made a stop at the historic Black Rapids Lodge, currently being restored and were taking pictures, walking around the building. Rounding a corner I suddenly hear Tom yell, “We’ve got company!” Turning around I see a cow and a calf coming at us in a full run right behind Tom. Being trapped between mama moose and the building was not a good idea, so we quickly vamoosed. Just another first encounter of the Alaskan kind.

Our beautifully sunny deteriorated in the afternoon but we were in our nice warm, dry cabin feasting on a fresh homemade strawberry rhubarb pie. The rhubarb was harvested from the garden behind the State Park office and from the Sullivan Roadhouse which offers it free for the picking. Rhubarb grows great here and there is a move in Alaska to commercially grow rhubarb including making juice to sell. While grocery store rhubarb is always red indicating first year growth, subsequent years get greener and this was almost totally green. It tastes the same!

We do eat royally somedays. Sunday dinner included teriyaki moose kabobs, the moose roast a gift from our boss, fresh homemade garlic bread, and more rhubarb pie a la mode.