Animals that live in AK

Okay, I am not going to talk about every single animal in AK. I will discuss the ones you are more likely to encounter more often. The animals I am going to talk about are Moose, Grizzly Bear, Black Bear, Beaver, Otter, Whale, Loon, and Bark Beetles.

Moose –

These beautiful creatures are the size of large draft horses. They are very strong and very fast. Here are some good facts to know about these animals.

1) They shed there horns in the winter

2) Mother moose are aggressively protective over there claves

3) You can hunt them. At a certain time and in a certain way.

4) DO NOT feed these animals. It is against the law.

5) They can and will walk through the neighborhoods and your backyard.

6) They cross major highways

7) When a moose gets hit on the road and dies we have a list of people and whoever is next on that list gets the moose for meat.

8) They are incredibly quite

Story –

I have a wilderness med teacher who is a trail runner. She just recently got a gun to take with her running. I do not remember what kind. She always takes one of her dogs with her. As she was trail running this moose was chasing her. At the time she had not idea why and wove in and out of trees trying to keep objects in-between her and the moose. Her foot caught a root from a tree and she tripped. The moose kicked as she put her arms up the hoof hit the inside of her lower arm. She saw the moose’s calf not very far away and pulled out her gun and shot in the air to scare the moose away. It worked and the dog pursued after the moose for awhile.

That is what I remember of the story.

Bear –

I am going to put both of these bears together to make life simpler.

1) Black bears are more aggressive than brown bears

2) Most of them will leave you alone if you leave them alone.

3) We have a pepper spray that was put on steroid called Bear spray, or bullets made specifically to kill bear.

4) We also have something called Bear Bells. If you make enough noise for the bear to hear you it will normally go the other way

5) Bears have been known to destroy vehicles retrieving food that was inside of them. So I would keep you vehicle clean of any food products.

6) All bears Hibernate in the winter.

Stories –

One time I was out on the four wheelers with my family. I was passenger on my moms. We had three four wheelers in total. The front one had My dad and lil brother. The second one had my two triplet sisters. Then there was me and mother. We all had walkie talkies. The passengers were the ones in charge of communication.

I was talking to one of my sisters on the radio when I looked to my left. There almost right next to us was a baby black bear. I was shocked and somewhat worried because I did not see the mother. I told my mother to keep driving because I saw a cub. My mother was shocked. I told everyone to not stop for awhile until we were far enough away from that cub.

This story was told to my by my Water Search and Rescue Chief. Him and a few buddies went camping one night. If I remember correctly they rafted out to there destination. One of his buddies was younger, he had just bought a new tent. They were all sitting next to the campfire chatting when they heard a loud rip noise towards the tents. They got up and walked over there slowly scarring off whatever made the sound. When they got to there buddies new tent there was a long tear right text to the zipper. They heard this loud crying noise. My chief recognized the sound, It was a bear cub. The cub was the one responsible for the tear. Chief told them all to go sit down next to the fire, the mother will come get her cub and probably just leave. As they continued there talking the cub continued its crying until they heard a loud noise near the tents again. So a few of them got up and walked over there. At first they did not see anything. Then a large head emerged from the bushes. one of the younger unexperienced guys took a shot at hit and the bullet glided right above the bears head. The bear roared in disapproval. Then left to go find her cub. Chief was really excited that she did not attack them due to that guy taking a shot at her. They did not hear from her or her cub after that.

Beaver –

The chance of you seeing one of these depend on where you go. I have seen there houses and chewed on logs. I think I have seen one swimming. Other than that I think that it is not often you actually get to lay your eyes on these. You are more likely to see an otter than a beaver. Beavers are nice to have around but they can be a little destructive to the environment because the chew many trees down to damn up places and build there houses. the entrance to there homes is under the water. They live off of fish and other things. Past that you are gonna want to do further research on these great creatures.

Otter –

We have these great creatures called sea otters. you will see these cute guys floating around in the docks of homer, Seward One of the coolest things I know about these creatures is that they will hold each others hands as they nap floating so that there friends do not float away from them as they nap. I have seen them swimming in the cooler part of the season. They are great little guys that you may see on your glacier cruises or just sitting on the docks one day.

Whale –

If I understand correctly the whales migrate down to Mexico during the winter. These mammals feed mostly on krill. Depending on when you take that glacier cruise you may see a whale as well. Right now we have had several of these creatures wash up on shore dead for unknown reasons. Other places they migrate are seeing dead whales washing up as well.

Loon –

last but definitely not least is the loon. This awesome bird, ( I think it looks like a duck) has a loud noise when it calls out. It is very pretty. It reminds me almost of the sound coyotes made down south. If you are near a body of water and see that bird, you have fish in that water. These birds feed off of fish. We have some that live on my family’s lake in Kenai.

Bark Beetles –

These bugs are probably the most irritating insects I have met up here. They burrow there way into out spruce and kill them from the inside out. It is such a widespread problem right now that we hope the fires we are experiencing kill the majority of these pests. We have had to close certain parks and other places due to these dead spruces falling. You can tell if the spruce is dead due to the bark beetles if the tree is turning brown. If the spruce is not brown then something else is killing it. We have not found any chemical or any repellent that will get rid of these insects. Until then we are stuck cutting the trees that are infected with these insects in the winter when they hibernate and burning them.

This Girl

July 5, 2019 0

Ak Summers

Currently in 2019 we are experiencing temperatures in the 80’s. This is very unheard of. Most summers we do not see temperatures over 70 degrees. Due to how cold our winters are we start wearing T shirts around 50 degrees sometimes sooner depending on the person.

Once the snow melts you do not even remember what winter was like. Our plants grow so fast and so tall that we have to cut our grass almost once a week. We have rhubarb plants and wild roses. We also have Lilac trees that smell so beautiful when in bloom.

We have Birch trees, Spruce, and Cotton Wood are our main three trees that grow up here. Most if not all of our trees root systems go straight out instead of straight down under the dirt. This is mostly due to the permafrost we have up here.

In the summer after everything thaws you can start doing all of your yard work. Especially if it is any digging. The ground thaws out enough to be soft for you to dig. In the fall closer to winter you might as well give up any thought of any digging work because the ground starts to freeze again.

One of the biggest things in Ak summer is the construction. All of the ice and snow from the winter as well as the stud tires destroy our roads. One of the biggest jokes is that Alaskans drive on what is left of the road. !D Because of this and the permafrost we have to do all of our construction in the winter unless we want to pay the extra money to tarp and keep everything heated in the winter while we work. Which is just way to much money. Some of our construction goes on till way late in the night.

In the summer we have the long lasting daylight. It is not unusual to see people walking there dogs, running or four wheeling at midnight. You will also see moose walking around enjoying the cool evening air.

Fireworks are not extremely popular during 4th of July due to the daylight. You cannot see the fireworks when they go off. Unless you stay up till way past midnight that is. Although fireworks are extremely popular during the new year because of the extended darkness. We have huge firework shows and everything. (Fireworks are not legal in AK during 4th of July). Sometimes there are exceptions and they let us fire them of until around 1am depending on the heat. Right now we have a firework ban out due to the heat and the fact that we have a massive fire down near Sterling Highway and two smaller fires up in Fairbanks. They are currently evacuating parts of Fairbanks due to the fire.

The bears are active in the summer. You will want to take bear spray or a gun that can shoot the special bullets to kill bear. You can meet them while hunting, fishing, hiking, or just being outside. I had one walking around my neighborhood a year or two ago. I also met one on my way into Alaska on the Alcan highway in Canada. Last night on my way into Kenai I saw a mom and her two cubs on the side of the road. It is unlikely to hear about a bear attack but it is possible and should always be a concern.

Tourists come from all over during the summer. You will see them in places like Homer, Kenai, Talkeetna, and Fairbanks. They go almost all over the our state exploring. In our coastal towns it races the population during the summer and then it drops back down right before winter hits.

We also have what is called winter birds. Those are people who come up to live in AK during the summer. Right before winter hits they leave the state back down to the south and then come back up again in the summer. We do have quite a few of those people. Then I will have those few and random people who come up in the winter specifically to ski.

One of the biggest crowd drawing events we have is our Salmon fishing. You can dip net for them and use a fishing pole. I will warn you though they are very strong so be ready to put up a fight. Some of my brave fellow Alaskans do what is called Combat Fishing. You will never see me doing this! You, your buddy and a whole lot of strangers will stand shoulder to shoulder and fish of the bank. Many people come out of that with hooks in there hands or other places from there neighbor casting out his line into the river.

We also have Moose hunting. I do not know a ton about this aside from the fact that there are very specific times to hunt them and a ton of regulations behind it. If you do go hunting have a guide take you or read up on the regulations the day before because they can and do change without a notice. While you are hunting these majestic beasts keep an eye out for bear. Safety is everything when out in the wild.

Okay, last thing. Hypothermia is a huge thing up here. Even in the summer. Our water tends to stay pretty cool/cold depending on when it thawed and how hot it is outside. If you are coming from the south the water will be cold to you for a long time. I only just recently got used to the water and I have lived up her for going on my 5th yr.

Well I hope y’all have a great day.

This Girl

July 3, 2019 0

Darkness and Winter in AK

I chose to talk about this because I had a friend who moved up here and had no idea we had darkness. She was completely miserable.

Some places in AK actually lose sunlight for a period of time. I do not live in that part of AK, nor do I wish to. Therefor we will discuss where I live and what I know. Okay, ready, set, go!

I currently live in Wasilla, AK. Down a road called, “Knik Goose Bay Road.” I am told it is one of the more dangerous roads in AK. I do not have a problem with it, although many do have a hard time driving it.

We start losing daylight around “Daylight Savings”. We lose it very slowly. Before we start losing it we have daylight starting around 3 in the morning-around 12 at night. We lose daylight until we only have it from 12pm until around 4ish.

Some people do tanning or have these special heat/sun lamps to help with the large lack of sunlight. I have never used any of these objects so I can not give you any info on them aside from the fact that you do not need them to survive the darkness/winer. You need to be active.

Here are a few things that can keep you busy when you are not working.

If you are outdoorsy,

Sno shoe

Sled

Down hill ski

Cross country ski

Snow machine

Snow board

Ice skating

Hockey

Ice climbing

If you are not athletically inclined and prefer to stay warm,

Bowling

Go to the gym

Go to the public pool

There is a roller skating rink in anchorage

Craft classes

Glacier tours

Some people have to put themselves on a schedule. If you do not keep busy, or have something to do. Your body will have its natural reaction to darkness, that is to be tired. Until you get used to it you may feel sluggish, drained, or exhausted for no apparent reason. Stick to the schedule you made for yourself and your body will acclimate.

For those of you who are retired or who have extra time, who want something to keep you busy and active during the school season. You can sub for the school district. You get to chose when and where you work for the most part. The kids also help keep you active and on your toes.

Something you do have to keep an eye out for at all times. Are the moose. They will come out at any time in the winter and in the cooler part of the day in the summer. These animals are as big as horses and will just walk right over your 6ft property fence as if it is not even there. If you do have a garden in the summer and do not fence it properly the moose will get in and they will destroy your garden, so keep that in mind. These majestic creatures also enjoy walking across the road at random and highly inconvenient times. Keep an eye out for them because they will destroy your vehicle and can kill you. Always drive with your lights on, no matter what time of the day. I will make a separate post about these majestic creatures so you know the important facts about these beasts.

In the winter you also have to keep an eye out for something we call black ice. It is hard to see in the darkness aside from the shiny glass look it has to it. If you think at all that you are driving on this (DO NOT use the brakes! ) you will slide around and the outcomes of that are endless. Up here you can get things like studded tires to help you gain traction on the ice. If ice is not one of your comfort zones I suggest getting those. I drive in all season tires and have never been in a wreck (while I was driving). I also do not drive to anchorage often and I take the back road home to my house because Knik Goose Bay Rd or “KGB” as we call it. It is dangerous in the winter.

The fist day it snows I suggest you stay home, it is when everyone goes out and there tend to be a large amount of people getting stuck. You do not want to be one of those people if you can help it.

Avalanches are also a big thing here. We had a couple in Hatchers Pass last winter. Hatcher Pass is a park you can go to and to almost all of the outdoor activities that I listed above. If you wish to go there I would just check the weather and be careful when you go out. I do not want to make any one scared or keep them from having fun. But I also want you all to go out informed. Hatchers Pass is a great place to go have fun. Just keep up with the weather and the news. If you recently had a really warm day, and you are wanting to go out because it is cold enough remember that may not be a good idea because the snow could have shifted due to the climate change.

Alright, I think that about sums up what I want you to know about the dark winters up here. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me I will be happy to help you!

Sincerely,

This Girl

July 2, 2019 1