Only in Alaska: Combat fishing and the rules of engagement

by Catherine Bodry on

Combat fishing: if these two words bring to mind images of men dressed in camouflage, battling for giant fish, then you’re not too far off from reality. Though Alaska might seem like the sort of land where scenes from A River Runs Through It play out in real life, you’re actually more likely to see roadside rivers crammed with anglers tossing hooks and sinkers into the water in the hopes of snagging one of the many salmon working their way to a spawning site.

Up here, salmon swim up streams that pass through major cities. In downtown Anchorage, salmon-rich Ship Creek is a 100-meter sprint from the high-rise hotels and office buildings of the business center, and in the middle of the rail yard and port. Mid-summer, you can spot anglers shoulder to shoulder in the creek as you wander through the Saturday Market.

The salmon are so plentiful, in fact, that as they are finishing their life spans you can actually reach into the water and pluck one out with your hands (it’s illegal to do that, though). In the fall, after the fish are all spawned out and dead, the smell of rotting salmon permeates any land within 100 feet of a stream – just driving over a bridge in your car is enough to catch a whiff of decaying fish.

But when salmon are still full of vigor, filling clear streams with their red and silver bodies as they struggle upstream to spawn, their rich meat is sought-after by sport and subsistence fisherfolk alike.With much of Alaska remote and rugged, the intersections of salmon streams and highways, or salmon streams and cities, become hotspots of fishing mayhem, where fishermen stand shoulder to shoulder as they pull their limits in. It’s an odd sight, as you’re driving through miles of mountains, to suddenly come upon hundreds of people sardined together in a single line along the banks of a pristine river.

If you decide you want to join in the intensities, there are a few rules of engagement you should follow. I snagged these from the Peninsula Clarion:

  • Don’t take someone else’s spot
  • When you hook a salmon, yell “fish on!” If someone near you yells this, take your line out of the water.
  • If someone else has a fish and your lines become tangled, cut your line.
  • Wear protective glasses to protect your eyes from flying hooks and sinkers.

In general, be respectful and safe. And once you snag that giant salmon, don’t forget to take the usual bear precautions. Though the hundreds of people lined along the banks of the river may appear to be playing some adult version of “Red Rover,” you’re actually in the middle of some very wild country.

Only in Alaska: Living – and traveling – in bear country

by Catherine Bodry on

Bears: everybody fears them, everybody wants to photograph them from behind a tour bus window. In my neighborhood, black bears constantly get into garbage cans – when people express disappointment at not having seen any bears on their vacation, I encourage them to hang out on my street on garbage day.

Alaska has plenty of bears, and if you follow a few rules you’re unlikely to ever encounter a bear in the wild.There are really only two types that you might encounter casually: the black bear and the brown (or grizzly) bear. I often meet tourists who are too timid to venture on even a basic nature walk after I warn them that they need to be bear-aware. This attitude is unfortunate, because they don’t realize two things:

1. Bears in Alaska don’t just hang out in the woods, so you’re not necessarily “safe” by staying in town. Though urban bear encounters are generally confined to the fringes of town, last year a grizzly wandered down a popular greenbelt into downtown Anchorage, the state’s largest city.

2. If you follow the right procedures, you’re unlikely to encounter a bear in the wild.

Here are a few tips for avoiding bears, and what to do should you encounter one:

  • The best rule, the holy grail of all rules, is to make noise. I’m a trail runner, an activity that is the third-most dangerous in bear country (just behind getting between a sow and her cubs or a bear and its kill) since it involves moving (slightly, in my case) fast and quietly. I used to carry bear spray (and we’ll get to that) but now I just yell. As my friend told me, “if you run into a bear, you weren’t making enough noise.”
  • On a related note, in my opinion you should forget bear bells unless you’re putting them on your dog’s collar. They don’t make very much noise and give you a false sense of security. Better to sing, yell or clap your hands.
  • Learn to identify a black bear and a brown bear – your response should you run into one will differ depending on the bear. Despite their common names, color is not always the best indicator of a type of bear, so shape and size are important. Black bears are smaller than brown, and are flat between the shoulder blades while grizzlies have a large hump.Black bears also have a straight profile, while grizzlies have a dished-out shape.

If you encounter a bear:

  • Don’t run – you’ll never outrun a bear and you don’t want to encourage it to chase you. Stay calm, talk to the bear to let it know you’re there, and raise your arms to make yourself look bigger. If the bear stands on two legs, it’s just trying to get a better look at you.
  • Don’t climb a tree – bears are better at it than you.
  • Don’t give it food. It might come back for more.
  • Throw something on the ground to try to distract it – a camera or book.

If you’re charged/attacked by a bear:

  • If it’a a black bear, it’s likely bluffing. I’ve had several friends charged by black bears, and each time the bear veered at the last second.
  • You can use bear (pepper) spray on a black bear, but I’ve read that pepper spray only annoys brown bears, which is why I don’t carry it any more.
  • If attacked by a black bear, fight back! Punch it in the nose, kick it, whatever.
  • If attacked by a brown bear, play dead. Cover your neck and head. Typically a brown bear will stop attacking once it doesn’t feel threatened any more.

Remember, bear encounters are not that common, and shouldn’t keep you from enjoying Alaska’s trails. Simply making a lot of noise will reduce your chances significantly.

Come up and visit!

Only in Alaska: Welcome to the 49th state

by Catherine Bodry on

Alaska is one of those places where your expectations are met and often exceeded: the mountains are gargantuan and they’re everywhere, there are moose wandering the cities, and folks still run trap lines and live in log cabins. Yes, people still mush dogs (an Iditarod champion even lives in my small town), and many Alaska Natives still practice subsistence living.

Though the stereotypical Alaska is alive and kicking, there’s a whole lot more to the state. Environmental issues such as climate change and Pebble Mine, the political scene in 2008 (remember Sarah Palin? We’ve still got her), and an 800-mile pipeline that supplies a sizable sip of oil to the rest of the country all make Alaska more than simply a vast and beautiful place where hairy hippies live in off-the-grid harmony.

I hope to highlight some of the quirky qualities of living in or visiting Alaska – and there are plenty. Here are some stats, just to get you started:

  • Alaska is the largest state in the US. It’s more than twice the size of Texas, which means that if you cut Alaska in half, Texas would be the third largest state. In general, it’s about the one-third of the size of the continental contiguous US.
  • Though it’s not the least populated state (that would be Wyoming), it’s the least densely populated. There’s just under one square mile per person.
  • The population is approaching 600,000. Around half that number lives in Anchorage (279,000), and another 35,000 are in Fairbanks. The state capital, Juneau, has 31,000 residents, while Ketchikan, Sitka, Homer, Soldotna, Wasilla, and Seward collectively add roughly another 40,000. That leaves only 215,000 residents scattered across a massive sweep of land. It can be pretty quiet up here.
  • It’s the only state with a capital that’s not accessible by road.
  • Alaska has the US’s largest national park (Wrangell-St. Elias, 13 million acres), national forest (Tongass, 17 million acres), second-largest national forest (Chugach, 5.5 million acres), and the highest mountain (Mt. McKinley [locals call it ‘Denali’], 20,320 ft).
  • Though English is the official language, it is still possible to hear Yupik and Iñupiaq spoken. It’s not common in the cities, but in rural villages many residents still use their native languages.

With the widest spaces, the highest peaks, a somewhat surprising political influence, and a romantic place in Americans’ imaginations, it’s no wonder that Alaska receives $1.6 billion in tourist dollars. But if you can’t afford the trip this summer, I hope to provide a virtual tour of some of unique aspects of the state. Stay tuned!

Got road rage? Try using a different digit to express it

by Catherine Bodry on

I’m a bit of a road rager. Since I live 126 miles down a two-lane mountain road from a major airport, doctor, dentist, and multi-screen movie theater, I often find myself tailgating RVs and Sunday drivers who don’t read the “holdup of more than five vehicles is illegal” signs. They also often neglect to move into the right lane when a passing lane opens on uphill stretches.

The worst part of my drive is the last 30 miles or so to Anchorage, where the highway winds along Turrnagain Arm. It’s impossible to pass, so if you get a slow car in front of you, you’re stuck. This part of the drive is also where I usually am starving and have to pee, and find myself honking, flashing my brights, and generally being fairly obnoxious in an attempt to get the folks in front of me to speed up or pull over.

When I finally do pass them, my middle finger is -was – usually my expression of choice. But I’ve discovered a much more effective tool for expressing your road rage: a big ol’ thumbs down. Here’s my philosophy: if someone gives me their middle finger, my immediate response is “oh yeah? Well, f%&# YOU!” But if someone were to give me the thumbs down, I would hang my head in shame and reflect on how lame I am.

So on your next road trip, or trip to the store, consider this less aggressive form of expression. It works on both ends (there’s no escalating anger), and perhaps the roads are a better place because of it.

Mount Redoubt approaching climax

by Mike Barish on

Things in south-central Alaska just got a bit more interesting (and south-central Alaska was already a pretty tough neighborhood). Mount Redoubt has seen a dramatic uptick in seismic activity over the last several days and seismologists fear that an eruption may be imminent.

Located about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, Mount Redoubt hasn’t had a release in over 20 years, so you can bet that it’s frustrated. Peter Cervelli, a research geophysicist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory said, “we expect based on the past behavior of this volcano that this activity is going to culminate in an eruption.” And what a release it will be!

Cervelli went on to add that while an eruption would pose little threat to residents of Anchorage, it certainly has the potential to disrupt air traffic. During the last eruption, ash plumes hindered air traffic and caused one jet engine to fail. Ash plumes are the the new bird strikes!

The observatory has set up two webcams to monitor the situation and get footage of an eruption, which should be one hell of a money shot.

[Via CNN]