Only in Alaska!

Ron Thorne · April-13th-2003, 05:31 PM

While I plan to have more Alaska-specific stories on this thread, as on the former board, I couldn't resist posting this hysterical news story from yesterday's Anchorage Daily News.

Leave it to a clever writer in our fair city to come up with this brainchild. This website now has a life of its own. Amazing.

Alaskan gains a bit of fame spoofing Iraqi official online - Information minister has lovable detachment from reality

By DEBRA McKINNEY
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: April 12, 2003)

Although the admiration does not appear to be mutual, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf has reached cult status among Americans for imparting such gems as Bush and Rumsfeld "only deserve to be hit with shoes," and "(Americans) have started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly."

He's got a Web site now. T-shirt sales are booming. Same for the coffee cup: "No American will ever pour coffee into this mug! Never!" Which leaves one to wonder if action figures could be far behind.

Anchorage writer Kieran Mulvaney is among the masterminds behind www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com and its accompanying online store. It all started after he and a handful of friends across the country, who had been e- mailing each other with outrageous quotes of the day, realized they had a little fan club going.

"I mean it really kicked it up a notch when the Americans arrived at the airport and he was just so in denial," Mulvaney said. " 'There are no Americans anywhere near Baghdad!' And he just became more and more brazen. Even when reporters could practically see the Americans on the other side of the Tigris, he was like: 'No! They are in the desert and we are slaughtering them all!' "

Mulvaney suggested a Web site. Within hours, one of his "co-conspirators" had the site up and running with a collection of quotes from the minister, as well as some he would likely have said at pivotal moments of other famous battles, including Gettysburg, Waterloo, the Alamo and the Little Big Horn: "God willing, they will scalp themselves before we do it for them."

They launched it by sending a message to all the friends and colleagues in their address books, then sat back and waited to see what would happen. The thing exploded. Or, as the minister himself would explain, it wasn't a real explosion, just "a container" being dropped to produce "a very huge sound."

Whatever it was, e-mails started pouring in from all over the world. Hundreds of them. And the site got so many hits so fast, it literally got knocked out.

"We had the idea on Tuesday, went live with it on Wednesday and now here we are," Mulvaney said, "there's so much traffic I can't even get on the site.

"It's insane. I mean, you should see our store. We have a barbecue apron now: 'God will roast their stomachs in hell.' "

On the Web page, Mulvaney and his friends describe themselves as a "coalition effort of bloodthirsty hawks and ineffectual doves united in admiration for Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraqi Minister of Information (currently on administrative leave)."

The minister hasn't been seen since Tuesday. As troops marched into Baghdad, with smoke billowing in the background, he faced reporters one more time: "I now inform you that you are too far from reality." He then disappeared.

"He's probably cowering in some bunker somewhere wondering what's happened to his life and his world view," Mulvaney said. "And here we are making money off of him. We should send him a complimentary barbecue apron."

This "ludicrous little enterprise" started off as a joke among friends. Even the T-shirts weren't serious until people made it known they really wanted them.

Mulvaney and his pals were still just laughing about it all when yet another e-mail flashed upon his computer screen:

"Call me please. I'm from Reuters."

"That's when I realized, 'Oh, oh."

As of Friday afternoon, Mulvaney and his cohorts had been interviewed by radio, television and print reporters from the London Daily Telegraph to Reuters to CNN.

Mulvaney, the 35-year-old author of "At the Ends of the Earth: A History of the Polar Regions" and soon-to-be-released "The Whaling Season," had planned to spend this week in his quiet little cottage in Bootleggers Cove, writing a piece on global warming in the Arctic. Instead he's spent his days dealing with the barrage of calls and media attention. He even had to cut short an interview with CBS Radio Network when his cordless phone ran out of juice.

"If I could get a 10th of this much publicity for the real work I do, I'd be really happy," he said.

Thursday evening, as Mulvaney sat in front of his computer wondering if he'd ever get his life back, yet another e-mail flashed on his screen, this one from his next door neighbor, wondering why he couldn't get on the site. A few minutes later, he got this message explaining it:

"In less than one hour of our advertising its existence this morning, our server was put out of commission by traffic bigger than anything we have ever seen. It only took 15 minutes to exceed your monthly bandwidth allowance ..."

At one point, the site got 4,000 hits per second, overwhelming the server and knocking it offline for eight hours. The company that hosted the site pulled the plug.

After switching to its own server, the site was expected to be up and running again by today. There, you'll find among the ditties:

"Listen, this explosion does not frighten us any longer. The cruise missiles do not frighten anyone. We are catching them like fish in a river."

"We made them drink poison last night and Saddam Hussein's soldiers and his great forces gave the Americans a lesson which will not be forgotten by history. Truly."

"It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait."

"Every one is its own mini-classic," Mulvaney said.

"The great thing is, this will last like a week tops, and then everyone will be on to the next Internet craze. But it will just be a great ride while it happens."

Daily News reporter Debra McKinney can be reached at dmckinney@adn.com.

Kieran Mulvaney speaks with one of his Outside colleagues as they marvel at the wild popularity of their Web site. The tongue-in-cheek site devoted to Mohammed Saeed al- Sahhaf was receiving 25,000 hits an hour. (Photo by Erik Hill / Anchorage Daily News)

Anchorage writer Kieran Mulvaney's Web site shows how Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf might have reported famous battles throughout history. (Photo by Erik Hill / Anchorage Daily News)

Canuck Don · April-13th-2003, 05:44 PM

Pretty good article Ron. I enjoyed that.Alaskan humour eh.

Note: Got the cd's to-day.Finally the Wife picked them up.Have on now.I like them a lot.Thanks so much Ron for your kindness.

Ron Thorne · May-23rd-2003, 05:25 PM

We've been experiencing a pretty amazing phenomenon all week. Many of us thought there were some wildfires in interior Alaska causing our haze in Anchorage and surrounding areas, but we were very wrong, as you'll soon see if you read the following story. The Mat-Su reference is a coloquial one for the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, north of us, home of vegetables and flowers, the size of which you might not immediately grasp ... 90lb.+ cabbages, for instance. I'll show you some in a separate post.

Far-off fires darken Alaska skies
RUSSIA: Smoke from hundreds of blazes drifts over the sea and stays.

Fire permits in Mat-Su suspended till Tuesday

By PETER PORCO
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: May 23, 2003)

If you're wondering why the sky is hazy, it's because Russia is blowing smoke.

The sun went down as a big ball of red earlier this week because of the smoke jet-streaming across the Bering Sea from fires in Siberia and elsewhere in Russia. The thick, high- altitude haze is covering most of Alaska because the smoke particles are extra fine, causing them to stay aloft longer. (Photo by Calvin Hall)

Hundreds of wildfires in southern and eastern Russia are raising gigantic plumes of smoke that are drifting with the jet stream across the Bering Sea and over Alaska and western Canada, according to atmospheric experts.

The result is a high-altitude haze across much of the state. The smoke particles are so fine that they stay high aloft longer, so there's no smell of smoke or imminent danger to air quality, other experts said.

But try getting a sunburn.

"It's a very, very thick haze," said Glenn Shaw, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "The sun is barely casting a shadow."

Visibility in his town, Shaw said in a phone interview, was down to 20 miles. The normally visible Alaska Range about 75 miles to the south was "obliterated, gone," he said.

About 16,000 forest fires occur in Russia each year, burning about 2.2 million acres, according to an academic paper written several years ago by Russian scientists.

Currently the fires are burning forest and grassland in six territories and regions along the country's border with China and eastward into the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported Wednesday.

In one region alone, 61 fires have burned about 250,000 acres, it said.

The smoke has engulfed parts of China's Inner Mongolia, reducing visibility in one city to little more than half a mile.

Altogether, about 645 fires are burning.

"We started noticing things about May 1," Shaw said. "I thought, 'This stuff is coming from the Gobi

Desert.' " Dust blown from the Mongolian desert does reach Alaska, perhaps as often as every other spring, he said. But about a week later, a friend sent him a Web page showing the Russian wildfires, which corrected his first impression. Russian inspectors have blamed some of the fires on arsonists and "over 35 cases in which the fire safety rules were broken," Itar-Tass said.

The taiga forest in Buryatia, East Siberia, for example, was set ablaze by cattle thieves, the agency said: "Two unemployed men had engaged in slaughtering stolen cows in the forest and burning the hides to cover their tracks."

Whatever the fires' cause, their well-traveled smoke is impressive, Shaw said.

"The whole state is covered with this big brownish cloud. I've never seen anything like this," he said. "It's three times the size of Alaska."

A National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite photograph shows the state as if someone had blown cigarette smoke across it.

Shaw's computer models put the cloud at about 12,000 feet, he said.

A meteorologist in Anchorage put the haze even higher, at least 25,000 feet up.

"That's why you can't smell it," said Dan Peterson of the National Weather Service.

The haze lends itself to glorious atmospherics, Peterson added. Colleagues at his office on Thursday, he said, enjoyed a discussion about the "pretty red sunrise this morning."

High pressure systems in northern and in northeastern Russia are swirling the smoke in such a way that it drifts over to Alaska from the northwest, he said. But it could begin to dissipate.

"It looks like (those systems) might push out in a couple of days with low-pressure systems moving toward us," Peterson said.

The haze has at least one good effect on Alaska, said John See of the state Division of Forestry. It blocks out enough sunlight to slightly lower the combustibility of Alaska's own dry vegetation, he said.

"We've seen this before," See said. Twenty years ago, while fighting a fire outside of Fairbanks, another fire upwind created a cloud of drift smoke that blocked out the sunlight.

"As soon as this cloud of smoke cut off the surface heating and the sunlight, our fire behavior dropped significantly," he said.

Daily News reporter Peter Porco can be reached at pporco@adn.com or 257-4582.

SATELLITE photos of the fires over eastern Russia can be found at earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/.

Ron Thorne · May-23rd-2003, 05:37 PM

Here are some photos of recent prize-winning vegetables which are on display and judged each Fall at the Alaska State Fair. These photos have not been retouched or enhanced, no matter what you may think. We've seen vegetables such as this for decades. A combination of extraordinarily rich soil in the Matanuska Valley and our long daylight hours in the summer months create these behemoths. Flowers are also equally huge, completely blowing the minds of our millions of summer visitors.

Here's an example of a giant cabbage, this one weighing in at 91.6lbs.

Like zucchini?

SinginSumo · May-23rd-2003, 06:37 PM

Why does the Alaskan zucchini remind me of jmj riding the Thai elephant??

***********************************************

Glad that you have resurrected this thread, Father Thorne.

Ron Thorne · May-23rd-2003, 11:21 PM

Thanks, SS! Yeah, I can see a possible connection between the Alaskan zucchini and one of jmj's photos from his trip to Thailand. :-)

Well, as all of you undoubtedly know, Alaska is HUGE, as are many of the things which grow here. So, in that spirit, here are a couple of other things which grow incredibly large in The Greatland ... fish.

For example:

"If I look a little shell shocked, it is because I’m struggling to hold a native wild rainbow over 20 pounds. Big Kings are easier to hold then this beast was. Even with the squeeze on his tail, he would not relax and kept rolling back. You can even see the wild look in his eye. This was the only picture we got before sliding him back into the Kenai. The photo does not do justice to the fact that this fish had a girth of at least 22 inches. I tried to get measurements while he was in the water. The length appeared to be between 33 and 34 inches.

Jack Blair of Anchorage hooked this incredible fish on June 13. Jack has fished all over Alaska for 40 years. This was his largest rainbow. He is looking forward to having a replica mount made of his trophy."

I fish this river just about every summer, where there are record runs of red and king salmon, as well. It's a world-class fresh water fishery, to say the least. I'm happy when I hook up with a rainbow of 14" or better, especially when they're "wild". I'm very careful in my brief handling, and always release "wild" rainbows, a threatened species.

Now, from salt water comes:

Yep, that number affixed to the fish is the weight ... 316 pounds! We call halibut this size, "barn doors".

Ron Thorne · June-12th-2003, 02:56 AM

Patti and became aware of a very creative, cool, summer-long downtown art project recently modeled after after "Cows on Parade" in Chicago and "Pigs on Parade" in Seattle ... “Wild Salmon on Parade”, designed as an annual festival.

When we stepped out of one of our favorite downtown restaurants with Patti's parents tonight, after a wonderful early birthday dinner for my wife, here was the first of 21 remarkable salmon scuptures we saw up close and personal. I had my digital camera with me, so photographed several of them, but it's quicker and easier to share a couple with you from a local website, which I'd encourage you to visit. We have a very unusual salmon fishery in downtown, Anchorage, one of the most unique urban fisheries in the world.

By the way, the two sculptures I've included are both "King" (Chinook) Salmon, thus the play-on-words.

Here's the link to view more sculptures and learn a bit more about our unique community. You can even vote for your favorite salmon!

King of Alaska

Artist: Stephen Ortland
Map Number: 14
Location: Glacier Brewhouse, 5th Avenue and H Street

Bio: The King of Alaska salmon was designed and created by Alaskan artist Stephen Ortland. Ortland’s full time work focuses on a mixture of watercolor, graphic art, ceramics, and photography, however he used a variety of other mediums, such as automotive polyester filler, rhinestone jewelry and highly enriched uranium to bring this royal fish to life. Inspiration for the design came from an idea to generate a visual play on the word "King."

King Tut

Artist: Reed and Reed
Map Number: 5
Location: ORSO, 5th Avenue and G Steet

Bio: King Tut is the Pharaoh of fish created by Dick and Fran Reed. Instead of the traditional python and vulture on King Tut’s headpiece, the artists fastened a worm and a seagull. Amongst its shimmering gold scales, stenciled markings shine brilliant-blue like lapis lazuli, the ornamental decoration popular in ancient Egypt. The project took approximately two months. The couple moved to Alaska in 1969 and both have art degrees.

Barak · June-12th-2003, 09:21 AM

Ron,

We're planning a month long trip to Alaska in August including some stays in Anchorage for rest and restock. I've been told that there is practically no Jazz whatsoever in Alaska. Any recommendations for clubs/Cafes etc. in Anchorage? Do I really need to get used to country music? Say it isn't so!

Ron Thorne · June-12th-2003, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barak
We're planning a month long trip to Alaska in August including some stays in Anchorage for rest and restock. I've been told that there is practically no Jazz whatsoever in Alaska. Any recommendations for clubs/Cafes etc. in Anchorage? Do I really need to get used to country music? Say it isn't so!

Hi Barak,

Glad that you're headed our way, and that you're spending enough time to actually experience this vast Great Land.

Alaska doesn't have many large cities where jazz might have a chance to flourish, only a small handful, actually. And, as with many cities in America, jazz has been on a roller coaster ride for the past several decades ... up and down. Juneau (JEW-no), our capital city in Southeast Alaska (the panhandle) usually has at least one club where you can hear jazz. Our dear friend, the late saxophonist Jim Pepper used to play there at the Red Dog Saloon. I don't know what's happening in Juneau these days, though its a lovely town ... when it's not raining. :-)

Anchorage is by far the largest city in Alaska (pop. over 300,000), with numerous nightclubs, lounges, pubs, etc. I worked for a superb 24 hour jazz station from the early 70's into the 80's while four full-time jazz clubs flourished, but that's all changed, as in many other locales. At the moment, there are only a couple places I'd recommend, depending upon who's playing the days you're here. Sullivan's Steakhouse on 4th Ave. & "C" Street, downtown, has "live" jazz five nights/week, with better-than-average local musicians, including our longtime friend, pianist/singer Melissa Bledsoe Fischer on Friday evenings. She's in a duo setting, accompanied by another friend, a remarkable bassist, Dirk Westphal. Melissa also does a gig at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art on the first Thursday of each month from 7:00-8:30. You can have a bite to eat, some wine or a micro beer, hear some music, visit historic galleries, art exhibits, etc. For non-members the cost is $6.50.

http://www.anchoragemuseum.org/

Melissa Bledsoe Fischer

Also, there's a very active blues club in Anchorage, Blues Central at Chef's Inn, where you can hear local, regional and national acts, depending upon the date. They're active nightly, and located on Northern Lights Blvd. near the intersection of Arctic Blvd., right across from Matanuska Maid Dairy. Cool, huh?

Finally, a more hit-and-miss idea might be Jass Alley, 900 W. 5th Ave., downtown. As often as not, it's an R&B group, rather than a "jazz" ensemble, however.

While country/western is definitely popular throughout Alaska (especially outlying areas), you may be surprised by the mix of music available, as well as the breadth of culture, nature, sophistication, technology and rawness.

Two important stops in Anchorage for any visitor are legendary Rock 'n Roll club Chilkoot Charlie's in Spenard (live music on three stages, nightly), where their motto is "We cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to you!"®, and Mr. Whitekey's Fly By Nightclub, also in Spenard, "proudly Serving "Spam®, Booze, Rhythm & Blues". Mr. Whitekeys' features seasonal "shows" which are a must-see, with music from the famous Spam®tones afterward. During the summer months, you must see the Whale Fat Follies!

Mr. Whitekeys

http://www.koots.com/

http://www.flybynightclub.com/

I'll probably add other things of interest later. How long do you plan to be in the Anchorage area? Are you part of a tour or traveling independently at your own pace?

Have a safe and wonderful visit. If you're a fisherman, be sure and bring your tackle, hopefully a fly rod/reel and dry flies, nymphs and streamers.

Camai~

Barak · June-12th-2003, 06:31 PM

Ron,

Thank you so much for the great info. That's exactly the sort of info I was looking for and I couldn't get it through regular touristic sites.

As for our plans: We are traveling independently. We've decided to spent a month in Alaska because we know from out other trips that you need more than 2 weeks to really experience and feel the place AND we feel that we really can use that month traveling before returning to Jerusalem, Israel. As you know it's a "bit" tense place to live at

We plan to spend about a week in Juneau-Glacier Bay area, inc. some 4-5 days paddling in Glacier Bay. From there we'll fly to Anchorage and rent a car for 3 weeks and do some "Car Camping". We are very flexible with our schedule, but as of now our tentative plan is to drive to Denali than thru Paxton and Denali hwy, down to McCarthy and Wrengell-St. Elias, and back to Anchorage via Glen hwy (and maybe a sidetrip to Valdez). And after that - another week or so in Kenai peninsula.

I'll be grateful for any recommendations from you.

So we'll probably be in Anchorage for about 2 days when we arrive from Glacier Bay (resting and stocking up for the trip), probably another day in between those two trips and maybe one last day, or half a day before our flight back home.

Barak

Ron Thorne · June-13th-2003, 02:40 AM

Wow, Berak, that's an ambitious schedule! You're very young, right? :-)

It doesn't seem like you'll have an abundance of time in Anchorage for much jazz or other culture, actually. No matter what, I'd highly recommend our Anchorage Museum of History and Art, as suggested earlier. If you have time, Melissa and Dirk at Sullivan's is very worthwhile on Friday evenings. You may want to consider spending a wee bit more time in Anchorage either before or after your Kenai Peninsula trip if interested in some additional culture, shopping or fine food/drink. Most of what you've listed as your main objects of interest are not urban, however.

Another wonderful destination in Anchorage is our new Alaska Native Heritage Center, which provides a masterful overview of our many Native cultures, from food to clothes and lodging.

When you state "car camping", do you mean "tent camping", or sleeping in a car with no frills? Please elaborate. Fishing?

Camai~

Camai - Warm Inupiut greeting, similar to Aloha

Barak · June-13th-2003, 06:08 AM

Well Ron I'm not THAT young. I'm 35. We tried to plan a schedule that will include highly touristic places and some less touristic spots, including some driving on some unpaved roads. But as I mentioned earlier, that's only the blue print. We'll make readjustment when we get there, according to our preferences, and other recommendations especially ones by locals.

Do you think it's a too ambitious plan?

in "Car Camping" I meant "tent camping" but in a more comfortable way than "real" caping - Air Mattress, folding chair, a bigger stove etc.

We're planning to travel this way for two reasons: a) we couldn't afford traveling in your state for such a long time otherwise; and b) we really want to experience Alaska's nature. And in all our travelings we realised that for us the best way to REALLY experience the nature and the wilderness is to camp out from time to time. So we plan to camp in private camp grounds most of the times but also to camp out sometimes.

We are not into fishing. Maybe it's because there is no sea or river near where we live - in Jerusalem. However we'll try to gain that certain tranquility fishermen sometimes have. We need that!

We'll definitely check put nchorage Museum of History and Art and Alaska Native Heritage Center, and if we'll be in Anchorage on a Friday we;ll definitely go to Sullivan's. The link you added made me want to sample that Alaskan (sub)culture!

Thanks again for the great info!

ps, if you think our plan is ambitious, try living in Jerusalem

June-13th-2003, 07:01 AM

Very good, Ron. I loved the web site bit.
As I watched that "Information Minister" from Iraq personally destroy a Light Infantry Div, two Brigades from a Heavy Infantry Div, shoot down two choppers and at least one fast mover from the US forces, while inflicting heavy losses on the Brit Armored Brigade, I marveled, "Will Dubbya not offer this hero a place in his entourage?" They could search together, finding numerous WOMD.

As for the smoke from Russian forest fires besmirching the pristine North, untouched by man since Jack London called the Wild, I thought, "Better the Russians than southern California!"

Ron Thorne · July-17th-2003, 04:52 PM

While this is not a story exclusive to Alaska, this kind of encounter does seem to happen here with greater frequency than any place I know. What makes this freaky, is that this is one of the favorite fly fishing spots my oldest son and I try to hit every Fall for huge rainbow trout. In fact, we park above the very site where this man was attacked ... Grayling. I've walked up this very staircase countless times over the years.

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game, in an unprecedented move, has closed the Russian River to fishing from 11pm-6am for the next five days in order to better analyze the situation. This is a world-class salmon/trout stream where a 2nd run of sockeye (red) salmon is in-progress.

Grizzly mauls Russian River angler
CRITICAL: Bear-human encounters escalate, leave four bears dead.

By CRAIG MEDRED
and DOUG O'HARRA
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: July 16, 2003)

RUSSIAN RIVER -- A 25-year-old angler seriously mauled by a brown bear here early Tuesday was being treated at Anchorage's Providence Alaska Medical Center as state and federal officials tried to decide what to do about a growing bear crisis along the state's most popular salmon stream.

Daniel Bigley was just feet from a stairway that leads to the Grayling parking lot in the U.S. Forest Service's popular Russian River Campground when he was apparently jumped by a brown bear sow with two cubs, according to U.S. Forest Service officials.

He was in critical condition Tuesday night, having had part of his face torn off and losing at least one eye, according to witnesses.

Details of the attack were sketchy, but retired Col. Frank Valentine, a former member of the U.S. Army Rangers, said he and his wife, Celeste, were settling into bed in their trailer about 100 yards from the parking lot at 12:30 a.m. when a car horn started honking.

Moments later, he said, a young man and a young woman came pounding on his door.

"They were in shock,'' Valentine said. "They were very, very anxious and scared to death.''

They told him of the mauling and asked for help. Though it was still light enough to see, Valentine grabbed a flashlight and headed for the stairs.

He said the two young people told him they'd been standing near the top of the two-tiered stairway when they heard shouting below. Then three bears -- what appeared to be a sow grizzly and two cubs -- bounded up the steps.

The couple, Valentine said, turned, ran and dove through an open window into the back of a Chevrolet Blazer. The bears ran past and back into the woods. The couple started blowing the horn to attract attention before going for help.

When Valentine returned with the couple to the head of the stairway, he sent the woman to wait in a nearby restroom built of concrete blocks, while he and the young man headed toward the river.

About 20 to 30 feet from where the trail from Grayling meets a trails that runs along the water, they found Bigley and a friend down in tall grass and brush. The friend was trying to stop Bigley's head from bleeding. At first, Valentine thought Bigley was dead.

"He had severe trauma,'' said the Vietnam veteran on vacation here from his Georgia home. "I've been in combat, and I've never seen anyone with those type of injuries who has survived. It looked like he had been blasted in the face.''

But when Valentine checked on Bigley, he found the man conscious, his pulse good and his airway clear. Valentine called 911 on his cell phone.

"There really wasn't anything we could do down there except wait to transport him,'' he said.

As Valentine and the others waited, more volunteers trickled in -- a man with a shotgun to keep watch in case the bears returned; another arrived with a first-aid kit started cutting off Bigley's waders. People with flashlights showed up to light the campground road for emergency crews.

By the time Cooper Landing Emergency Medical Technician Carrie Williams arrived, the community's volunteer firefighters, Alaska State Troopers and more than a half dozen others had gathered. She described the scene as "chaotic,'' but manageable.

"Thank God he was on the stair side'' of the Russian River, she said.

Williams helped stabilize Bigley. He was then lashed to a backboard. Volunteers carried him up the stairs to a waiting ambulance. The ambulance took him out of the campground and about a mile down the Sterling Highway to a wide spot in the road near the Resurrection Pass Trail head.

A Providence Lifeflight helicopter waited there to fly Bigley to Anchorage.

Friends described Bigley as a newcomer from Arizona with a yearning to discover America's last great wilderness. He had a degree in environmental sciences, said Girdwood neighbor Jennifer White, and was working as a counselor at Alaska Children's Services in Anchorage.

A co-worker there, Brad Precosky, the well-known Alaska mountain runner, said he'd just sold Bigley a plot of land with a cabin in Bear Valley above Anchorage. Precosky said Bigley was full of enthusiasm about living in the mountains and imagined skiing down some of the gullies near his new home.

"I had a good feeling about him," Precosky said.

"He's done quite a bit of guiding in river rafting and hiking," White said. "He's not the kind of guy who would have been out there causing a big ruckus.''

It appeared, according to authorities, that Bigley simply stumbled into trouble on his return from an evening of fishing. He was following a trail used by thousands of people every summer. Valentine had just come up the same trail, carrying a limit of three red salmon.

"I had walked that same path maybe 30 minutes before they did,'' he said, "I walked it alone, but I sang the whole way. Just for the grace of God, it could have happened to me.''

Bear problems along the river have escalated since the middle of last month when the first of two annual returns of red salmon arrived late. Kenai Peninsula area wildlife biologist Jeff Selinger with Fish and Game said that in recent days there have been reports of several grizzly bear sows with cubs in the area, as well as a number of black bears.

Problems grew serious a week ago when an angler was charged by a brown bear sow with three cubs. He shot at her to protect himself. The fate of that bear was unknown until two days later when the cubs were reported up a tree in the Russian River Campground.

The rotting carcass of their mother was found not far away. Alaska Department of Fish and Game regional wildlife supervisor Jeff Hughes said biologists subsequently decided to euthanize the less-than-50-pound cubs because no zoo or other wildlife facility could be found to take them.

It was not, Hughes added, an easy decision. Fish and Game, he noted, is in the middle of a program trying to preserve a Kenai brown bear population believed to be threatened by increasing development.

"We've got to do a better job,'' he said. "Maybe we need to provide the bears with a buffer.''

In the aftermath of the mauling, the U.S. Forest Service has closed the Russian River Trail and the banks of the river from the falls to the confluence from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. through July 25.

The Forest Service has no authority to prohibit fishing, so anglers could walk up the river and fish. Anglers will, however, be unable to drive to the Russian River Campground, get a parking space and walk down to fish.

Even with the sun high and hot on Tuesday afternoon, a trio of yearling grizzlies was busy making trouble in plain sight near the confluence of the Russian and Kenai rivers.

"We've got ourselves a messy situation,'' Selinger said, "a situation that has the potential for a lot of problems.''

Kenai refuge officer Kevin Shinn said one of the yearlings appeared particularly aggressive. It came out of the woods near the Kenai River ferry, he said, grabbed a backpack and then started looking for more.

"They continued to work downstream,'' he said, "working from stringer to cooler, whatever they could find.''

Anglers expressed varying degrees of concern. At the top of the Grayling stairs, Dave Howard, a superintendent at Costco in Anchorage, and his father, Dave Sr., were geared up to go fishing, bears or no bears.

Veterans of this river, they figured they could get along with the bears. The last time fishing, the younger Dave said, "we saw four grizzlies and a black. We stayed away and gave ground."

"Hey, this is their river,'' added Dave Sr. "These guys were here before we were here. It's their fish.''

Daily News reporter Peter Porco contributed to this story.

Ron Thorne · September-12th-2003, 02:20 AM

Many things grow to almost mythic proportions in The Greatland ... fruit, vegetables, snowdrifts, mountains, mammals and fish. I don't how long this image will be available, so wanted to share it while it is. Even for me, a longtime Alaskan, this is pretty remarkable.

The crew of the Miss Mary whoops it up after landing a 553-pound, 98-inch halibut while fishing near St. Lawrence Island last Thursday. Crew members, left to right, are Capt. Pat Davis, Barry Davis, “Aki” and “The Kid.” The boat hauled the giant fish to Sand Point, where it was sold to a cannery. (Photo by John Davis )

lynn · September-12th-2003, 02:20 PM

Mighty big Fish Sticks.

lynn · September-18th-2003, 12:03 PM

OK Ron, have you "Moose Proofed" your place?
------------------------------------------

Hammocks Tangle Aroused Moose in Alaska
September 18, 2003 10:14 AM EDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Itchy to rub antlers and aroused for fall mating season, bull moose have been tangling with hammocks this week.

The hammocks are winning.

At least three moose have been caught since Sunday and another four have been reported snarled in hammocks or swing set chains over the past two weeks, said Jessy Coltrane, assistant area biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

"I get a call every day almost," she said Tuesday on her way back from rescuing the latest victim in a mountainside area on the city's east side.

"I took a hammock off a moose on Sunday. I had a call on Monday that I couldn't find. And now today."

Coltrane suggested that residents take down their hammocks or tie up swings so that bulls aren't tempted to joust.

"We're just asking people to help the moose out," she said.

It happens every fall when adult males bang and rub their antlers against objects to remove summer velvet. With hormones starting to rage, the bulls also become more rambunctious as they start following cows and confronting other males.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2003 Associated Press.

Ron Thorne · September-18th-2003, 04:12 PM

Lynn, we don't have a hammock at the moment, so that's not a problem. However, thanks for reminding me that I need to spray a few of our young trees so the moose won't prune them into extinction. I found that a spray product called Deer Off™ seems to do the trick. It's loaded with capsaicin and garlic, which they don't seem to like. It also works on rabbits and squirrels.

Here's a very funny moose story. I wish I had gotten some photos and video of a moose who visited us this past winter. I heard wind chimes in our front yard really making a racket, so thought the wind had come up. When I looked out one of our front windows I couldn't believe my eyes ... a bull moose was standing in our front yard playing with a set of copper wind chimes I'd made. I was afraid he was going to become entangled in it and destroy it, so went to the front door and yelled at him. He looked at me as if I were insane and went right back to it. It was the damndest thing I'd ever seen a moose do. And, he came back a few days later and played with them again!

While I have this thread open, here's a wonderful photo taken by an Anchorage Daily News photographer a couple of nights ago. This lake is about four blocks from our home, between two universities. This is not computer-enhanced or retouched.

Dancing by the Light of the Silvery Moon

The aurora borealis danced across the sky early Tuesday morning. University Lake
reflected the lights between 12:15 a.m. and 1:15 a.m. (Photo by Scott McGee)

Tanager · September-22nd-2003, 01:21 PM

Ron, I have a question: do Alaskans tend to say McKinley or Denali when referring to the mountain, and is either appellation gaining popularity at the expense of the other, as far as you know?

Ron Thorne · September-22nd-2003, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tanager
Ron, I have a question: do Alaskans tend to say McKinley or Denali when referring to the mountain, and is either appellation gaining popularity at the expense of the other, as far as you know?

The answer to those questions opens up a bit of a trick bag, Tanager. Newcomers to Alaska almost always refer to the mountain as Denali, since they've heard that with greater frequency, the reason for which follows. Patti and I (and countless other "sourdoughs") automatically think of the mountain as Mt. McKinley.

I'd say that Denali (The Great One) has overtaken Mt. McKinley in common usage, and I don't have a problem with that, since it's the original name given the mountain by our Native (Athabascan) people. Here's a further explanation as to the change of appellation and references.

To many it (Denali) seems a more fitting name than one memorializing the obscure 25th U.S. president, William McKinley. The U.S. Congress changed the name of the surrounding park to Denali National Park, but a congressman* from Ohio (McKinley's home state) blocked the name change for the mountain itself. So the official name of the mountain remains Mt. McKinley. Although named by a partisan prospector before he was even elected president, McKinley's subsequent 1901 assasination helped make the name stick.

To complicate matters further, while the mountain continues to be known "officially" as Mt. McKinley, nationally, our state legislature saw things differently.

* "Nationally, a lone congressman from Ohio prevents the renaming of the mountain. In 1975, Rep. Ralph Regula from Canton, William McKinley's hometown, blocked a compromise proposed by the Alaska legislature to name the mountain Denali and leave the national park surrounding it named for McKinley. Five years later the National Park Service agreed to a compromise Regula couldn't block: it changed the name of Mt. McKinley National Park to Denali National Park, but the mountain stayed Mt. McKinley. This resolution proved unstable, however. Finding its Native lobby more persuasive than Ohio's McKinley lobby, Alaska changed its name for the mountain to Denali, relegating the 25th president to the parenthetical statement, "(also known as Mt. McKinley)." Regula has found a way to block any change on the national level, however. His aide told me, "The Board of Geographic Names won't change names so long as legislation on the subject is pending. Congressman Regula always has legislation pending." The legislation never gets anywhere, but it suffices to prevent action by the board."

IN BRIEF
It's more than a mountain. Denali National Park & Preserve features North America's highest mountain, 20,320-foot tall Mount McKinley. The Alaska Range also includes countless other spectacular mountains and many large glaciers. Denali's more than 6 million acres also encompass a complete sub-arctic eco-system with large mammals such as grizzly bears, wolves, Dall sheep, and moose.

The park was established as Mt. McKinley National Park on Feb. 26, 1917. The original park was designated a wilderness area and incorporated into Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980. The Park was designated an international biosphere reserve in 1976.

Today the park accommodates a wide variety of visitor use including wildlife viewing, mountaineering, and backpacking. It continues to provide a laboratory for research in the natural sciences.

So, there's my long-winded explanation, Tanager. Sorry, but I couldn't figure a way to abbreviate it and have it make sense.

Tanager · September-22nd-2003, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ron Thorne
Sorry, but I couldn't figure a way to abbreviate it and have it make sense.

Frankly, I'm glad you didn't abbreviate it - that is a really interesting story, one I didn't know at all. Thanks!

Ron Thorne · September-22nd-2003, 11:26 PM

Glad you enjoyed it, Tanager.

While thinking about the Mt. McKinley/Denali issue further, during my drive to a drum lesson this afternoon, I remembered the following.

I've seen the Athabascan translation of "Denali" as "The Great One" and "The High One".

Perhaps the only thing with which I've agreed with our goofball Representative, Don Young, is his effort to permanently change the name of "the mountain" back to Denali. By the way, his wife is a Native Alaskan.

Denali is approximately 140 miles (as the crow flies) from Anchorage, yet when not surrounded by its own weather system, full of clouds, it looks like it's 8-10 miles away. It's that HUGE!

jesus marion joseph · September-23rd-2003, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SinginSumo
Why does the Alaskan zucchini remind me of jmj riding the Thai elephant??

I was actually being accosted by that elephant!

Great pics in this thread, Ron-keep 'em coming!

A friend came to visit this weekend on a spur-of-the-moment type deal, as we had beautiful summer weather. We spent a day and a half fishing and didn't get a single bite! We had to go to the fish-n-chips joint for dinner! Could've used some of those halibut.

Ron Thorne · September-23rd-2003, 10:08 PM

Happy to oblige, jmj!

Here's what "the mountain" looked like to a few lucky ones recently. This photo is from yesterday's paper. Access deep inside the park is highly restricted, and for lots of good reasons.

Lucky few drive into Denali Park: Denali National Park road permit winners enjoyed the view
of Mount McKinley recently from an overlook near Stony Dome, one of the great views of the
mountain on a crystal-clear day. Sixteen hundred drivers -- 400 a day for four days -- won
the opportunity to drive into the park. (Photo by Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News)

Ron Thorne · September-23rd-2003, 10:28 PM

I can't resist posting this beautiful image. Darren and I saw a pair of Trumpeter Swans on our recent canoe adventure. We're blessed with vistas and wildlife like no other place on earth. These were photographed in an area we drive through frequently, only an hour or so from our home, on the way to Patti's parent's home in Hope.

Birds of a Feather: Trumpeter swans moved through a marshy area south of Portage in the
second week of September. USGS biologist Jerry Hupp thought the juvenile swans, darker in
color, look like they may not have full flight feathers yet and so may be part of the flock that
nests in these Kenai Peninsula waters in spring and summer.
(Photo by Jim Lavrakas / Anchorage Daily News)

jesus marion joseph · September-23rd-2003, 10:48 PM

You are indeed blessed by natural beauty, Ron. Denali reminds me of pictures of Himalyan mountains.

For some reason this year I have been awakened to how beautiful my surroundings are in New England; especially on Cape Cod. I guess I've always appreciated it, but moreso this summer.

I encourage everyone on this BBS to post pics of their piece of the world for the rest of us to see.

Ron Thorne · September-24th-2003, 01:35 AM

jmj, it's so easy for us to become complacent and take things for granted. Patti and I pinch ourselves regularly, knowing that it's far too easy to overlook the beauty surrounding us. I've taken some shots around our property, which I hope to download tomorrow. In the meantime, look at this beauty ...

A patch of fireweed along a trail near Windy Point on Turnagain Arm shows the spectrum
of autumn colors. (Photo by Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News)

Ron Thorne · September-24th-2003, 06:04 PM

Flanked by Cook Inlet (Pacific Ocean) on the west and the Chugach Mountain Range on the east, Anchorage is located in a pretty dramatic setting. Sunsets for the next six months or so will be spectacular, too.

Fall twilight: Anchorage glows as the lights come on and buildings reflect the color in the
sky just after sunset on a clear evening, with the Chugach Mountains behind.
(Photo by Bob Hallinen / Anchorage Daily News)

Ron Thorne · September-25th-2003, 05:18 PM

Remember when I mentioned that Mt. McKinley (Denali-The Great One), though 140 miles north of us, looms unbelievably large when we are privileged to actually see it? How's this for a dramatic view when taking off from Anchorage International Airport? I was delighted when I saw this photo on the front page of this morning's paper, and was eager to share it with you. We've tolerated flights over our house for the past four months, so we're elated that this runway project is finally complete.

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 takes off from the north-south runway at Ted Stevens Anchorage
International Airport toward Mount McKinley on Wednesday morning. The 11,000-foot runway
was officially reopened during a ribbon- cutting ceremony that marked the end of a $26 million
reconstruction and reinforcement project. The new runway surface is up to 15 inches thick in places
and has enough asphalt to build a two-lane road 78 miles long.
(Photo by Bill Roth / Anchorage Daily News)

jesus marion joseph · September-25th-2003, 08:07 PM

Wow, those are some great pics. I don't know how you could ever take that kind of scenery for granted. You're one lucky stiff Ron!