Holding my breath camera ready, I crouched by a ledge of lichen-crusted shale. Around me stretched an expanse of wind-scraped tundra hills grooved with caribou trails, marked here and there by the bleached bones of wolf kills, grizzly scat, and the hoofprints of muskoxen. But my focus just then wasn’t on that limitless landscape and the unseen, outsized creatures that roamed it, but on a cleft in the nearby rock.
The Alaska Baseball League is celebrating its 50th year. The league’s five teams, all from the Anchorage and Kenai Peninsula areas, play an annual season that begins in June and wraps up with a post-season “Top of the World” tournament in early August. The collegiate league uses equipment that meets Minor League specifications, and its players are unpaid so they can maintain NCAA eligibility.
Happenings Around Alaska in July and August
Want to know where to go and what to do in Alaska? Our executive editor and owner of Wild Departures has created this FREE 36-page guide to make planning your trip a bit easier. The downloadable guide is carefully curated and includes more than 50+ color images and 67 links to online resources for additional information. You can download here.
We could have filled several issues of Alaska magazine with driving excursions in the Great Land. Instead, we decided to focus on a few tried-and-true road trips and will direct you to our sister publication The MILEPOST® as the definitive guide to making your way mile by mile throughout every region of the state, along with the places to stop for rest, food, lodging, and activities—as well as how to stay safe and be prepared in remote regions. On the following pages, you’ll find easily accessible journeys with manageable mileage and plenty to see and do enroute and upon arrival. Let’s hit the road!
Alaska’s regulations regarding gambling and games are somewhat complicated. Although there are many tribal casinos in the state, and betting on some forms of games is allowed, online casinos and most gaming machines have been outlawed in the past. Dive deeper and see what the current state of play is.
If you or your loved-ones take an Alaskan adventure this summer – big or small – consider bringing along these phone numbers.
Above: The Dakhká Khwaán Dancers. Photo courtesy Simon Ager The Dakhká Khwáan Dancers from Whitehorse, Yukon, are the lead dance group at this month’s Celebration in Juneau, the region’s largest Alaska Native gathering. It’s the first time in the event’s 42-year history that the lead dancers hail from outside of southeast Alaska. “We are the first Interior Tlingit group to be given the honor,” says Marilyn Jensen-Yadułtin, the founder and leader of the group since 2007. “We are very humbled, honored, and excited.” As lead dancers, they will sing and drum as dozens of groups file onstage during Celebration’s opening and closing events. Jensen-Yadułtin says it takes “tremendous endurance,” as each performance requires three hours of non-stop singing and dancing. The group has practiced for months and will debut new regalia, songs, and masks. First formed in Carcross, Yukon, the Dakhká Khwáan Dancers have grown from six to 30 members…
The Alaska Railroad is taking summer train adventures to the next level by offering passengers a wide-ranging lineup of new and returning add-on experiences. From thrilling helicopter glacier adventures to educational historical tours, there’s something for everyone to enjoy; and all are available and customizable through the railroad’s reservations team.
I’m “whale challenged.” Allow me to explain. Though I’ve photographed numerous whales of all species—and even pet a few friendly gray whales in Baja—most of the time, I have zero idea what I’m looking at when I see them.
