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Famed Alaska photographer Michio Hoshino at work on the upper Kobuk.
Authentic Alaska

Michio’s Trail

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A photographic journey of the heart I knelt behind my camera tripod, gazing from the edge of a sandy knoll, northward up the Nuna valley. A few yards away, a fortyish Japanese man did the same. Before us, a weathered caribou skull lay in a blood-red swath of bearberry; beyond, an immense sweep of autumn tundra glowed beneath a furling expanse of clouds, squalls, and sun. Occasionally moving his lips without speaking, my companion seemed adrift in a trance as he studied land and sky, making adjustments and squeezing the shutter release. I divided my time between scanning the country for caribou and studying him—emulating lens choice and angle, trying and failing to mimic both his technical command and his absolute-in-the-moment absorption. At last, he turned toward me with a smile that seemed to mirror the land’s radiance. Oh look, Neek, look! It is all so beautiful. The man was…

The Planet Walk begins just west of the UAF Museum of the North.
Activities

Planet Walk Puts Things in Perspective

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A stroll through space in Fairbanks It is a pleasant day for a walk in the middle of Alaska, with blue sky overhead, and people perhaps looking for something to do outside, with lots of space and sweet-scented summer air around them. Not long ago, I hiked the length of a new planet-walk display on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus with Peter Delamere. In a little less than one mile, we spanned the relative distance from the sun to dwarf planet Pluto. Delamere is a researcher and teacher at UAF’s Geophysical Institute and Physics Department. He knows a lot about each of the heavenly spheres mounted on signs along Yukon Drive, which is arrow-straight and runs up to the high point of the campus. Space physics expert Peter Delamere at the start of the UAF Planet Walk in Fairbanks. The project was developed by members of the Alaska chapter…

Alaska Native Artist
30-Second Reads

Re-Indigenize It

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Two Alaska Native artists bring new color to the Anchorage streetscape This summer, Anchorage visitors can seek out two new public murals created by forerunners in Alaska Native art. The first is located on G Street on the east side of the RIM Architecture building and was painted by Crystal Worl, a Tlingit, Athabaskan, Yup’ik, and Filipino artist based in Juneau. Worl has emerged as a prominent Alaskan artist whose work is featured in public spaces in Juneau and has appeared as a Doodle on Google’s homepage. Her new mural, completed in August 2022, honors several Alaska Native groups and highlights Anchorage as a cultural gathering place. The second mural graces the The Kobuk building on the corner of 5th Avenue and E Street. Painted by Yup’ik and Inupiaq artist Drew Michael, its vivid colors recreate a mask he carved in 2019 and celebrate the rich cultural traditions of the…

Alaska Shorebird
30-Second Reads

The Epic Flight of an Alaskan Shorebird

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Species Profile Whatever adventure you’re planning this summer, it’s not likely to match the recent journey of godwit #234684. Nicknamed B-6 and weighing less than half a pound, this juvenile shorebird gained fame last October when it flew 8,925 miles nonstop from Alaska to Tasmania in 11 days. The odyssey, which occurred largely over open ocean, was tracked via a five-gram satellite tag attached to the bird’s rump. Audubon’s online field guide describes the bar-tailed godwit as “big, noisy, and cinnamon-colored.” It is a wading shorebird that feeds along shallow waters and nests among tussocks on Alaska’s tundra. According to Dan Ruthrauff, the U.S. Geological Survey wildlife biologist who helped tag B-6, the godwit is among 37 shorebird species that regularly breed in Alaska. Ruthrauff’s crew captured B-6 last summer on the tundra outside of Nome as part of a study to better understand shorebird migrations, which are tied to…

navigating the north
30-Second Reads

Navigating the North

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Be a good road trip passenger Not good,” Pat said as we added our brake lights to the standstill on Interstate 40 west of Albuquerque. Semis surrounded us, idling. “Is there a way around this mess, Navigatrix?” he asked. I was already tapping my phone to check Google Maps while simultaneously flipping through the New Mexico atlas on my lap for the corresponding page. On our road trips, it’s partly my job as “Navigatrix” to find the most efficient, scenic, or interesting route. When we’d checked the app earlier, we’d seen the red section, meaning traffic delays, but figured we’d give it a try anyway, as there really wasn’t another good way to head toward our next destination. While it took us nearly two hours of driving down alternate side roads (even passing one called Alaska Loop) and then backtracking because everyone else had the same idea, I discovered one…

Sping Breakup Alaska
Wildlife & Nature

Spring Breakup in Alaska

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High Drama When the River Runs Again by Beth Grassi In late April 2014, I stood on a bridge in Fairbanks watching the Chena River waking up under my feet. Flat chunks of ice bumped and bobbed down the river, some a thin, translucent gray, others rafts of white several inches thick. Ice floes and slush hissed through the rush of river water. It felt like standing on the prow of a ship, pushing through to spring. “Spring breakup” may sound like a sitcom episode, but in Alaska it’s a landscape-size drama. Most of Alaska’s rivers freeze over in winter, with ice up to several feet thick. When the rivers finally break free, usually in April and May (or even June in the Arctic), ice floats downstream. Sometimes ice jams—jumbles of ice floes—dam up a river. Large ice jams can cause dangerous flooding. Breakup plays out differently each year on…

Spring is in the Air
30-Second Reads

Spring is in the Air, and Water, and Land

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A time of renewal for all Capsizing in my sea kayak is one of my biggest fears. Taking a class in self-rescue is on my list, and I know that completing such a task would ease my anxiety. I’ve practiced in shallow, calm, warmish lake water—and though I was able to haul myself back on deck and into the cockpit, it was exhausting and required all my strength. I ended up with bruises. Tipping over in cold marine chop far from help is another story altogether, and one we present as a feature in this issue, about an experienced kayaker whose wherewithal, preparation, and luck saved his life. Alaska’s waters are, of course, also major sources of fun, subsistence, income, environmental data, and natural beauty. We cover all of this in these pages, from spring river breakup to a portrait of a remote island in the Bering Sea to steelhead…

a kayaker fights for his life in an ice cold sea
Authentic Alaska

Surviving Christmas Eve

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A Kayaker Fights for His Life in an ice-cold sea by Matthew Keiper The sun was low over Kodiak Island by 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve, 2014. It was just midday and yet nearing dusk as Frank Wolfe clung to the side of his flooded kayak. He frantically searched for an answer from the center of a small bay notched into the northeast corner of the Island. He turned to one shoreline, then the other while spitting sea water from his mouth. No way. There was no way he could swim any distance in these conditions, in these clothes, even with his life jacket on. He was an optimist and an analytical thinker—a problem solver by trade, he believed—but this situation was different. Grim. Even so, he hesitated before pulling the handheld marine radio from his pocket and broadcasting his predicament. He keyed the mic and announced into a void,…

Alaska’s Coral Gardens Get a Closer Look
Wildlife & Nature

Alaska’s Coral Gardens Get a Closer Look

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And Maybe New Protections by Yareth Rosen (Editor’s note: This article is reprinted from Alaska Beacon under a Creative Commons license and edited for space and style. alaskabeacon.com) Scientists were on the water last summer gathering information about a once-mysterious habitat—the large and varied gardens of colorful corals that cover parts of the Alaskan seafloor. What they learn could prompt new restrictions for commercial seafood harvests.  Though often associated with tropical locations, corals and associated sponges are also important features of Alaska’s marine ecosystem. Some of the state’s sites are believed to hold the world’s most diverse and abundant deep-sea coral and sponge communities, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And like their tropical counterparts, Alaskan corals are vulnerable to disturbances—from bottom-scraping trawl nets, climate change, and ocean acidification. In the Gulf of Alaska, a NOAA research cruise that uses remotely operated vehicles and underwater cameras followed a…

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