Traveling In Alaska: Harry Heulings' Visitor Photographs Of Alaska Wildlife

Bald Eagle In Juneau, Alaska Tree. Photograph by Harry Heulings

Snapshots in Juneau & Denali National Park, Taken By A Visiting Tourist

Denali Park Caribou. Photo, Harry Heulings.

Travelers to Alaska love to take photographs of the wildlife. Here are some pictures taken by a traveler, Harry Heulings, and sent to the Bearfoot Travel Guides.

Here are Harry's comments about his photographs:

I was standing on a very crowded sidewalk waiting for a tour bus to see the town of Juneau. We saw the eagle in the tree across the street. I zoomed in with the camera lens for the shot. I was lucky because of the crowd constantly walking by bumping into me. We were on a cruise and docked in Juneau, walked down by Taku fish store and noticed the eagle perched in the tree.

The caribou was taken through a tour bus window in Denali Park. He turned just at the right time for the pose.  I loved taking pictures in Alaska. I think we took 1600 pictures. We live in Collingswood, New Jersey.

Day-To-Day Life In Rural Alaska In The Fall: A Bearfoot Guide Special

Getting firewood out at the airstrip in early fall.

A Look At The Joys Of Ordinary Alaskan Life

Everyday life in rural Alaska is elemental. The joys are simple. Here's a look at some of the things that mean something to rural people.

Petunias are brought into the house in mid-September as the leaves fall. 

September day as poplar leaves begin to fall on an Alaskan rural road.

Making doughnuts in Alaska.

Bearfoot Guides Tells You About Finding Music As You Travel Around Alaska

Music On The Roads Of Alaska Is Where You Look For It

Local musicians in Talkeetna, Alaska in the town square on a summer day.

Fiddle and guitar at Creamer's Field in Fairbanks.

Drumming at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks.

Guitarist at Pioneer Park in downtown Fairbanks.  

Playing guitar and singing in downtown Talkeetna. 

Summer jug band in Downtown Anchorage, Alaska.

Alaska Wildlife: Animals at Denali National Park By Robert Gaucher. A Bearfoot Guide Report.

Wild Alaska sheep calmly walks along the Denali Park Road. Photo, Robert Gaucher.

Wildlife In Denali National Park, As Photographed By Canadian Traveler Robert Gaucher

Robert Gaucher visited Alaska one summer and took photographs of his trip through the National Park. Here's a look at some of the wildlife he discovered.

Bear in the bushes at Denali Park. Robert Gaucher

Wandering moose at Denali Park, by Robert Gaucher.

Dall sheep at Denali National Park. Photo, Robert Gaucher.

Bearfoot Guides' Bears In Alaska: By Photographer Kelly Krabbenhoft

Blonde grizzly bear at Katmai in Alaska, by Kelly Krabbenhoft.

Exciting Photographs Of Alaska Bears, Taken While Traveling Around The State

Kelly Krabbenhoft, a freelance photographer from Fargo, North Dakota, came to Alaska and took photographs of bears of all types, all over Alaska.

Here's a look at some of Kelly's most exciting pictures.

Mama grizzly with cubs, Kelly Krabbenhoft.

Fishing grizzly at Katmai, Kelly Krabbenhoft.

Success at Katmai. Kelly Krabbenhoft.

Seagulls with hungry grizzly. Photo by Kelly Krabbenhoft.

Bearfoot Guides Introduces You To Volunteer Alaskans Who Are Here To Help You Learn About Our State

Costumed volunteer at Wickersham House Museum
at Pioneer Historic Park in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Alaskan Volunteers Are Out in Museums & Visitor Centers On All Of Alaska's Roads -- Willing To Help You Have A Great Trip Through Our State

Volunteers all over the state of Alaska are available to help you understand our state -- and local life. If you stop at a museum or visitor center, and spot somebody there, hanging out, stop and talk. They'll be glad to share insight into Alaskan life and culture. Don't worry about getting into a long conversation. Alaska is different from other places.

Local volunteer in Hope, Alaska at a small complex of historic cabins.

Bearfoot Travel Magazines Show You Alaska's Log Cabin Churches

Log Cabin Churches Throughout Roadside Alaska

Show The State's Authenticity

St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Nenana is made of logs.

St. Nicholas Memorial Chapel in city of Kenai, Alaska.

Alaska really is a "northern state" -- and the churches that dot the road show that. Many of the older houses of worship are made of logs. Not because it was "cool" but because that's what was available. Log cabin churches are a normal outgrowth of day-to-day Alaskan life.

Copper Center: Chapel On The Hill. 

Here's a brief rundown of some of the churches you can see that are made of logs while you visit Alaska's mainland road system.

Tools Left Behind By Early Gold Miners Are On Display In Local Alaska Museums: A Report By Bearfoot Travel Guides

Treasure Trove Of Miner's Gear Was Dug Up In Delta Junction, Alaska

The Hollembaek Miner's Cache at Sullivan Roadhouse Museum in Delta Junction, Alaska

Around 1905, would-be gold miners were roaming the area near the Tanana Valley at what is now Delta Junction, Alaska. There were gold miners everywhere at that time. Rumors about lucky gold strikes -- many of them far afield, across mountains and rivers dozens and even hundreds of miles away -- caused a peculiar type of roaming across Alaska. The miners called this phenomenon,  "The Excitement." It was also known as "A Rush" -- as in "Gold Rush." Or, even: "Stampeding." 

Sullivan Roadhouse Museum. 

Miners hauled a lot of equipment and gear along with them on the trail, which they frequently had to relay from one spot to another. During this time of stampeding around the wilderness, one of them decided to put his gear away for safekeeping as he probably hurried on somewhere else. He hid an axe head, some oakum, some Goodyear mitts, some shirts, files, a wired-together coffee pot, a white enamel bowl, and other items.

Fast forward a hundred years. Scott Hollembaek and his son -- farmers in Delta Junction, spotted a piece of old rope, sticking out of a bluff. The rest is history. 

Fortunately, Delta Junction people managed to retain control of the historic find. 

It's available for you to see in the Sullivan Roadhouse Museum, at the corner of the Alcan and Richardson Highways, in Delta Junction, Alaska. 

A Bearfoot Travel Magazine Tour: Even Anchorage Still Has "Real" Log Cabins

A log cabin with a stone chimney in Downtown Anchorage, Alaska

The town of Anchorage is technically 100 years old. It was begun, in its current, modern phase, at the site of a Native Athabascan fish camp, at what is now Ship Creek. Ship Creek was so-named because it was near the spot where incoming small ships parked offshore.

The true town of Anchorage didn't take off, though, until around World War II. Right before the War, a highway -- the ALCAN, or Alaska-Canada Highway -- was punched in across Canada, and then to Tok. From there, the Glenn Highway (now the Tok Cutoff) was routed down to what became the town of "Glennallen."

An old Anchorage log cabin near downtown office buildings. 

The road from Glennallen -- now the "Glenn Highway" -- was built, cross-country to the port of Anchorage. This made Anchorage boom, and that boom has never stopped.

At first, Anchorage wasn't a particularly large town. People built log cabins, some of them very nice, like these -- just as they do all over Alaska. The "old part" of Anchorage is right near downtown, and you can cruise the streets near the Park Strip, to see cabins that people still live in, to this day.

Bearfoot Guides Of Alaska: Nine Year Old Rescues 4-Year Old Who Falls Into Alaskan Creek

Four Year Old Rescued By Older Child, TJ Huddleston, Who Waded Into Water To Save Him

Historically, rivers and lakes are extremely dangerous in the Copper River Valley. Grown men have died crossing creeks. Part of the problem is the extremely cold water, which knocks the breath out of you and causes you to inhale reflexively -- pulling the water into your lungs. During the great Alaska Gold Rush, creeks were a hazard, both winter and summer.   Updated, October, 2014

Crreks are dangerous. This is Brushkana Creek, on the Denali Highway. (Photo, Chad Cook at BLM)

From: June 21st, 1990 Copper River Country Journal 

TOLSONA -- A nine and a half year old boy, T.J. Huddleston, saved the life of 4-year old Caleb Mailly after Caleb wandered over to watch some older children, and fell into Tolsona Creek at a picnic.

The incident occurred at a picnic that Mendeltna Chapel congregation members held at Tolsona Creek. T.J., who learned to swim in Valdez, told the Journal he waded into the water and grabbed Caleb. "He fell in pretty deep," said T.J. "He was crying when he got out."

Both Caleb and T.J. live in the Mendeltna area.

Comment, October 5th, 2016
Am forever in debt to TJ. He saved my life.

Baby, It's Cold Outside! Bearfoot Travel Guides Tell It Like It Is – The Weather Really IS Extreme In Alaska

Don't Talk To Us About How It's Colder Today In Maryland Than In Alaska!

Delta Junction brags about its extremely cold weather.

People who live in Alaska -- especially in Interior Alaska -- are always having to put up with calls or emails from their family and friends in the Lower 48.

"It's colder down here than Alaska!" they'll say.

Actually, it sometimes is colder Outside (meaning in the other states.) For a day or two. But, that's a fluke. And it might mean "It's colder than Anchorage." Or, "It's colder than Juneau." It almost never means that it's colder than everywhere in Alaska -- a state that, east to west, is as broad as the entire rest of the country, from California to North Carolina.

When it is cold down in the rest of America, it's usually because a mass of arctic air, normally centered right over Alaska, has broken loose and is wafting across Canada and down into the northern states.

It's temporary. Alaska's just sharing the wealth.

There was a 100 degree difference, on a single day, between two locations in Alaska in February, 2015. It was Minus 54 degrees in Fort Yukon, and Plus 45 degrees in the Panhandle. Do the math. And remember, "0" is a degree, too -- that's one of the basic, revolutionary understandings that led to the entire concept of Algebra. This is Jackie Purcell, at KTUU TV in Anchorage.

Soon, the cold will stop, and your weather will pop right back up into those balmy, incredible mid-winter 50's, 60's and 70's. While Alaska's weather will continue to trudge along. Especially in the Interior of the state.

Extreme weather is so common in Alaska, that school closures (the gold standard of "something really bad is happening here in our town") give light on exactly how cold it really is up here.

For example, schools are closed in Washington, D.C. when there's less than an inch of snow. But, snow isn't a cause for closure in Alaska.  In many parts of the state, there's snow on the ground from early October into April. You'd have to be running school for 5 months in the summer if you needed to avoid snow.

The key problem in Alaska is the cold. School districts often cut off school when it's Minus 55 degrees.

(Or -- in Tok, a very cold place -- absolutely never. There's no such thing as "too cold to go to school in Tok Alaska!")

An April snowstorm in Gakona, Alaska

Bearfoot Travel Guides Takes You On A 3-Hour Train Stop At Denali Park: What To See And Do If You Don't Have A Lot Of Time

What To Do In Denali National Park On A Very Tight Schedule

The train station is about a four minute walk from the main Denali National Park Visitor Center, a bookshop, and a small restaurant/cafeteria.

Train arrives at Denali National Park

At the Visitor Center, you'll meet rangers who can give you an idea of what to do. Three hours isn't much time, so you'll have to plan carefully.

Your best bet would be to first ask the rangers if there is an upcoming walk departing the Visitor Center. I assume you would be arriving at 12:30. 

They may have a scheduled walk at 1:00 pm that day. It's probably a good idea to ask on the spot, or call ahead in the summer. (The official Denali Park Switchboard is 907-683-9532.)  There are 2 to 2.5 hour ranger led walks on gravel and paved trails around the park entrance every day. 

Inside the official Denali Park Visitor Center

Another thing you could do is take a free shuttle bus to the free sled dog kennels about 1 mile up the road. These leave the Visitor Center frequently. 

Not surprisingly, if you are on a train and going to get back on, there will probably be quite a few people sharing your schedule, so the rangers will tell you what to do in that short amount of time because they are used to the question. If you don't want to be a line at the visitor center, hightail in front of your train crowd to the Visitor Center before everybody else on the train gets there.

If you want to ride a shuttle to the entrance of the Park Road, you can get your photo taken by the Welcome To Denali sign, which is always a classic. From there, you could walk to the Nenana River, which is about 20 minutes away on paved trail. That's pretty scenic, but make sure you have enough time to walk back, or can catch a shuttle back to the train.

In the long and short, with not that much time, and no car, it will be pretty hard for you to do a whole bunch of things. You'll have to pick one or two things.

The Denali Park Visitor Center

Some people might take a shuttle van (private) to the area known as the Entrance Area. It's about 1 mile from the park, and a private piece of land with a lot of hotels, gift shops, and restaurants, and a boardwalk

So, probably some combination of 

A) Visiting visitor centers near the train station (Denali Visitor Center, Murie Science and Learning Center) and either 

B) Going on a shuttle bus trip to the kennels, Entrance Area, private tour or 

C) Going on a ranger-led walk.

There are a lot of videos and displays in the Visitor Centers, so you can see these after you've done what you want to do and are waiting for the train. 

Again, rangers might have more ideas, but the time limit is fairly short. 

There is also the possibility of a commercial tour from the train, but in that short amount of time you might be only be looking at Helicopter Flightseeing with Era Helicopters, or a private tour of Husky Homestead, Iditarod Racer's Jeff King's Kennel. (Not to be confused with the park dog kennels.) 

Raft trips tend to be at least four hours.