National Park Service Says Man Who Killed Bear Won't Be Charged

Gee, that's big of them. In a copyright AP story:

FAIRBANKS -- The National Parks Service will not pursue charges against a hiker who fatally shot a grizzly bear while hiking in Denali National Park and Preserve two months ago, saying his actions were justified.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the North Pole man told authorities he shot the bear after it charged his girlfriend while the two were hiking up Tattler Creek on May 28.

* * * * *

It's still against the law to actually fire a gun in the part of the park where the bear was shot, but Fister said park officials determined "this was a legitimate defense of life" and decided not to press charges.

Fister said the area where the shooting took place is known to have a lot of bears. She said the couple was hiking when the man heard a noise in the brush. He turned, drawing his .45-caliber, semi-automatic handgun from a holster on his waist moments before a large grizzly bear emerged and charged the woman.

The man fired seven to nine rounds, stopping the bear. The couple then notified park officials.

Read the rest at the link.

Air Force Cargo Plane Down in Anchorage: Crew Perishes

Several of you have contacted me to inquire about last night's crash. Here's the latest from the Daily News' website:

A C-17 cargo plane with four people on board crashed and burned on Elmendorf Air Force Base Wednesday evening, according to the Air Force.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins, the highest ranking military official in Alaska, said ... said the plane was practicing for the Elmendorf air show planned for this weekend went it crashed at 6:14 p.m. The huge, four-engine jet, which is known as the most advanced cargo aircraft in the world, crashed in what witnesses described as a huge ball of flame.

"It's not an ejection aircraft," Atkins said during the press conference, held outside the Boniface Parkway gate of Elmendorf. "I mean, it's not like a fighter where you can eject out of the aircraft. So, likely nobody escaped the aircraft prior to the crash."

All four crewmen are confirmed deceased, per the local morning news. Three were Alaska Air National Guard, and one active-duty Air Force.

The U.S. military has a very large presence in the Anchorage area, with Elmendorf AFB and Ft. Richardson both located in town. Many, many of us have friends or family members stationed here; our thoughts & prayers go out to the families of those involved.

There Should Be Dancing in the Streets

The sun is out! In places, anyway.

Srsly - it stopped raining before noon, and there's honest-to-goodness blue sky, here and there. It's even out of the 50s for a change, with the temp hovering at the 60-degree mark.

The Daily News says we're having the 8th rainiest July on record, with over double the normal amount.
All I know is that we can count the number of sunny days on one hand, this month.

Blogging will continue to be light-to-nonexistent, as I'm having trouble making myself want to go near a PC. However, I couldn't pass on this opportunity to remark on a dry afternoon.

UPDATE: the sun DID come out, and it was sunny until nearly bedtime. Nice.

Fox Island Dinner Cruise, Seward, AK

We rain into rain about three miles south of home, and it rained from that point on, until we were halfway back home last night. To add insult to the rain-soaking, it was coming down at a good clip in Anchorage as we pulled into town. (grins) Just another day of cool summer weather - and given what we see on the weather map in the Lower 48, we'll take it!

A bit of the "ghost forest" - trees killed when submerged in the salt waters of Turnagain Arm during the 9.2 'quake in 1964

Still on the road (another view)

More of that Alaskan sunshine (ahem)

One view of the Seward marina

The Chugach, our excursion vessel

Underway in the mist & fog

Still raining

Fox Island appears from the fog

Arrival at the dining hall

Me, enjoying the fresh air & sunshine ... heh

h/t & thanks to Younger Daughter for the photos

Another Weekend

The day dawned cloudy & dark; at 7 a.m. it was as gloomy as last night at 11. Since the sun had been up for 90 minutes at that hour, it didn't bode well for our outing. Now at 11 a.m., the clouds are showing thin spots, and small patches of blue show up on occasion. Sad to say that that's an improvement, but 'tis so.

This afternoon, we'll depart for Seward, about 120 miles to the south, along the east coast of the Kenai Peninsula. At 5 p.m., our smallish cruise ship sets out for Fox Island, where we'll be wined & dined before making the return trip.

The drive is along the Turnagain Arm and through the Kenai Mountains down to Seward & Resurrection Bay. Beautiful scenery the entire way; it's tough to take, boys & girls, but we suffer it so you don't have to.

I've published pics of all these places before, but will put up anything that catches my eye, this time 'round.

Y'all stay as cool as you can; it's still only 53 degrees here, and is predicted to go no higher than 59 today.

Score a Victory for States Rights!

Armed Citizen: Score a Victory for States Rights!

Excerpt:

Bighorn County Sheriff Dave Mattis spoke at a press conference following a recent U.S. District Court decision (Case No. 2:96-cv-099-J (2006)) and announced that all federal officials are forbidden to enter his county without his prior approval ......

"If a sheriff doesn’t want the Feds in his county he has the
constitutional right and power to keep them out, or ask them to leave,
or retain them in custody."

The court decision was the result of a suit against both the BATF and the IRS by Mattis and other members of the Wyoming Sheriff’s Association. The suit in the Wyoming federal court district sought restoration of the protections enshrined in the United States Constitution and the Wyoming Constitution.

Guess what? The District Court ruled in favor of the sheriffs. In fact, they stated, "Wyoming is a sovereign state and the duly elected sheriff of a county is the highest law enforcement official within a county and has law enforcement powers exceeding that of any other state or federal official."

RTWT!

More Bear Problems

City officials are again urging the public to avoid the Rover's Run trail in Far North Bicentennial Park because of a brown bear sow with three 2-year-old cubs that have been seen travelling it several times in the past week.

A surveillance photo of the trail shot last Wednesday -- and posted on a municipal website, bears.muni.org -- shows the four bears walking single-file down the winding trail. City officials say there is "a high probability of encountering a brown bear on this trail" and are urging people to "avoid using Rover's Run under any circumstances."

Read the rest here.

Pictures From The Road, Part 3

Pictures From The Road, Part 2

The sluice-box at El Dorado Gold Mine.


The candy cane-shaped streetlights on Santa Claus Lane in North Pole, Alaska.




The one with all the RVs, buses, and large buildings is the entrance to Denali National Park. Because huge mountains just aren't enough ... we must add man-made congestion & eyesores.

Pictures From The Road, Part 1

These are presented in no particular order; most are from Denali State Park and Denali National Park.

Civil Disobedience and Christians

There's an increasing discussion, on the web, about expectations of possible civil unrest. This video is NOT what you think; please watch it.



Each Christian must decide for themselves, but Acts 5:29 says, "Peter and the apostles answered, 'It's necessary to obey God rather than men.'" Before someone goes off half-cocked, note that the conflict in question was a legal requirement to stop talking about Jesus - and the disciples refused.

Think carefully and prayerfully before you take an irrevocable step.

It Was a Cold & Rainy Night

when I posted last night about being "stuck" ... I'm just not feeling it. I was feeling sorry for myself because I haven't been inspired lately, and yet I didn't take my own advice about walking away for a time.

PolyKahr, I received your comment about wishing for a couple weeks of Alaskan summer ... if I could send you some, I would. It's 52, overcast, foggy, and raining lightly this morning.

I will be putting up more pictures from our drive to Fairbanks, this evening. Beyond that, no promises until my muse returns.

Thanks for stopping by. God bless you all.

2010 by Lloyd Marcus

The Weekend: Fairbanks & North Pole, Alaska

(Some pictures in the previous post, here.)

We survived the drive to Fairbanks. The roads are very rough and bumpy in places, with many cracks, dips, and frost heaves. It can be exhausting to drive hundreds of miles on bad pavement, but roads in Alaska can be like that. At mile 72, give or take, there's an 11-mile construction zone where the roadway is being widened. No pavement there, but plenty of mud and potholes. While that wouldn't have been a big deal in my truck, we elected to take the car, opting for 28 mpg vs. 17. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, that was probably a mistake. We did okay, but the truck would have handled the load (four passengers, luggage, and shopping bounty) plus the roads (mud, dirt, gravel, and potholes galore) with greater aplomb.

The drive north was interrupted by two such zones, the northernmost being 18 miles in length. On Friday, the crews were working despite the rains, and we had to sit in queues awaiting our turn to be led by a pilot car through a zigzag obstacle course around pylons and excavating equipment. On Sunday's return trip, the zones were unmanned, and the dirt sections were "proceed as best you can, given the conditions".

Having not previously traveled more than 120 miles north of Anchorage, we all enjoyed the sights. The stretch through Denali National Park was really interesting, too, with deep gorges and mountain vistas somewhat different from those surrounding Anchorage. Mt. McKinley, alas, was shrouded in clouds on both days, so we didn't get any up-close-and-personal time with the continent's highest peak.

We did note that some of the valleys near the entrance to the national park were named in a fashion to discourage getting out of the car: Iceworm Gulch and Hornet Creek. Of course there were several Bear Creeks, and at least two Bison Creeks along the way. We also crossed the Upper and Lower Troublesome Creek valleys; I'm going to try to find out what's behind the name. That sort of thing interests me.

The drive of 365 miles took 6.25 hours.

Fairbanks reminds me of Anchorage back in the mid-'70s, before the oil boom. More frontiersy, and a bit more rustic. We found the people to be more polite, and in less of a hurry than those in Anchorage, too. Nice.

Dining out was a bit more pricey there, but we had some really good meals.

The heavy rains came on Saturday; having spent well over 45 years in the Midwest, I'm no stranger to gully-washers. The thunderstorms that blew through in the afternoon were as heavy as I've seen, with visibilities at one point down to less than 15 feet. It brought traffic to a standstill on the highway, and flooded local streets and intersections. I never realized I missed that (a little, anyway) until this weekend.

On Saturday morning, we drove to North Pole, a smallish town about 11 miles southeast of Fairbanks. We all laughed at the highway sign, announcing "South Hwy 2 to North Pole" ... you know you're too far north when you have to turn south to get to the North Pole ...

On Santa Claus Lane, all of the streetlights are striped like candy canes.

When visiting North Pole for the first time, everyone must visit the Santa Claus House (on Saint Nicholas Drive, of course). It's the place where, every year, dozens & dozens of volunteers hand-cancel Christmas cards which have been sent there, so that the cards go to their destinations postmarked "North Pole, Alaska". That's nice.



The ladies shopped ... and shopped ... and shopped some more. We arrived at 8:30 a.m., and didn't leave until noon. My wife decided it was a great place to find Christmas gifts, and got a kick out of the idea that we'd have 95% of our shopping done in July, for a change.

After looking around for an hour or so, I walked around outside, taking pictures of the building (lots of murals), the reindeer (what? surely you knew Santa's house would have reindeer) and generally enjoying being in one place. Seven hours in the car on Friday made me glad to sit still.

After lunch back in Fairbanks, we headed north to the El Dorado gold mine, a functioning mine which extracts three million in gold daily. It opens to the public at selected times for guided tours, including a narrated ride on an old train which goes through a permafrost tunnel, past old mining shed & sluices.

Part of the tour includes the opportunity to pan for one's own gold - and you get to keep whatever you find. Youngest daughter's sample produced $69 worth of flakes, which we split between two lockets so that each girl could have one.

It was on the way back from the mine that we ran into the heavy rains. Dinner was at a neat place called The Pump House, an interesting place with a tin roof and Victorian decor dating back to the Klondike gold rush. Another round of storms came through while we were eating, first causing the power to go off for a moment, and then the heavy rains hit & drowned out conversation for awhile.

It was worth it, all told, to drive up there & back ... but next time, I believe we'll fly. If for no other reason, it's a great time-saver: it only takes an hour to fly.

* * * * *
Younger Daughter informs me that she took over 400 photos, so I'm anticipating a marathon review & editing session later today.

Fairbanks, Gold Panning, & the Pipeline

You know you're way up north when you have to go south to reach the North Pole.







The view outside our hotel room: the Chena River. (click to greatly embiggenate)


















Panning for gold at the El Dorado Mine, north of Fairbanks. They remove about $3 million/day. We didn't get quite that much.














Trans-Alaska Pipeline System - visitors' center north of Fairbanks

Wayer Upper North Than Ever Before

Back from Fairbanks and North Pole. 800 miles, rain, torrential downpours, hail, thunder & lightning ... road construction, mud, dirt & gravel, frost heaves, mountains ... gold panning (and finding!) ... moose, caribou, river boats ...

Tired. Hundreds of pictures to sort through. Had a lot of fun. More later ... right now, when I close my eyes all I can see is more highway.

A Long Weekend Coming Up

We leave tomorrow morning for the central part of the state - Fairbanks, North Pole, and the Arctic Circle. Fairbanks is roughly a six-hour drive from Anchorage.

The route passes within about 75 miles of Denali (Mt. McKinley), so I'm hoping for reasonably clear skies & lots of photo ops. Of course, there's the return trip on Sunday, as well, when we'll have no particular schedule.

It will probably be Monday before I put anything else up. Thanks for stopping by.

Up a Creek & Another Bear

Alaska State Troopers and the National Park Service searched Wednesday for the driver of a vehicle that fell down a Taylor Highway embankment and ended up in a creek.

Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said Charles W. Collins, 56, of Eagle River, was missing. Troopers identified him as the likely driver of the vehicle.

Peters said ground and water searches were on hold until searchers can safely navigate the area.

The Taylor Highway, a 160-mile, mostly gravel road that links Eagle with the Alaska Highway near Tok, was cut by or covered with mudslides in multiple locations after heavy weekend rains. Up to 30 people were stranded.

The Associated Press has more at the link.

* * * * *

Anchorage police flushed a small black bear from a Hillside home Wednesday afternoon after the animal climbed through a kitchen window and rummaged through the garbage with the homeowners holed up in a bedroom.

Damage to the home in the 7800 block of Upper Huffman Road was minimal, though the bear ripped out a screen to enter. Neither the bear nor the people were injured.

Homeowner Barbara Lopetrone said she was in a bedroom and her husband John was in the living room about 1 p.m. when she heard something rummaging around the kitchen. She thought it was her husband and went to find out what was happening.

"I walked through the bedroom door and this big, black, fuzzy rear end of a bear was there," she said.

Read more of this Daily News story at the link.

* * * * *

Quote of the Day

"But I've learned the truth and I want to say it out loud. The right of man to be free is the most basic one he's got, and when he gives that up he finishes by surrendering everything else too."

~ Poul Anderson, Security

Mid-Week Alaskan Digest

What Were Those 4 Rules Again? Dept: One man is dead & another man was treated for gunshot wounds after a single bullet was fired in an apparently accidental shooting last night, according to Anchorage police ... One of them was handling a handgun when it discharged, sending a round through his own hand and into his friend's lower abdomen, he said. The man struck in the stomach was rushed to a hospital for emergency surgery, though police thought he would survive. They were wrong.

Why Don't We Do It in the Road Dept: Alaska's most famous wildlife residents can pop-up around town at any moment. If you're driving along the road be aware of the large but often times near-invisible animals making their way across.








It Didn't Get There By Itself Dept: Heavy rain that washed out parts of the Taylor Highway over the weekend and led to record flooding has stranded up to 30 people at different spots, and a vehicle found submerged in a river had authorities searching Tuesday for people who might have been in it, according to Alaska State Troopers. The Alaska National Guard sent para-rescuers to the scene Tuesday afternoon to see if there was anyone in the submerged vehicle or stranded nearby, but they didn't find anyone, said Maj. Guy Hayes, Guard spokesman.

The Family That Rides Together Dept: A Kentucky family is about to wrap up a 7,000-mile ride from home to Fairbanks -- the long way -- on a $17,000 custom-made five-seat bicycle. Three of the seats are occupied by Bill and Amarins Harrison's young daughters, ages 3, 5 and 7. The Harrisons left Kentucky in August 2009 and went to Florida first, then across the South and Southwest to California before heading north.

Taste Buds Out of Luck Dept: Fresh caribou meat is next to impossible to find for northern Canadian restaurants that serve it to locals and tourists. Biologists tell CBC News that the decline in barrenland caribou numbers is the cause of the shortage, but Native hunters who supply the main meat plant say the animals are just moving out of their usual feeding range and are harder to get.

From the CBC: The main supplier of caribou to northern restaurants, Kivalliq Foods in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, has run out of the northern meat in recent months. That has trickled down to establishments that have served caribou to locals and tourists craving a true taste of Canada's North.

"It's very limited," chef Pierre Lepage told CBC News.

America Rising 2010: A New Blog

I've been invited to participate in a new blog: "America Rising 2010". The creator's purpose is not just to provide info on conservative or Tea Party candidates, but to list all of them - and then highlight the differences.

Give it a look if you have a moment; there will be contributors from all around the country. A number of authors have been contacted, and quite a few have already accepted.

It's really new, and there are only two posts so far. The latest one (as of 3:40 pm AKDT) is here - a listing of Alaskan state-wide candidates in this November's election. Okay, yes, I put it up, but don't let that stop you.

A new, updated, Dr. Seuss book

I do not like this Uncle Sam,
I do not like his health care scam.
I do not like these dirty crooks,
or how they lie and cook the books.
I do not like when Congress steals,
I do not like their secret deals.
I do not like this speaker, Nan ,
I do not like this 'YES WE CAN.'
I do not like this spending spree,
I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.
I do not like your smug replies,
when I complain about your lies.
I do not like this kind of 'hope'.
I do not like it, nope, nope, nope!


found at Theo's place

Back To Work

My 3-day weekend has drawn to a close, but it was fairly packed with fun things: we went to the Bear & Raven Theater in downtown Anchorage, to see the films on the Iditarod & Alaskan bears (I recommend both highly.)

I spent half of Sunday with Joated & his wife, who drove from Pennsylvania with a caravan of RVs and motorhomes. Delightful folks, they; had a good time doing some sightseeing & taking pictures.

Yesterday we went to the Portage Glacier & the Wildlife Conservation Center. On the way back to town, we passed Joated and his group heading south for Homer & the Kenai Peninsula.

And now, back to work for three days; on Friday, we head north to the Fairbanks area.

Update #2: Wildlife Conservation Center

These photos, plus the new header on this blog, were taken this afternoon. The black bears were hiding from the wind, apparently, in a log shelter & were hard to photograph in their shady retreat.

Update #1: Portage Glacier

Even though we've lived in Anchorage for seven years, we hadn't taken the short cruise on Portage Lake to see the Portage Glacier. Today we rectified that, and then swung through the Wildlife Conservation Center on the way back.

We're aware that the cold air coming off of the ice field, up in the mountains, and the glaciers themselves, quite often make the climate in Portage Valley different (i.e., cooler) than in Anchorage. Today was no exception: it was 70 degrees and sunny when we left town.
Along the Turnagain Arm, the winds began to pick up ... but that's not unusual, either.The BIG change was once we got close to Portage Valley.

A dark cloud hung over the Valley, and the winds were tossing the trees - and our car - at whim as we approached. The air temperature dropped rapidly, due to both the clouds and the ice.

By the time we got to the lake, the winds were 25 mph, gusting occasionally to 35 mph. It was mostly steady, though, so it didn't interfere with the cruise.

To make a long story short, here are some pictures from the day. Please note that the face of the glacier is one-half mile wide (according to the lady from the U.S. Forest Service ... and she should know). There were numerous icebergs in the water which apparently calved earlier today. At one point we got within 300 feet of the face, and could hear the glacier creaking and popping. That's a bit eerie, knowing what could happen.

In fact, it nearly did. Basketball-sized chunks of ice were flowing out from under the face, in one of the small waterfalls, and the ranger told us another calving was imminent. Unfortunately, our time was up, and the ship needed to head back to the other end of the lake for the next tour.

More pics later.