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Recent landslide-triggered tsunami brings back memories

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Yesterday, the National Park Service sent out a news release about how a landslide near a glacier crashed into the ocean, causing a tsunami that damaged a backcountry campsite at Kenai Fjords National Park near Seward, Alaska. 

Many years ago, while sea-kayaking on our own, Carol and I camped at the very Pederson Lagoon backcountry campsite mentioned in the news release. Yikes! I even remember using the bear-proof food storage box mentioned. I’m glad we weren’t there when the recent landslide and resulting tsunami happened. Unlike the other day, our time there was peaceful and pleasant, and we spent several blue-sky days exploring Pederson Lagoon and the surrounding area of Aialik Bay.

Reading about the tsunami and thinking about that trip reminds me of notable things about that adventure. To reach the backcountry area, we had to be dropped off in a ‘water taxi’ (an approx. 25 ft. aluminum boat with a small cabin), which we had to take into the notorious Gulf of Alaska to reach Aialik Bay, located inside the park. What a ride that was! I swear we spent more time in the air than in the water as the boat SLAMMED back onto the water after going airborne with each wave during the hour-long ride. Without question, this was the roughest water I’ve ever been in. I know the captain’s dog didn’t think much of it. The dog REALLY was in the air more than not as it flew into the air. The boat should have had seat belts. I don’t know how we made the trip without hitting our heads on the boat’s cabin roof as we flew off our seats with each wave.

Holgate Glacier kayakers

Kayakers are dwarfed by the massive Holgate Glacier on the Holgate Arm of Bay in Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska.

Five days later, we almost couldn’t be picked up when it was time to leave. The nearby Holgate Glacier in the bay where we were now camping (pictured above on a nicer day) calved a bazillion small chunks of ice, filling the normally clear bay with ice. So much so that it looked like you could walk across it. After confirming with the boat’s captain on my small marine radio that he could make it through the ice, the small boat very slowly made its way to us. It looked like it was a mini icebreaker ship. The sound of the ice scratching the hull was nerve-wracking and made your hair stand up, much like the scratching of a chalkboard in elementary school.

Now, back to the recent news release about the recent landslide-triggered tsunami. That also reminds me of a similar but more deadly event. While the Pederson Lagoon landslide-generated tsunami was serious, it can’t compare to the world’s largest tsunami ever recorded. That occurred at Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. That’s the national park where most of Carol’s and my sea-kayaking has taken place in more recent years. In 1958, a landslide in the park’s Lituya Bay generated a tsunami that was given the special classification of a megatsunami. The sudden water displacement from that landslide washed away trees 1,719 feet above sea level. That’s one hell of a wave (for comparison, the St. Louis Gateway Arch is a mere 630 feet tall).

These landslide-generated tsunamis are always in the back of my mind when sea-kayaking in Alaska.

Nature’s Window: Snowy, quiet day in Haines

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It has been snowing on and off for the past several days. I love the quiet when it snows, and I’m sure the heli-skiers that flock to the world-class death-defying vertical slopes in the Chilkat River valley like the snow too. This 30-second video features scenes of the historic Fort William H. Seward area in Haines, Alaska, including the large soldier barracks building and the homes of Officers Row. 

Fort Seward, located on the Lynn Canal in southeast Alaska, was the last of eleven military posts established during Alaska’s gold rush between 1897 and 1904. Its purpose was to preserve law and order among gold prospectors and to provide a military presence in Alaska during boundary disputes with Canada.

LINKS

Channeling Bradford Washburn

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I channeled my inner Bradford Washburn (a famous Alaska mountaineer and photographer known for his dramatic black-and-white photography) on a spectacular clear day last week while riding the ferry from Juneau to Haines, Alaska.

 It is very hard to get a sense of the scale of the magnificent mountains and glaciers that line the edge of the Lynn Canal, the 90-mile long, 2,000-foot deep fjord that runs from Juneau to Skagway. If you look very closely at some of the photos, you will see tiny trees that are, in reality, huge.

Much of Washburn’s photography resulted from his quest to find routes and create maps for many of his first assent Alaska mountain climbs. While I won’t pretend that my photos below come anywhere near Washburn’s, the stark, simple, yet detailed look is perhaps somewhat similar. I can still kick myself because before he died in 2007, prints of his work could be purchased somewhat reasonably. Not surprisingly, today, that is not the case.

Unidentified mountain peaks along the Lynn Canal as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, M/V Hubbard as it traveled from Juneau to Haines on a bright winter day.
Nun Mountain (4329′) is seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry M/V Hubbard as it traveled in the Lynn Canal from Juneau to Haines on a bright winter day.
Unidentified mountain peak along the Lynn Canal as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, M/V Hubbard as it traveled from Juneau to Haines on a bright winter day.
Unidentified peak as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry M/V Hubbard as it traveled in the Lynn Canal.
Unidentified mountain peaks along the Lynn Canal as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, M/V Hubbard as it traveled from Juneau to Haines on a bright winter day.
During the winter, with snow on its steep mountainside, it is easier to see how Lions Head Mountain got its name.
Unidentified mountain peaks along the Lynn Canal as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, M/V Hubbard as it traveled from Juneau to Haines on a bright winter day.
Unidentified peak as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry M/V Hubbard as it traveled in the Lynn Canal.
Unidentified mountain peak along the Lynn Canal as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, M/V Hubbard as it traveled from Juneau to Haines on a bright winter day.
Huge trees look like tiny sticks compared to the unidentified mountain of the Chilkat Range, as seen along the Lynn Canal during the ferry ride from Juneau to Haines.
Mountain slope along the Lynn Canal as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, M/V Hubbard as it traveled from Juneau to Haines on a bright winter day.
Detail of a mountain slope of the Chilkat Range. Note the size of the trees at the lower right.
Unidentified mountain peaks along the Lynn Canal as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, M/V Hubbard as it traveled from Juneau to Haines on a bright winter day.
An unnamed mountain peak near Sinclair Mountain, as seen from the Alaska Marine Highway ferry traveling from Juneau to Haines in February.

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Haines Winterfest equals winter fun

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Small town festival celebrates the spirit of winter in Alaska

The Winterfest activities in Haines this past weekend were a blast. My favorite activities were the children’s sled-pull, snowshoe, and 2×4 races. Other activities included a race over the mountains from the Chilkat Valley to the Chilkoot Valley. 

The frying pan toss and the fowl curling (curling but using a chicken or turkey instead of a curling stone) were canceled due to the warm weather, which might have damaged the skating rink where those events were to be held.

Determination is written all over the face of this young contestant in the children’s sled-pull competition.
It was quick going to the turn-around line but slow going on the return when they had to change positions for this team.
The kids had it easy on the father/child snowshoe race.
Youngsters take off for the start of the children’s snowshoe race.
One contestant in the snowshoe race (red coat) got off to a good start but lost one of his shoes before he reached the turn-around line.
The 2×4 competition is much harder than it sounds. Coordinating everyone on the four-person team to move in unison proved to be very difficult.
Tom Morphet, Haines mayor, served as the race official and play-by-play announcer.
Made it! A 2×4 team makes it to the finish line.

Another enjoyable Winterfest activity was driving out to the Tlingit village of Klukwan to listen to stories about living in the Chilkat Valley during the winter. The Klukwan residents, particularly the elders, are wonderful, engaging storytellers.

After the elders spoke, they asked the attendees for their stories of winter life in the Chilkat Valley. I tried my darndest to think of something, but nothing came to mind. It wasn’t until we were back on the road to Haines that I thought of a story I could have told.

If I had thought of it in time, I would have told the story of when I was in Haines, and it snowed 54 inches over 36 hours. My friend Phyllis’ young nephew, Gable, stopped by to see his aunt. I commented, “Guess you won’t be having school tomorrow.” He looked at me like I had a third eye and said, “Of course we will!” He couldn’t believe that two or three inches routinely close schools in Missouri. 

Winter life in Haines is very different from the lower 48. Haines residents take it all in stride and make the most of it

LINKS

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