Another stunning day today, very cold but clear and sunny.
I headed south from Anchorage this time, down Turnagain Arm through Chugach National Park to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Centre.
This was mostly aimed at children, but in paying my entry fee I have helped conserve Alaskan natives, so there was a feelgood factor.
This is an Oomingmak, or Muskox. This grows really soft wool close to it's skin, under the outer layer that you can see here. It is called qiviut (pronounced ki-vee-ute) and they shed it at the end of winter. It is collected and knitted into very warm hats and scarves by clever Alaskan women.
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| Oomingmak or Muskox |
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| Water troughs have to be heated to stop them freezing. There was a huge amount of snow here, at least a metre deep. |
They have a sense of humour too.
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| This could equally apply to some cats ! |
And while I appreciate the advice, I can't promise to follow step 2 - stay calm when you see a bear.
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| Stay calm when you see a bear. Righto. |
Unfortunately the bears were hiding and I didn't see any.
They did have a porcupine, which I haven't seen before, and she was adorable. They look fluffy, like you could pick them up and cuddle them. I'm sure that's not wise.
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| Look at that face. |
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| She looks like she's advertising Pantene, flicking locks in front of the hairdryer. She was trying to climb out. |
The drive down the "Arm" was absolutely stunning, Mountains, snow, frozen sea. Fabulous.
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| That's the sea, frozen. As I watched, the ice was moving inland, pushed by the tide. |
The traffic was reasonably light and there are literally dozens of places where you can pull over and stop to take photos.
At the first one at Beluga Point, out near the sea-end of the arm, the wind was ferocious and it was bitterly cold. I had a insulated headband which kept my ears nice and warm, but no hat, and within probably a minute, the exposed part of my head was aching from the cold.
I stopped for a late "lunch" at Girdwood, deep fried mushrooms and jalapeno bites at the truck stop.
The drive back was just as beautiful.
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| frozen waterfalls |
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| more snowy mountains in the distance |
Righto, time to gather all my stuff and pack up. I've hardly bought anything yet my luggage seems to have exploded. Tomorrow I check out of this dump (just kidding, it's been clean and perfectly functional) and move to The Lakefront Anchorage to join the rest of the delinquents on Chris's photo tour.
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