Simon's Travels

Many people on the West Coast who live close to the ocean have experience with whales, either Grays migrating between Alaska and Mexico or Orcas that lurk in the coastal waters looking for prey, which gives them the name Killer. My first exposure, however, came on the East Coast, where I grew up.

When I was about 7 or 8, my father’s parents took me to eat at Gage & Tollner’s in Brooklyn, which they said was the best seafood restaurant in the city. At the time, we were staying with my grandparents in Schenectady while my father sought medical treatment for his hearing loss. I have no idea why I was alone with my grandparents in the city, but I remember thinking Brooklyn was far from Manhattan; I remember crossing a bridge to get there, and I remember white tablecloths and complete place settings and the waiter in black coat and tie, not the kind of restaurant I ate at with my parents. I remember perusing the many paged menu and discovering “whale.” I don’t remember how it was listed, as steak, chopped, or stew, but I remember being excited. When asked what I wanted, I said “whale.” The waiter apologized and said they were out and would not have more until next week. I don’t remember what I ordered, but the disappointment stays with me to this day.

My second missed whale came on the West Coast at the Makah reservation on the Olympic Peninsula. As part of the 1855 Neah Bay treaty with the U.S. Government, the Makah gave up 300,000 acres of tribal land in exchange for their continued right to hunt whales, That treaty established the Makah as the only U.S. Native American nation with a whaling right clearly specified by treaty—though the tribe stopped hunting in the 1920s when Gray whale existence was threatened by commercial whaling. By the 1990s, the U.S. government declared the Gray whale no longer endangered, and despite objections by many groups, the Makah determined to resume one of their most important tribal traditions. On May 17, 1999, Makah whalers in a traditional canoe harpooned a 30-foot Gray and towed it to Neah Bay. To celebrate the successful hunt, the following weekend they held a potlatch. Everyone who was there received some of the whale. Deb and I, planning to hike and camp on the peninsula, arrived at the reservation the next day. We missed the potlach and whale by one day.

We stopped at a local store to get supplies and were attracted to a display of Makah carvings. One of the carvers happened to be arranging his contribution and I asked him about one of his masks. He said that when the Makah harpooned a whale, one hunter jumped in the water and sewed the whale’s mouth shut to prevent the whale from filling with water and sinking. Sometimes the whale was not yet dead and fought back. The mask, with white skin and a red mouth, represented the spirit of drowned whalers. Because of my interest, he offered me the mask.

We were at the reservation because when Deb was in college, she visited the excavation of an Ozette Makah village that had been covered by a mudslide about 1560CE (according to radiocarbon dating). The excavators found more than 55,000 artifacts spanning a period of about 2,000 years; many are now on display in the Makah Museum at the Makah Cultural and Research Center.

We hiked the Ozette Loop trail, a mostly easy nine-and-a-half-mile walk through lovely woods to the coast. Among other sights, we found 300- to 500-year-old petroglyphs of Orcas.

When we kayaked in the Queen Charlottes, we saw Grays. It seemed that they wanted to stay far from us, but the Orcas were not shy. In Johnstone Strait, two adult Orcas and a young one swam within yards of our boats, ignoring us as if we existed in a different reality.

In the first photo, a dorsal shows just beyond the bow. I suggested to our guide that they behaved as if they didn’t know we were there. He replied, “Oh, they knew.”

On Sunday, June 17, 1979, forty-one sperm whales beached at the Siuslaw River’s south jetty near Florence. It was at the time the third largest beaching known. The next day, I drove with my daughter to see. The beach was taped off to keep on-lookers away, but I noted that within the taped area people had strips of tape tied to their upper arms to identify them as official participants. I found a length of tape hanging from a post, cut it, tied it on my arm, and headed toward the nearest whale. Laurel stayed at the edge of the taped area and told herself the story she told me later that she was going to tell her mother after I was arrested and taken to jail. Even at a distance, the stench was powerful. As I approached, the smell grew overwhelming. One of the things no one tells about fields after a battle: Bodies swell, and explode. For years, I could think about that scene and the smell would return. Laurel claims she can smell it still.

I have had encounters with whales since, but this was the most memorable.

We rode a park tour bus into Denali National Park and within the last couple of miles, near the stream below the road, we saw a grizzly digging for grubs and roots. The guide stopped the bus and we took photos. As the bear moved along the stream, we drove on a few hundred feet, stopped, and took more photos.

We stopped at the sign marking Sable Pass. The guide told us bears had eaten the old sign; this time rangers had installed spikes to discourage consumption.

Alaskans call these grizzlies "Brown Bears" as opposed to Black bears, which also live in Alaska but generally not in the area where brown bears congregate. About 42 miles from the tourist center near where a landslide had closed the road, we stopped at the stream crossing, walked across a bridge to the port-a-potties, then reboarded and headed back to the tourist center. Along the way, we stopped again to photograph the bear, now closer to the bridge. Clouds prevented us from seeing Mount Denali.

When we reached the visitors center, a loudspeaker announced that the bridge (and thus the port-a-potties) had been closed, because of the presence of a bear.

Deb wanted to kayak and hike, so she took a water taxi to Peterson Bay where she and several others climbed into kayaks and paddled to Halibut Cove.

Along the way, she passed a farm stand—in a boat—selling oysters on the honor system.

At the cove, she began the two mile hike to Gerwingk Glacial Lake, a 425-foot-deep lake carved into the mountain only in 1967 when a landslide created a mega tsunami. The first half mile of the hike was a killer, steep switchbacks, but the remainder

was mostly level with a fine lake at the conclusion.

While Deb kayaked, I and four others flew in a six-passenger Cessna across Cook Inlet for an hour and a half or so to look for bears. Much of the time, we flew in clouds that limited visibility, but the clouds continuously shifted, sometimes providing spectacular views of mountains and water.

When we reached the west shore of Cook Inlet, the pilot circled the flats several times looking for a good spot for bears—there was perhaps one bear in every square mile or so—and finally settled the plane on the gravel beach. The oversize tires made the landing as smooth as if we were on a paved runway. We climbed out and walked over a berm at the top of the beach onto a grassy and watery flat. About a hundred yards away lay a brown bear.

We formed a tight group as our guide instructed, and walked slowly toward it, stopping from time to time to take photographs. While keeping an eye on us, the bear appeared to ignore us until we got within 50 or 60 yards. It began rolling in the grass, got up, and glancing our way

from time to time, started walking away, stopping occasionally to graze.

Keeping our distance, we followed.

It moved to the edge of the swampy water and finally out into the shallows. I took a shot of his tracks, but (thanks to the TSA) I did not have my two-inch pocketknife to show a size comparison so you have to take my word for it: the tracks were big enough.

The hindfoot print is in front of the fore print which is how they walk; the hindfoot is about the size of my boot print.

We saw caribou, bulls with antlers in velvet, cows with calves.

In restaurants, we ate Reindeer meat. The Alaskans I asked about it claimed Reindeer were farmed and a different animal than caribou; I could only think of Santa and Rudolph. I can say: Reindeer does not taste like chicken.

At one point, we thought we saw wolves some distance off the road.

We stopped and discovered they were twin moose calves scrambling to get out of sight.

We saw Dall sheep high on a mountain.

And Mountain Goats, even higher.

As we sped along the paved Sterling highway to Homer, we spotted a cow moose just off the road on the edge of a gravel road.

Our guide stopped the van, turned it around and we went back for a closer look. The moose ignored us.

After shooting our fill of photos, we drove farther to find a turnaround, and discovered an enclave of Russian Orthodox churches. Dominating the area was the newest.

Not far away, the oldest.

Most interesting, however, were the structures in between: The Transfiguration of Our Lord Church (established in 1901) surrounded by wooden grave markers behind a decrepit picket fence.

Although a few people wandered the graveyard, we were distracted by an eagle in a tree behind a bell structure.

Then we discovered on the edge of the churchyard, a low tree, a nest,

and an eagle.

We took trips by catamaran to see glaciers and sea life, the first, from

Seward to Kenai Fjords National Park aboard the Skana, a 150-passenger hydrofoil-assisted catamaran.

We steamed past several rafts of sea otters,

and a few looked at us.

Orcas accompanied us for a while and two breached in tandem, coming completely out of the water, which I had not seen before. Unfortunately, I managed only to photograph a dorsal fin.

We also sailed by a Steller sea lion on a rock.

A tidewater glacier calved while we watched.

Crew members netted small ice chunks and after showing one around—they said it was much denser than freezer ice—they chipped it up to serve in “iceberg margaritas.”

We stopped at Seavey dog kennels near Seward to see an Iditarod summer training facility. Since 1963, the Seaveys have been the preeminent Iditarod mushing family, winning eight Iditarod races—a family member holds the Iditarod speed record, covering 1049 miles by dog team in 8 days 3 hours 40 minutes and 13 seconds. As part of their summer training, the dogs pull wheeled carts weighing about two thousand pounds (before tourists climb on), pulling the carts along gravel paths through the woods.

We took a turn. The dogs seemed happy and eager to pull.

At the kennels, we petted dogs

and cuddled puppies.

Inside the gift shop were numerous artifacts, displays, paintings, photos, and posters.

One of the most interesting was a painting of an event during one of the races—a group of musk oxen attacking a dog team.

Outside Wasilla, we stopped at a shop selling something I had never heard of: birch syrup.

It is gathered and processed just like maple syrup but from birch trees; the family and crew provided samples and tours.

The syrup is not as sweet as maple. Deb liked it, thought it would be good on roasted salmon. It is. We bought two quarts.

We took a train to Whittier for another boat ride. The town, 58 miles southeast of Anchorage, has a year-round population of about 272. The only land access is through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, a single lane one-way tunnel of combined rail and road which opened to the public only in 2000.

For those wishing to drive into town, it opens for 15 minutes; then 15 minutes for those wishing to leave town. Drivers who arrive at the wrong time must wait for the next opening. The rail tracks run down the middle of the roadway; the tunnel is so narrow that while in the tunnel, the train travels extra slowly so in its normal rocking it won’t scrape the sides. We got off in Whittier, the end of the line, and, cold, blown, and wet, walked to the dock and boarded a catamaran. As we sailed, a tidewater glacier calved regularly.

At one point, the pilot steered almost into a glacier falls, and tourists crowded the bow to photograph it—until a sudden surge doused them with icy water.

When we returned to the dock, we had an hour wait for the train, so we walked several hundred yards to an open café where we warmed up with reindeer chili. Then, cold again, wet, and buffeted, we walked to a sheltered area—there was no station—to wait.

Finally the train backed into the waiting area and we climbed into warmth again. The train crawled through the tunnel, then speeded slightly as we traversed the lovely country.

When some passengers saw a moose not far from the tracks, the engineer stopped the train so we could take photos. Where else but Alaska? My photos through wet windows turned out not so good, but there was the moose and calf looking at us, wondering why a train stopped in the middle of the wilderness.