Adak, Alaska

I'm pretty lucky. I've somehow managed to wrangle jobs that continue to take me to the farthest reaches of Alaska. I have been traveling in rural Alaska for five years now, and I still haven't seen it all!

There are only two flights to Adak, one on Sunday, and one on Thursday. Better not be late, or you don't get to go. Mom, I will be sorry about this for the rest of my life. Really.

Beautiful, downtown Adak, Alaska - who thinks to wire caribou antlers to a piece of driftwood as yard art? I think the winters are a little long out here...

Currently Adak is going through a financial crisis, related in some part to the rising cost of fuel in rural Alaska ($5.70 per gallon for unleaded, $6.35 for diesel in Adak at the moment). Mostly though I think the City of Adak needs to run a tighter financial ship: http://www.adn.com/aleutians/story/526305.html

A tangled web indeed! Well, I was there on official business, but I did manage to sneak away at night and explore one of the most beautiful and strange places I've ever visited. Adak has a long history, in world events and within my family.

Originally Adak was a settlement for the Aleut people, and the island is dotted with the remains of their seasonal and permanent camps. In the 1800's the Russians swept through and permanenetly altered the settlements of the Aleut (via slavery). Any Aleut left by World War I and II were relocated as part of a US government intermnet program.

Navy roads stretch out all over the island. I like to think the base commander kept the boys in blue busy building roads! Notice the WWII quansit huts rusting back into the landscape.


A close up of the quansits: Note that inside of this hut were two suspiciously friendly office chairs...perhaps this is a breeding den?

In between Russia nd the world wars, Adak and the nearby island of Kanaga were fox farmed in the 1930's...only relevant because my great-grandfather and great-great uncle were fox farmers on Kanaga. Although mom wasn't able to go with (because of me) I did manage to do some research for her that I think really helped her in preparing to write her book (I KNOW - my mom is writing a book! How cool is that?!?)

I didn't see any foxes, but I did see a lot of other amazing things! Adak is most famous for the enormous naval base that was established there prior to World War II, and was maintained until 1997, when it was closed in the Base Realignment. It is strange to drive and walk around hundreds of abandoned buildings. Straight out of some end of the world sci-fi movie. My supervisor and I must have uttered "Our tax dollars at work" at least ten times each day. The amound of wasted resources is truely staggering. A town for 6,000 people, updated and maintained right up until 1996. All left to sit and rot on one of the most remote places on earth. If you ever need an office chair, let me tell you, Adak has plenty. Locals assured me they breed at night and pop up along the roadsides in the morning. Why so many office chairs?

Now entering/Now exiting the Adak National Forest. The sign had rusted off its hooks and was face down in the weeds, so no classic pictures...

Grave markers of WWII Airmen and Navymen.

We had to tour the Adak National Forest, all 33 trees, and the WWII Cemetary which is right next door. The actual remains were removed and buried at some official cemetary in the lower '48. Side note, the people who exhumed the remains left the graves open, so that as I took this picture I tripped over something in the grass and fell into one of the grave holes. Not my finest nor most pleasant moment. The markers were pretty though, and a solemn reminder of the sacrifices our country asks of each generation. They are also solid welded steel slats - typical Navy overconstruction!

I did see herds of the famous Adak Caribou, although from too far of a distance to get any good pictures. They grow to record size due to the temperate climate and lack of four legged predators. The caribou were imported here in the 1950’s by Uncle Sam as an “emergency meat source” for the naval base and have thrived since. The plane was almost half hunters. We jokingly called them the Cabella’s Crew and you know - I think they really liked it!

I also saw a group (pod?) of 8 sea otters, many eagles, sea birds and of all the strange things, rat tracks in the sand. Apparently they are large Norway rats, the kind that live in Russian cargo holds I hear! The state sponsored rat traps (for rodent eradication...save the seabird eggs and so on...) scattered around the island were somewhat of a local joke. The rats are apparently a good foot or so long, with pretty big heads, and the rat traps have entry holes about two inches wide...so the big boys just won't fit to get into the rodenticide. No worries though, most folks seem to think the rats will just chew through the plastic boxes and get the rodenticide bait that way.

Rat tracks - just kidding! These are eagle tracks in the sand,

something I've never seen before!

The eagle who made the tracks

Anyways, enjoy the pictures. The Aleutians are still beautiful, no matter what we seem to do to them.

An unknown and beautiful flower - anyone know what this one is?

Look close - there be otters in these waters!

Adak is of course an old volcano - really cool ash layers exposed on this bank

And some columnar basalt, also volcanic in orgin and a really modern looking eagle's nest. Two juveniles had nested up on top of this outcropping.

Fear

As you can tell, I took a break from blogging. I wish it was because I was lazy, or was too busy. It wasn't any of those things. I stopped blogging because I didn't want to share what was happening to me with the whole wide world.

Looking back I think it was mostly fear. Fear that I wouldn't get healthy, fear that my illness would be long term or deadly, fear that if I shared my experience beyond my circle of friends I would be burdening or hurting others.

I used to casually say that I was terrified of something, but no longer. I know what true fear is. I surprise myself because it isn't of death. I'm fearful of leaving Richard alone, and of never getting to know our future children.

But now the fear is manageable, and I've gone back to work, back to life. I will be posting more regularly from now on - about the happy things in my life, the reasons for living.

Shan