- Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 — here we go!
- Enjoying a few days in Hong Kong
- A day in Kaohsiung and Tainan, Taiwan
- A quick trip to the Penghu Islands
- Two Days in Taipei, Taiwan
- Naha, Okinawa
- Two days in Beijing
- Two days in Incheon and Seoul, South Korea
- Jeju Island, Korea
- Busan, Korea in a day!
- Nagasaki, Japan
- Arita, Japan
- Miyajima and Hiroshima, Japan
- Kyoto’s Bamboo Forest and Rock Garden
- Matsushima, Japan
- Hakadote, Japan
- Kushiro, Japan
- Dutch Harbor….er, Unalaska, Alaska
- Kodiak, AK
- Homer, AK
- Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, AK
- Sitka, AK
- Klawock and Craig, AK
- A Nanaimo, BC, Canada drive by
- Vancouver BC, end of trip, and final thoughts
Today we visited Kodiak, AK, the second largest island in the US (second only to the Big Island of Hawaii). Of course, a large percentage of the island makes up the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge that is home to 3,500 Kodiak brown bears — the largest brown bear subspecies in the world. The city of Kodiak was the capital of Russian America before the US bought Alaska and there are still a number of Russian influences here, including the Kodiak History Museum which is the oldest Russian built wooden structure on the west coast of the US.
The great news is that the ship actually tied up in town, making it easy to see a lot of the sights in the downtown area. But we wanted to see more of the island, so we rented a car. There are limited roads on Kodiak since so much of the island is part of the Preserve. As a consequence, we headed south to visit Fossil Beach, a series of cliffs that are lined with bowling ball-sized concretions (where sand and salt have been cemented in minerals). Since it was nearly low tide, we were able to make our way around the easternmost cliff to see these fossils as well as a series of shells that were slowly being absorbed into the sandstone. It was a beautiful beach to walk around on. We even found a skeleton that we couldn’t identify (could have been a small whale or some other pinniped.
What I had forgotten about was the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska (PSCA) on Kodiak. This was a public-private partnership created between the State and private industry, starting in 1998. This was at the advent of trying to get the states more in the launch business, especially given the growing commercial space/launch industry. Back then, I was doing some work for the California Space Authority who was trying to build a similar business model for CA. To date PSCA has conducted 31 launches (mostly government launches through the Missile Defense Agency). They have two launch pads with a Mission Control center, a clean room for preparing satellites for launch, a rocket assembly building, and two independent range and telemetry systems. Anyway, it was very cool to happen upon, and drive through, this complex. Of course they block this road when launch preps are underway which apparently upsets the locals. On the drive back to town, we stopped to take pictures along the coastline. We also came across what I can only assume is a local island communications method. One guardrail along the road had this message: “Sharon at the Old (a nearby restaurant) talks shit about everyone.” On our island, we have only one rock that is authorized for graffiti and it can be painted over if enough people are concerned about the message. I actually don’t think we have guardrails on our island — this could be an opportunity for more messaging!
Once we got to town, the rain that had been spotty up to that point, started getting serious. As a consequence, we shifted most of our activities indoors. After lunch, we headed over to the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. It really serves as the crossroads of conservation and education for the Kodiak Refuge. There were lots of exhibits there, including a life size Kodiak Brown Bear that I stood next to. We had hoped to see some bears on our drive since the males come out of hibernation in the March/April timeframe while the females only wake in June. We figured out that they were all hanging out in a bar somewhere, but after seeing the size of these guys, we were okay missing them in the flesh. There was also a great movie there and a suspended gray whale skeleton. This is actually a real whale that had washed ashore some years ago. The townspeople buried the whale for four years to let it decompose. Then they dug it back up and cleaned the skeleton to its current state. We also visited the Kodiak History Museum which is housed in what I believe is the oldest Russian structure on the island (in excess of 200 years old). It really did an excellent job of portraying Kodiak’s rich history, starting with the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, through the Russian colonial period, through early American times, all the way through the current day. They really had a fabulous collection!
From there, we went out to Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park to see the remnants of a gun emplacement that was built by the Army during World War II to defend against a Japanese invasion that never came. Unlike Unalaska, the weather on Kodiak is generally pretty dismal, making it impossible for the Japanese bombers to target anything. Today proved no different as it started pouring at that point. We got to see the gun emplacements equipped with 8-inch guns, but the Military History Museum was closed (probably will stay that way until peak season).
Despite the rain, we enjoyed our time in Kodiak. As I write this, we are plowing through 15 foot seas on our way down to Homer, AK.
This entry was posted in Alaska, Cruising, Kodiak Island, Travel, United States
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
