Post Two

We left Valdez early in the morning, stopped on Thompson Pass to explore the alpine foliage, and also at Worthington Glacier. From there we proceeded on to Chitina, where we stopped in to the Chitina Emporium, which is a pretty little place owned by a friend of mine, Catherine Fletcher-Gilbert. We had a cup of tea and then crossed the Copper River to the Wrangell Saint-Elias Park. We saw the fish wheels, where folks with a subsistance lifestyle can catch Copper River red salmon. Proceeding on to the McCarthy road, which is rough gravel for 60 miles, sometimes on the edge of a mountain, we saw what bush Alaska looks like. We stopped at the Strelna Lake turnoff at mile 10, ate our lunch, and took a small and wet hike along a trail, turning back when it got too wet and bear friendly. There were many places for us to stop along the way, such as the Kuskulana bridge (a one-lane, very high bridge, over a rushing river and rocks below), and the Parks Service Information booth. When we got to our lodging, on the near side of the footbridge to McCarthy, it was 4:00, and we were all pretty tired. It was raining hard and cold. We got situated, checked out the place, and decided to walk across to McCarthy to see what there was to see. We got coffee and hot chocolate at The Potato (Good Food), attempted to use the ATM, saw the stream where the locals of McCarthy collect and haul their drinking water, and took a walk down a narrow path towards the glacier. Not much was visable because of the fog and rain clouds. We went back and cooked our dinner, hung our gear up to dry an front of the propane heater, and went to sleep. The guys slept in the loft, and the gals got the bottom room with the bunk beds. It was clean and comfortable, but unfortunately it got too hot upstairs. The next day we all got up pretty early, woke Dr. Julie up, had a hearty breakfast, and set out in the clearing day.

We crossed the footbridge again, with our packs, field guides, and packed lunches. The shuttle to McCarthy was just about to leave, so we bumped over 7 more miles of dirt road to Kennecott. Kennicott (2 spellings) is where, in the nineteen-teens, a very rich and fruitful copper mine was built. This spawned a bustling town, a railroad over almost impossible terrain, and a sister town (McCarthy) where the straight-laced mining folks went to let their hair down, back in the day. What an amazing place still exists there- a ghost town of tall gangly red buildings, huge beams which were brought in from Seattle, and the remains, including many spikes, of the Copper River and NorthWestern railroad. The last train left in 1938, the most concentrated copper running out, and the venture becoming less profitable.

The five of us explored the town and then hiked our way along and on top of the lateral moraine of the Kennecott Glacier. We saw many wonderful plants, rocks, and even a red fox, who didn't show us a bit of anxiety as he ate the cookie crumbs we had inadvertently left behind. After we had hiked far enough, we sat and ate our sandwiches before returning to the shuttle pick-up site. The sun had shown us a beautiful day, as can be seen by our photographs. We returned to Valdez by 9pm, weary, our brains full of adventure and new knowledge. For some of us, that knowledge included how to change a tire. Thanks for reading the blog. Now, go out and do something fun, too!

Thompson Pass/ Chitina/ McCarthy/ Kennecott

1. Thompson Pass (Alpine- 2700 feet) and Worthington Glacier, Chitina, McCarthy, and Kennecott (Boreal Forest, Glacial- lateral moraine of the Kennecott Glacier, along the CRNW railroad) We stayed at the Kennecott River Lodge and Hostel.

2. Saturday, July 19th- Sunday, July 20th, 9am- 9pm the next day.

3. Mostly Cloudy, 40s- Heavy rains, 40s- Mostly sunny, 50-60.

4. Yellow paintbrush, willows (including arctic and dwarf), ferns, starflowers, mountain heather, caribou lichen, narcissus anemone, dwarf blueberry, mosses, alder, arctic or wooly lousewort, dwarf fireweed, roseroot, violets, saxafrage, crowberry, leafy lichen, licopodium, nagoon berry, wild geranium. Nagoon berry, Labrador tea, black spruce, bear berry, shrubby cinquefoil, mushrooms, mosses, fireweed, crowberry, cotton grass, northern bedstraw, puff balls, sedges, various fungi, dryas, rose hips, strawberry spinach, fox grass, and some plants that live off decaying matter and, thus, do not photosynthesize. Chives, horsetail, fireweed, lichens, alpine willow, lupine, aspen, a shrubby pine, white spruce, black spruce, saxifrage, bluebells, ferns, mosses, soap berry (I do not recommend tasting it, although it is not poisonous), pink pyrola, purple flowers from the pea family, bear berries, asters, juniper, dwarf dogwood, paintbrush, twin flower, leafy lichen, bolete mushroom, red infestation on willow, orange lichen, monkshood, crowberry, glaucus gentian, elegant goldenrod.

5. Bees, mosquitoes, gulls, arctic ground squirrels, canine domesticus. Bear scat and prints, grey jays, Thomas Ginn, hares, moose scat and tracks, white winged crossbill, ducks, ravens, crows, dragonflies, mosquitoes. Carpenter ants, a red fox!, moth with blue body, brownish orange wings, bumble bees, spider, many hares, squirrel chatter, grey jays.

We also saw many rocks and minerals such as: greenrock, copper, composite rocks that looked like concrete, azurite, malachite, iron rich rocks, granite, glacial till, sedimentary rock, sand, and quartz. Also, click on the images to see them larger.

Columbia Glacier and Heather Bay

Columbia Glacier and Heather Bay

Rather chilly near the glacier, 50s surrounding

Animals: Puffins, barnacles, seagulls, fish, Artic terns, crab, jellyfish, snail, limpets, shrimp, MOSQUITOES, evidence of bears found

Plants: Seaweeds, algae, willows, shooting stars, Sitka spruce, marsh marigold, Siberian aster, sundews, Caribou lichen, lily pads, bog beans


Our awesome Natural History class got to explore the terminal moraine of Columbia Glacier last Thursday (07-10). Columbia’s treacherous ice field kept us from going near the glacier itself, but we got a good view of it any how, and examining the ice bergs themselves satisfied us. After lunch we explored an island in Heather Bay.

The terminal moraine didn’t have many grasses or trees around it. Most of the plants and animals were in tidal pools. There were plenty of seaweeds and algae supporting the small fish, shrimp, snails, and barnacles that also lived in the pools. Like I said before there wasn’t too much found that couldn’t live in the sea, but we did find a willow and baby spruce on the high part of the moraine.

We spotted a part of the moraine where birds were gathering, and so we tried to make our way towards it. The water surrounding that part would be too deep for us to cross over, but we did happen upon a couple dead jellyfish, including a moon jelly that Emmanuel picked up. Around this time, an iceberg DROPPED into the water! The sound was sharp, loud and sudden, and we must’ve jumped about 9 feet!

We hopped back into our boat and made our way across the bay (rhyming not intended, but hey, make a way out of no way) to another island with a trail (or ‘easement’). We set up a grill and I grilled up some burgers (with everyone making sure I didn’t torch them). After our lunch, we headed up the easement into a meadow with a lake and lily pads. It was a meadow of peat moss and grass, with shooting stars and bog beans near the lake and stream. A forest surrounded this meadow, and someone mentioned that the moss growing on the trees meant that they had be at least a hundred years old. Dr. Julie lead us into the forest, and then the bugs came…They travel in CLOUDS. Our bug spray did nothing; Emmanuel would later say “it was like deodorant for them”. There were plenty of nurse logs with moss and baby trees growing on them. We found berry bushes, mountain heathers, and huckleberries. Dr. Julie also spotted a nice sized fungus growing on a tree.

We came out of the forest, but went BACK in. The bugs were unbelievable. I’d breathe them, eat them (when I’d open my mouth), and smear them whenever I wiped my face. Sheeeeeeesh…….We came out on the other side and into another meadow just like the other one, except this one had a stream. There was no other way to the shore from here, so we had to head BACK into the forest. We made it back just in time to spot our boat coming to get us. While boarding, I received a mosquito bite on my top lip, which swelled during the evening but went down the next day.

If you’ve been reading our blogs and aren’t convinced that you should come up to Alaska, you should be convinced now…

Columbia Glacier

On Thusday July 1oth,2008 we went on a tour to Columbia Glacier on a boat called Kimberly Cat, the captain of the boat was called Brat.

the weather was sunny,and temperatures was about 36 degree f. on a board were kayakars, we all landed at the glacier shore and parted ways. the pictures above will show how beautiful and amazing Columbia Glacier is and the awesome living creatures and vegetations are found there. the shore at the columbia glacier was very rocky, rocky because the glacier brought them up from the mountains as the eruded from above down to the water shore. glaciasion is known as the number one facture of erosion and the ice moves from up the mountains, it carries along tiny and large rocks and even some minerals as it moves till it were it deposited and better place it could deposit these debris is at the water shore this can be seen when we saw some rock particles hung on the large pieces of ice burgs exibiting what took place as the ice was moving from up the hills to the bottom of the hills.

For the fish family,we saw a Moon Jelly fish also known as aurelia aurita it sizes 16in(40cm)wide. told by white, translucent, bell-shaped bady with fringe of stinging tentacles. and leave on surface of the ocean, commonly washes ashoure following storms, and be careful when handling it because it causes an itchy rash. also, we saw blue mussels known too as Mytilus edulis, size to 4in(10cm) with blue-black shell is oval-shaped and relatively smooth and leaves at intertidal waters and is commonly found throughout the state and can be seen attached to pillings,rocks and other solide objects along the shores. still on the category of shell fish, is the rough keyhole limpet with size of 2in(5cm), has cone-shape shell has side ribs and a hole in the top, found intertidally on kelp and rocks.

looking at the wild life family, we saw a baby spruce tree, wood ferns, Arctic willows,Mash marigold, we saw a beautiful purple shooting stars, caribou lichens,mountain herdal,fungus,all of this were identified at the herdal bay. at the herdal bay, was a wide area of peatbog, a lake with surrounding land compose of peat bog. we went to to bush and we saw a gray like lichen that hung on trees that are said should be at least a hundred years old, they look like old age gray hair on the backs of the trees. Also was the yellow pond lily, found through out most of Alaska, excep wetern coastal area and north of the Brooks Range. i blooming time is july ana August. a large plact with small, thin submerged leaves and large, long-stermmed floating leaves. they are supported by larg, fleshy stems. this plant has been used as a source of food by many native groups. the thick roots.

On our way back, we saw three fasinating sea lions taking a nape, from the looks of things, its like they were two female sea lions and a male and they were trying to prove their point to the male sea lion on who is the most active from the was the female played around the male.

we also saw birds like the seawolf, glaucous-winged gull, Arctic tern. our stay at the herdal bay was short leave because we were very much disturbed by bugs and mosquitos, who gave us no breeding space to explore more and see more.

Seawolf seeking for f

Columbia Glacier & Heather Bay

Columbia Glacier and Heather Bay

1. July 10th, 9am- 6pm

2. Mostly overcast, some sun, humid, 50s- 60s

3. Prince William Sound, Tidewater Glacier, Rocky beach, Peat Bog, and Old Growth Rainforest

4. marbled murrelets, sea lions, gulls, puffins, sea otters, barnacles, geese, shrimp, muscles, snails, arctic tern, limpets, mudfish (blenny), clam, tube worm or clam holes, mosquitoes and no-see-ums, kitiwakes, large black spider, jelly fish, duck with ducklings, robin, loon, pink salmon, and bear scat

5. Sitka Spruce, including a wee little one, black salt-tolerant lichen, sea lettuce, rockweed, algae, beach greens, dwarf fireweed, mosses, including reproducing parts, alpine willow, beach grass, orange lichen, peat moss, shooting star, butter cups, dwarf dogwood, bog blueberry, marsh marigold, crowberry, skunk cabbage, purple aster, starflower, columbine, violets, juniper, caribou lichen, sun dews (which are carnivorous!), bog bean, lily pads, hanging lichen, regular and dwarf blueberries, cladonia (a gorgeous red lichen), mountain heather, huckleberry, mushrooms, including shelf fungus

What an amazing day we had! We saw so much and so many different ecosystems in such a short amount of time. The peat bog and old growth rain forest were definitely unlike anything I had ever seen before. They were well worth the mosquitoes, and I actually wish we'd had more time to explore them slowly. We set out on the Kimberlain's Cat, which took us out of the Valdez arm into Glacier Bay, near the Columbia Glacier. We disembarked on a rocky beach, which we learned was the terminal moraine of the Columbia Glacier. We saw where the glacier came down to the sea on two sections, depositing rocks and debris at the terminal moraine. We also saw the stripes on the edges of the glacier and in the mid-stream of it, which are the lateral and medial moraines. These are formed by the scraping of rock and debris from the channel from whence the glaciers flowed, the medial moraines being where different channels met.

We explored the Intertidal zone at low tide, searching the tide pools and grounded icebergs, some as large as a bus. What at first seemed just a rocky beach revealed itself as teeming with life.

The rocky beach on which we lunched was picturesque and had a lovely brook babbling down it from the peat bog. There was a waterfall nearby that provided us with some dining music. There were birds and even a sea otter to watch while we ate.

The Peat Bog was squishy and full of fascinating plants wherever we looked. They were all in full bloom and doing their reproductive thing. It was hard to imagine the place in the dead of winter.

The Old Growth Rain Forest was really amazing. It contained so many plants and lichens and mosses and mosquitoes. It seemed that the whole thing was built up of layer upon layer of trees that had died, decomposed, and provided nutrients and haven for new plants and trees, etc. etc. What a rare opportunity to explore a gem of an ecosystem!

Columbia Glasier Trip

10 July 2008

Temp: 64 degree, calm and cloudy on the sky.

We sailed with Kayaking tourists throught the Columbia Glasier early in the morning. The weather was just perfect for me not windy and sunny at all way. When we got off the boat around the area of Glasier, we identified different type of vegitations, seashores, birds, and others including puppies. We identified the following seashores NATIVE LITTLENECK CLAM, ROUGH KEYHOLE LIMPET, BLUE MUSSEL, AND MOON JELLYFISH inside the bay of the sea. There were ROCKWEED all over the wet land. Bottom of the glasier edge got a lot of rock and but two little SITKA SPRUCE were growing around the 10 cm tall.

E

Mineral Greek Trail

July 08, 2008 On Thuesday
Weather: 68 degree and rainy and sun blocked with thick rain clouds.

We went on trip Mineral Greek Trail in Valdez, reosan why they called this place mineral Greek is there were gold and copper minning a long ago. We studied variety of plant and vegetations such as Siberian Aster, Common Fireweed, Nagoonberry(which was we had seen before in Dock Point), Elegant Paintbrush, Coastal Paintbrush, Wild Celery, Goatsbeard, Sitka Valerien, Alaska Spiraea, Tall Cotton Grass except these plants we have indentified two new type of cranberry which had not seen yet to us. These were called Low-bush Cranberry, and High-Bush Cranberry. In Mongolia we do have low-bush Cranberry a lot in the mountain. People eat the cranberry also they boil the cranberry leaves as a tea and drink it when they got cold in the winter time. Mongolian name of cranberry is ANNES. At the same time we do not have High-bush cranberry based on my sophisticated knowledge of mountain fruit vegitations.

We had seen bunch of Chocolate Lily, it was my sight of highlight in this trip. So, I would like to share my Chocolate lily's (my favorite flower) photo by Emmanuel.

Field trip to the Mineral Creek.

Today tuesday july o8, at 1:30pm, we went up to the Mineral Creek.
Temperatures were 56 degree F, climate was cold and rainy.
The vegetations at the Mineral Creek was green and beautiful.

On walking along the trail at the Creek, we first identified;

- Groups of wild Celery, also known as Heracleum Lanatum, from Parsley/Alpiaceae family, they are mostly habitated at moist fields, woodlands and alpine meadows. they bloom around July to mid August. a tall plant with large hollow stems and very large leaves deeply divided into three with deep extra incisions. secondly, we identified a yellow Anemone from the crownfool/ Ranunculaceae, and mostly found in moist woods near streams and alpine meadows throughur most of Alaska. its blooming time is early June to mid-July. Also, there was a coastal paintbrush, low bush cramberry,high bush cramberry with blooming time june and early July. the low bush cranberry is found on acidic soil,hummocks in bogs,woods and alpine slopes and is a low ever green shrubs, while the high bush cranberry is usually an upright shrup up to 8feet tall with smooth branches. To add, there was a group of cotton grass, pitt moss, dwofdog wood. we also saw a Caribou lichen, sybarian Asta,Narcissus Flowered Anemone, a water melon berry, Sitka Valerians and goats beard. We also got news of bears around were we were which scared Isaiah and i most so we had to use the common defence mechanism by talking loud and shouting bear bear go away come in back another day, just to scare them away from us.

Shoup Bay Trail

From top to bottom. Photo 1:The beach. Photo 2: A butterfly. Photo 3: Down the path we go! Photo 4: Bog Adder's Mouth. Photo 5: Our class. Photo 6: Myself

Numerous trees and grasses including: alders, dandelions, chocolate lilies, stinging nettles, ferns, horsetails, salmonberries, devil’s club, (some pretty large) cottonwood, false hellebores, bog adder’s mouth, cow parsnip, yellow paintbrushes, peat grasses, daisies, shooting stars, rockweed.

Animals: Slug, ravens, seagulls, swallow, mussel and clam shells, barnacles, a crab’s leg.

It was a beautiful day for a hike! Today we’d head down the Shoup Bay trail. It’s a trail west of Valdez leading all the way to the Shoup Bay glacier. We wouldn’t be going that far out though, as it’s a “two-day hike”, and I myself didn’t bring enough Wheat Thins.

The first thing I’d noticed was how the all the plants and trees came made the path seem more like a green tunnel. I could stretch my arms out and touch the plants on both sides of the path. Due to the presence of bears in the area, we had bear spray which Dr. Julie and I carried. There were plenty of alders and ferns on this path, with quite a few chocolate lilies, salmonberries, false hellebores, and cottonwoods as well. We’d seen the salmonberries on Dock Point, but it still took us a second to identify them and NOT mistake them for raspberries. Our group made sure someone was constantly talking or making noise, this would make our presence known in the area and bears are less likely to attack if they hear you coming. (I’m still a little skeptical about that rule. Are they sure that making noise doesn’t just make yourself easier to find?) The mosquitoes on this trip were unbelievable! The bug repellent that people in our group were using had sun block in it, and I never use sun block, so I didn’t use any…Boy did I pay the price…We came upon a clearing with an excellent view of the mountains. There’s was evidence that a bear had been in this clearing, as there was a hole dug as if someone (or something) had been looking for food, and there were plants that had nice sized bites out of them. In this clearing was an orchid known as a “bog-adder’s mouth’ as well as some cow parsnip and yellow paintbrushes among the common grasses.

We passed over a creek as we came out of the “green tunnel” and into a large opening just before the beach. Words can’t describe the beauty of this area! This opening had green grass growing up to our waists, and an EXCELLENT view of the mountains behind us and the mountains across the fjord as well! There was a still wind blowing, and there was a swallow flying left and right into the headwind. The ground was wet under the grass, and despite our best efforts, our feet still got wet. There were daisies and ‘shooting stars’ among the grasses. It was a slow and careful trek across the grass towards the beach. The beach itself was very muddy and littered with rockweed and other seaweeds. We found some clam and mussel shells, a crab’s leg, rocks with barnacles, and worms that live under the rocks on the surface. Alaska’s tides move very fast, and that prompted us to start heading back towards the path and back home. We were a little lost at first, but everything turned out fine, and all of us exited the path safely!

Shoup Bay Trail

1. Shoup Bay Trail, July 1st, 2008, 1-3:30 pm
2. Winds light and variable, sunny, high 60s.
3. Terraine- thin, winding, woodsy trail, thick vegetation, opening out into small meadows, then into expansive peat marsh, leading to sandy shore inlet.
4. Plants identified: alder, dandelions, red elder, willows, stinging nettle, devil's club, ferns, horsetails, salmonberry, chocolate lily (pictured),starflowers, wild celery, nagoonberry, valerian, wild geraniums, yellow paintbrush, false hellabore, cow parsnip, shooting star, beach pea, irises, dwarf dogwood, daisies, rose avens, some type of chickweed, beach greens, rockweed, and witches hair seaweed, sedge grass, peat.
5. Animals identified: mosquito, an orange slug, humans, white butterfly, bees, caterpillar, gulls, swallow, crows or ravens, muscle shell, clam shell, barnacles, the leg of a crab, bear scat, and the singing of many small birds, including a hummingbird, red mites, sand worms, a tiny shrimp-like creature.

field trip to shup bay.

Today 07/01/08 we went to shup Bay trill at 1:3o pm.

Temperature was 65 to 70 degree celcus, it was sunny and beautiful.

winds coming from the west moving to the east.

The trees along were bloomy and so green and beautiful.

for the wild folwers we saw denda lions, willows,red alda,stinging nattle, wood ferns. the rasp berry we saw was green but it will have to produce its fruits coming this july. also was the devils club which we also have seen at the Valdez Glacier and dock Point but at the shup Bay, the devils club sprung up flowers.

we saw and amazing slug fighting it was out of the foot path inorder not to get steped by us. to add, we saw a cotton wood tree but no flowers at the top. also at the shup bay we saw beautiful chocolate lily,sitka valaria,coastal paintbrush, shooting star, beach pea, wild iris,dwaf daywood, arctic daisy, pacific silver weed.wild geranium cranesbill. All the above wild flowers mentioned, are mostly found in meadows through out the southern half of Alaska including the Alaskan rang.their blooming time are almost similar that is june july and august.

while at the shore we also found sea weed that were washed to the shore by the ocean current othe words known as tights, at the shore were dead clam shells, crap hand and so on. the field trip was an interesting one and very educative. interesting in the sense that we had to walk and shout inorder to scare away any near by bears from thinking of attacking us. below are pictures of some of the wild flowers and the crew.

Thompson Pass & Worthington Glacier

June 22nd, 3-6pm.
My family and I took a trip to Worthington Glacier this past weekend. It was rainy or drizzly most of the trip, but we stopped a few times while on Thompson Pass, and I identified some flowers we saw. It was cold, in the low 40s, and breezy.
We saw Nootka Lupine all along the roadway.
I also found a Yellow Paintbrush, which is noteworthy because the plant is furry.
We saw a marmot roadkill in the pass, too, as well as gulls closer to the glacier. One of the gulls dive bombed me, and if I had not ducked, I would have been hit. I presume we were close to a nest.
While at the glacier, I identified arctic willow, alder, other willows, and horsetails. There were fewer plants, but the terraine was much like that which we encountered on our Valdez Glacier trip.
My son, Henry, enjoyed looking at the low willow plants along the pathway at the glacier. He would pick the reddish willow catkins, and giggled when I tickled him with a horsetail. It was definitely a positive experience.

Summer Solstice

Today is the day with the longest daylight. It is the Summer Solstice. The solstice occurs when the earth's axis is tilted the closest to the sun, at least in this hemisphere. Most years, the solstice happens on June 21st, but this year it is on the 20th because the moment of solstice is at 11:59 pm today. Many people throughout history have celebrated this occasion in various ways. Whatever way you may or may not celebrate, Happy Summer Solstice!

Glaciers- Modifiers of the Landscape

In her lecture on Thursday, June 5th, at the Valdez Museum, Suzanne McCarthy defined a glacier as "a long lasting mass of ice, formed on land, which moves under its own weight." According to her, there are three major kind of glaciers- Valley Glaciers, Piedmont Glaciers, and Ice Sheets. Glaciers are formed when more snow falls in the winter than can melt in the summer. The snow builds up, forms layers, which shrink together, compact, press out the air, and form ice. There are many glaciers in our area, most of which are receeding. They have, in large part, formed the terraine we see every day, and indeed are still impacting it. Some formations that glaciers leave behind are Horns, Aretes, Eradics, and Ogives. Sugarloaf is a nice big example of a Horn, which we see every clear day.
I am glad I had the chance to learn about glaciers from Suzanne. She has a good way of translating technical knowledge into everyday terms. For example, she talked about when glaciers dam off lakes, and then suddenly release and flood, just like when you have ice in your glass and add water to it, the ice suddenly will lift up and start to float as you fill the glass. This happens to Hidden Lake in McCarthy every mid-summer. Wouldn't it be neat if we got to see it happen while we're there? From far away, in a safe place, of course.

Dock Point

weather: Rainy day
Temperature: 50(degree f)
Plants: Samon berry,spiny wood fern,devils club,red berry aldar,star flower,Northern rice root black,goats beard.
organisms: slug snail,shell fungus
birds: gull bird,duck bird, remains of a dead eagle.
animals: Northern river otter.
On arrival at the Dock point, was the amazing Northern river otter but we hard a glare view of it because of the distance it had with us from the water.an otter is a sleek long-bodied mammal has glossy gray-brown coat,thick tail and webbed hind feet. it is mostly found near water throughout most of Alaska.
on our ascension up to the dock point,i identified a salmon berry,also known as rubus spectabilis, it's sizes 7ft often thick-forming shrub in the south coast of Alaska (pg110 nature of alaska). Also on the identification list was the spiny wood fern also known as dryopteris expansa,often fronds clustered,erect and spreading, 1m tall(pg422 plants of the pacific book). to add was the devils club, also known as oplopanax horridus(pg82)
we noticed the mid way to the top of the dock point, the soil was more fertile than at the foot of the dock point. there too was a star flower known also as trientalis europea with size of 6in.it is mostly found in muskegs, wet forests,tundra. a slug snail was also seen, goat beard known as aruscus sylvester with size of 4ft large, compound leaves usually have 7 leaflets. creamy flowers bloom in long giving the plant it characteristics appearance. found in moist woodlands,ravines,along water ways most common in coastal areas. i also realise that berries ripe faster at the top of the dock point than at the foot because they get more sunlight than at the foot.
i found a squerrel nest where the inhabitant of the colony, clean their nest during the summer getting ready to pile in more food in preparation for the next winter to come. the last but not the least, we found the remains of a dead eagle but from its features, it looked more like the bald eagle.

Dock Point

Top picture: A young Sitka Spruce sitting on the edge of the cliff.

Middle picture: "Impressive" Emmanuel explains the squirrel dens.

Bottom picture: Emmanuel, Wendy, and Dr. Julie examine an eagle's remains.

Dock Point. Valdez, AK

Rain (heavy sprinkle, off and on). Temps ranging from mid 40s to low 50s.

Plants (that I identified):

Sitka Spruce, Salmonberries, Devil’s Club, Arctic Willow, False Hellebore, Chocolate Lily, Dwarf Cornel, Yarrow, mosses and lichens, False Solomon Seal, Shell fungus

Animals:

Arctic Tern, Slug

Today, we went to Dock Point. It’s a little spit of land next to the small boat harbor. I’ve walked this trail before: twice during winter, once during the “melt and breakup” and twice after all of the snow melted. If someone didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t think that just a few months ago, this lush green and flowering point was completely dead and covered in snow. Only Alaska’s state tree, the Sitka Spruce was green during the winter. I walked this trail a couple weeks ago, and it wasn’t nearly as green as it was now. It’s like it grew overnight….

I think it started sprinkling as we left our car. The first thing we noticed was a (of the many lining the area) Sitka Spruce sitting on the edge of the rocks. Many of the plants at Dock Point sat on top, or on the sides of the rocks. They’re able to do that because moss and lichens break down the rocks and make a layer of soil just deep enough for the trees and plants to root.

As we walked down the path, we came upon these beautiful pinkish-violet blossoms, which were (after a couple minutes of research) identified as salmonberries. The point’s red alders, arctic willows, and Sitka spruce made the path look like a canyon of green (if you will).

Now you can get to the top of Dock Point two ways: You can go around and follow the curve that goes up the hill, or you go up a steep hill that brings you right to the top. For time reasons, we chose the hill. As we went up, we noticed how the many plants went from covering the ground, to being up towards the tops of their trunks and branches. Those plants are “reaching for the sun”, meaning that since the sunlight doesn’t really reach to the soil surface, the plants have to adapt. We identified the Arctic Willow and Devil’s Club on our way up, and I identified the False Hellebore once we got to the top. After the snow had melted, I noticed that the false hellebores were the first plants to start growing here at Dock Point and around Valdez.

The mosquitoes and bees weren’t as pesky as they have been when I’ve walked up here to the top. One day, a bee followed me all the way from the top of the hill to the beginning of the path. Not today, though. A couple curious bees flew around us, but didn’t follow us. As we strolled around the high part of dock point, we identified a Chocolate lily as well as dwarf cornels (probably known to you as ‘dogwood’). Further down, we identified some blossoming blueberry plants, which most of us plan to try out once they bear fruit.

Dock Point has an outlook path that is shrouded in Sitka Spruce and gives an amazing view of the harbor, mountains, Aleyska oil terminal and the eastern end of the fjord that Valdez sits in. As we walked along the path and took in the views, Giggy noticed a young Sitka Spruce growing on the edge of the cliff, and I took a photo of it. The temperature dropped a little during our walk on the outlook, I remember ‘seeing my breath’ at one point. Emmanuel came upon some squirrel dens and did an excellent job of explaining them to us; he then found the remains of an eagle. He was impressive on this trip! Also impressive was the role moss and lichens played on a dead spruce. They broke down (and are continuing to) break a dead tree which allowed for new trees (or ‘baby spruce’) to start growing. It’s like nothing goes to waste in nature.

As we headed back toward our car, the rain picked up. It picked up enough that we tried to make our way down the hill as fast, yet as safe as possible. It was nice to go to Dock Point and actually be able to identify the plants that were unknown to me before.

Dock Point Trip

June 03, 08

We did wonderful trip this time, reason why I have been living in Valdez April 2006. But I have never been this area. That day weather was a little chily and cloudy. End of the trip time there were cold runny and windy and around 50 degree.

I identified diversity of plants and other things.
I love the skunk cabbage, blue berry, horse tail, yarrow, cornel, rottenwood, chocolate lily, spiny wood fern, and some other birds.

I noticed that I would like to go to trip end of the July again.

Dock Point Trail

1. June 3, 2008, 2-4pm, Dock Point Trail
2. showers, upper 50s, light breeze
3. Inlet beach, rocky, leading to tidal marsh, up a gravel trail with steep sides, large rocky outcrops with glacier turbidite fans
4. Plants observed and personally identified: Sitka Spruce, Salmonberry, mosses, lichen,Sitka Alder, Devil's Club, Scouler Willow, Starflower, Dandelion, Skunk Cabbage, False Hellebore, Corn Lily, Horsetails, Blueberry
5. Animals observed and identified: mosquitoes, sparrow, bee, 2 crows, red squirrel, gulls, aphid, ducks

I just got back from our field trip, and I am damp from the rain and glad to have gone. It was great being able to identify so many things, but not always easy, even with the field guides we have. However, as a group, we found many different plants in a relatively small area. The reason for this is the diversity of the altitudes we traversed. We went from the rocky shore, past the marshy Duck Flats, and up to the top of this little island, which Dr. Julie told us was a remnant of Old Rain Forest area, which the glaciers skirted around. There were Sitka Spruce at the top which were very big around and must have been ancient.
It being Spring, many of the plants there were in their young phase, and if we go back in a few weeks, they will have changed a great deal. Immanuel found squirrel dens in the roots of some spruce trees, and a nest up in the branches. Underneath were the remains of the cones they had eaten during the long winter, piled up. Giggy informed us that if we wash our hair with the lichens, it will get shiny, and that the sap from the spruce would be good chewing gum. I don't think I'll try it.
One of the neat things we found was a Chocolate Lily, which will have brown flowers later on, and according to V. Pratt's Field Guide to Alaskan Wildflowers, is edible, but smells bad. We saw a few plants, though, that were definitely not edible and in fact poisonous. For example, we saw False Solomon's Seal, and Devil's Club, and Cow Parsnip, all of which are nasty in various ways. . . gorgeous plants. . . but nasty. Another neat thing was the Skunk Cabbage we saw. They have the most beautiful yellow lily- like flowers, and although they smell like skunk, I think I like them most of all.

We saw a "nurse tree," which is a rotting felled tree, acting as nurtition and safe harbor for new baby trees (in this case Sitka Spruce), mushrooms, mosses, and lichens. It's just a wonderful reminder that from death springs life, and we are all interconnected in the circle of life.
Lastly, we found the remains of what we think was a Bald Eagle- the feathers were all over the place. We figured they must have been from an old or infirm eagle, and they were very scattered and well picked over, meaning they helped nourish other animals. It is illegal to own the feathers or other parts of the Bald Eagle, so we left them there. Indeed, I called Animal Control just to let them know about the site.