1.
Glenn Highway
–
The Glenn Highway is a highway in the U. S. state of Alaska, extending 179 miles from Anchorage near Merrill Field to Glennallen on the Richardson Highway. The Tok Cut-Off is often considered part of the Glenn Highway, the highest point on the highway is 3,332 feet at Eureka Summit, which sits on the divide between the Chugach and Talkeetna mountain ranges. The highway originated as the Palmer Road in the 1930s, to reach the colony at Palmer. It is named for Captain Edwin Glenn, leader of an 1898 U. S. Army expedition to find an Alaska route to the Klondike gold fields, the highway was paved in the 1950s. The Talkeetna Mountains Hadrosaur specimen was discovered in 1994 in a quarry being excavated for road material and that fall, excavation began, and was resumed in the summer of 1996. The quarry is near the Glenn Highway, approximately 150 miles northeast of Anchorage and this specimen was the first associated skeleton of an individual dinosaur discovered in all of Alaska. Taphonomy and paleoenvironment of hadrosaur from the Matanuska Formation in South-Central Alaska, ed. s Tanke, D. H. Carpenter, K. Skrepnick, M. W. Indiana University Press. Media related to Glenn Highway at Wikimedia Commons A journey down the Glenn Highway Alaska 101 Glenn Highway
Glenn Highway
–
The Glenn Highway on the right side of the
Matanuska River at mile 76 (km 123).
Glenn Highway
–
Matanuska Glacier seen from the Glenn Highway at mile 102 (km 164)
Glenn Highway
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Gunsight Mountain and the Glenn Highway near mile 129 (km 208)
Glenn Highway
–
Mount Drum and the Glenn Highway near mile 170 (km 274)
2.
Mount Marcus Baker
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Mount Marcus Baker is the highest peak of the Chugach Mountains of Alaska. It is located approximately 75 miles east of Anchorage and this peak is very prominent because of its proximity to tidewater and is only 12 miles north of the calving face of Harvard Glacier. When ranked by prominence, Mount Marcus Baker is one of the top 75 peaks in the world. The name was changed to honor a cartographer and geologist named Marcus Baker. The peak was first climbed on June 19,1938 by a party led by famed explorer Bradford Washburn, todays standard route is the North Ridge. Despite being much lower in elevation than Denali, Marcus Baker is a similarly serious ascent, due to the remoteness of the peak and the resulting length of the approach and climb. Actually, a number of noted climbers have perished or sustained permanent injury in attempting to summit the peak as climbing conditions can change rapidly as storms arise. com
Mount Marcus Baker
–
Mount Marcus Baker
3.
Summit
–
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
Summit
–
The highest elevation summit, Mount Everest, shown with a climber at the summit wearing an oxygen mask. The summit is 8850 m (29,035 ft) elevation. (While the cruising altitude of jetliners is roughly 10,000 m (32,808 feet), they are pressurized.)
Summit
–
View from the summit of Switzerland's highest,
Monte Rosa
Summit
–
The summit of
Mount Damavand,
Iran, in winter
Summit
–
Jeff Davis Peak, one of the highest peaks entirely within
Nevada
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
5.
Mountain range
–
A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
Mountain range
–
The
Himalayas, the highest mountain range on Earth, seen from space
Mountain range
–
Mountain range of
High Tatras in
Slovakia in 1865
Mountain range
–
The
Andes, the world's longest mountain range on the surface of a continent, seen from the air
Mountain range
–
Hillary and Norgay Montes on Pluto (14 July 2015)
6.
Alaska
–
Alaska is a U. S. state located in the northwest extremity of North America. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas–the southern parts of the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area, the 3rd least populous, approximately half of Alaskas residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaskas economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, military bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy. The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30,1867, the area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11,1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U. S. on January 3,1959, the name Alaska was introduced in the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the peninsula. It was derived from an Aleut, or Unangam idiom, which refers to the mainland of Alaska. Literally, it means object to which the action of the sea is directed, Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States and has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere. Alaska is the only non-contiguous U. S. state on continental North America and it is technically part of the continental U. S. but is sometimes not included in colloquial use, Alaska is not part of the contiguous U. S. often called the Lower 48. The capital city, Juneau, is situated on the mainland of the North American continent but is not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system. Alaskas territorial waters touch Russias territorial waters in the Bering Strait, as the Russian Big Diomede Island, Alaska has a longer coastline than all the other U. S. states combined. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by total area at 663,268 square miles, over twice the size of Texas, Alaska is larger than all but 18 sovereign countries. Counting territorial waters, Alaska is larger than the area of the next three largest states, Texas, California, and Montana. It is also larger than the area of the 22 smallest U. S. states. Also referred to as the Panhandle or Inside Passage, this is the region of Alaska closest to the rest of the United States, as such, this was where most of the initial non-indigenous settlement occurred in the years following the Alaska Purchase. The region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest and it contains the state capital Juneau, the former capital Sitka, and Ketchikan, at one time Alaskas largest city. The Alaska Marine Highway provides a vital transportation link throughout the area. The Interior is the largest region of Alaska, much of it is uninhabited wilderness, Fairbanks is the only large city in the region
Alaska
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Denali is the highest peak in North America.
Alaska
–
Flag
Alaska
–
Grizzly bear fishing for
salmon at
Brooks Falls, part of
Katmai National Park and Preserve.
Alaska
–
Augustine Volcano erupting on January 12, 2006
7.
Pacific Coast Ranges
–
The Pacific Coast Ranges, are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. The same term is used informally in Canada to refer to the Coast Mountains and adjoining inland ranges such as the Hazelton Mountains, the coastline is often dropping steeply into the sea with photogenic views. Along the British Columbia and Alaska coast, the mountains intermix with the sea in a maze of fjords. Off the Southern California coast the Channel Islands archipelago of the Santa Monica Mountains extends for 160 miles, on the West coast of North America, the coast ranges and the coastal plain form the margin. Most of the land is made of terranes that have accreted onto the margin. In the north, the belt is an accreted terrane. This belt extends from the Wrangellia Terrane in Alaska to the Chilliwack group of Canada, a rupture in Rodinia 750 million years ago formed a passive margin in the eastern Pacific Northwest. The breakup of Pangea 200 million years ago began the movement of the North American plate. As the continent drifted West, terranes were accreted onto the west coast, the timing of the accretion of the insular belt is uncertain, although the closure did not occur until at least 115 million years ago. Other Mesozoic terranes that accreted onto the continent include the Klamath Mountains, the Sierra Nevada,80 to 90 million years ago the subducting Farallon plate split and formed the Kula Plate to the North. This formed an area in what is now Northern California, where the plates converged forming a Mélange, North of this was the Columbia Embayment, where the continental margin was east of the surrounding areas. Many of the major batholiths date from the late Cretaceous, as the Laramide Orogeny ended around 48 million years ago, the accretion of the Siletzia terrane began in the Pacific Northwest. This began the activity in the Cascadia subduction zone, forming the modern Cascade Range. Events here may relate to the ignimbrite flare-up of the southern Basin, as extension in the Basin and Range Province slowed by a change in North American Plate movement circa 7 to 8 Million years ago, rifting began on the Gulf of California. Although many of the ranges do share a common history, the Pacific Coast Ranges province is not defined by geology. However, both are considered part of the Pacific Coast Ranges due to their proximity and similar economic, the Pacific Coast Ranges are home to the largest temperate-latitude icefields in the world. Formally unnamed icefields are not listed List of Pacific Coast Ranges topics Coast Range California Coast Ranges Coast Ranges United States physiographic regions
Pacific Coast Ranges
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Canadian Coast Range, Whistler, British Columbia
Pacific Coast Ranges
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Malibu Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains
Pacific Coast Ranges
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Kenai Mountains
Pacific Coast Ranges
–
Juneau Icefield
8.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
North America
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Map of North America, from 1621.
North America
–
North America
North America
–
The
El Castillo pyramid, at
Chichén Itzá, Mexico.
North America
–
Benjamin West 's
The Death of General Wolfe (1771) depicting the
Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
9.
Cook Inlet
–
Cook Inlet stretches 180 miles from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, on its south end merges with Shelikof Strait, Stevenson Entrance, Kennedy Entrance and Chugach Passage. The watershed includes the areas of Denali. Within the watershed there are national parks and the active volcano Mount Redoubt. Cook Inlet provides navigable access to the port of Anchorage at the northern end, before the growth of Anchorage, Knik was the destination for most marine traffic in upper Cook Inlet. Approximately 400,000 people live within the Cook Inlet watershed, the Cook Inlet region contains active volcanoes, including Augustine Volcano and Mount Redoubt. Volcanic eruptions in the region have been associated with earthquakes and tsunamis, there was an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.1 on December 31,1901 generated by an eruption that caused several tsunamis. In 2009 a lahar from Mt. Redoubt threatened the Drift River oil terminal, the inlet was first explored and settled by Denaina people. In the 18th century, Russian fur hunters were among the first European visitors, the Lebedev Lastochkin Company leader Stepan Zaikov established a post at the mouth of the Kenai River, Fort Nikolaev, in 1786. Other Europeans to visit Cook Inlet include the 1778 expedition of James Cook, its namesake, the inlet was named after Cook in 1794 by George Vancouver, who had served under Cook in 1778. Turnagain Arm was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame, Bligh served as Cooks Sailing Master on his 3rd and final voyage, the aim of which was discovery of the Northwest Passage. Upon reaching the head of Cook Inlet, Bligh was of the opinion that both Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm were the mouths of rivers and not the opening to the Northwest Passage. Under Cooks orders Bligh organized a party to travel up Knik Arm, afterwards a second party was dispatched up Turnagain Arm and it too returned to report only a river lay ahead. As a result of this frustration the second body of water was given the disingenuous name Turn Again, early maps label Turnagain Arm as the Turnagain River. The S. S. Farallon was a wooden Alaskan Steamship Company liner that struck Black Reef in the Cook Inlet on January 5,1910, all thirty-eight men on board survived, and were rescued twenty-nine days later. Few white people visited upper Cook Inlet until construction of the Alaska Railroad along the shores of Turnagain Arm. The natives of the Eklutna village are the descendants of the residents of eight villages around upper Cook Inlet. During the 1964 Alaska earthquake, areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near Girdwood and Portage dropped as much as 8 feet by subsidence, Girdwood was later relocated inland and Portage was abandoned
Cook Inlet
–
Cook Inlet, showing Knik and Turnagain Arms
Cook Inlet
–
The navigational light at the southwest tip of Elizabeth Island demarcates the boundary between Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Alaska
Cook Inlet
–
Cook Inlet seen from
Clam Gulch
Cook Inlet
–
Turnagain Arm
10.
Bering Glacier
–
Bering Glacier is a glacier in the U. S. state of Alaska. It currently terminates in Vitus Lake south of Alaska’s Wrangell-St, Elias National Park, about 10 km from the Gulf of Alaska. Combined with the Bagley Icefield, where the snow that feeds the glacier accumulates, warmer temperatures and changes in precipitation over the past century have thinned the Bering Glacier by several hundred meters. Since 1900 the terminus has retreated as much as 12 km, the Bering Glacier exhibits surges, acceleration events of the flow rate of the glacier, every 20 years or so. During these periods the glacier terminus advances, the surges are generally followed by periods of retreat, so despite the periodic advances the glacier has been shrinking overall. Most glaciers along the Alaskan coast have been retreating along with the Bering Glacier, the glacial retreat has an interesting side effect, an increase in the frequency of earthquakes in the region. The Wrangell and St. Elias mountain ranges that spawn the Bering Glacier were created by the collision of the Pacific, the weight of the vast amount of ice in the Bering Glacier is enough to depress the Earths crust, stabilizing the boundary between the two plates. As the glaciers lose mass, the pressure of the ice is diminished and this reduced compression allows the rocks along faults to move more freely, resulting in more earthquakes. Meltwater at the terminus collects in Vitus Lake, which flows via the Seal River to the Gulf of Alaska
Bering Glacier
–
Terminus of Bering Glacier, September 29, 2002
11.
Matanuska River
–
The Matanuska River is a 75-mile long stream in Southcentral Alaska, United States. The river drains a valley south of the Alaska Range eponymously known as the Matanuska Valley. Formed by the confluence of its east and south forks, the Matanuska River flows generally southwest to the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet, downstream of its source, the river is joined by meltwater from Matanuska Glacier in the northern Chugach Mountains. From there it continues through the Matanuska Valley, between the Chugach Mountains to the south and the Talkeetna Mountains to the north, population centers along its course include Chickaloon, Sutton, Palmer, and Butte. It enters the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet about 9.5 miles southwest of Palmer, the Glenn Highway runs roughly parallel to the river for much of its length. Highway bridges over the river, listed from source to mouth, include Glacier Park Bridge, Chickaloon River Bridge, King River Bridge, Old Glenn Highway Bridge, an Alaska Railroad bridge crosses the river parallel to the Glenn Highway Bridge at Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge. In addition to the glacier, named and unnamed streams drain the Talkeetna. These include Glacier, Hicks, Purinton, Caribou, and Coal creeks, and the Chickaloon and King rivers, the main stem is silty with glacial run-off from spring through fall but at lower flows beneath winter ice, it runs relatively clear. The Mat-Su Valley is one of the most settled regions of Alaska, erosion by the glacial braided river has damaged roads, farms, houses, and houses for decades. The United States Geological Survey operates a stream gauge near Palmer, mean monthly discharge at this gauge varies from 500 cubic feet per second in March to 13,000 cubic feet per second in July. The maximum recorded flow was 82,100 cubic feet per second on August 10,1971, the minimum recorded flow of 234 cubic feet per second occurred on April 25,1956. The river is a destination for whitewater enthusiasts who float mainly in rafts or kayaks. Accessible at several bridges and other points along the Glenn Highway, expert paddlers sometimes run a tributary, Caribou Creek, that flows past Matanuska Glacier and is rated Class II to IV. Hazards along the main stem include swift, cold water, big standing waves and holes along some sections, overhanging or submerged vegetation on the lower reaches, and upriver winds. The indigenous Denaina Athabascan name for the river is Chatanhtnu, based on the root -tanh trail extends out, list of rivers of Alaska Matanuska Formation Kari, James M. et al. Shem Petes Alaska, The Territory of the Upper Cook Inlet Denaina, 2nd ed. Fairbanks, Alaska, media related to Matanuska River at Wikimedia Commons
Matanuska River
–
Silt-laden waters of the Chickaloon River (right center) enter the Matanuska River at mile 76 (km 123) of the
Glenn Highway (upper right), a major highway connecting
Anchorage to the rest of the state. The valley is forested with
black cottonwood,
balsam poplar,
white spruce and
paper birch.
Matanuska River
–
South-central Alaska, near
Anchorage
12.
Copper River (Alaska)
–
The Copper River or Ahtna River, Ahtna Athabascan ‘Atna’tuu, river of the Ahtnas, Tlingit Eeḵhéeni, river of copper, is a 290-mile river in south-central Alaska in the United States. It drains a region of the Wrangell Mountains and Chugach Mountains into the Gulf of Alaska. It is known for its extensive delta ecosystem, as well as for its runs of wild salmon. The river is the tenth largest in the United States, as ranked by average discharge volume at its mouth, the Copper River rises out of the Copper Glacier, which lies on the northeast side of Mount Wrangell, in the Wrangell Mountains, within Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park. It continues to turn southeast, through a marshy plain to Chitina. The Copper River is approximately 290 miles long and it drops an average of about 12 feet per mile, and drains more than 24,000 square miles —an area the size of West Virginia. The river runs at an average of 7 miles per hour, downstream from its confluence with the Chitina it flows southwest, passing through a narrow glacier-lined gap in the Chugach Mountains within the Chugach National Forest east of Cordova Peak. There is an area of linear sand dunes up to 250 feet in height radiating from the mouth of the Copper River. Both Miles Glacier and Childs Glacier calve directly into the river, the Copper enters the Gulf of Alaska southeast of Cordova where it creates a delta nearly 50 miles wide. Extraction of the resources was problematic due to navigation difficulties at the rivers mouth. The mine was abandoned in 1938 and is now a ghost town tourist attraction, Copper River Highway runs from Cordova to the lower Copper River near Childs Glacier, following the old railroad route and ending at the reconstructed Million Dollar Bridge across the river. The Tok Cut-Off follows the Copper River Valley on the side of the Chugach Mountains. The rivers famous salmon runs arise from the use of the watershed by over 2 million salmon each year for spawning. The extensive runs result in many varieties, prized for their fat content. The rivers commercial salmon season is brief, beginning in May for chinook salmon. Sport fishing by contrast is open all year long, but peak season on the Copper River lasts from August to September when the salmon runs. The fisheries are co-managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, management data are obtained primarily by ADF&G at the Miles Lake sonar station and the native village of Eyak at the Baird Canyon and Canyon Creek research stations. The Copper River Delta, which extends for 700,000 acres is the largest contiguous wetlands along the Pacific coast of North America and it is used annually by 16 million shorebirds, including the worlds entire population of western sandpipers and dunlins
Copper River (Alaska)
–
A fisherman (bottom center) dipnetting for salmon on the Copper River at
Chitina in
Southcentral Alaska
Copper River (Alaska)
–
Copper River sockeyes, 2007.
Copper River (Alaska)
–
Miles Glacier Bridge, showing earthquake damage and temporary repair, 1984
Copper River (Alaska)
–
Rafters and Child's Glacier on the lower Copper River.
13.
Chitina River
–
The Chitina River is a 112-mile tributary of the Copper River in the U. S. state of Alaska. It begins in the Saint Elias Mountains at the base of Chitana Glacier, Elias National Park and Preserve to meet the larger river near Chitina. The watershed was once a copper mining region. The Chitina River is suitable for floating in rafts, kayaks, from a put-in place near Huberts Landing, slightly downstream of Chitina Glacier, the river is Class II on the International Scale of River Difficulty all the way to the mouth at Chitina. Boaters starting from Huberts Landing will have to make a difficult 2. 5-mile portage to reach the river channel. It is also possible to put in at Jakes Bar, about halfway between the glacier and the river mouth, the shorter trip requires no portage. Hazards include cold silty water, bad weather, and the remote location, grizzlies pose a danger to boaters, especially near the mouths of clear tributaries, where the bears tend to congregate. A variety of salmon, attractive to bears, migrate to, from the south the main affluents are the Tana, Chakina, and Tebay rivers, which rise in the Chugach Mountains. Kiagna River is also a tributary of Chitina River. The main game fish in the Tebay system are rainbow trout, lake trout, list of rivers of Alaska Media related to Chitina River at Wikimedia Commons
Chitina River
–
Dipnet fisherman on
Copper River at
Chitina
14.
Gulf of Alaska
–
The entire shoreline of the Gulf is a rugged combination of forest, mountain, and a number of tidewater glaciers. Alaskas largest glaciers, the Malaspina Glacier and Bering Glacier, spill out onto the line along the Gulf of Alaska. The coast is indented, with Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound the two largest connected bodies of water. It includes Yakutat Bay and Cross Sound, lituya Bay is the site of the largest recorded tsunami in history. It is customarily a popular sheltered anchorage for fishing boats, the Gulf of Alaska is considered a Class I, highly productive ecosystem based on SeaWiFS data. Many deep water corals can be found in the Gulf of Alaska, primnoa pacifica has contributed to the location being labeled as Habitat Areas of Particular Concern. P. pacifica is typically a deep water coral normally found between 150 metres and 900 metres here, the Gulf is a great generator of storms. Much of the rainfall and snowfall in the Pacific Northwest. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Gulf of Alaska as follows, a line drawn from Cape Spencer, the Northern limit of to Kabuch Point, the Southeast limit of, in such a way that all the adjacent islands are included in the Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Alaska
–
Map showing the Gulf of Alaska.
15.
Chugach State Park
–
Chugach State Park covers 495,204 acres immediately east of the Anchorage Bowl in south-central Alaska. Though primarily in the Municipality of Anchorage, a portion of the park north of the Eklutna Lake area in the vicinity of Pioneer Peak lies within the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The park, managed by Alaska State Parks, is the third-largest state park in the United States, only Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California and Wood-Tikchik State Park in western Alaska are larger. Hunting and fishing are permitted in the Chugach under regulations established by the Alaska Department of Fish, target practice is not allowed within the park boundaries. In January of 2017, Chugach State Park was named the best state park in Alaska, in the summer, travelers go on foot, by mountain bike, ATV or on horseback, past the lake by way of largely flat trail to the glacier. In wintertime, trail users are able to travel the route by snowmobile, snowshoes or cross-country skis as permitted by regulation. As most of the trail is an old roadbed, the trail is a winter destination for skijoring and dogsledding. There are two campgrounds in the area in addition to a frontcountry campground open during the summer. Two public use cabins are available for rent on the Lakeside Trail, non-motorized boats, and boats with an electric motor, are allowed on Eklutna Lake. The tallest point in the park, Bashful Peak, towers over the lake at a height of 8,005 feet, bush planes are able to land on the far side of Eklutna Lake at the unpaved Bold Airstrip. North of Eklutna, the summit of Pioneer Peak can be reached from Knik River Road via the Pioneer Ridge Trail beginning outside the park boundaries in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Visitors to Eklutna Lake have the opportunity to experience a variety of plant life at different elevations, dense forests, characteristically of white spruce, paper birch and quaking aspen, dominate the lower elevations. Ferns, mushrooms, and wildflowers such as dogwood, fireweed. At higher elevations such as mountain avens and the Alaska state flower. Berry picking is popular in summer and early fall. Highbush cranberries, ligonberries, northern redcurrants and bog blueberries grow along the lower trails, dwarf blueberries, alpine bearberries and crowberries are found higher up. Correctly identifying berries before consuming them is important as some species are poisonous, a non-profit organization in association with the park operates the Eagle River Nature Center which exhibits interpretive information on wildlife and geological features. At those times in the fall when the parks residents are using the area for their fishing purposes
Chugach State Park
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Bashful Peak, at 8,005 feet (2,440 meters), is the tallest mountain in Chugach State Park
Chugach State Park
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Eklutna Lake and Bold Peak in Chugach State Park
Chugach State Park
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Lakeside Trail along Eklutna Lake in winter
Chugach State Park
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Eagle River in winter
16.
Chugach National Forest
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The Chugach National Forest is a 6,908, 540-acre United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, the Chugach includes extensive shorelines, glaciers, forests and rivers, much of which is untouched by roads or trails. It hosts numerous bird, mammal and marine species, including extensive shorebird habitat, human industry in the forest includes extensive tourism and some mining and oil and gas operations. The area that is now Chugach was settled by Native Americans thousands of years ago and it was discovered by Europeans in the mid-1700s, and soon settled by Russian fur traders, who trapped the native sea otters. In 1867, the US purchased Alaska from Russia and gold was found in 1888, in 1907, the Chugach National Forest was created from a portion of forest reserve, which had been one of the first of its kind, designated in 1892. It is located in the mountains surrounding Prince William Sound including the eastern Kenai Peninsula and it is the second-largest forest in the U. S. national forest system, and is the northern-most and western-most national forest. Approximately 30 percent of the area of the forest is covered by ice, portions of the Kenai Peninsula make up approximately 21 percent of the forest, and include the southern portion of the Iditarod National Historic Trail. Parts of Prince William Sound make up about 48 percent of the forest and this includes 3,500 miles of shoreline,22 tidewater glaciers, and the Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area, which covers 2,200,000 acres. Portions of the Copper River Delta cover approximately 31 percent of the forest, despite its huge size, there are only 90 miles of Forest Service roads, although there are also over 500 miles of designated trails. The supervisors office is located in Anchorage, there are local ranger district offices located in Cordova, Girdwood, and Seward. The Chugach is a rain forest in the pacific temperate rain forest region. Here the forest occupies only a narrow strip between the ocean and the icy alpine zone. The dominant trees are limited to sitka spruce, western hemlock and this zone is known as thesub-polar rainforest. The Kenai Peninsula section of the forest is home to over 200 colonies of seabirds, approximately the same number of eagles live in the Chugach National Forest as live in the entire contiguous United States. The Delta provides habitat for over 20 million birds annually, and during the summer, one quarter of the trumpeter swans. Other mammals in the forest include timber wolves, moose, caribou, Sitka black-tailed deer, mountain goats, black bears, dall sheep are also found, the Chugach is the only national forest where these animals can be seen. Humpback whales, sea lions and otters are found in the Chugachs waters, the forest also hosts the king salmon, red salmon, silver salmon, chum salmon and pink salmon, which make up the five species of Pacific salmon found in North America. There is very little logging done in the Chugach, and less than 2 percent of the forest is considered suitable for commercial logging operations, instead, the forest infuses money into local communities through tourism, recreation, mining and commercial fishing
Chugach National Forest
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Lost Lake in Chugach National Forest
Chugach National Forest
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Alpine Lakes in the Chugach forest
Chugach National Forest
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Skiers cross
Portage Lake
Chugach National Forest
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Spencer Glacier, in the Chugach Forest
17.
Anchorage, Alaska
–
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the U. S. state of Alaska. All together, the Anchorage metropolitan area, which combines Anchorage with the neighboring Matanuska-Susitna Borough, had a population of 401,635 in 2016. Anchorage is located in the portion of Alaska at the terminus of the Cook Inlet on a peninsula formed by the Knik Arm to the north. The city limits span 1,961.1 square miles encompass the urban core. Due to its location on the globe, being almost equidistant from New York City, Tokyo, Anchorage has been named an All-America City four times, in 1956,1965, 1984–85, and 2002, by the National Civic League. It has also named by Kiplinger as the most tax-friendly city in the United States. Russian presence in south central Alaska was well established in the 19th century, in 1867, U. S. Secretary of State William H. Seward brokered a deal to purchase Alaska from Imperial Russia for $7.2 million. His political rivals lampooned the deal as Sewards folly, Sewards icebox, by 1888, gold was discovered along Turnagain Arm. Alaska became a United States territory in 1912, Anchorage, unlike every other large town in Alaska south of the Brooks Range, was neither a fishing nor mining camp. The area surrounding Anchorage lacks significant economic metal minerals, a number of Denaina settlements existed along Knik Arm for years. By 1911 the families of J. D. Bud Whitney, jack Brown, and his bride, Nellie, in 1912 to have lived in the Ship Creek valley in the 1910s prior to the large influx of settlers. The city grew from its choice as the site, in 1914, under the direction of Frederick Mears. The area near the mouth of Ship Creek, where the headquarters was located. A town site was mapped out on higher ground to the south of the tent city, greatly noted in the years since for its order and rigidity compared with other Alaska town sites. In 1915, territorial governor John Franklin Alexander Strong encouraged residents to change the name to one that had more significance. In the summer of year, residents held a vote to change the citys name. However, the government ultimately declined to change the citys name. Anchorage was incorporated on November 23,1920, construction of the Alaska Railroad continued until its completion in 1923
Anchorage, Alaska
–
Anchorage skyline and
Bootleggers Cove as photographed from
Point Woronzof Park on an April evening.
Anchorage, Alaska
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The tent city (called "The White City" in the handwritten caption) in Ship Creek, photographed by Alberta Pyatt on July 1, 1915.
Anchorage, Alaska
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Panorama of Anchorage, May 1, 1916
Anchorage, Alaska
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Fourth Avenue in 1953, looking east from near I Street. Just ten years before, the retail area shown in the foreground was mostly an industrial area, housing lumber yards and similar uses.
18.
Valdez, Alaska
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Valdez /vælˈdiːz/, /vəlˈdɛz/ is a city in Valdez-Cordova Census Area in the U. S. state of Alaska. According to the 2010 US Census, the population of the city is 3,976, the city was named in 1790 after the Spanish Navy Minister Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán. A former Gold Rush town, it is located at the head of a fjord on the side of Prince William Sound. The port did not flourish until after the link to Fairbanks was constructed in 1899. It suffered huge damage during the 1964 Alaska earthquake, and is located near the site of the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill, today it is one of the most important ports in Alaska, a commercial fishing port as well as a freight terminal. The port of Valdez was named in 1790 by the Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo after the Spanish naval officer Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán, a scam to lure prospectors off the Klondike Gold Rush trail led to a town being developed there in 1898. The prospectors who believed the promotion found that they had been deceived, the glacier trail was twice as long and steep as reported, and many men died attempting the crossing, in part by contracting scurvy during the long cold winter without adequate supplies. The town did not flourish until after the construction of the Richardson Highway in 1899, with a new road and its ice-free port, Valdez became permanently established as the first overland supply route into the interior of Alaska. The highway was open in summer-only until 1950, when it was operated as a year-round route, in 1907, a shootout between two rival railroad companies ended Valdezs hope of becoming the railroad link from tidewater to the Kennicott Copper Mine. The mine, located in the heart of the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains, was one of the richest copper ore deposits on the continent. The exact location of the dispute, in which one man was killed. A half-completed tunnel in the marks the end of railroad days in Valdez. A rail line to Kennicott was later established from the city of Cordova. The city of Valdez was badly shaken but not destroyed in the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, soil liquefaction of the glacial silt that formed the citys foundation led to a massive underwater landslide, which caused a section of the citys shoreline to break off and sink into the sea. The underwater soil displacement caused a local tsunami 30 feet high that traveled westward, away from the city and down Valdez Bay. Thirty-two men women and children were on the main freight dock to help with and watch the unloading of the SS Chena. All 32 people died as the dock collapsed into the ocean with the violent landslide, there were no deaths in the town. Residents continued to live there for a three years while a new site was being prepared on more stable ground four miles away
Valdez, Alaska
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Valdez, Alaska
Valdez, Alaska
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The Valdez townsite, abandoned and relocated following the
1964 earthquake, was being used as a pipe yard for the
construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, as shown in this 1974 photo
Valdez, Alaska
–
The port of Valdez, set against a natural backdrop of mountains under the
midnight sun in July. Also visible is the shipping terminal for the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
Valdez, Alaska
–
Aerial view of the oil terminal
19.
Richardson Highway
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The Richardson Highway is a highway in the U. S. state of Alaska, running 368 miles and connecting Valdez to Fairbanks. It is marked as Alaska Route 4 from Valdez to Delta Junction and it also connects segments of Alaska Route 1 between the Glenn Highway and the Tok Cut-Off. The Richardson Highway was the first major road built in Alaska, a pack trail from the port at Valdez to Eagle, a distance of about 409 miles, was built in 1898 by the U. S. Army to provide an all-American route to the Klondike gold fields. After the rush ended, the Army kept the trail open in order to connect its posts at Fort Liscum, in Valdez, the head of the project was U. S. Army General Wilds P. Richardson, for whom the highway was later named. During the construction, the government hired failed gold prospectors as well as construction workers. The income from this allowed many of the prospectors to leave Alaska. Several roadhouses now on the National Register of Historic Places were constructed along the route at this time, the rise of motorized travel led the road to be upgraded to automobile standards in the 1920s. When the tolls were increased in 1941 to boost business for the Alaska Railroad. The bridge at Big Delta, the last remaining gap, was built as part of the Alaska Highway project, the highway was paved in 1957. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, built in 1973-1977, mostly parallels the highway from Fairbanks to Valdez, during the 1990s, the highway was upgraded from Fairbanks to the main gate at Eielson AFB, making this stretch a 4-lane divided road. Intersections with other roads, however, are still almost entirely at-grade, under SAFETEA-LU, Alaska Route 2 from the Canadian border to Fairbanks, comprising parts of the Richardson and Alaska Highways, has been declared a High Priority Corridor. What this means for the distant future is not yet certain, although SAFETEA-LU does explicitly provide federal funds for upgrading the road to 4 lanes and divided, media related to Richardson Highway at Wikimedia Commons Evolution of the Richardson Highway - ExploreNorth A journey down the Richardson Highway
Richardson Highway
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The "first car" to travel from Valdez to Eagle, 1913
Richardson Highway
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Richardson Highway from the air, cutting behind a meadow lake.
Richardson Highway
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Interchange with the Fairbanks end of Badger Road, a loop road serving suburban parts of the
North Pole area. The interchange was constructed in the early 2000s, after an approximately three-decade history of serious accidents at the previous at-grade intersection.
Richardson Highway
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Canyon crossing (Richardson Highway)
20.
Seward Highway
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The Seward Highway is a highway in the U. S. state of Alaska that extends 125 miles from Seward to Anchorage. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula, Chugach National Forest, Turnagain Arm, the Seward Highway is numbered Alaska Route 9 for the first 37 miles from Seward to the Sterling Highway and AK-1 for the remaining distance to Anchorage. At the junction with the Sterling Highway, AK-1 turns west towards Sterling, about eight miles of the Seward Highway leading into Anchorage is built to freeway standards. In Anchorage, the Seward Highway terminates at an intersection with 5th Avenue, which AK-1 is routed to, the full length of the Seward Highway has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the countrys economy, defense, and mobility. The remainder that follows AK-1 is also designated Interstate A-1 and included in the NHS on that basis, the highway is maintained by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, and the A-1 designation is not signed along the highway. In 2010,2,520 vehicles used the highway near the junction with Sterling Highway in a measure of the average daily traffic. The highest traffic count as recorded by Alaska DOT&PF was 58,799 vehicles daily at the Dowling Road overpass in Anchorage, in 2012, Life magazine included the Seward Highway in its list of Most Scenic Drives in the World. The Seward Highway begins at an intersection with Railway Avenue, in Seward, at this point, the Seward Highway is two lanes, with a parking lane on each side. The Seward Highway is designated as AK-9 at this point of the route, the highway continues through central Seward, passing several small businesses, houses, the Seward Museum, as well as several hotels and motels. The highway continues past the Seward Airport, before entering the community of Bear Creek. Just after entering Bear Creek, a series of tracks belonging to the Alaska Railroad comes alongside the roadway, the Seward Highway proceeds through central Bear Creek, passing Bear Lake, until entering Chugach National Forest. The Seward Highway enters the Chugach National Forest just 5 miles after its start, the highway enters the Chugach National Forest while it is still part of the Bear Creek community, so it gives the appearance of still being inside that census-designated place. After a mile or so though, the surrounding the highway begins to look more like a national forest. The Alaska Railroad weaves back and forth under the highway, which causes the highway to become a series of small bridges, for a few miles after the bridges, the Seward Highway is a four-lane road, but then merges back to two lane. After passing through about 10 miles of forest, the highway passes Primrose Spur Road, for the next five or so miles, the route runs alongside Kenai Lake. Just before peeling off of Kenai Lake, the route passes though Crown Point, passes the single runway Lawling Airport, the highway runs alongside the Trail Creek for about 6 miles, before passing the settlement of Moose Pass. The road continues, passing along Upper Trail Lake for a few miles, before peeling off and returning to the dense forest, and passing a large mountain range. After a few miles, the road passes the community of Tern Lake Junction, and intersects with Alaska Route 1, where Alaska Route 9 terminates
Seward Highway
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An aerial view of
Seward and vicinity, including
Bear Creek. The southern end of the Seward Highway runs through the center of the photo.
Seward Highway
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Seward Highway highlighted in red
Seward Highway
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Seward Highway, in
Chugach National Forest, approaching a snow-capped mountain range
Seward Highway
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Wintertime view of the Seward Highway at mile 97 (km 156), looking northbound as it passes through Bird. The
Chugach Mountains are in the background. The
Alaska Railroad tracks are to the left of the highway.
21.
Portage Glacier Highway
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The Portage Glacier Highway, or Portage Glacier Road, is a highway located in the U. S. state of Alaska. The highway is made up of a series of roads, bridges, and tunnels that connect the Portage Glacier area of the Chugach National Forest and the city of Whittier to the Seward Highway. Most of the travels through mainly rural areas just north of the Kenai Peninsula, with the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel passing under Maynard Mountain. Parts of the route were first constructed in the early 1900s, as of 2012, the highway has not been extended or rerouted. The main portion of the highway traveling from the terminus to the Begich. The portion of the Portage Glacier Highway traveling from the Seward Highway to the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center is designated as part of Forest Highway 35, a Federal Forest Highway. Forest Highways are funded and administered by the US Forest Service and the Federal Highway Administration, FFH-35 is one of the 33 Forest Highways that are currently designated in Alaska. The Portage Glacier Highway begins at an intersection with the Seward Highway. At this point, the highway is a two-lane, asphalt road, almost immediately after the Seward Highway intersection, the road crosses over the Coastal Classic line of the Alaska Railroad. The highway continues in a southeasterly direction along the Portage Valley, with Portage Creek to the north, after about 1.2 miles, the roadway intersects a small gravel road that leads to the Moose Flats Day Use area, which has access to several scenic hiking trails. Peaks of the Chugach Mountains, along with several hanging glaciers can be seen from the road, the highway passes through a low-lying wetland before reentering forest and providing access to the Alder Pond Day Use area and the Portage Valley RV park. Portage Glacier Highway continues southeastward, providing access to the Black Bear Campgrounds, the roadway bends eastward, passing the USFS Williwaw Campgrounds, as well as several small gravel roads. The road continues for a distance before passing the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center and associated buildings. The highway continues onto the Portage Creek Bridge, which is 114 feet long and it allows the highway to cross over the small Portage Creek, which is fed by the Portage Glacier and Portage Lake. The bridge ends at the start of the Portage Lake Tunnel, the tunnel is 445 feet long and constructed of concrete. The route proceeds on to a 0.5 mi portion of road known as the Rock Cut at Portage Lake by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities and this road passes along the coast of Portage Lake, and borders a large, man-made cliff to the north. This portion of the route terminates at the Placer Creek Bridge, the bridge, which is just 83 feet long, spans over Placer Creek, the smaller of the two creeks fed by Portage Lake. The highway continues to the six-lane Bear Valley Staging area, the road continues into the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel
Portage Glacier Highway
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The ruins of the former town of
Portage, destroyed in
1964
Portage Glacier Highway
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Portage Glacier Highway highlighted in red
Portage Glacier Highway
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Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, Portage Glacier Entrance
Portage Glacier Highway
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The Portage Glacier Highway and the Alaska Railroad passing the Whittier Harbor
22.
Portage Lake (Alaska)
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Portage Lake is a glacial lake in the Chugach National Forest of Alaska. It sits in a long, heavily glaciated valley, and abuts the calving face of Portage Glacier at its southern end, the lake has only become visible since approximately 1914, with the rapid retreat of Portage Glacier. The western shore of Portage Lake is easily accessed via a parking lot at the lakeside Begich Boggs Visitor Center. Portage Glacier Cruises operates a short cruise, which takes visitors near the face of the glacier. During winter and spring, the lake is a destination for cross-country skiing, kite skiing, mountain biking, skating, snowshoeing. The crust skiing season of mid spring is especially prized by skiers and its low temperature year-round makes Portage Lake a potentially dangerous locale for swimming or other water activities. Utah resident Levi Matheson Taylor saved an Anchorage resident from drowning after he attempted to swim 75 feet to a gravel bar, one man dead after attempting to retrieve a canoe
Portage Lake (Alaska)
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Portage Lake, as seen from the Western edge near the Begich Boggs Visitor Center
Portage Lake (Alaska)
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Portage Lake as viewed from near the terminus of Burns Glacier. Portage Glacier is visible on the left.
Portage Lake (Alaska)
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Cross-country skiers enjoy the spring "crust" skiing on Portage Lake
23.
Whittier, Alaska
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Whittier is a city at the head of the Passage Canal in the U. S. state of Alaska, about 58 miles southeast of Anchorage. The city is within the Valdez–Cordova Census Area, the 2015 population estimate was 214 people, almost all of whom live in a single building. Whittier is also a port for the Alaska Marine Highway, the region now occupied by Whittier was once part of the portage route of the Chugach people native to Prince William Sound. Later, the passage was used by Russian and American explorers, the nearby Whittier glacier was named for American poet John Greenleaf Whittier in 1915, and the town eventually took the name as well. During World War II, the United States Army constructed a facility, complete with port and railroad near Whittier Glacier. The spur of the Alaska Railroad to Camp Sullivan was completed in 1943, the two huge buildings that dominate the town were built after World War II. The 14-story Hodge Building was completed in 1957 and contains 150 two-, dependent families and Civil Service employees were moved into this efficient high rise. The new Whittier School was connected by a tunnel at the base of the west tower so students could easily and safely access school on days with bad weather. The building was named in honor of Colonel Walter William Hodge, who was a civil engineer, the other main structure in town, the Buckner Building, was completed in 1953, and was called the city under one roof. The Buckner Building was eventually abandoned and remains empty today, Buckner and Begich Towers were at one time the largest buildings in Alaska. The Begich Building is now a condominium, and along with the private residence known as Whittier Manor. The port at Whittier was an active Army facility until 1960, in 1962, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a petroleum products terminal, a pumping station and a 62-mile long,8 pipeline to Anchorage in Whittier. On March 28,1964, Whittier suffered over $10 million worth of damage in what is now known as the Good Friday earthquake. The earthquake remains the largest U. S. earthquake, measuring 9.2 on the moment magnitude scale, the tsunami that hit Whittier reached a height of 13 m and killed 13 people. Today, it is a popular port of call for cruise ships. It is utilized by local operations and about 100 passenger mid-sized cruise ships, after the tunnel expanded access to Whittier, it began to be visited by larger cruise lines. It is the point of one-way cruises from Anchorage to Vancouver by Princess Tours. Whittier is also popular with tourists, photographers, outdoor enthusiasts, paddlers, hikers, sport fishermen, Whittier is located at 60°46′27″N 148°40′40″W
Whittier, Alaska
–
Whittier Skyline
Whittier, Alaska
–
Whittier harbor
Whittier, Alaska
–
An
Alaska Railroad passenger train leaving Whittier towards the
Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel
24.
Prince William Sound
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Prince William Sound is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U. S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula and its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Other settlements on the sound, which numerous small islands, include Cordova and Whittier plus the Alaska native villages of Chenega. James Cook entered Prince William Sound in 1778 and named it Sandwich Sound, the Sound was named in 1778 to honour George IIIs third son Prince William Henry, then aged 13 and serving as a midshipman in the Royal Navy. In 1793, Alexander Andreyevich Baranov founded port Voskresensk in the sound, the first three-masted ship, Phoenix, was the first ship built by the Russians in America. Most of the land surrounding Prince William Sound is part of the Chugach National Forest, Prince William Sound is ringed by the steep and glaciated Chugach Mountains. The coastline is convoluted, with islands and fjords, several of which contain tidewater glaciers. The principal barrier islands forming the sound are Montague Island, Hinchinbrook Island, a 1964 tsunami, a result of the Good Friday earthquake, killed a number of Chugach villagers in the coastal village of Chenega and destroyed the town of Valdez. Media related to Prince William Sound at Wikimedia Commons
Prince William Sound
–
Prince William Sound, on the south coast of Alaska
25.
Chugach Sugpiaq
–
Chugach /ˈtʃuːɡætʃ/, Chugach Sugpiaq or Chugachigmiut is the name of an Alaska Native people in the region of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound on the southern coast of Alaska. The Chugach people are an Alutiiq people who speak the Chugach dialect of the Alutiiq language and their autonym Sugpiaq derives from suk, meaning person and -piaq, meaning real. The term Alutiiq derives from the Russian term for the Aleut people, according to Ethnologue, earlier terms for the Chugach such as Chugach Eskimo, South Alaska Eskimo, Sugpiak Eskimo, and Sugpiaq Eskimo, are pejorative. Chugach villages include Chenega Bay, Eyak, Nanwalek, Port Graham, Chugach people speak one of two dialects of the Pacific Gulf Yupik language, the other being Koniag. These Central Yupik languages belong to the Alaskan Yupik language family, once written in Cyrillic script, the language is now written in the Latin script. The Chugach people have lived in the region around Prince William Sound for millennia and they were the first indigenous Alaskans to encounter the Russian explorer Vitus Bering in 1741. The Russians were followed by Spanish, English, and American explorers, the Chugach have at times traded with or fought against neighboring groups, the Eyak, Ahtna, and the Tlingit. In 1964, a tsunami generated by the Good Friday earthquake destroyed the Chugach village of Chenega, the fishing-based Chugach economy was badly affected by the environmental damage caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Alutiiq Museum Chugach Alaska Corporation Chugach National Forest
Chugach Sugpiaq
–
Chugach man in traditional dress
Chugach Sugpiaq
–
Chugach woven spruce-root hat with
dentalium shells and
trade beads, Museum of Cultures, Helsinki
26.
United States Army
–
The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, the United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775. As a uniformed service, the Army is part of the Department of the Army. As a branch of the forces, the mission of the U. S. The branch participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the United States, the United States Army serves as the land-based branch of the U. S. Section 3062 of Title 10, U. S, the army was initially led by men who had served in the British Army or colonial militias and who brought much of British military heritage with them. As the Revolutionary War progressed, French aid, resources, a number of European soldiers came on their own to help, such as Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who taught Prussian Army tactics and organizational skills. The army fought numerous pitched battles and in the South in 1780–81 sometimes used the Fabian strategy and hit-and-run tactics, hitting where the British were weakest, to wear down their forces. Washington led victories against the British at Trenton and Princeton, but lost a series of battles in the New York and New Jersey campaign in 1776, with a decisive victory at Yorktown, and the help of the French, the Continental Army prevailed against the British. After the war, though, the Continental Army was quickly given land certificates, State militias became the new nations sole ground army, with the exception of a regiment to guard the Western Frontier and one battery of artillery guarding West Points arsenal. However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans, it was realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The War of 1812, the second and last war between the United States and Great Britain, had mixed results. After taking control of Lake Erie in 1813, the U. S. Army seized parts of western Upper Canada, burned York and defeated Tecumseh, which caused his Western Confederacy to collapse. Following U. S. victories in the Canadian province of Upper Canada, British troops, were able to capture and burn Washington, which was defended by militia, in 1814. Two weeks after a treaty was signed, Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans and Siege of Fort St. Philip, U. S. troops and sailors captured HMS Cyane, Levant, and Penguin in the final engagements of the war. Per the treaty, both sides, the United States and Great Britain, returned to the status quo. Both navies kept the warships they had seized during the conflict, the armys major campaign against the Indians was fought in Florida against Seminoles. It took long wars to defeat the Seminoles and move them to Oklahoma
United States Army
–
Storming of Redoubt #10 in the
Siege of Yorktown during the
American Revolutionary War prompted the British government to begin negotiations, resulting in the
Treaty of Paris and British recognition of the United States of America.
United States Army
–
Emblem of the United States Department of the Army
United States Army
–
General
Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking
Highlanders during the
defense of New Orleans, the final major battle of the War of 1812
United States Army
–
The
Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the American Civil War
27.
Mount Steller (Chugach Mountains)
–
Mount Steller is a peak at the far eastern end of the Chugach Mountains of Alaska, United States. It is notable for its location among extensive icefields. For example, it rises 8000 feet above the Bering Glacier to the south in about 4 horizontal miles, Mount Steller is the high point of Waxell Ridge, an east-west trending ridge on the south side of the Bagley Icefield, one of the largest icefields in North America. The large Bering Glacier flows past the east and south slopes of the ridge, the mountain was named for the naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller. Due to its location, poor weather, and comparatively low absolute elevation by Alaskan standards. The first ascent was in 1992
Mount Steller (Chugach Mountains)
–
Mount Steller
28.
Mount Gannett
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Mount Gannett is a 9, 649-foot peak in the Chugach Mountains of eastern Alaska, United States, located 50 miles east of the city of Anchorage. It was named by Lawrence Martin of the U. S. Geological Survey in 1911 for Henry Gannett. One arm of the Knik Glacier flows from the ice fields of Mount Gannetts north and east slopes, in between, the Gannett Glacier flows down a narrow valley northwest of the summit to join the Knik Glacier. The mountain has a topographic prominence of 4,300 feet. On November 22,1952, a United States Air Force Douglas C-124 Globemaster II military transport aircraft crashed high on the slopes of the mountain. All of the 52 people on board were killed, remains of the plane and the crash victims began to appear at the foot of the Colony Glacier in 2012
Mount Gannett
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Mount Gannett
29.
Bashful Peak
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Bashful Peak is a mountain in the U. S. state of Alaska, located in Chugach State Park. At 8,005 feet, Bashful is the highest peak in Chugach State Park, the peak carries snow year-round and several small glaciers hang from its steep western face. The peak was named in 1958 by members of the Mountaineering Club of Alaska because it is hidden by other peaks, ridges. Bashful Peak is a challenging climb due to its height, loose rock, remoteness, exposure, and the weather of the Chugach Mountains. Bashful Peak sees very few visitors, and there are no trails up the mountain itself
Bashful Peak
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The western face of Bashful Peak, as seen from the summit of Bold Peak
30.
Mount Billy Mitchell (Chugach Mountains)
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Mount Billy Mitchell is a prominent 6, 919-foot peak located in the Chugach Mountains,35 miles east of Valdez and 12 miles west of the Copper River in the U. S. state of Alaska. This mountain forms a prominent and easily visible landmark between mile markers 43 and 51 of the Richardson Highway, as the passes just to its west between Tonsina and the Thompson Pass. Mount Billy Mitchell was named for William Billy Mitchell, a general of the United States Army Air Service who is often referred to as the father of the United States Air Force. In response to the Klondike Gold Rush, the United States Army established numerous military outposts throughout the District of Alaska, as a lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps, Mitchell was stationed in Alaska at that time. Brunnell, Lieutenant Mitchell oversaw the construction of what became known as the Washington-Alaska Military Cable, construction of the WAMCATS system began in the summer of 1900. This telegraph line was the first to link American outposts in Eagle, Valdez and Nome with each other as well as to Washington, among the greatest logistical and technological achievements of its day, the WAMCATS included the first successful long-distance radio operation in the world. A historical marker is located at a highway turnout just north of where the Richardson Highway crosses the Tiekel River. Placed by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, the reads, Mount Billy Mitchell, Lt. William Billy Mitchell. In 1902 Lt. Billy Mitchell, U. S. Army Signal Corps, was sent to the territory of Alaska to construct a line linking Valdez. Mitchell learned to fly in 1916 and commanded units in WWI. He became the proponent to create an independent U. S. Air Force. Mitchells previous Alaska experience shaped his idea, he who holds Alaska will hold the world, in 1946 Mitchell was awarded posthumously a special non-combat Medal of Honor by Congress for outstanding pioneer service and foresight in field of American Military Aviation. The climate of the Chugach Mountains is strongly influenced by its close to Prince William Sound. The Gulf of Alaska generates powerful winter storms which drive heavy precipitation northwards into southern and Southcentral Alaska, more snow falls in the vicinity of Valdez—an average annual snowfall of 319 inches —than in any other location in the United States. Over thousands of years, this snow has accumulated to form glaciers on Mount Billy Mitchell, especially on its north face, which is its leeward side. Despite this long-term glaciation and even in the face of continuing heavy snowfall, because of this, Mount Billy Mitchells glaciers have retreated significantly in recent years. Billy Mitchell Worthington Glacier Billy Mitchell, Nome Convention and Visitors Bureau, Nome, classrooms for climate, a symposium on the changing Chugach, northern ecosystems, and the implications for science and society. Anchorage, Alaska, University of Alaska Anchorage
Mount Billy Mitchell (Chugach Mountains)
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View of the north (
leeward) face of Mount Billy Mitchell from mile marker 48 along the
Richardson Highway. An unnamed
glacier is visible in the
cirque.
Mount Billy Mitchell (Chugach Mountains)
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Mount Billy Mitchell
