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For information on the Harriman Retraced Expedition e-mail: harriman2001@science.smith.edu |
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I got on the airplane this
morning, having slept in until the latest possible
moment. Had some orange juice, and had Mom and Erica
drop me off at the airport at about 9:30A.M. The plane
was absolutely packed full of people, mostly charter
fishermen, heading home. The flight was non-stop, so I
got to Seattle in no time. I claimed my baggage, and went
upstairs to meet Doug and LJ. I sat down at gate D6,
which is where they were supposed to be getting off.
Their time came and went, so I went looking around, and it
turned out that their plane had been switched to gate
D12. So I went over there a few minutes before they
got off. I met them, and we all went downstairs to
claim their bags. We all had a ton of gear and we went
looking for a cab. We found out eventually that for an
extra few bucks each we could rent a limo instead of a cab,
so we did! The driver packed us all up and took us to
the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel. This is the classiest hotel I've
ever seen! We went upstairs to our room, unpacked our
stuff really quickly, and then wandered around the hotel for
a few minutes. I took a shower, and put on my
suit-and-tie get-up. We then went to a required
meeting for the Harriman scholars. We met some people,
and talked about the logistics of the trip.
Directly following the meeting,
we all went to the dinner, which took three to four
hours. Very, VERY formal. Shelia Nickerson read
some poetry to us tonight -- very powerful and vivid.
LJ and I took some video after dinner, and now we're just
enjoying a T1 internet connection, and I am downloading
music. Tomorrow we all have to get up at 5:30A.M. and
go to the airport.
This morning we got a wake-up
call. It wasn't so bad to get up early, it was even a
bit refreshing to know that a body is still capable of
that! LJ and I went downstairs to the lobby and beat a
fair amount of the group to breakfast. We scored a
table and helped ourselves to a fancy buffet. The
Allisons joined us later on. We read the New York
Times, and made fun of President Bush for a bit.
Then we made our way to the Greyline bus that was to get us
to our plane. I talked with Pam Wright for the whole
bus trip. She had a lot of interesting things to say
about ecotourism and logging. Checking into our flight was a
piece of cake. We finally made our way to the gate and
found out that Zegram had chartered an entire Alaska
Airlines MD80! LJ, Doug and I had seats in the very
back of the plane. We got into Prince Rupert no
problem, and had a terrific welcome committee at the
airport. We all got onto buses, and got on a
ferry. Got off the ferry and were all taken to the
Crest Motel for lunch. Going through customs was a
cinch. We dropped off our bags and went into lunch, a
delicious buffet in a room that overlooked Prince Rupert and
the channel. After lunch, Doug, LJ, Allison
Sayer and I went out to check out the town. We walked
all over the place. We met the Litwins, so we walked
with them for a ways. We walked through the Cow Bay
District,which was different. By the time we had made
the circuit, we had just enough time to check out the
museum. We went in there, looked around, and hit the
slide show about the natural history of British
Colombia. We were all tired, so (at least I) was
starting to nod off. We were about 15 minutes late
getting back to the hotel, we were supposed to have a
meeting with the Young Explorers Team. Once that was
over, we all got on buses and headed down to the boat.
We got on the boat and got the
royal treatment. We checked in with the reception desk
and then we were shown to our rooms. We attended a
safety briefing which was boring. I had put on my tie,
and was the only person wearing one, which was cool.
We listened to lectures by Kay Sloan and Rosita Worl.
Tonight I sat with Paul Alaback and talked about some stuff
to do for my project. I finally learned how to deal
with my Arc software, so all I need now is a color printer,
and I'll have something to work with. Tomorrow morning
early is Cape Fox. Today began at about
5:45am. It was brutal, but both LJ and I got up,
showered and went to breakfast. It was a nice
continental breakfast. We were already anchored at
Cape Fox, so promptly after breakfast we donned our life
vests and got into zodiacs. I managed to get into the
second boat, because I was hanging out with Richard
Nelson. We got to shore, and I walked up to the
tideline. I was close to the film crew and out of
nowhere I heard: "Jonas!" I turned around and Allan
with the film crew for PBS said, "We need someone to help us
out." I said, 'I'm it!" So for the entire morning
reception I hauled a photograph bag and tripod around, and
ran errands for them. It was great, because I got to
get to all the places I'd never otherwise get to -- all
front row seats! I didn't get to look around much, but
still I was able to see the entire ceremony up close.
When we returned to the boat I
thanked the crew, because I wanted to do some more of it
later, and they said they'd give me a shout. We then
listened to Rosita Worl tell us all about the ceremony we
had just attended. That was followed by lunch.
At the very end of lunch, we were docked in
Metlakatla. The crew called me up to their room and I
picked up the bag and tripod and some other gear. We
all disembarked and walked around town for a while.
When we got back aboard, the Lieutenant Governor and several
museum curators from across the country lectured to us about
the significance of the Ketchikan stop and the repatriation
of the Native artifacts from Cape Fox. When they were
done, we were at the dock in Ketchikan. Once again the film crew called
me up to the deck, and we filmed the process of unloading
the artifacts from the boat. It was a big event and
was being recorded and watched by many. With the film
crew, I was right in the midst of things. After the
unloading, the crew and I went to an elderÌs house
where he lectured to us about the importance of
preservation. Then we all proceeded to the Civic
Center on a hilltop in Ketchikan. This is where all
the artifacts were being taken and where the potlatch was
later held. It was teriffic to be working
with the film crew, because even though it was tiring, it
was fun, and we were right there in the midst of things and
were never bored! We got back to the boat and I just
finished downloading pictures of the day from disks to my
hard drive. ItÌs wonderful!!! Tomorrow
morning we are being granted a bit of a reprieve -- we get
to sleep in until 6:30A.M.
We slept until 7:00A.M! We
had a nice breakfast, it consisted of a ton of bacon, and
pulled into the dock at Wrangell. LJ and I went down
to our rooms to organize the technical gear. After we
did that, the boat was calling for people to begin departing
the boat. LJ and I decided to take a ten-minute nap,
but were still able to catch up with the walking tour, no
problem. We walked a mile out of town and
looked at the petroglyphs, which was really neat.
Afterward, LJ and I met up with with Julia O'Malley,
and left the beaten track to look for a house that belonged
to an old friend of hers. We found it, took a few
pictures, and then proceeded to the Elks Lodge where the
community welcomed us, and the Harriman Expedition offered
gifts to the town. We watched some Tlingit dancers and
bought garnets from some local children. Back on board, after lunch, Paul
Alaback gave a lecture on the Tongass, and made reference to
my GIS maps that I had set up on laptops for the
lecture. After that we had several hours of free time,
so LJ and I slept for three hours. When we finally got
up, it was a half hour before dinner, and everyone was at
the formal cocktail party having free booze. We
showered, and got ready. The dinner was great, and in the
evening the YET got together and organized stuff for us to
be doing tomorrow.
This morning we were scheduled
to get up at an ungodly hour -- something like 4:30A.M. to
see the entry to Tracy Arm. I also knew that we had to
come out Tracy Arm, so whatever we missed on the way up, we
could see on the way out. LJ and I showered, and had
breakfast. We finally made it up to the top deck and
we had plenty of time to see plenty. Right off, Allen Moore and Larry
Hott snagged me to do some camera assistance for them.
We interviewed several people including Kristine Crossen,
Patricia Savage and Kim Heacox. After they were done
filming, I got to take pictures of my own. After Tracy
Arm, which was magnificently beautiful, we proceeded
northward, and listened to a lecture by Bill Cronon about
the gold rush of the late 19th
century. Very well done! That over, we had lunch
and then pulled into Juneau. I went with Larry and Allen to
interview Paul Alaback in a forest setting somewhere.
That turned out to be an adventure, because we had a bit of
a hike to do in a patch of forest near Lemon Creek.
Part way through the interview, they ran out of batteries
for their wireless mike. I had to run back to the car
and back up the mountain -- twice to get extras.
Still, it was a lot of fun. Then back to the boat to
get dressed up for the governor's dinner at the mansion in
Juneau. It was a nice dinner, in which
gifts were exchanged as usual. Following, we proceeded
back down to the boat, and the governor and his wife
followed. Before dinner, I had a chance to interview
the governor about some issues concerning Alaska. I
didn't actually interview him, but I held the boom
mike. We had dinner on the boat --with Marjorie and
Debbie no less! Afterwards the governor gave a speech
about how great the Harriman Alaska Expedition was, and how
great Alaska is. Then he took questions. LJ and
I presented him with a T-shirt and made a short speech in
front of everyone, and I thought I did a great
job.
This morning began at the
ghastly hour of 4:30A.M. The boat entered Peril Strait
even earlier, but most of us were not willing to get up, but
we made it to the top deck by the time we cruised through
Salisbury Sound. It wasn't raining, but the breeze was
cold and it was cloudy. Neva Strait held nothing of
too much interest, but Olga Strait yielded a sow grizzly
bear and her cub walking along the shore as we
passed. We cruised by Sitka, and docked
at the Petro Marine Fuel Dock near Seafood Producers
Cooperative. The group disembarked from the boat at
9:30A.M., then milled around for a bit and before boarding
Tribal Tours buses. We rode to the end of the
road system and examined the site of the former Alaska Pulp
Corporation. The Sitka Conservation Society
had put tour guides throughout the busses. After the
pulp mill examination, the group proceeded to Allen
Marine. We watched the workers for a bit, and then
boarded buses and back to the boat. After an exquisite lunch, the
group disperesed. Some went downtown, and others went
to the National Historical Park, and we all got back to the
boat by 5:30P.M. We cruised west, then north to Point
Adolphus.
Today was pretty cool. It
was tiring as usual, because our wake-up call was at
5:30A.M. I showered and ran up to the top deck to get
some digital video of the whales, of which there were
dozens, swimming around Point Adolphus. Our boat
floated around for a while and everyone took a bunch of
pictures. After breakfast we motored into
Glacier Bay and by South Marble Island. We passed
dozens of sea lions and hundreds of birds on the
island. After that we cruised up to the far northeast
arm of Glacier Bay. It was there that the sun finally
came out -- it was warm and beautiful, and we could see the
glaciers and mountains perfectly. I helped the film crew with
interviews -- of which they did about a dozen all day.
I got to be in charge of doing the film releases today,
since Allison was super sick. After we saw all of the
glaciers that we could stomach for a day, we motored out of
Glacier Bay, out of Icy Strait and out of Cross Sound.
By that time we were having dinner. After dinner LJ, Megan and
Elizabeth all went out onto the back deck to fly the kite I
bought in Wrangell. It was a ton of fun. We had
an audience and we managed to film the whole hour-long
escapade with my camcorder. We took the footage back
to our room and watched it. Then we went and mounted
our kite next to the Alaskan flag and the flag of Smith
College. Tomorrow it will be interesting to see who
notices it, and what peoples' reactions to it will be.
This morning we had to get up
early to greet the incoming Yakutat visitors. As we
pulled into Yakutat Harbor, a pilot boat dropped off the
students and some Native speakers. First thing in the
morning we had a lecture from one of them about the people
that have always lived in the Yakutat area. After
that, LJ and I were introduced to the Yakutat
students. After we picked the folks up, we motored to
the Hubbard Glacier. It is supposed to be the largest
tidewater glacier in Alaska, which was pretty cool, but we
couldn't get very close -- maybe 5 miles from it. It
was still impressive, because it was so big. Then we
motored back to Yakutat and I slept for 2 hours, which was
really nice. Later Doug, LJ, Larry, Allen,
Allison Sayer and I went on a hike on a gravel trail that
followed an old railroad. There were lots of
salmonberries out and about and I got to play naturalist for
a bit, which was fun. Allen found a bike ditched in
the woods and I put the chain back on and rode off on
it. It was definitely a junker, a piece of garbage and
way too small, but it was fun to ride around on. After
a bit, we all got ourselves back to town and met up at the
ANB Hall to watch some Native dancers. Presently, we
all got back on board the ship, and spent the rest of the
evening working.
Today was pretty cool. I
forgot that there was a scholars meeting at 8 A.M., so
last night I had told LJ that we could do some serious
sleeping in. As it turned out, Doug called us about
ten minutes before the meeting and said that we didn't have
to be there. Five minutes later Doug called again and
said that we did have to be there. So LJ and I threw
on some clothes and were the third and fourth people to the
meeting. The meeting was tedious -- Tom Litwin pretty
much gave us the rundown about how people were tired and how
that we should be having fun and that every single event
that was offered in every single community was not
required. Pretty much itÌs what Doug has been
telling LJ and I, only it took 25 P.hd.s an hour of agreeing
with each other to finally come to the conclusion that, yes,
having fun as a first priority. After that everyone had
breakfast and then went up on deck to watch for Cape St.
Elias and Kayak Island. They popped up in the distance
and I got it documented. About an hour later it was
suggested that we all come topside to get a look at a
massive congregation of sea birds and humpback whales
feeding off of Cape St. Elias. It was indeed very
impressive as the whales were lunge feeding and there were
literally thousands of birds all around us -- all
feeding. After that excitement, I went to sleep for a
bit longer. When I woke up, it was time for
lunch. By the time lunch was finished, our boat was
anchored off of the coast of Kayak Island. Expedition
members gradually disembarked by zodiac for shore.
Once on shore, expedition members split up into
groups. I went with Conrad Field on the
Ïlong walk, which covered all of the intricacies of a
beach. We walked through estuary grasses, the high
tide line and the intertidal zone. We hiked back after
a ways, by which time I was exhausted. We zodiaced (is
this a word?) back to the big boat and I promptly went to
sleep. A couple hours later, LJ and I were up for
dinner. The food didnÌt look too great, so I
went to the library to do my evening chores, so I could get
to bed early. Cordova tomorrow.
This morning we got up after a
nice long sleep. We had breakfast and by the time we
were done we were docked in Cordova. It was raining
and I got out of the Wetland walk on the Copper River Delta
by going with the film crew. We went downtown and
looked through the museum. Then we all went to the
Orca Bay Lodge -- formerly the Orca Bay Cannery. We
did some filming in the rain and then headed back to the
boat. We got on with some new passengers. Jamie
Kenworthy from the Alaska Science & Technology Fund was
there and so was Mead Treadwell from the Institute of the
North. Both of them are the reason LJ, Doug and I are
on the boat to begin with. They joined us on the leg
from Cordova to Valdez. As we went through Prince
William Sound we could see five oil tankers on the horizon
queued to enter the Port of Valdez. Prince William
Sound was flat calm and yielded some good views of the
Chugach Range. The film crew did a couple
interviews on the top deck it was so nice out. There
was an on- board panel discussion that was very
interesting. Everyone up there seemed to think that
Alaska was dependent on the oil industry, and thus we should
drill Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge so we don't disappear
from the world. The thing that just drives me crazy,
is the fact that these people are close minded to the fact
that if the Alaskan economy was to diversify or become less
dependent on oil by increasing technology development, we
wouldnÌt have to drill in the first place!
Anyway, by the time the panel
discussion was done, everyone went to have dinner and then
we were in the Port Of Valdez. I jumped on the bus
with the film crew and went with the rest of the herd to the
end of the Alaska Pipeline. It was a pretty
interesting tour and we saw a lot. Took a lot of
pictures too. Made our way back to the boat and burned
a CD with all Harriman related documents for Jordan to
update the Institute of the North's website. LJ and I
are going to try and sleep on the top deck (outside)
tonight.
I woke up this morning to the
sound of the Filipino crew mopping the decks. It was
super early. I managed to get back to sleep and woke
up at the wake-up call like everyone else. When I did
finally get up, we were in College Fiord. We cruised
by Wellesley, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Baltimore,
Radcliffe, Harvard and Yale Glaciers. There was a stop
in between where everyone cruised around in zodiacs looking
at glaciers. I went with the film crew to interview
Kathy Frost and later Kristine Crossen. There was a lot of calving going
on, on Harvard Glacier that I got some good pictures
of. We boarded the ship and set sail for
Harriman Fiord. I listened to a portion of Kristine's
lecture and then went to take a nap. When I woke up,
we were passing Point Doran, which is where the original
Harriman Expedition just barely slipped by. We nosed
in and checked out Cascade, Barry and Coxe Glaciers and then
sailed further southwest down Harriman Fiord. We got
good looks at Serpentine, Baker, Detached, Surprise,
Cataract, Roaring, Harriman, Dirty, Wedge and Toboggan
Glaciers. We sailed to the end of the Fiord and
zodiaced to shore next to the Harriman Glacier. I went
with the film crew and we interviewed Kristine Crossen, and
then LJ and I got an interview in. It was a beautiful
glacier and it was super bright and sunny (as it had been
all day,) so it was very enjoyable. After a couple hours we got back
to the Clipper Odyssey for the deck BBQ of lobster
and rib eye. It was great to eat outside in the
sun. Then we set sail for Night Island, which is where
we will end up tonight at about 1:00A.M. Because of
the nice weather, we're (LJ, Elizabeth and Megan) going to
go sleep up on top again tonight.
Today started with the mop crew
waking us all up. Since it got a bit cooler last
night, we were covered in dew this morning, and I had to
hang up my sleeping bag to dry. I wolfed down some
breakfast and then reported to the film crew, who were going
out in the zodiac to film. I carried up their stuff
and went out in the boat with them. We interviewed
David Policansky and Pam Wright. It was fun, and
beautiful. After a five mile trip, we got
back to the boat. I goofed off with my photos for a
bit and then grabbed a quick lunch. By the time we
were done with lunch, we were anchored up at Latouche Island
Copper Mine. I zodiaced ashore with the film crew and
we all hiked up to a huge pile of tailings and interviewed
Bob Peck and then Paul Alaback. We got back to the
beach, in just enough time to catch the last zodiac.
We weren't done yet, though. Allison Eberhard and I
went swimming really quick. We both ran in with all
our clothing on for a few minutes. We dunked ourselves
a couple times and then jumped in the zodiac. We got
back to the Clipper Odyssey, and I took a warm
shower and slept through a lecture and dinner. LJ came
and got me at about 9 P.M., because the scholars were going
to the top deck to get a group photo. At that time we
were in Icy Bay and had a great view of Tiger Glacier.
Tomorrow is our last full day on board.
Today was tiring. It
started early, as the Clipper Odyssey anchored off
the Chiswell Islands. LJ and I had breakfast and then
went back to our room to wait for a boarding call.
Allen Moore called up and said, "Come on up to help us
out." So LJ and I went up there with Allison
Eberhard. We got on a zodiac and cruised around.
We interviewed Kathy Frost. These islands were pretty
slick. The islands are relatively
small, but they rise hundreds of feet out of the
ocean. All of the islands are bird rookeries and sea
lion colonies. It started to sprinkle a bit, so the
film crew bagged up all their gear in garbage bags. I
was holding it, and at one point Allen asked for his pack
that I had on. I proceeded to take off the lens bag,
which knocked the film camera off my lap and to the floor of
the zodiac. The result was that the handle had almost
been ripped off -- the four screws that held it on stripped
and snapped. The incident pretty much put the camera
out of commission. They did some more shooting with
their digital camera, which was OK. They didnÌt
seem to be bothered by my accident either, so that was
good. We got back to the boat, had
lunch, and by the time we were done, we were anchored in
Harris Bay. Expedition members zodiaced to shore and
explored for a couple hours. It was pouring rain, but
the film crew (I was still with them) interviewed Aaron
Crowell. We were at a site of Native dwellings that
dated several hundred years. Then we zodiaced back to
the Clipper Odyssey, and did our work early, because
we have to wrap everything up tonight -- weÌre off
tomorrow.
For information on the Harriman Retraced Expedition e-mail: harriman2001@science.smith.edu
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2001
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2001
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2001
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2001
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2001
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