Finally here, and settling in

Hey friends!  I made it safely to Alaska.  Right now, I'm looking out my window and see mountains.  It's a cloudy, but sunny evening here in Port Alsworth.  I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up, I just now have internet.  A week without was going to do me in.  But I've been so busy anyways that I wouldn't have had the energy to write anything anyways!  But now that jet-lag has finally subsided (maybe?) I can start to post! 

I've been here for about a week, having my first day this last Monday.  And let me tell you, I've been a busy bee!  Everyday has brought new adventures and a host of new people.  I guess I should probably get you all up to speed! 

I landed in Anchorage on Sunday morning (super early, we're talking 1am their time), and had all of Sunday to explore and do my shopping.  My boss took me out to Portage Glacier, which unfortunately due to climate change, has receded so much that it's very difficult to see from the visitor center.  It was a pretty cool exhibit though.  I recommend you all take a look someday.  To get there I had to take the Seward Highway, which incidentally is one of the most scenic drives in the United States!  To one side you see mountains.  To the other, Cook Inlet (a body of water) and mountains.  All the while you are driving through Chugach State Park, the largest state park in the U.S.  It's all forested area, and is beautiful.  But be wary, falling rocks happen!  Thankfully not while I was there.

After Portage, we went over to the Alaska Animal Conservation Center, where I had the opportunity to see several Alaskan animals, including brown bears, black bears, moose, wood bison, and caribou.  It was great to see that they were rehabilitating these animals, but almost sad, because it really makes you think, what happens to the animals once they are released into the wild?  Will they survive?  They've been around humans so long, how will they ever make it?  I would be interested in seeing how this works out in the future. 

 The next day I took my first bush plane flight out to Port Alsworth.  The plane was super small (although large by their standards).  It held 9 people including the pilot.  I'm amazed all my groceries and bags fit in there, with a full plane.  It was an hour long and we flew through Lake Clark Pass, which is between the Alaskan and Aleutian Mountain Ranges.  Guys, it was amazing.  I could see glaciers in the mountains, melting away with the heat.  There were small waterfalls everywhere.  It was gorgeous.  We landed on one of the 2 runways and I had an hour to unpack and settle in.  Certainly wasn't enough time for me, but you have to roll with the punches. 

After unpacking I went on the visitor center to meet the woman I'd be working with and the other park staff.  Everyone here is so nice!  I already know that I'm going to love it here.  And I love the visitor center!  Unlike others that I've been to, this one is modestly sized, and basically one big room.  But it creates a sense of an open atmosphere, where people really are welcome, to sit down and talk, watch park videos, listen to presentations, or just come in for a warm cup of coffee or tea.   

After meeting a whole bunch of people, the back-country ranger took me and another kid out on Lake Clark to drop off and pick people up!  It was really a great day to be on the boat.  The air was clear, the water was an amazing blue, and it wasn't too cold.

The reason the water has such a beautiful color is that it is glacial fed.  I'm told that in the springtime after the ice first starts to melt, it is incredibly clear, but once into the summer, the ice melts more, moving down from the mountains, mixing into the water glacial silt, giving it a milky color. 

Working at the visitor center has proved to be pretty awesome.  I get to talk to people all day about the park and how it came to be, and every day I'm learning something new.  I've learned about steam baths, salmon, wildflowers, and other plants and their medicinal uses.  I've learned about traditional Athabascan Dena'ina culture (that's the native people from this area).  Every day something new.  And I'm just full of questions, always searching to learn more.

And I got my first real assignment!  On my second day I hiked up to Tanalian Falls and got a sense of the trail.  Turns out I'll be putting together a Falls Trail Guided Hike!  I'm going to talk about the local plant-life and traditional uses, as well as bunch of other information.  It was pretty overwhelming at first, but now I'm getting super excited about making it happen!  Let's just hope I can pull it off.

The trail itself is beautiful, ending at Tanalian Falls, which supposedly has the best tasting water at its base, update on that fact to come I promise.  Plus, throughout the entire walk, if you just turn around every now and then, you get this spectacular view of Lake Clark or Kontrashibuna Lake.  It's amazing!  I carry my camera everywhere, so you are all in for a treat with pictures! 

Well, I think that's enough for the first post from Alaska.  I hope to add another each day, so it's not so overwhelming with text and pictures.  Until next time!