Petersburg and Thomas Bay, Southeast Alaska
“What’s it like to live in Alaska?”
Aside from the geography, botany, wildlife, and weather, visitors to Southeast Alaska are often curious about what it might be like to live at the north end of a coastal waterway that begins in Seattle, at the eastern edge of a marine community that is linked to Russia and Siberia, and in towns that are for the most part unlinked by roads. Our visit to the town of Petersburg allowed us to investigate the question firsthand.
After climbing the steep gangway from the floating dock to the town streets, we discovered a place with a strong sense of itself as a fishing town founded by Norwegians. From the carefully tended gardens to the purse seiners, salmon trawlers, and crabbers moored at dockside, the pride of these people in their lives and homes was evident.
A quick Zodiac ride across Wrangell Narrows landed us at the edge of Kupreanof Island’s Stickeen Wilderness Area. After bypassing a raven eviscerating a crab on the dock railing, we began a gentle walk through forest and into muskeg. Deer fern were sending up new shoots, hermit thrushes were singing, and the occasional bald eagle crossed the thin gaps between the trees overhead. Once up at the bog, a brilliant Steller’s jay hopped from pine to pine as we hunkered down to do some belly botanizing. We were lucky enough to come upon one of the world’s carnivorous plants (in this case, a round-leaved sundew) in battle with a larvae, the outcome uncertain. While we were hunched over the mortal combat, a Sitka black-tailed deer walked into view, munching on vegetation, reminding us of others’ efforts to make a living here.
Back in town, some flew in helicopters to Patterson Glacier and, once there, sipped the naturally chilled water and wondered at the patterns sunk into the ice by the collaboration of sun and fallen leaves. Others boarded a float plane to circle above dramatic LeConte Glacier’s chaotic outflow and watched below them harbor seals hauled out on ice. Still others heard from locals at the fish processing plant about the nuts and bolts of making a living in Petersburg.
In the late afternoon, we again immersed ourselves in Southeast Alaska’s magnificent landscape, cruising to Thomas Bay, continuing to gather the memories and impressions that shape our sense of place. What’s it like to live in Alaska? All of us can now say that, for a week, we’ve found our own answers.
“What’s it like to live in Alaska?”
Aside from the geography, botany, wildlife, and weather, visitors to Southeast Alaska are often curious about what it might be like to live at the north end of a coastal waterway that begins in Seattle, at the eastern edge of a marine community that is linked to Russia and Siberia, and in towns that are for the most part unlinked by roads. Our visit to the town of Petersburg allowed us to investigate the question firsthand.
After climbing the steep gangway from the floating dock to the town streets, we discovered a place with a strong sense of itself as a fishing town founded by Norwegians. From the carefully tended gardens to the purse seiners, salmon trawlers, and crabbers moored at dockside, the pride of these people in their lives and homes was evident.
A quick Zodiac ride across Wrangell Narrows landed us at the edge of Kupreanof Island’s Stickeen Wilderness Area. After bypassing a raven eviscerating a crab on the dock railing, we began a gentle walk through forest and into muskeg. Deer fern were sending up new shoots, hermit thrushes were singing, and the occasional bald eagle crossed the thin gaps between the trees overhead. Once up at the bog, a brilliant Steller’s jay hopped from pine to pine as we hunkered down to do some belly botanizing. We were lucky enough to come upon one of the world’s carnivorous plants (in this case, a round-leaved sundew) in battle with a larvae, the outcome uncertain. While we were hunched over the mortal combat, a Sitka black-tailed deer walked into view, munching on vegetation, reminding us of others’ efforts to make a living here.
Back in town, some flew in helicopters to Patterson Glacier and, once there, sipped the naturally chilled water and wondered at the patterns sunk into the ice by the collaboration of sun and fallen leaves. Others boarded a float plane to circle above dramatic LeConte Glacier’s chaotic outflow and watched below them harbor seals hauled out on ice. Still others heard from locals at the fish processing plant about the nuts and bolts of making a living in Petersburg.
In the late afternoon, we again immersed ourselves in Southeast Alaska’s magnificent landscape, cruising to Thomas Bay, continuing to gather the memories and impressions that shape our sense of place. What’s it like to live in Alaska? All of us can now say that, for a week, we’ve found our own answers.
