Outdoors in and around Fairbanks

To live in Alaska ... you must enjoy the outdoors.  Or, pretend that you do.  Why?  Simple.  People have to justify moving this far north, somehow, and many do not want to admit the truth:  They're just here for the money.  So, love of the outdoors is a handy cover story, because what Alaska has the most of is outdoors.  If you believe people forced to go to the bathroom in the bushes are going to let you get away with staying in the city, think again. 

So, if you want to have any friends, you're going to have to go outdoors.   You're going to have to pack a bunch of gear, maybe load it into a Weasel or some other big piece of stuff (there is a funny chapter in the book on the difference between "gear" and "stuff"), and head for the boonies.  And you're not going to be able to just Weasel around for the weekend, either.  When you are outdoors, you actually have to do something.

What you have to do depends on where you are.  If you live in Rural or Road Alaska, you have to destroy something.  That something can be trees, cut down for logs or firewood, or a stream, bulldozed while mining.  But it's far better if the something has some chance, however remote, of eluding you.  That, after all, is why fishing and hunting are considered sports, even though the sport involved in four-wheeling up to an unarmed moose and shooting it with a large-caliber weapon is difficult for some people to see.  No other outdoor activity is considered as manly as killing something.  Besides, if you live far enough from a supermarket, you might need to eat it.

From:  Fashion Means Your Fur Hat is Dead:  A Guide to Good Manners and Social Survival in Alaska by Mike Doogan.

This book is really very funny, but I am not sure how much of the humor can be appreciated without the experience of living up here.  This post is a random assortment of photos from various hikes on trails in and around Fairbanks.

Ballaine Lake is on the UAF campus.

A number of pleasant trails start here.  

Birches on one of the many UAF trails

Northern Green Bog Orchid (Platanthera hyperborea)

This was the second wild orchid I found -- and amazingly there are patches of them along Willow Run Road.  They are very fragrant and bloom only in July.

Yellow Spotted Lady Slipper (Cypripedium passerinum)

This was the first orchid I encountered -- on the UAF Calypso Trail.  Seen in June, they have already quit blooming.  There is also a Calypso orchid but they bloomed (in May) before I discovered this trail

Alpine Arnica (Arnica alpina, ssp. angustifolia)

Butterfly

I should mention here that I have no intention of learning about butterflies.  Identifying birds and flowers is complicated and stressful enough.  (I know of a few mistakes I have made already and will eventually go back and correct them.)

Grass of Parnassus, or Bog Star (Parnassia palustris)

Sandhill cranes at Creamer's Field

Butter and Eggs, or Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris)

This is either Wild Sweet Pea or Eskimo Potato.  My book says they are easily confused -- which would seem to be quite a problem as the root of one is poisonous and the other is eaten raw or cooked by natives.

Northern Bedstraw (Galium boreale)

Boreal owl seen on a true "slog" though a bog with water higher than our knee-high boots in places -- the only dry ground was the top of tall tussocks that were quite difficult to balance on.  The weather was hot and the mosquitoes out in force.  The dogs loved it, though.

Meadow of Fireweed and Wild Rhubarb

 

Squirreltail Grass (Hordeum jubatum)

Pretty but dangerous to pets.  The spiked seeds can lodge in their throats requiring medical attention.  Alaskan Wildflowers Commonly seen along the Highways and Byways (Verna E. Pratt)

Moose in Goldstream Creek

Close-up

Here I will share Mike Doogan's description of the 4th of July:

Holidays in Alaska aren't like holidays anywhere else.  Take the Fourth of July.  Most Alaska communities have fireworks displays, even though it never gets dark (not Fairbanks, however).  Imagine a crowd of people standing around a baseball field.  Something goes bang.  The crowd ooohs.  A few seconds later, up in the bright summer sky, something goes pop.  The crowd ahhhs.  After an hour or so of that, everybody goes home.

No matter how hard everyone tries, it just isn't the same as watching a fireworks display somewhere it's dark enough to see the fireworks.

(Same as previous Doogan reference)

Ya gotta luv it here!