Journey to Alaska

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Aniakchak National Monument

"…it was the abomination of desolation, it was the prelude to hell." is how the Jesuit priest, Father Bernard Hubbard, described the inside of Aniakchak Caldera shortly after its eruption in 1931.

Aniakchak National Monument was established in 1978. The main feature of the Park is a 6-mile wide caldera, described by Father Hubbard. The caldera is a 2,000 foot deep circular topographic feature that is the result of the collapse of an emptied reservoir of molten rock some distance down below the surface.

The Park is approximately 600,000 acres, and is one of the least visited parks within the National Park Service. Between 1989 and 2001 Aniakchak averaged between 500 and 600 backcountry campers per year. For comparison, Katmai National Park which is also on the Alaska Peninsula, for the same interval of time averaged approximately 8000 backcountry campers per year. Still even more to the point, Yellowstone National Park also during this same interval of time averaged 39,000 backcountry campers.

Prior to 2001 there had never been a Cretaceous dinosaur found in this park or anywhere else in all of western Alaska.

Lupine, Aniakchak National Monument

The Twins, Aniakchak National Monument

Coastal rocks, Aniakchak National Monument

Rafting the Gates, Aniakchak National Monument

The Gates, Aniakchak National Monument

Journal Excerpts

King Salmon, Alaska

19 August, 2001
I woke this morning to rain and heavy wind. By mid-morning my pilot contacted me to tell me my flight to the caldera was cancelled.

20 August, 2001
This morning the rain has stopped but the wind is still blowing hard. No surprise that my flight is cancelled again.

21 August, 2001
I awoke this morning with some less than kind words for the weather. The wind is still blowing hard so my flight is cancelled again.

22 August, 2001
Patience, patience, patience. Looks like it has finally paid off. The weather is clear and the pilot has just let me know that we're set to go in a couple of hours. I'm excited enough that I think I can fly myself to the caldera.

Northern Alaska Peninsula caribou herd, Aniakchak National Monument

Aniakchak River

24 August 2001
Coming down the river we came on a dead bull caribou in the river itself. We guessed that it was a wolf kill as it seems a bear would have taken the animal out of the river and onto the bank. As this was a very fresh kill, we didn't stay around for long in the event that a bear might get interested in a free meal.

…the river is alive with salmon. In places along the river I've put an oar of the raft in the water thinking that I was getting near a gravel bar and all of a sudden the bar moves because it was a large group of salmon.

…we made camp around 9:00 pm. I noticed that in addition to salmon this lower stretch of river was also full of arctic char. After pitching my tent I tried my hand at catching dinner. In about 20 minutes I came back to camp ready to make a nice char dinner.

Aniakchak Bay

24 June 2002
We left the cabin and walked down the beach to continue documenting the dinosaur footprints we had found. We had walked less than 5 minutes when we saw 2 brown bears tumble down the very ravine that we had climbed up the day before. They appeared nearly full grown. Unfortunately they are coming our way but at a leisurely rate. We made our way back to the cabin where we could watch them from a relatively safe place as we waited for them to pass us.

…after an hour I went inside the cabin as it had started to rain and the bears seemed content to stay where they are. The rain has gotten harder but at least the cabin is dry.

…the weather has finally cleared, the bears have moved on down the beach, but now the tide has come in and the sea has covered our footprints. It seems that today is a lost day of work so we passed time playing cards.

Aniakchak Bay, Aniakchak National Monument