U.S.A. - Alaska - Unalaska

UNALASKA - PORT OF DUTCH HARBOR
Sunset settles over Unalaska in vibrant blue and pink hues, providing a spectacular display against the brilliant green velvet-like backdrop of the valley and the rainbow colored homesthat dot the hillsides.

Sent by Grand Aleutian Hotel from Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Unalaska (Aleut: Iluulux̂) is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area, a regional component of the Unorganized Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska is located on Unalaska Island and neighboring Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands off mainland Alaska. The population was 4,376 at the 2010 census, which is 79% of the entire Aleutians West Census Area. Unalaska is the second-largest city in the Unorganized Borough, behind Bethel. (read further)

U.S.A. - Alaska - Juneau (2)

JUNEAU
Alaska
The aerial tramway, running from Juneau's cruise ship dock to a level platform on Mt. Roberts, takes people 1,750 feet up the mountain for a magnificent view of downtown Juneau, the Inside Passage and the Gastineau Channel.

Sent by Scott from Juneau, Alaska.

U.S.A. - Alaska - Kobuk Valley National Park

ALASKA
Base of a white spruce in midnight sun, Little Kobuk Sand Dunes, Kobuk Valley National Park.

Sent by Bernadette, a postcrosser from New Jersey, USA.

Kobuk Valley National Park is in northwestern Alaska 25 miles (40 km) north of the Arctic Circle. It was designated a United States National Park in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. It is noted for the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes and caribou migration routes. The park offers backcountry camping, hiking, backpacking, and dog sledding. There are no designated trails or roads in the park, which at 1,750,716 acres (2,735.49 sq mi; 7,084.90 km²), is approximately the size of the state of Delaware. The park is entirely above the Arctic Circle.
No roads lead to the park. It is reachable by foot, dogsled, snowmobile, and chartered air taxis from Nome and Kotzebue year-round. The park is one of the least visited in the National Park System. (read further)

USA - Alaska - Juneau

JUNEAU
Alaska
Composite view of the Capitol Building, Governor's Mansion and replica of the Liberty Bell.

Sent by Corinne from Juneau, Alaska.

The City and Borough of Juneau /ˈdʒuːnoʊ/ is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in thepanhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska and the 2nd largest city in the United States by area. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900. The municipality unified on July 1, 1970, when the city of Juneau merged with the city of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the current home rule municipality.

The area of Juneau is larger than that of Rhode Island and Delaware individually and almost as large as the two states combined. Downtown Juneau 58°18′07″N 134°25′11″W is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and across the channel from Douglas Island. As of the 2010 census, the City and Borough had a population of 31,275. As of July 2011 the population estimate from the United States Census Bureau is 32,164.

Juneau is named after gold prospector Joe Juneau, though the place was for a time called Rockwell and then Harrisburg(after Juneau's co-prospector, Richard Harris). The Tlingit name of the town is Dzántik'i Héeni ("Base of the Flounder’s River", dzánti ‘flounder’, –kʼi ‘base’, héen ‘river’), and Auke Bay just north of Juneau proper is called Áak'w ("Little lake", áa‘lake’, -kʼ ‘diminutive’) in Tlingit. The Taku River, just south of Juneau, was named after the cold t'aakh wind, which occasionally blows down from the mountains.

Downtown Juneau sits at sea level, with tides averaging 16 feet (5 m), below steep mountains about 3,500 feet (1,100 m) to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) high. Atop these mountains is the Juneau Icefield, a large ice mass from which about 30 glaciers flow; two of these, the Mendenhall Glacier and the Lemon Creek Glacier, are visible from the local road system; the Mendenhall glacier has been generally retreating; its front face is declining both in width and height. (read further)

USA - Alaska - Denali National Park (3)

DENALI NATIONAL PARK, ALASKA
Dall sheep rest on a ridge in the fall at Denali National Park.

Sent by Maureen, a postcrosser from Alaska, USA.

USA - Alaska - State Flower

Forget-Me-Nots
Mountain Forget-me-nots are found throughout Alaska. Forget-me-nots are the Alaska state flower.

Sent by Sarah, a WiP partner from Alaska, USA.

"Alaska's state flower is the alpine forget-me-not. It was chosen in 1949. The alpine forget-me-not is a perennial that grows 5 to 12 inches high in alpine meadows. The flowers have five connected salviform petals, colored sky blue, that are a quarter to a third of an inch wide. They have a white inner ring and a yellow center. The best time to see the alpine forget-me-not is midsummer, from late June to late July. In addition to finding the Myosotis alpestris, botanists in Denali National Park might also come across the mountain forget-me-not (Eritrichium aretiodes) and the splendid forget-me-not (Eritrichium splendens)."(Source)

USA - Alaska - Denali National Park (2)

Between 1935 and 1943 the WPA's Federal Art Project printed over two million posters in 35,000 different designs to stir the public's imagination for education, theater, health safety, and travel. Due to their fragile nature only two thousand posters have survived. This contemporary design illustrates many of the WPA era posters, including those of our National Parks.

Sent by Liz from Fairbanks, Alaska.

USA - Alaska - Denali National Park (1)

Mt. McKinley, Alaska
Rising 20,320 feet (6,194 m) from sea level, Mt. McKinley has a greater mystical rise the Mt. Everest.

Sent by The Lowe Family, postcrosser from Washington, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : Mount McKinley or Denali (Koyukon Athabaskan for "The High One", Dghelaayce’e in Ahtna) in Alaska, United States is the highest mountain peak in North America and the United States, with a summit elevation of 20,320 feet (6,194 m) above sea level. The CIA World Factbook lists its summit elevation as 6,198 metres (20,335 ft). It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.

Mount McKinley is a granitic pluton. It has been uplifted by tectonic pressure while at the same time, erosion has stripped away the (somewhat softer) sedimentary rock above and around the mountain.

The forces that lifted Mount McKinley—the subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the North American plate—also raised great ranges across southern Alaska. As that huge sheet of ocean-floor rock plunges downward into the mantle, it shoves and crumples the continent into soaring mountains which include some of the most active volcanoes on the continent. Mount McKinley in particular is uplifted relative to the rocks around it because it is at the intersection of major active strike-slip faults (faults that move rocks laterally across the Earth's surface) which allow the deep buried rocks to be unroofed more rapidly compared to those around them.

Mount McKinley has two significant summits: the South Summit is the higher one, while the North Summit has an elevation of 19,470 feet (5,934 m) and a prominence of approximately 1,320 feet (402 m). The North Summit is sometimes counted as a separate peak (see e.g., the List of United States fourteeners) and sometimes not; it is rarely climbed, except by those doing routes on the north side of the massif.

Five large glaciers flow off the slopes of the mountain. The Peters Glacier lies on the northwest side of the massif, while the Muldrow Glacier falls from its northeast slopes. Just to the east of the Muldrow, and abutting the eastern side of the massif, is the Traleika Glacier. The Ruth Glacier lies to the southeast of the mountain, and the Kahiltna Glacier leads up to the southwest side of the mountain.

The Koyukon Athabaskan people who inhabit the area around the mountain referred to the peak as Dinale or Denali ("the high one" or "the great one"). In the late 1890s, a gold prospector named it "McKinley" as political support for then-president William McKinley. The Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain to Denali, which is how it is referred to locally. However, a 1975 request by the Alaska state legislature to the United States Board on Geographic Names to do the same was blocked by Ohio congressman Ralph Regula, whose district includes McKinley's hometown. Members of the Ohio congressional delegation continue to protect the McKinley name, blocking attempts by the Alaska congressional delegation to get the Board of Geographic Names to change it to Denali. Thus, "Denali" is correct according to the Alaska state board, while "McKinley" is correct according to the national board.

USA - Alaska - Ketchikan

KETCHIKAN, ALASKA
Aerial view of downtown Ketchikan with the cruise ship dock.

Sent by Sarah, a WiP partner from Alaska, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : Ketchikan is a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States, the southeasternmost sizable city in that state. With an estimated population of 7,368 in 2010 within the city limits, it is the fifth most populous city in the state.

Ketchikan's economy is based upon tourism and fishing, and the city is known as the "Salmon Capital of the World." The Misty Fjords National Monument is one of the area's major attractions. For most of the latter half of the 20th century, a large portion of Ketchikan's economy and life centered around the Ketchikan Pulp Company pulp mill in nearby Ward Cove.

Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town. Ketchikan comes from the Tlingit name for the creek, Kitschk-hin, the meaning of which is unclear. It may mean "the river belonging to Kitschk"; other accounts claim it means "Thundering Wings of an Eagle."

Ketchikan's secondary post office box ZIP code, 99950, is the highest ZIP code ever assigned in the United States, although most residents use the ZIP code 99901. Ketchikan also has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles, found at three major locations: the City of Saxman, Totem Bight State Park, and the Totem Heritage Center. Some totem poles are replicas made during the Roosevelt Administration through the CCC, which employed Natives in replicating their heritage through carving totems.

Ketchikan is located on Revillagigedo Island, 90 miles (145 km) north of Prince Rupert, British Columbia and 235 miles (378 km) south of Juneau, Alaska.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.1 square miles (10.7 km²). 3.4 square miles (8.7 km²) of it is land and 0.8 square miles (2.0 km²) of it (18.60%) is water.

The ½-mile-wide channel called the Tongass Narrows separates Ketchikan from Gravina Island, where Ketchikan International Airport is located. In August 2005 the 2005 Highway Bill provided for $223M to build the Gravina Island Bridge (nicknamed "the Bridge to Nowhere" by its critics) between Ketchikan and Gravina Island. The bridge would have connected the island of Ketchikan to Gravina Island where the airport is located, so that one can drive to the airport rather than taking the ferry across the waters. After years of national and international ridicule over the expense of this project, the Alaska government ultimately chose not to build the bridge, and will spend the appropriated funds elsewhere.

USA - Alaska - Turnagain Arm

TURNAGAIN ARM
Beautiful sunset over Turnagain Arm with field of Lupine.

Sent by Mollie, a Swap-Bot partner from Alaska, USA.

"The 45-minute drive from Anchorage to Girdwood along the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet is one of the world's great drives, ranking right up there with Italy's Amalfi Drive and the highway along the Rhine south of Coblenz. The Seward Highway linking Anchorage and Seward is a National Forest Scenic Byway and one of 15 roads in the United States that has been designated as an "All-American Road."

From beginning to end there are dramatic views of mountain scenery and the inlet. There's a good chance of viewing dall sheep, such as the one in the photo above, and a somewhat lesser chance of seeing some of Cook Inlet's 350 beluga whales and an eagle or two. There's the possibility, too, of seeing the tide come in. Turnagain Arm's bore tide is the second highest in North America, second only to the tide in Canada's Bay of Fundy.

The highway leaves Anchorage at Potter Marsh (shown in the fall in photo at right), which attracts migrating birds and waterfowl in the spring, summer and fall, and ice skaters in the winter. A long boardwalk at the north end of the marsh allows birdwatchers to get closer to birdwatchees.

Visitors are most likely to observe dall sheep during the first part of their trip from Anchorage, as the road follows the base of rock outcroppings. Occasionally dall sheep come down to the highway but more often they're visible partway up a rocky mountain slope. Watch for cars that have pulled to the shoulder. That usually means someone has spotted some sheep."(Read more)

USA - Alaska - State Bird

Alaska's State Bird The Willow Ptarmigan. This bird changes plumage with the seasons. White in the winter, dark in the summer. Here shown in transition.

Sent by Sarah, a WiP partner from Alaska, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The Willow Grouse (Lagopus lagopus) or Willow Ptarmigan is a bird of the grouse subfamily. It is a sedentary species, breeding in birch and other forests and moorlands in the tundra of Scotland, Scandinavia, Siberia, and of Alaska and northern Canada. It is the state bird of Alaska.

In summer male's plumage is marbled brown, with a reddish hue to the neck and breast, a black tail, and white wings and underparts. It has two inconspicuous wattles above the eyes, which become prominent in the breeding season. The female is similar, but lacks the wattles and has brown feathers strewn all over the belly. In winter, both sexes' plumages become completely white, except for the black tail.

They can be distinguished from the (Rock) Ptarmigan (L. muta) by habitat (L. lagopus is not found above the tree line), larger size and thicker bill; the summer plumage is browner, the winter Willow Ptarmigan's male lacks the black loral stripe. It is a little bigger than the ptarmigan.

The distinctive British subspecies L. l. scotica (Red Grouse) has sometimes been considered a separate species. This moorland bird is reddish brown all over, except the white feet.

The male's call is a loud go-back go-back.

USA - Alaska - White Pass & Yukon Route

Steam Engine 73 pulls a special charter train to the White Pass Summit. This narrow gauge railroad was built in 1898-1899 during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Sent by Mary Ellen from Illinois, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y, WP&YR) (reporting mark WPY) is a Canadian and U.S. Class II narrow gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway, Alaska with Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon, Canada. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other railroad. Equipment, freight and passengers are ferried by ship through the Port of Skagway, and via road through a few of the stops along its route. The railroad is a subsidiary of Clublink Enterprises Limited, which is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:TWH) and operated by the Pacific and Arctic Railway and Navigation Company (in Alaska), the British Columbia Yukon Railway Company (in British Columbia) and the British Yukon Railway Company, originally known as the British Yukon Mining, Trading and Transportation Company (in Yukon), which use the trade name White Pass and Yukon Route.

USA - Alaska - Alaska From Space

This postcard shows a satellite view of Alaska from space. Sent by Lori, a postcrosser who lives in a town called Wasilla in the Matsu Valley in the state of Alaska.