Alaska
After 30 years in Southeast Alaska, we finally took an Alaskan road trip. Here are 8 things that surprised us.
- After dwelling in Alaska for 30 years, my husband and I took a two-week highway journey by the state.
- We drove a retrofitted van by Anchorage, Palmer, Valdez, Fairbanks, and Denali Nationwide Park.
- Alaska’s wildlife blew us away, and the World Eskimo Indian Olympics have been a serious spotlight.
My husband and I’ve lived in Alaska for 30 years. At present, we reside on Douglas Island close to Juneau, the state’s capital.
Our house is tons of of miles away from the state’s most important landmass, however that does not deter flocks of holiday makers from coming to see Douglas Island’s alpine mountains and deep rainforests by boat or aircraft.
For our thirty fifth anniversary, we determined to do some exploring of our personal.
We took a two-week summer season tour of a few of Alaska’s most well-known highlights for the primary time.
After flying to Anchorage, Alaska’s most populous metropolis, we picked up a retrofitted van and set off on our 1,300-mile journey by Palmer, Valdez, Fairbanks, and Denali Nationwide Park, which is house to the very best peak in North America.
Listed below are among the most stunning discoveries from our journey.
The free produce in Palmer was so scrumptious that we skipped the grocery retailer
Katie Bausler
Alaska is legendary for its pure wonders, like glaciers and birch bushes.
However our highway journey confirmed us that the state additionally has among the most spectacular vegetation and flowers that we have ever seen, from huge heads of broccoli to eye-popping poppies.
Sure areas within the state are recognized for producing large greens and, in some instances, doing so in a short time. Due to lengthy hours of daylight in the summertime, vegetation are in a position to make meals by photosynthesis from dawn to sundown.
Throughout our highway journey, we stopped at Palmer, a city in Southeast Alaska. When Midwesterners settled down there in the course of the Nice
Despair
, they established it because the state’s agricultural hub. Now, it is the house of Alaska’s annual state truthful.
On our stroll by city, we stumbled upon a thicket that was rising wild strawberries. There was an indication connected to it that learn: “Rising meals for all to share.”
Katie Bausler
We have been more than pleased to select our share of the fruit, which was freed from cost. The provider requested not more than the courtesy of pulling a weed or two in alternate for the berries.
Later throughout our time in Palmer, we discovered a backyard field on the practice station. It was crammed with heads of inexperienced and purple lettuce and nasturtiums, an edible flower. The invention saved us a visit to the market.
Sea lions get one of the best shoreside catches of fish in Valdez
Katie Bausler
Valdez is a coastal metropolis about 300 miles from Anchorage that is recognized for its world-class constitution fishing.
After we have been there, guests gathered on the harbor to observe skippers clear freshly caught fish. However on the opposite facet of the fjord, sea lions have been getting a fair higher decide of the salmon.
In different elements of Alaska, grizzly bears can be the predators on this scene.
We joined the throng {of professional} (and not-so-professional) photographers taking footage of the huge animals as they hunted for his or her prey.
We acquired to observe the World Eskimo Indian Olympics in Fairbanks
Katie Bausler
Throughout our journey, we made a cease in Fairbanks, a metropolis situated fewer than 200 miles from the Arctic Circle. And it simply so occurred that we have been there for the World Eskimo Indian Olympics.
We would by no means been to the annual multisport occasion, which began in 1961. Alaska Natives from tribes and villages everywhere in the state compete in conventional video games, just like the high-kick competitors and the arm-pull occasion.
My husband and I have been thrilled to cheer on members of the Juneau workforce and even acquired concerned throughout one of the crucial thrilling occasions: the blanket toss.
Together with at the least 100 different viewers members, we acquired down from the stands and grabbed a bit of a big seal-hide canvas. The fabric served as a home made trampoline, and we have been just like the springs. Opponents stationed themselves within the heart of the canvas and jumped as excessive as they may.
Admission to the World Eskimo Indian Olympics was free in the course of the day, and tickets for night occasions ranged from $10 to $15.
Binoculars have been vital to see the wildlife in Denali Nationwide Park
Katie Bausler
Be warned: Reservations to camp in Denali Nationwide Park must be made months prematurely.
The 6-million-acre nationwide park is understood for its wildlands and wildlife. To get an up-close take a look at the world, we reserved seats on a former college bus that wound its approach by a dust highway.
If you happen to go to Denali, binoculars are a completely essential merchandise to pack — my husband and I would not have been in a position to see most of the animals with out them. We even acquired a glimpse of caribou with velvet antlers and grizzly bears with golden fur.
We got here throughout spectacular public-use cabins
Katie Bausler
Throughout our journey, we discovered well-crafted dwellings proper off the highway on the Ok’esugi Ken campground in Denali State Park and Eklutna Lake, which is close to Anchorage.
With spacious lofts and decks, lots of them resembled Swiss chalets.
Even if you happen to do not personal a dreamy cedar-log house in Alaska, you may nonetheless escape to 1. Alaska state parks lease out greater than 80 public-use cabins throughout the state. Among the extra distant properties can solely be reached by boat or aircraft.
Reservations might be made as much as seven months prematurely, and costs for many cabins vary between $35 and $100 per night time.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline is partially above floor, so you may really stand on it
Katie Bausler
A statewide oil transportation system, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline has been flowing for the reason that mid-Seventies and runs 800 miles by Alaska, from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Port Valdez on Prince William Sound.
The pipe is above floor in locations the place there’s permafrost, so we have been in a position to see a variety of it throughout our drive.
At a pit cease between Glenallen and Fairbanks, I snapped a shot of my husband standing on prime of a piece with a giant smile on his face.
Campsite water comes from pumps that have been put in in the course of the Nice Despair
Katie Bausler
Earlier than setting off on our highway journey, we knew that many of the state’s campsites have been rustic. That being mentioned, my husband and I did not anticipate to should pump it from the bottom ourselves.
We have been fascinated to be taught that the water pumps and ingesting fountains have been put in by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Nice Despair-era reduction program that offered employment alternatives within the Nineteen Thirties.
My husband turned fairly expert at mentioning nicely water, utilizing his physique weight to pump the metal deal with like a human seesaw.
Alaska has an extremely wide selection of landscapes
Katie Bausler
Most individuals think about Alaska as one huge, chilly place that is coated by ice and snow year-round. That imaginative and prescient couldn’t be farther from the actual factor, particularly in the summertime.
On our highway journey, we noticed a variety of landscapes.
Within the Matanuska Valley, we handed by tan, dry peaks towards a blue sky that reminded us of Montana. We additionally found a surprising desert setting with teal and rust-hued slopes on the Richardson Freeway.
Katie Bausler
Volcanism has brought about the Polychrome Overlook — a cease on our Denali Nationwide Park bus tour — to show right into a rainbow of colours, making it the proper backdrop for our holiday-card photograph.
And on our method to Valdez, the towering alpine peaks within the Thompson Go reminded us of our house in Southeast Alaska.
To say our state is awe-inspiring is an understatement, even for Alaskans like us.
Alaska
Rural Alaska schools face funding shortfall after U.S. House fails to pass bipartisan bill • Alaska Beacon
Rural schools, mostly in Southeast Alaska, are facing a major funding shortfall this year after the U.S. House of Representatives failed to reauthorize a bill aimed at funding communities alongside national forests and lands.
The bipartisan Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act was first passed in 2000, and enacted to assist communities impacted by the declining timber industry. It provided funds for schools, as well as for roads, emergency services and wildfire prevention. The award varies each year depending on federal land use and revenues. The legislation is intended to help communities located near federal forests and lands pay for essential services. In 2023, the law awarded over $250 million nationwide, and over $12.6 million to Alaska.
But this year, the bill passed the Senate, but stalled in the House of Representatives amid partisan negotiations around the stopgap spending bill to keep the government open until March. House Republicans decided not to vote on the bill amid a dispute around health care funding, a spokesperson for the bill’s sponsor, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, told the Oregon Capital Chronicle, which first reported the story.
Eleven boroughs, as well as unincorporated areas, in the Tongass and Chugach national forests have typically received this funding, awarded through local municipalities. According to 2023 U.S. Forest Service data, some of the districts who received the largest awards, and now face that shortfall, include Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka and Yakutat, as well as the unincorporated areas.
“We’re already at our bottom,” said Superintendent Carol Pate of the Yakutat School District, which received over $700,000 in funding, one of the largest budget sources for its 81 students.
“We are already down to one administrator with six certified teachers,” Pate said in a phone interview Thursday. “We have a small CTE (career and technical education) program. We don’t have any art, we don’t have any music. We have limited travel. Anything that we lose means we lose instruction, and our goal is for the success of our students.”
Yakatat is facing a $126,000 deficit this year, a large sum for their $2.3 million budget, Pate said. “So that’s a pretty significant deficit for us. We do our best to be very conservative during the school year to make up that deficit. So wherever we can save money, we do.”
The school has strong support from the borough, Pate said. However, last year they were forced to cut funding for one teacher and a significant blow for the school, she said.
“We’re trying very hard to break the cycle, but it’s a continuing cycle,” she said. “Every time we lose something, we lose kids because of it, and the more kids we lose, the more programs we lose.”
In the southern Tongass National Forest community of Wrangell, the school district received over $1 million in funds last year, and Superintendent Bill Burr said the federal funding loss is dramatic.
“It’s pretty devastating from a community standpoint,” Burr said in a phone interview. “Because that is very connected to the amount of local contribution that we get from our local borough, it has a dramatic effect on the school district, so I’m disappointed.”
“As these cuts continue to happen, there’s less and less that we’re able to do,” he said. “School districts are cut pretty much as thin as they can. So when these things happen, with no real explanation, the impact for districts that do receive secure schools funding is even more dramatic.”
Whether and how the funding loss will impact the district has yet to be determined, as budgets for next year are still in development, Burr said, but it could mean cuts to matching state grants, facilities projects, or staff salaries. He said most non-state money for the district comes from the federal program.
“Part of our funding does come from sales tax, but a majority of it comes from the secure rural schools (grant),” he said. “So without increases in other areas, the amount of money that can come to the schools is going to be injured.”
“We do have contracts, and a majority of our money is paid in personnel. So we would have those contracts to fill, regardless of the funding, until the end of the year. A major reduction really will affect our ability to provide school services and personnel, so it could have a massive impact on next year’s, the fiscal ‘26 year, budget,” he said.
The district is facing an over $500,000 budget deficit this year, Burr said, and so the loss puts further pressure on the district.
“So we’re continuing to find areas that we can cut back but still provide the same service. But that’s getting harder and harder,” he said.
The schools in unincorporated areas known as regional educational attendance areas, received over $6 million in funding through the program.
Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan supported the bill through the Senate.
Murkowski was disappointed that the bill was not reauthorized, a spokesperson for the senator said.
“As a longtime advocate for this program, she recognizes its critical role in funding schools and essential services in rural communities,” said Joe Plesha, in a text Friday. “She is actively working to ensure its renewal so that states like Alaska are not disadvantaged.”
Former Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola also supported the funding.
Alaska’s school funding formula is complex, and takes into account the local tax base, municipalities’ ability to fund schools, and other factors. With the loss of funding for the local borough’s portion, whether the Legislature will increase funding on the state’s side is to be determined.
The Department of Education and Early Development did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Superintendents Burr and Pate described hope for the upcoming legislative session, and an increase in per-pupil spending. “The loss of secure rural schools funding makes it even more difficult to continue with the static funding that education in the state has received,” Burr said.
“I really have high hopes for this legislative season. I think that the people that we’ve elected recognize the need to put funding towards education,” Pate said.
The funding could be restored, if the legislation is reintroduced and passed by Congress. Both Oregon Democratic Sen. Wyden and Idaho Republican Sen. Mike Crapo have said they support passing the funding this year.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
We’re sharing some of the Last Frontier adventures of the popular YouTube account Raised In Alaska. This week: Moose and grizzly trail camera shots.
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – On Thursday, a vehicle collision at mile 91 of the Seward Highway left one dead and two injured, according to an update from APD.
The collision involved two vehicles — a semi-truck and a passenger vehicle.
The Girdwood Fire Department responded at about 8:41 p.m. and pronounced the male driver of the vehicle dead at the scene.
APD says a male and female were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
At the time of publication, the southbound and northbound lanes of the Seward Highway remain closed.
APD is currently investigating the circumstances of the collision and the victim’s identity will be released once they have completed next-of-kin procedures.
Original Story: An incident involving two vehicles at mile 91 of Seward Highway leaves two injured, according to Anchorage Police Department (APD).
APD is responding to the scene and travelers should expect closures at mile 91 for both northbound and southbound lanes of the Seward Highway for at least the next 3 to 4 hours.
Updates will be made as they become available.
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
Copyright 2025 KTUU. All rights reserved.
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