The snow never lies -

The terrible tragedy of the Hatcher Pass wildlife death-zone is at no time more evident than in winter---when vast expanses of fresh white snow for miles on either side of the road show absolutely nothing in the way of wildlife tracks large or small.

Caribou gone -

There used to be caribou around Hatcher Pass. I have the pictures to prove there were actual herds of caribou. Even after they declined I would see their tracks in the mountain snows each spring, crossing ridges from their winter range to their summer range. Now---though I climb earlier and more often than ever---no caribou and no other animal tracks for miles in any direction.

Bears once lived here as well---big ones -

I used to regularly see black bear and grizzly tracks on spring snow as they emerged from their dens and prowled around for something to eat. These signs became fewer and fewer until, this year, none at all.

Moose -

Fewer than ever and smaller in stature---almost gone around here. And to think that we once had great breeding herds in this area---huge, magnificent cows. Until all the bulls were shot and the State allowed those despicable “cow hunts.”

Unless moose and caribou and bears can fly---the snow never lies.

Missing snow machines and a ray of hope -

Maybe it’s the economy. Last winter there was little off-road snow machine traffic around here and in local mountains. I know because I broke trail all winter when I could usually depend a few hard trails to ski-dog to my off-trail destinations and get back to my cabin without floundering. [Got in great shape though.]

Last winter I saw a slight increase in small animal tracks out in the open. What it had to do with the lack of snow machines is anyone’s guess.

Giant marmots -

This summer on a mountain plateau I glassed a marmot so big and sleek it looked like a wolverine. Then an even larger one---a watermelon with legs---frolicking with a mate half it’s size.

There is no doubt why these rare giants have survived: Alaska’s brave, flat-shooting, “varmint rifle” toting “hunters” can’t ride machines to this mountain retreat.

The excuse these “varmint hunters” always give me is that prairie dog holes in the Wild West thousands of miles from Alaska cause cowboys’ horses to break their legs (I kid you not).

But it’s not just the high-velocity varmint-rifle aficionados. After Hatcher Pass road signs, marmots and ground squirrels are the easiest “kills.” Shooting marmots and ground squirrels from roadways, trails (and car windows)---just to watch them die---is one obvious cause for the puny size of the few that still survive along Hatcher Pass Road and side valleys. I see the bodies by the roadways, trails and parking pullovers---never with the fur harvested as required by regulations.

One young eagle -

Golden eagles. Saw one young bird this year. Several sightings of the same bird (in 20 mountain climbs so far). There once were magnificent golden eagles around Hatcher Pass. Usual sightings included two adults accompanied by a smaller bird. Now just the one little eagle---and I haven‘t seen him in a while.

Maybe lack of their prey, marmots and ground squirrels, is a factor. One hopes these golden eagles weren’t shot by aliens from outer space.

Rare bears in summer -

A neighbor had a hilarious bear encounter at her “ranch.” Leading a very busy life, she was taking a break and trying to catch up on “Desperate Housewives” when her hired hand cried out: “Bear! Bear!“

Her dilemma was whether to go for a gun or continue to follow the ongoing antics on Wisteria Lane.

The young grizzly ate from a barrel of dog food and departed never to return. No berries in the scat, she said, opining the animal was confused and may have found berries or got shot somewhere else.

Anyway, no one was killed this time including the bear. Few enough of them around. This year I have seen only the sign of one (also small) black bear (no berries in the scat either). I am in wilderness more than ever but seeing less and less wildlife or signs of wildlife.

Wildlife scarce and small -

Scarce and small is the wildlife theme around here. Moose, bears, caribou (absent), beavers, weasels, foxes, coyotes, wolf (just one this winter), ravens, eagles, hawks, ground squirrels, marmots, ptarmigan and mountain rock ptarmigan---diminutive and few.

The Great Hatcher Pass Wildlife Vanishing -

Judging by the policies of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game humans had little or nothing to do with this Great Hatcher Pass Wildlife Vanishing.

So…maybe the animals killed each other off.

Or perhaps they committed mass suicide.

The bears might have heard rumors there were bait balls hanging from trees and 55 gallon drums full of free donuts and dog food up around Game Management Unit 16.

In any case there is no wildlife---that’s the bad news.

The last of their kind -

The “good” news is that hunting remains “legal” around Hatcher Pass---if you can find it or flush it out you can kill it.

I hear a sporting goods store is offering a shiny new scoped .50 caliber, bipod-equipped varmint rifle to really “splatter” those giant marmots (for their fur, of course) to the person who shoots the last moose in Hatcher Pass. And free gasoline for a fleet of off-road vehicles for a full year to the guy or gal who “bags” that last bear.

The unusual:

One of my health care providers---a trophy hunter and outdoorsman---always asks if I have seen “anything unusual” in my wilderness wanderings.

This year it was patterns of volcanic ash on the snow.

On a mountain slope I did get photos of a coyote making white tracks on a snow bank blackened by volcanic ash from the eruption of Mt. Redoubt.

Volcanic ash from Mt. Redoubt reached here at the end of March 2009. The ash was most beautiful when it first fell---iridescent and glistening briefly before giving up it’s volatile compounds to the chemical action of air and snow.

Volcanic ash hastened the melting of snow. Even under cold, overcast skies, the heat differential created constantly changing patterns on the snow---unusual streaks and designs that never remained static. Interesting landscape photography.

Until the rains washed it away volcanic ash coated brush, branches and rocks; got into my eyes, mouth and on snowshoes and boots: and rose in puffs of fine dust at every footstep.

At high altitudes the ash was held by the snow and prevented from washing away. Rains formed the dark ash into stripes on the snow banks---like dust patterns on the surfaces of glaciers.

As the snows continue to melt, lines of now-gray, consolidated ash are left on rocks and tundra at high altitudes.

Displaced blueberries -

In my favorite mountain blueberry fields---a half-mile square area normally dripping with high bush fruit for 20 years in a row---there was not one single berry to be found this summer. No green, shriveled berries. No buds. Nothing.

Down in the canyons of Willow Creek there were a few edible blueberries where I have never seen them in 20 years.

Also, in local swamps, a patch of quite edible, somewhat plentiful blueberries where I have never seen them. I have no idea why (no climate breakdown lectures). The swamps are pretty dry.

Gnats -

Wandering through brush and grass around here during the previous twenty years I have been bitten by tiny gnats (“no-see-ums“) that cause terrible, long-lasting, painful, stinging, itching welts. In the past few years these insect bites occurred earlier and earlier in the season---beginning before snowmelt and lasting into early autumn. It is a price I was prepared to pay again. But this year there were only two such bites---a mystery to me as are the...

Missing mosquitoes -

This year, perhaps due to snow melting for two weeks in midwinter and then refreezing, there are very few mosquitoes around here. At times there were none. Now only a few mosquitoes---like three or four at sunset in the woods, swamps or by the lake. Not many insect-eating birds either.

It’s a mystery to me. Well…not all of it.

Rudy Wittshirk

Note to those anonymous (and two-named) commentators who make remarks about me on other people's posts: At least have the guts to make your comments on mine---otherwise I might miss it. And the other way around for bad-mouthing other people with real names on this post or associating them with me. I have nothing to do with what anyone else says on this blog site.
- R.