In Deutschland, zum 20. Jahrestag des Mauerfalls feiern die Leute!

by Emily Schwing

I was six years old when the Berlin Wall fell – I actually remember the TV news reports vividly (for a six-year-old anyway)…  the edgy looking Germans with their 80’s hair, leather and denim jackets and sneakers hefting each other up on shoulders and swinging sledge hammers.  I also remember the chunks of wall that were later sold at major US Department stores during the Christmas season.  I mostly remember that part because, a few months later, I asked my mom if we could buy a piece as she pulled me past a table piled high with little commemorative red velvet bags holding concrete chunks.  We were headed to the Estee Lauder counter so she could buy another bottle of her perfume – White Linen – my mom’s smell, which I will also never forget.   I was (and still am) 26 when I first visited Berlin and while time limitations on the trip kept me from visiting more of what’s left of the GDR (eg. Check Point Charlie), I did get to see the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in concert and walk through some of the most significant parts of town.  I drank a gin fizz in the old Jewish quarter, ate a bratwurst in front of the Reichstag and I stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate… the same place my own President had stood a few months before and where Angela Merkel stood this morning with Nicolas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown and Hillary Clinton.  I can’t begin to pretend that I know what it was like stand in front of the wall as it fell, or to live behind it, but I can say I know what it was like to visit this place and it’s not today’s frigid temperatures in Fairbanks that have been giving me the chills all day long!

Major geographic misunderstanding cause for termination of Colorado native status

After mistaking the real Colorado River for the Texan version, Colorado born science reporter Emily Schwing has found her native status in question.  “I always knew there was a reason Coloradans shouldn’t venture beyond the southeastern border.  I guess I learned the hard way,” choked Schwing after she realized her devastating blunder.  However Schwing may not be the only westerner to misunderstand her location.  Washington state native Christina Chross, now of Austin, TX admitted she too spent the better part of the past summer in a cloud of confusion regarding the location of the the two rivers.

Colorado River (in Texas) Watershed

Colorado River Watershed

The original Colorado River flows over 2300 kilometers through 6 US states and 2 Mexican provinces  from Le Poudre Pass Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park to the Gulf of California. It also feeds on of the largest watersheds in the lower 48 states.  The 1387 kilometer Texan version flows southeast from Lamesa, TX directly through the heart of Austin and empties into Matagorda Bay on the Gulf of Mexico.  Schwing spent weekends during her childhood in Rocky Mountain National Park hiking with family.  But before this week, she had never once visited Texas making the lapse in geographic knowledge only that much more difficult to stomach.  But her friend showed support after misidentifying the same two rivers only months beforehand.  “I was really confused about why the Colorado would be all the way down in Austin, so I understand the mistake,” said 26 year old Christina Chross. “It took me two months before I finally asked my boyfriend.  Plus, [Emily] has never been south of Colorado City.”

But Schwing argued that perhaps it was a Texan attempt to outshine Colorado. “The Texans were just mad that they lost their independence and with it, a portion of Colorado 150 years ago,” says Schwing, “so they decided to try and divert attention from our rivers to their own, punier water bodies.”  Size has been a dark issue in the past for the lonestar state, and the shadow cast by the Colorado Rockies may not help.   “Our Colorado River is still the 18th longest river in the US and it’s the longest river with both its mouth and headwaters in our great state,” one Texan official was heard arguing. “…besides that, we’ve damned it up so much we even got 7 lakes from the same river!” the official continued.   While no questions about naming rights have  arisen, whether Schwing can recover from the devastating blow to her reputation as a true Westerner remains unanswered.  “I’m ruined.  I may have to move to Alaska,” said Schwing as she hung her head and studied a map of the Colorado River flowing through downtown Austin, TX.

“Cannery Row”-Inspired Tidepooling

A very good friend and mentor told me once that some of the best journalism can be found in John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. I was skeptical, but after a series of weekend beach-camping trips over the last two summers, I now know it’s all too true!  After reading a passage from the book, which is entirely devoted to tidepools, I realized I didn’t really need to throw down the a hundred dollars for a water taxi, camping food and beer. I could have just reread three pages in Cannery Row. But the up-close and personal experience and the reflection through Steinbeck’s writing was more than worth the trip. Here is my Steinbeck inspired Tidepool Reflection (no pun intended):

I grew up in Colorado, where one is unlikely to find a tidepool – although, Nicolaus Steno did find a few marine organisms, but they were much older (see: The Seashell on the Mountaintop by Alan Cutler). We never had a beach – only dunes, – or an ocean, and the most frequently sighted animals were bigger – elk and bear, mountain goats and sheep and the smaller of the “big,” coyotes. So at age 26, I am as fascinated by marine invertebrates as a five year old. During minus tides I spend my afternoons collecting sand in my fingernails and boots, squatting on the beach and unintentionally dipping my rear end in salty water, while peering into muddy puddles, hunting for treasure… the kind of treasure with gills and tentacles, scales and spines. At the discovery of each species I quick – check my Alaska’s Seashore Creatures field guide (by Carmen and Conrad Field, Alaska Northwest Books, Anchorage: 1999) to make sure I know both the English and Latin – the laymen’s and scientist’s – terms for each animal. There are the gastropods: Aleutian Moon Snail (Nautica aleutica), the Hairy Triton (Fusitriton orgeonense) and the Frilled Dogwinkle (Nucella lamelosa). Also, the mollusks and bivalves: Blue Mussels (Mytillius trossulus), the Pacific Gaper (Tresus capax), the ubiquitous Baltic Macoma (Macoma balthica) and of course the delicious Pacific Razor (Siliqua patula). There’s an array of barnacles, bryozoans and seastars, which I won’t get into here, because the species are many and the Latin is cumbersome. There are always crabs, but most of them are in different stages of dissection. It’s like a gull-directed science project in some places, with crab claws and shells strewn about and tangled in washed up kelp and various seaweed species. The wackiest finds are the tiny flounder. They’re about the size of my hand and they dart in and out of the sand at hyper speed.  Cathcing them relaseses waves of giggles that I once thought only children were capable of.  Flounder have googly, muppet eyes on only one side of their head, much like halibut, so it’s no wonder that they often slam face first into the neoprene soles of my Extra Tuffs. The most satisfying moments include wticking fingers   into a sea anemones (admittedly, this is not a good idea… I am not sure which ones sting) and their little suckers glom on, hoping for a snack. These little animals remind me of all things girly – flowers and tu-tus – with their wavy tentacles dancing in the surf. They are easy to spot in the sand, because the bury themselves and leave a perfect circle above the surface.  There’s also the dramatic Common Pacific octopus (Octopus dofleini). When you flip a rock and find it, it’s like striking gold – black gold… as the ink spurts out in a murky cloud causing the hairs to raise on the nape of my neck, and then it’s gone, quickly slithering under another rock.  Pacific Octopus  can change color from a brilliant red to a grotesque whitish gray, and these creatures definitely shouldn’t be bothered, as their powerful beak can break the fingers of even the heftiest seamen.

If we’re strictly speaking biology here, then perhaps the most interesting, yet profane thing to remember is this: All these little creatures are here to eat each other and breed with their own species. -it seems that the gastropods, mollusks, and everything else have lust, greed, gluttony and all the others covered. That’s a pretty brutal truth… that all we’re really meant to do is consume and procreate. In that regard, I think the ocean is one place that has best met those requirements.

Case in point: A single rock at low tide. Here, the sea stars are eating sea cucumbers, barnacles and mussels are breeding vigorously, birds are ripping the legs from crabs… it’s a rough place in the low tide and certainly not for the faint of heart. It would be hard to say it is better than Steinbeck’s version, but nothing beats a live show.

Amateur Film and Photo Festival

In late September, 2009, two good friends of mine hosted their Fifth Annual Pruitt Lane Film (and Photo) Festival.  While I would never claim to be a photographer, I did go home with three awards (and three mini bottles of rum) for Best Action Shot, Most Humorous and Best Outdoor Accomodations.  Here are the winning photos:

by Ashley Kircher. Model: Emily Schwing. Taken in Late July, 2009 on Middle Island near Sitka, AK

by Emily Schwing Model: Ashley Kircher and dead Dungeness Crab. Taken in late July, 2009 on Middle Island, near Sitka, AK

by Emily Schwing. Taken in early Spetember 2009 at Landmark Gap Lake off the Denali Highway, Interior Alaska

Female

Just outside Sitka, on Baranof Island in Southeast Alaska, six women and two dogs set off up a giant hill towards an unnamed lake, and an unnamed summit. On the way, the group passed a series of unnamed streams. It was group that came together at the last minute for an unexpected adventure.

Now I’m not going to write some dirge about how these women changed my life and how women everywhere should take this kind of trip, because a.) they didn’t necessarily change my life.  Instead, I did by moving to the island for the summer; and b.) most women probably wouldn’t find this kind of trip all that fun… dragging a 20 pound pack uphill through a 40 year old clear cut – a rainforest choking itself to death thanks to a lot of irresponsible land management – everyone’s feet soaked, years old decomposing leaves and bark stuck in the creases, socks stinking, bugs gnashing at skin thinly covering protruding ankle bones – inevitably the itchiest spot when bitten.  But for some reason it was the perfect trip.  The head of the library, an assembly member, a marine safety educator, a teacher and team leader, a documentary photographer, the wife of a serious athlete – just as athletically serious herself with her male corgi likely feeling outnumbered , a French Briard – a herding dog – nipping at our ankles to keep us moving up the mountain, and then there was me.

When we reached the top, the lake was frozen over, with a few deep glacier-blue gaps revealing a massive expanse of hidden water underneath.  We considered swimming – actually seriously thought about our naked bodies lost under the roof of ice (or at least I mulled it around for a while).  Who would know?  There is something about women naked in front of each other, like a fruit basket.  All apples and oranges and pears and plums, but still the same thing – maybe one of the few times when apples and oranges are or-ples and app-anges! A sense of curiosity seeps from the pores of the young: is that what I am to become? A longing from the old: what I once was.  But this time it wasn’t like being at the pool or the gym.  Our locker room was a snowfield, the walls tall, old, half dead spruce trees and below us, Katlian Bay and the Pacific Ocean, islands far off in the distance. But we didn’t swim.  We snacked on dried bits of fruit and nuts, some flat bread the teacher had made.

Later we pitched our tents – our little village – for the night.  Not to sound too cliche, but in this case, it does take a village… Thank to these women, I discovered my own femininity just for  a second and maybe a slice of my adulthood as well.  Neither quality has ever really been at the forefront of my personal identity to begin with, but these ladies, with their grown up financial independence, life experience and self-made successes were exactly what I needed.  Their life experiences unveiled my unreasonable expectations about money, personal success and life long true love.  The widow, whose husband’s battle against cancer was lost – she was still whole.  The affair that could have ruined a marriage and a career did not even resonate among the group – unspoken words about love and life and the honest truth unspoken yet known.  Years of friends and fishermen lost at sea, decades of child rearing and divorce, debt and income… the air around our camp fire was filled with my future and these ladies’ pasts.

I spent the evening floating in and out of my own thoughts and everyone else’s conversations, noticing that finding a strong female role model, or five of them, can take a quarter century.  Some folks are lucky that their mothers fill that niche.  But the harsh reality is that some mothers cannot.  Even harsher is the reality that most female “role models” today are  mostly movie stars, talk show hosts and pop singers?  The vanity, pride and sheer and narcissistic nature in representing women is terrifying, but even more disgusting… all these women have unattainable qualities.  But the women I camped with on Baranof Island were anything but human shells with breasts and how brave they were to let me see their scars, inside and out, even if it was just for a weekend.

‘A List of Things My Brother Would Find Amusing’ or ‘15 Things to Think On’

1. Fanny packs and my need to set the record straight: they are not in style, they never were in style and they never will be in style

2. Why do cell phones make a loud noise when you turn them off? Isn’t the point of turning them off so that they won’t make obnoxiously loud noises?

3. Which is better? Duck fat, chicken fat or turkey fat? And I don’t mean in terms of health… more in terms of taste.

4. Jesus was a dude who needed a shower and lived in a desolate landscape… kind of like everyone who lives in Alaska. Think on that.

5. There are two things in this world that should be free: laundry and parking. Laundry because if everyone at least smelled nice, they might have a better outlook on life. Parking because if drivers in big cities could find parking and go about their day in a timely fashion, they might be able to get home in time to do their laundry.

6. People who live in London complain about Parisiennes; people who live in Paris complain about everyone else and if you’re German, you don’t boast about your own origin, but you do inquire about everyone else, mostly so you can decide whether they are deserving enough of the well-known Deutsche kalte Schulter. If so, you will be provided with the appropriate forms, which will need to be filled out in triplicate and signed by at least three of the following: a dead great grandmother, a third cousin twice removed, the dermatologist your next door neighbor saw on November 16, 1973, your mother’s best friend from college, that best friend’s great Aunt Beulah and/or Beulah’s cat Whiskers (pronounced Viskers in German).

7. In Alaska we refer to eagles as “Freedom Pigeons,” and treat them accordingly. There’s a woman on the Homer Spit who throws food at them like the old lady who threw food at the pigeons in Mary Poppins. Hmmm…

8. Boobies. (For some reason that word makes my brother laugh in an hysterical manner.)

9. Earlier this summer (and I apologize for not providing a date), George Bush was quoted twice on NPR in the same hour – first he said we should open ANWR to oil drilling. Forty minutes later he said we should reduce our dependence on hydrocarbons. Need I say more?

10. Walking tours through Europe. I don’t think I need to write much more about that one either.

11. The fact that Stephen Colbert can address the general public as ‘Nation’

12. Just what was that guy thinking as he slaughtered turkeys behind Sarah Palin… I mean literally, what was his thought process?

13. Does anyone really order those commemorative plates and other such kitsch sold on American television after midnight?

14. One other thing that should be free: Peeing. No wonder everyone pees on the street in Europe.

15. People who can’t handle living in the lower forty-eight United States move to Alaska. People who can’t handle living in Alaska move to Homer (still in Alaska). Eventually, those people retire to Hawaii and continue to complain about gas prices and the weather.

In Germany, They Wish They Could Vote!

Today I went to work…. just like every other day, (or at least yesterday, seeing as how today was only my second day working as a Fellow at Deutsche Welle) and I found an American colleague bent over his keyboard designing hand-made "I Voted" stickers (see picture) for all the US citizens that sent in their ballots about three weeks ago. I am included in this elite group… I say elite, because later in the morning, the Australians got upset, and we had to make them "I Wish I Voted" stickers (sorry no picture, but imagine it).

This got me to thinking… "Oh no!" I can hear my readers sighing…. I won’t get all philosophical, or go on some far left or far right rant, but I will say this: the whole world probably wishes they could vote today – or at least the western world. I am leaving out the eastern world, because yet another colleague of mine interviewed residents of China on the issue yesterday and they told her they weren’t interested, because they don’t understand elections, or the American system. I am also not going to comment on that either. What I wanted to get at is the stark difference in mindset.

Yesterday I hosted my own series of interviews. I went to Bonn’s University campus to talk with some young German students about their national pride. They have very little. From what I am told, the Germans don’t get stickers after they vote, and they likely wouldn’t wear them displayed on their chests if they did. Some of the students I spoke with told me they haven’t done anything for their country that would make them proud even though most of them have voted four or five times by now, as they were all over the age of 20. Germans would instead, probably stick their stickers in their pockets, where they would thumb at the corners while taking the U-Bahn to MuseumsMeile, the Juridicum or somewhere else

This perhaps also suggest why our Australian friends were so curious. Doesn’t everyone want to scream “I Voted!”? In Alaska, our stickers even have the state flag’s yellow stars in the shape of the Big Dipper – who wouln’t want that? Especially when we have been waiting for 2 years for today… when the whole world wants to know who we will choose? And for people who, like the Germans, prefer one of our candidates over the other, doesn’t it seem fitting that they would want to vote on such a historic day?

Well, the Germans can rest assured… I voted. But now they want to know: Did I vote the right way? or the left?

Superpod!

Researchers have been studying whales off the coast of Alaska since the 1970’s. This summer their research focuses mainly on killer whales in the Northwestern portion of the Gulf of Alaska. An American tour boat recently called in a sighting of a pod of killer whales, but what researchers found wasn’t just a pod… it was a superpod!

It’s mid-afternoon on a Monday and the research vessel Natoa bobs around lightly in the unusually calm waters of Kachemak Bay. Kachemak Bay is a relatively small bay located on the southern tip of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. This bay empties into Lower Cook Inlet, where researchers from the North Gulf Oceanic Society have been searching for whales all summer … NGOS uses the Natoa to conduct long term research on the life history of whales. And on this day, biologists on the boat have all but struck gold.

As we approach a large group of killer whales about a mile from the eastern coast of Kachemak Bay, we see rows of dorsal fins emerging from the water. Researchers call this “picket fencing.” And that’s exactly what it looks like. There are whales in all directions and some of them are on their backs, others are slapping their flukes, they’re nearly swimming on top of each other, and although it might not seem like it, NGOS director, Craig Matkin says the whales are resting.

Matkin has been photographing killer whales in Alaska since 1977. He laughs. There’s a tone of near shock in his voice. “Unbelievable!” he cries. “They’re all lined up… they’re all lined up like this. What a… a… bonanza!”

The black and white photos Matkin is furiously shooting will be used to identify each whale…. Each one has a unique saddle patch – the gray area behind the dorsal fin – and after they’ve been photographed, they’re given a code name – AD5 or AX for example – the code indicates where and from which pod each whale has come. Researchers will catalog the whales and use the information to track them throughout their lives. Male killer whales live for about 40 or 50 years and females can live for 60 years or more.

On a day like today– with a flat, calm ocean and an overcast sky – the situation is ideal and the whales are making everyone’s job a little easier.

At about 12:30 in the afternoon, we spot the first group of what later amounts to 100 killer whales. This is what biologists call a super pod.

At least four different pods of killer whales are congregating in Kachemak Bay. “Yeah, they’re really social animals and when they rest it’s when they get all their socializing out.”

Cy St. Amand is another researching taking photos. “They might be listening to this other group approaching from Pogi Point,” he says as he points south towards a tree covered, rocky point off in the distance where more whales are swimming together. It’s still at least 20 miles off, but there are definitely whales out there. “And they can hear that kind of distance and they maybe excited if it’s a group the maybe haven’t seen in awhile and when they get together with another group they haven’t seen in a while they can put on quite a display.” St. Amand explains it’s like a reunion where the whales re-meet and greet each other.

There are three different types of killer whales, but only two of them live in Alaska. Resident killer whales eat only fish and the transient killer whales eat other marine mammals. Today’s whales are residents.

“The shape of the fin and the saddle patch. Notice how some of the saddle patches have a dark indentation in them? We call them open saddle patches and that’s only in residents.” explains Matkin. “And transients don’t come in groups of a hundred, they usually come in groups of ten,” Matkin’s colleague L.A. Holmes quickly adds. Holmes also explains that usually, the dorsal fins of transient killer whales are generally more “knicked up” due mostly to the fact that transients are more aggressive and feed on equally aggressive marine mammals like sea lions.

Matkin says he recognizes some of these whales from past photos he’s taken. He also says that not only is this encounter unusual, but that some of these whales have traveled large distances. From Kachemak, Bay, it might take about 8 hours to reach Kodiak Island and some of these whales have crossed the Gulf coming from Southeast Alaska… by boat, that can take three to five days or more.

“So Emily,” calls LA. Holmes, “when that little guys comes up if you look at his saddle patch and you try and kind of get an idea of what it is and what whale is with him and what saddle patch that whale has, that’s probably gonna be his mom.” Holmes points way out to the little whale in the group. The young whale pops right up alongside a larger female. “And 20 year from now when you see him again he’ll probably still be with his mom.” “Oh really?” I exclaim. “Yeah they’re matriarchal, they follow their moms around or their grandmas, whoever is the oldest female, their whole lives.” Holmes says.

When whales come together in super pods like this, they match up with their maternal groups. “It’s really important for them to touch in with their close relatives pretty frequently,” Matkin says.

While steering the boat, Holmes acknowledges that she has a particular affinity for the younger whales. “You’ll notice that the little guys have a completely different cadence when they surface and they come up like popcorn – we call them popcorn. They bubble up really quick they just haven’t learned how to control their ascent it appears.” We see the same little whale literally pop up almost parallel with his mother’s dorsal fin.

Just then, another group comes up from behind the boat. I look down to see a juvenile male swim right under us, as others surface alongside the bow and the mist from their blowholes cats my hands and my microphone.

After Matkin and St. Amand are finished photographing the animals, Matkin uses a small charge and a bouyant dart to retrieve a skin and blubber sample from two free-swimming adult males. This doesn’t hurt the whale… today’s targets don’t even flinch.

The biopsy samples are about 3 cm long and only a few millimeters in diameter. Once he returns to land, Matkin will analyze the skin samples for DNA and stable isotope information. He’ll also sample the blubber for contaminants and information about what the whale has been eating…. there’s no real long term data in Alaska and the information collected today is invaluable for biologists like Matkin and groups like the North Gulf Oceanic Society.

This story aired on Deutsche Welle’s ‘Living Planet’ in August, 2008. It can be heard here:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3561073,00.html

Dipnetting on the Kenai

Dipnetters lined the shores of the Kenai River this weekend as the subsistence fishery peaked. Alongside a couple hundred other fishermen, I fought the tides at mouth of the Kenai River to find out what this “subsistence sport” is all about.

It’s a Saturday night, just around 8:00 and the fish are hitting hard after a slow afternoon along the North beach at the mouth of the Kenai River, where, it’s gotten busy… to say the least. I found Anchorage resident, Gary Bratton at the edge of the water, untangling a sockeye salmon from his dipnet.

Bratton said he’d lost count of how many fish he caught, which would likely be a sore subject for Fish and Game officials, but it seems to be the standard sentiment for everyone fishing this evening. Bratton estimates later that he has likely caught about 15. The total limit for the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers is 25 fish, so Bratton still has a ways to go. He says he’s been doing this for 15 years. “How long do you think you’ll keep dipnetting?” I ask. “As long as I can!” he calls before darting back into the water, pushing his net in front of him.

At his point, Fish are literally flying up the sandy slopes as dipnetters rip their catch from the nets and toss them to friends and family members waiting to clean and fillet the salmon.

Laura Offterheid, also of Anchorage, is fishing with her family. She told me they’d be here until they caught their limit. And Terry Hecker is waiting for her son and husband to bring in the fish. She explained hat they had a full on system – a sort of salmon “bucket bridgade” – going to catch and process their catch. Hecker’s mother in-law, Cindy Walker, laughs heartily. “This isn’t the sort of thing we usually see in California, “ she chuckles. She adds that she is jealous she doesn’t live in Alaska because it looks like so much fun.

On Wednesday, July 16th, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported 68 thousand fish passing their Sonar counter at mile 19 on the Kenai River, and since then, fishermen have been standing elbow to elbow in chest-deep water.

Robert Begich is the Area Management Biologists with the Division of Personal Use for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Soldotna. After looking at the numbers from this past weekend, he says there’s still more dipnetting to be done.

After this weekend, a rough estimate put the number of people out on the beach on both the North and South sides of the Kenai River at close to 10,000.

As I entered the beach, two state troopers said they’d been patrolling the fishery for years but had never seen it this busy and Kenai City Manager, Rick Koch agreed when I called him early Monday morning. However, no one know for sure how many Alaskans came out to fish until fishermen send their personal harvest permits in at the end of the season.

Fishermen were well fed by a Baptist church group from North Carolina who set up a tent on the beach and handed out free hot dogs and hot chocolate as part of a service group called Salmon Frenzy. Drew Tucker, a salmon frenzy volunteer told me the group aims “to serve the fishermen so that they can focus on the fishing.” He also said he’d never seen anything like it.

I however came up empty handed with only a net full of fish heads and carcasses

To hear the whole story produced for APRN’s Alaska News Nightly, go here:http://aprn.org/2008/07/21/dipnetting-on-the-kenai-reached-its-peak-over-the-weekend/

The Expense of Being Lost… Are You Kidding Me?!

This past weekend two women went missing in Denali National Park. They have since been found, but what ensued after they were reported lost was not just a major search that included dog teams, volunteers and Park Officials. There was also plenty of whining from the public and a number of media outlets about how much the search was costing… in actual dollar amount.

I am pretty disgusted. Who cares how much it costs. Two women were lost on the tundra with a limited amount of food and supplies. Why would cost factor into the puzzle.

The comments posted by readers to stories from the Anchorage Daily News, were at best despicable. One guy went so far as to tell the Aunt of one of the women that her niece was more or less better off, because clearly she just couldn’t make it in Alaska. Another wrote “silly women… stay out of the woods,” as if gender had anything to do with it.

Are we really that heartless that the only thing that comes to mind when people go missing is a dollar sign?

How much would you pay for your family? Is there truly a price someone could place on my life if I got lost in Denali?

Last summer a friend and I spent a long (and splendid) weekend backpacking in Denali. And the truth is, we could have easily gotten lost. We are both very experienced in backcountry travel. He is highly skilled at orienteering and I’m no idiot when it comes to encounters with bears, moose and other larger-than-me animals with sharp teeth and/or heavy hooves… all of which we came across regularly over the weekend.

But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t get lost.

I can use a can of bear spray just as well as the next guy. I can wield a compass and throw out words like azimuth and declination and pretend that I am not confused about where I am.

But Denali is a BIG place, with vast expanses of tundra, some of the largest mountains in North America and a few of the most powerful, glacially driven rivers in the region.

I personally don’t care how much it cost Alaska to locate these women – which they finally did today. In my humble opinion, it’s tax dollars well spent… but wait I don’t pay state taxes in Alaska. So, thanks Uncle Sam!