Vinalhaven Sightings

Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report – November 1 t^h 2019

Brought to you with pleasure by MCHT and VLT

Alaska Blip - #4– Kenai Peninsula – family shots

ice. ice. baby

PSA – You should be wearing orange when out in the woods these days – it is deer hunting time in Maine. Currently we are in archery season and while there are certainly less of these hunting types, youth day is approaching quickly (October 26), with fire arm season (Nov 2-30) and muzzleloader/expanded archery extending the season until mid-December (Dec 14). Exciting times in the woods, for sure. Good idea to get in the habit of orange hats, jacket, vest, gloves, etc. just to announce your presence a little more. Especially when close to deer habitat which is pretty much the entire island.

There is no hunting statewide on Sundays and never hunting on the Lane’s Island Preserve.

And so…..it’s been a while, the entire staff at the VSR was gone, outta state, outta mind for a stretch. To make a long story short, the VSR was placed on the royal “backburner” maybe a dozen times over the last two months. Things collected – piled up really, some good stuff too. We have now come to the conclusion that we won’t have enough time in one “fell swoop”, so instead we will be making “little swoops” – kind of blips and bleeps, “shorties” for those Aqua Teen Hunger Force fans – and so here they come.

Thanks of course to all those who have shared and continue to share sightings – natural and beyond – because sharing is what the VSR is all about. Send your photos, stories and emails to vinalhavensightings@gmail.com – it’s what the cool kids are doing!

New stuff -

photo by Amy Palmer

Welcome to the family Alaska blip #2 – the Kenai Peninsula portion. This was super fun as well.

For this leg of the adventure we rented a VW Vanagon – thanks to Amy Palmer for finding this the Cadillac of accommodations (COA) – via Trickster Trips (super nice people). We went Crossman style and loved it.

Leif up top, Palmer and myself on the bottom. One time I woke up to Leif reading, Amy driving (lovely), a deck of Magic cards waiting to be shuffled, and volcanoes on the horizon. What a world to wake up to.

Here’s Leif pointing out a volcano.

Portage – we spent the first and last night of this stretch at a national forest campground – where there were a ton of salmon (other blip), pine grosbeaks eating rocks, and a fun glacier to hike to.

nice puppy on the trail

On the way to and fro.

I lived over there in the summer of 2004

Homer – I spent the summer of 2004 in the Homer area, en route to moving to Vinalhaven. In a way it was on the way.

And while I spent maybe 16 nights in Homer proper, I actually spent most of my time across the bay from the spit. Like in that picture here. I never realized just how busy the spit is.

there is a bald eagle nest, a stop light, and a mc donalds
in this photo. welcome to Homer Alaksa

We had a great time looking at moose (in the other blip) and eating some good bagels.

And playing magic at the campsite.

photo by Leif Gentalen

If in the homer area make sure not to miss the Bald Eagle nest that is located to the south west of the only stop light in town.

Leif got into it, doing a little digi-scoping himself.

magic

Kenai Lake – at another campground. At this point it was getting rather smoky with a fire raging not too close to the north. We actually drove by the fire earlier that day, before the winds had changed. The next day they closed the road for a bit.

Made for some nice sunset shots at Kenai lake national forest campground.

Seward – smoky in Seward? We got on the water and into Kenai Fjords National Park and the national wildlife refuge.

The smoke was with us all day, which was fine as it added a mysterious layer to the incredible amounts of life there.

stellar sea lion

The smoke didn’t stop the glaciers, the otters, the ice, the stellar sea lions, harbor seals and kittiwakes.

And didn’t stop some serious nappin’.

young kittiwake

exit glacier, coming off the harding ice sheet

Exit Glacier – on our last day in the Seward area we had our second family 100,000 step day (as far as fitbit is concerned). We hiked up to and past Exit Glacier (with smoke!), and above tree line to the Harding Ice Shield.

exit glacier with smoke in the morning

exit glacier in the afternoon, less smoke

Leif about to squish our vanthing in the parking lot

We saw the survival hut,

A bunch of pink snow – Watermelon snow, snow algae, pink snow, red snow, blood snow a “phenomenon” caused by Chlamydomonas nivalis, a green algae species containing a secondary red carotenoid pigment in addition to chlorophyll. Unlike most species of fresh-water algae, it is cryophilic and thrives in freezing water. Wikipedia