Northwest Passage

On September 10, 2016
By Randall Tate
In Arctic, Commercial, Traveling, Wilderness, Wildlife
0

The Northwest Passage is a sea route connecting the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Arctic Canada. Using it instead of the Panama Canal shortens the traverse from Asia to Europe by approximately 1200 miles (1900 km). With the continued effects of climate change, the once ice clogged and almost impossible route is now open for business during a very short window in late northern summer. A journey through the passage has now gone commercial as expedition cruising companies look for ways to expand their offerings.

The trips usually take about two weeks and stop at various Inuit communities and historical sites along the way. Cut off from the outside world for most of the year, the communities seem to relish the opportunity to meet visitors and share their culture. Uluhaktok is one of those communities. Meaning ulu-shaped-bay in the native language, the town is named after the traditional curved knives that the Inuit have used for thousands of years.

Spending time there left an impression. After five days, we knew most of locals by name and had been invited into many of their homes. It was one of the most welcoming communities I have ever visited. A peek into the world of Arctic Canada left a deep impression on us. Although it appears like they live a lonely, harsh existence, the people love their homeland and have carved out a balanced, happy life that we all could take a few lessons from.

Planes carry both passengers and cargo into the dirt runway in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada.

Boys playing on a cold August day in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada

Local transportation, Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada

An ulu found on the beach in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada

Adam, maker of the finest ulus in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada

The Maud, Roald Amundsen’s ship during his second expedition to the Arctic, being lifted from the bottom in preparation for its return to Norway.

A local resident in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada.

Lifting off from the RRS Ernest Shackleton, British Antarctic Survey vessel.

Bannock, Inuit Fry Bread

Musk ox skull

One of the residents of Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada. The collar of her jacket is made of wolverine

Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada.

Drummers in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada

The Ernest Shackleton fully loaded with 13 Zodiacs, two helicopters, a fast boat and a supply tender.

Narwhal, the possible inspiration for the unicorn

RRS Ernest Shackleton, British Antarctic Survey vessel

Crystal Serenity in Bellot Strait

Oil and Ice: Part II

As you sail from South Georgia to Antarctica, a transformation takes place. Your mind is at odds with itself, attempting to comprehend the incredible abundance of life on the island versus the devastating slaughter that took place in the waters surrounding it. Millions of fur seals and king penguins dance in your head. Their calls echo down the halls of the ship. The hulking blubber ovens lurk in the dark corners of your subconscious. You have experienced more than you ever imagined. You could go home now, but Antarctica awaits. Ahead of you lies another world. A world of ice and rock. A world that will once again transform your mind.

Antarctica

Neko Harbor, Antarctica

Paradise Bay, Antarctica

Antarctica

Weddell Sea, Antarctica

Antarctic Sound

Pluneau Bay, Antarctica

Oil and Ice: Part I

King penguin wandering through Grytviken, South Georgia

Grytviken is a whaling station that sits on South Georgia Island in the middle of the Southern Ocean. Before the whaling era began in the early 1800s, the Southern Ocean was home to over one million baleen whales. Among them were over 250,000 blue whales, the largest animal to ever live on this planet. By the mid 1800s, the Southern Ocean had become a killing field. Whale blubber, meat, bone and viscera were boiled down and rendered into oil. This oil was sent back to Europe to be used in lamps and turned into margarine.

Whale oil tank, Grytviken, South Georgia

Grytviken was just one of the stations that processed whales into oil during that time. At its most destructive point, over 300 men lived and worked there, killing and disassembling over 53,000 whales, and producing 455,000 metric tons of whale oil. With the advent of cheaper alternative fuels and with whales becoming harder and harder to find, the profitability of whale oil declined and the harvest stopped. But the damage was already done. The oceans had been depleted of the whales and their vast culture. The blue whale population in the Southern Ocean was estimated to be less than 4,000.

Today Grytviken stands as a testament to the mass destruction and brutal efficiency that man can bring to the natural world. It is the whale equivalent of Auschwitz.

Blubber oil tank, Grytviken, South Georgia

Whaling ship, Grytviken, South Georgia

Grytviken, South Georgia

This Land Is Your Land

The open road holds much allure. Adventure, new experiences and wild places await. It promises to cross a few more places off the bucket list, but that hope quickly fades as new destinations are discovered.

This road trip was something out of Woody Guthrie’s tattered journal. Wheat clouds waved. Dust clouds rolled. We followed that ribbon of highway from Minnesota to Texas to California. We plied pristine waters, wandered redwood forests and felt the sand of diamond deserts. Time on the road is never time wasted. Thankfully, the list only gets longer.

Jimmy Breakfast, Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, California

A Little Place Called Stehekin

On October 05, 2015
By Randall Tate
In Dogs, Editorial, Stories, Washington, Wilderness
5

I had never heard of Stehekin, Washington before April of this year. The National Park Service Ranger interviewing me asked if I wouldn’t mind being assigned there as a General Ranger. “Sure” is all I could say. I had no idea where Stehekin was, what it was like or exactly what a General Ranger did. All I thought I knew was that it was inside North Cascades National Park. This turned out to be false. As it turns out, keeping an open mind and not knowing too much before you go are a couple of things that make a trip to this place incredibly memorable.

Stehekin is a small community situated on the north end of Lake Chelan. It lies within the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area and serves as a jumping off point for adventures into the southern reaches of North Cascades National Park. This small, bizarre hamlet can be reached by foot, boat or plane. Depending on who you ask, Stehekin has around 50-100 year-round residents. Some of the families that originally settled the area still live there and run most of the businesses.

Stehekin is one of those unique, dreamy places that we don’t think exist anymore. It is sleepy town where the houses have names and have never had keys. Some of cars haven’t been registered since the 80s and their keys never leave the ignition. It is a place where people wave to each other and if they don’t wave back, you know “they aren’t from around here.” If asked to describe my experience there, I say Stehekin is a piece of Alaska tucked into the dry, desert, eastern slopes of Washington. It is remote. It is filled with eccentric people. And it is surrounded by some of the most incredible wilderness in North America.

One of the float planes that makes regular runs to Stehekin

The record breaking number of wildland forest fires burning in the area had a considerable impact on my time in Stehekin. At one point, more than a dozen blazes were burning within the confines of the Recreation Area and National Park. As Rangers, we couldn’t post or update signage fast enough. On some days, the smoke was so thick that we couldn’t see one mile across the lake. Our bags were packed just in case we had to evacuate at a moments notice.

On the evening of July 31st, after slowly growing for three weeks along the shores of Lake Chelan, the Wolverine Fire exploded in an inferno that engulfed Domke Mountain. In a matter of one hour the entire slope was turned to ash. At the base of the mountain, sits another small community called Lucerne. By an amazing feat of strength, teamwork and skill, the wildland firefighters were able to save every single building in the village.

The Wolverine Fire engulfs Domke Mountain in an apocalyptic inferno

A firefighter keeps watch on the fire raging across the lake

The Wolverine Fire inches closer to Stehekin

Ronnie. One of the many characters that makes Stehekin so special

Dewey multitasking

Imus House – My home for the summer

Most of the vehicles in Stehekin never go above 30 mph in their lives

The Garden provides residents with fresh, local produce as well as honey, goat cheese and pesto.

The Ranger Boat

Iconic “Stetson” hats hanging in the Ranger Station

If people do know of Stehekin, it most likely because of the infamous Stehekin Pastry Company

Admiralty Crossing – Packraft Style

On August 02, 2015
By Randall Tate
In Alaska, Camping, Editorial, Trips, Wilderness
0

Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska is known as Kootznoowoo to the native Tlingit. It means “Fortress of the Bears.” It’s an apt title as the island holds the largest concentration of Brown Bears on the planet. Knowing that, you would think a rifle might be a better packing choice than a can of bear spray if you went for a visit. But in our experience, you would be wrong. Despite containing one bear per square mile, it was surprisingly difficult to spot one of these enormous creatures.

We paddled and hiked 36 miles of saltwater inlets, temperate rainforest and pristine lakes in the heart of Kootznoowoo and were never granted an appearance of Ursus arctos. Despite the lack of bears, the trip is incredible and makes for one of the best packrafting adventures in the country. A string of National Forest Service cabins make for some fantastic “glamping” along the way.

Copyright © 2015 Randall Tate Photography

Boarding the ferry for Angoon

The man who picked us up and drove us to the other side of the island said we were the first hitchhikers he had ever seen in his 60+ years in Angoon.

Racing to inflate the packrafts and catch the flooding tide into Kootznoowoo Inlet

Having lost the trail and spent hours trying to find it, we decided to pitch our tarp and wait for the bears to join us for dinner.

Inside one of the cozy Forest Service cabins

Getting a little help from the wind

Couldn’t have said it better

Wild Blueberries

There is no time for niceties or a safety briefing when the tide is dropping. Just get in and go.

Beautiful Destruction

On October 16, 2014
By Randall Tate
In Canyoneering, Desert, Hiking, Wilderness
1

Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Canyon country is a battlefield. It is an apocalyptic arena where nature fights an endless war, destroying the old and creating the new. The weapons are all powerful; wind, sun and water thrash relentlessly against any surface they contact. Uncountable tons of sand, rock and soil are vanquished from the high lands, becoming refugees and starting new lives in the valleys and plains far below. The land will never be the same. And that is exactly the point.

When the sounds and distractions of our daily lives fade away and we let ourselves slip into the desert wilderness that calls to our souls, a transformation takes place. We notice the textures, the smells and the vibrations emanating from every molecule, slamming into our now awakened mind. Our bodies adjust to scorching sunshine, penetrating cold, blood thirsty spines and uneven ground in this new world. Your shoes suddenly grip slopes that would have seemed impossibly steep just days before. Undulations in canyon walls appear, showing the way out, or the way in. Water becomes the highest priority.

As we let go and embrace the changes in our mind, body and soul, we experience what the destruction means and the opportunity that it creates.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

Mr. Ben, Canyon Explorer – Zion National Park, Utah

On March 26, 2014
By Randall Tate
In Antarctica, Stock, Wilderness, Wildlife
4

Antarctic Fur Seal Skull – Salisbury Plain, South Georgia

Antarctic Fur Seal – South Georgia

“Below the 40th latitude there is no law; below the 50th no god; below the 60th no common sense and below the 70th no intelligence whatsoever.” — Kim Stanley Robinson —

King Penguin – South Georgia

Southern Giant Petrel – Salisbury Plain, South Georgia

Weddell Seal – Elephant Island

Crabeater Seal – Antarctic Peninsula

Adelie Penguin Chick – King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Antarctic Peninsula

Humpback Whale – Antarctic Peninsula

Guests of the MS Expedition surrounded by King Penguins and Antarctic Fur Seals – Salisbury Plain, South Georgia

Bust of Captain Luis Pardo near the site on Elephant Island where Shackleton’s men spent 5 months awaiting rescue. Pardo was the Captain of the Yelcho, a Chilean steam tug, that rescued the men.

Elizabeth June Moore – Ninja Kayak Guide – Antarctic Peninsula

Clark Smithson, the Master of Zodiacs and quite possibly the nicest guy in all of the Southern Ocean – Grytviken, South Georgia

Elephant Seals, Antarctic Fur Seals and King Penguins

King Penguins, South Georgia

Antarctic Peninsula

Elizabeth June Moore staying safe in the Antarctic Peninsula

Tides and Currents

Orca

The tides and currents in Southeast Alaska are a force to be reckoned with. Any mariner that plies the waters there must learn to watch the ever-changing conditions closely in order to navigate safely. Those same forces also create an environment that nourishes life in this breadbasket of the marine world. Here are some highlights from a summer spent in that magical place where the mountains rise from the sea.

South Marble Island, Glacier Bay National Park

Orcas

Bubble Netting Humpback Whales

South Sawyer Glacier

Orcas

Mountain Goat

Orcas

Pacific White Sided Dolphin getting some air time

The Wilderness Explorers

On August 01, 2013
By Randall Tate
In Editorial, Self-Assignment, Wilderness
0

Expedition Guide – Sarah

Working on a small adventure cruise boat in Alaska has its privileges. Our office is grand, ever changing, truly wild and filled with large mammals. We get fed three hot meals a day while we work and play outside. But living and working on a boat also has its downsides. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week we are confined to a small space with the same folks. Thankfully I was privileged to work with a fine crew this summer. Here are only few of the 60+ people that rotated on and off of the Wilderness Explorer.