Touched By An Owl

Joy had just arrived back to the Visitors Center when Kathy announced, "Guess where I'm going?" She was headed out to help rescue an injured owl.  Two visitors had reported seeing it on the side of the road between the US and Canadian border checkpoints.  They provided mile and kilometer post numbers and even showed Kathy and a picture of the poor little thing.  Technically, it was in Canada but the park ranger called and cleared it with the US Border patrol so that we could bring the bird back into Alaska for treatment.

We gathered up leather gloves, a box, several towels and a shirt.  We brought the shirt because it was lightweight but large enough to cover the bird's head, making him/her feel safer.  As we drove, we started wondering if maybe it the numbers were actually past the Canadian checkpoint.  We started worrying that we'd have to turn around at the checkpoint and that the owl would be left to fend for himself.

We drove on and stopped and asked a road construction crew if they'd seen the injured owl.  They reported they had not seen it in either direction so we continued to drive towards the Canadian checkpoint, eyes peeled on the left shoulder.   

Finally, Joy spotted something small and black.  We slowed down - it was a piece of tire.  The road was covered with fresh gravel and the shoulders were covered with fresh, deep gravel.  Finally, Kathy spotted the little guy, wings outstretched, yellow eyes gleaming sitting in the fresh loose gravel nearly in the lane of traffic.  Kathy turned the truck around and drove down the embankment and parked.  As Joy walked near him, he used his wings to scoot about five feet from where he'd been siting in a burrow he'd been creating in the gravel.  He scooted dangerously close to the edge of the shoulder, which dropped off about 5 feet to the tundra below.  Kathy put her gloves on as Joy warned her of the owl's talons.

We both approached the bird from opposite sides and, although owls can nearly turn their heads 360 degrees, he wasn't quite able to watch both of us at the same time.  He was surprisingly alert and, except for his inability to walk or fly, looked healthy.  As Kathy approached him, he turned to look at her, giving Joy the perfect opportunity to gently lay the shirt over his head.  He stayed still, didn't fight, and allowed Joy to carefully scoop him up and place him in the box.

He was much smaller than we'd thought - maybe a juvenile.  Safely in the box and in the middle of the front seat between us, the owl began the 90 + mile trip to Tok, where he would be turned over to one of the refuge's biologists and eventually delivered to a veterinarian for care. Kathy tried to ease the truck up the loose, deep gravel embankment.  The first try was cut short by on coming traffic so we waited.  Joy suggested she use four-wheel drive but Kathy just gunned it a little harder instead and, after digging some pretty good grooves into the freshly laid gravel, we were up the hill and back onto the road.  Kathy figures it was just a small payback to the cursed roads of Canada and Alaska.

After dropping Joy off at the Visitor's Center, Kathy and the owl, later named Blueberry, drove the remaining 85 miles to Tok.  Upon arriving, there wasn't a biologist to be found since it was Saturday night.  Finally, after about an hour, one of the biologist's (Kathy's favorite) arrived.  She gently removed Blueberry from the box, told Kathy he was a Hawk Owl, and looked him over for injuries.  It was obvious that his wing was damaged.  There was a small smudge of blood in the box but they couldn't find it's source.

The biologist watered Blueberry and eventually fed him chicken as they watched TV together in the refuge bunkhouse.  The next evening, a group of guests from Anchorage agreed to transport Blueberry to the bird rehab/sanctuary in Anchorage and off he went.

We wondered for a couple of weeks about Blueberry's status and asked the refuge volunteer coordinator to check on him for us.  She did just this morning and, sadly, Blueberry's injuries were too severe to be treated and he was euthanized.  The vet said that both Blueberry's leg and wing were severely fractured most likely due to being struck by a vehicle. The vet confirmed that he was a young bird, just as we thoughts.

With teary eyes we thanked her for the update.  Although it wasn't the news we had hoped for, we were grateful that Blueberry did not suffer on the side of the road, get hit by yet another vehicle, or eaten by a predator.  We are grateful to the refuge for supporting us in his rescue - he definitely touched us even during the little time we spent with him.

This is what Blueberry, when fully grown, would have looked like.

The Presents of Our Presence

United States Fish and Wildlife's mission is "working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people."  As volunteers, we have the honorable opportunity to provide the public incentive to travel along the continuum of wildlife management from having little or no knowledge about ecology and conservation to taking action to help preserve habitat and wildlife for the future.

In this short time, we have touched the lives of hundreds of folks who have passed through the visitor's center either on their way in or out of Alaska.  The Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center is located 9 miles northwest of the Canadian border on one of only two roads in or out of Alaska.  Not all of these interactions have been strictly for our the USFW mission as sometimes we provide tourist information, as well. Often we learn more from the visitors than they learn from us.  Many are here  from Germany and Canada, but we've also met people from the United states,  Norway, Finland, Argentina, Brazil, the Ivory Coast, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.  They travel in a variety of forms, including cars, trucks, motorcycles, RV's, bicycles and on foot.

Sometimes our guests view a 12 minute movie about Tetlin Wildlife Refuge, Native American culture and the state of Alaska. We make them coffee or tea and sell them maps, beading kits, chocolate bars or books. Many complain about the Yukon roads and praise the fact that Alaska roads are paved, have shoulders, and are in good condition.  They welcome knowledge about gaining an hour of time back and the lack of Alaskan sales tax.

About a third of our visitors stop in as they are leaving Alaska.  They stop because they came in via the other route, through Dawson City via the Top of The World highway; or they flew into Anchorage, rented an RV, and stop in as they head down to Canada to tour.   We considered driving back to Canada via the Top of the World highway but have heard so many stories of narrow winding roads without guard rails, loose construction gravel causing flat tires and flipped RVs, that we decided to make the trip a day trip in the Jeep with the dogs.

The highlight of our positions is talking to guests from all over the world who tell us how they ended up in Alaska, what animals they've seen during their travels, and the stories that brought them to Alaska.  We share stories, suggestions, and dreams although we'll probably never see one another again.  Some stay for a few minutes and some stay for over an hour.  The experience so far has restored both of our faith's in mankind and has made us realize that there really are a lot of great people in this world and that we all have our own little stories and our own little dreams and commonalities.

The other day Joy was on the back deck when a couple came walking out holding hands.  They told her they were saying goodbye to Alaska after nine years and heading for a new job in North Carolina.  They stood quietly looking over the valley, knowing that it was most likely their last view of Alaska and wanting to engrave it deep into their memories.  Joy almost cried with them as the turned toward their car and drove off.

Our biggest blessing is we are allowed to be flies on the wall during some peoples' happiest moments.  The other night after hours we were walking the dogs and heading toward the deck.  A U-haul truck followed by an SUV pulled into the the parking area.  A woman and a small child got out of the SUV and a man jumped out of the U-haul excitedly, yelling to his wife, "We made it, we're in Alaska!" Then he grabbed the little girl, swung her in the air and asked her how it felt to be in Alaska.  "It feels good!" she responded.

We approached and said hello and welcomed them to Tetlin.  The puppies both welcomed the little girl with licks and sniffs as she petted them. We asked where they were from and where they were headed.  They reported they had driven from Delaware and would be stationed in Anchorage, another days' drive away. At one point, the little girl announced that she was going to go catch the wasp and say hello to it and that she'd be right back.  He mother quickly stopped her as we all laughed.  As Kathy and I headed to the deck, we caught a glimpse of the couple hug and kiss - obviously sharing a wonderful moment of great joy.  We were privileged to share in that moment as our hearts sang with theirs. All this - and it was only our first week!

"Welcome to Tetlin!"

Leaving Haines seemed somehow sad.  It was the longest time we had spent in one place since leaving Houston (3 nights) and we had had such a wonderful time and feel like we made such a great connection with Drake that passing the airport on the way out of town made us gloomy – just like the weather.

By the time we arrived at the Canadian border (again) it was sprinkling. A female inspection officer came out of the building after running our license plates and asked the usual questions. This time when Kathy reported we had pepper spray with us, the she asked to see it. She decided it was concealable and that we could not bring it in to Canada.  We had the options of turning around and leaving back in the US, or voluntarily surrendering it to her for destruction.  Kathy filled out the proper forms and we were back on the road. Right after the Canadian crossing, the road began a “slight” incline - a “slight” incline that lasted for at least 15 miles. Soon we were near the Wrangell and St. Elias mountain ranges.  Snow was within hiking distance which meant the temperatures were much colder now.  We thought that the roads weren't as bad as people had warned us they would be and we figured we had missed the worst ones because we had avoided Whitehorse by cutting west to Skagway. When we got to the juncture of Highway 1 again, at Haines Junction, we realized we just hadn’t gotten to the bad parts yet!

We saw very few trucks or RVs and even fewer cars that day.  The road was lonely and desolate as we came upon Kluane Lake .  It looked like fog was hanging over part of the lake but as we neared we realized it was dust blowing in very strong winds along the top of the water from the sandy, shallow end of the lake.
Like most lakes we’d encountered so far, Kluane Lake is huge!

You arrive near the south edge and turn left following the edge around and across an area where the lake bed is exposed.  This is where the winds blow the glacial flour across the top of the water and it looks like a sand storm in the Sahara – over a lake.  As you round another corner, the interpretative center sits near a roadside turn-out which is where we stopped to walk the dogs.  Joy wanted to take them down to the waters’ edge but the shores were gray rock looking ready for a landslide.  We drove fifteen more miles and found a provincial park right on the shore of the lake and decided to camp there for the night.

Like most of the Canadian parks and recreation sites that we’d camped at, this was beautiful, clean and well maintained.  The Canadian parks provide free fire wood and that’s always a plus.  This park had 60 sites but we counted only 39 accessible because the park was closed to tent campers due to increased bear activity. We had been told that there had been an increase in brown bear (grizzly) activity in this area and had kept our eyes peeled for one the entire drive without success.

We chose site #1 one tucked back in the woods with a view of the lake. After we parked, a young German woman asked us for change so that she could pay the $12 instead of $15 for her site.  Canadian parks are paid by leaving money in an envelope and drop box.  We initially thought we didn't have any Canadian change to pay the $2 (Kathy had a $10 Canadian bill on her) but we then remembered that we had several loonies ($1 Canadian coins) in the front of the RV.  Kathy took the 5 loonies over to the German couple’s site and gave them 2 loonies asking nothing in exchange – figuring she still had 3 loonies left to pay for our site.  Somehow, she ended up a loonie short and had to use 4 U.S. quarters to pay $1 of our $12 fee.  We still have no idea what happened to the other loonies and think we’ll find them at some point in the oddest place.

After setting up, we walked down to the lake.  The wind was blowing pretty good and the lake actually looked more like an ocean, with waves and white foam, than a lake.  It was also pretty darn cold! The view was extraordinary!  Standing on the rocky beach, you could turn in around in a circle and see mountains that surrounded you for 360 degrees.  It was the most beautiful place Kathy has ever stood and it brought her to tears.

For Joy, it was a rock hound's delight! She’s discovering that she’s a closeted geologist and while Kathy keeps her eye to the sky for mountains, Joy keeps hers to the ground for rocks (and gold.)  We built our version of a Native American rock sculpture, as did several visitors before us, and then walked along the beach looking for agates. Joy reminisced about a childhood trip to Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota and agate hunting with her mom. We returned to our site, ate dinner and built a fire.

Kathy had a wonderful roaring fire in no time so we decided to make S’mores.  I was leery with bear activity and marshmallows and chocolate but we cooked quickly and enjoyed the fruits of our labor.  We were exhausted from the drive so we went to bed early. Frances was ready to play at her usual 5 AM and we decided to get an early start on the road so we were off by 8 AM.

The road led to Destruction Bay, a town that was named during the building of the Alaska Highway for all of the equipment it destroyed during construction.  Let it be known that it continues to live up to its name as it has some of the worst roads we’ve ever driven on.  Apparently, the US definition of the word “paved” and the Yukon definition of the word “paved” differ quite significantly.  Not only were the roads not paved for several miles, they were gravel with a washboard base which shook the RV to its very core, even at 20 mph. Kathy kept looking up at the new flat screen TV that was installed this past summer and hoped that wouldn’t fall on Joy’s head!

When we finally arrived at the actual “road construction,” we had to wait in line for a pilot truck to lead us beside the shoulders they were working on.  Yes – the shoulders, not the frickin’ roads! We are still trying to figure out how to get back down to the lower 48 without driving that section of the Yukon again.  Kathy keeps picturing a helicopter with the RV and Jeep dangling underneath as it flies back to Kluane Lake! When we neared the end of construction we were almost at the Canadian border.  Kathy swore that once we crossed border we would be driving on blacktop again and threatened to stop the RV, get out, and kiss it.

Entering Alaska USA was a quick meeting with a friendly smiling border patrol agent who simply asked about any fruits and vegetables.  We had purposely not stocked any but did tell a small white lie as we said “no” and then remembered we had two plums in the fridge.

About 9 miles after the checkpoint we rolled upon the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitor’s Center, the place we would call home for the next 2 months.  Although we were driving another 83 miles to the refuge headquarters, we decided to stop in and take a look around.  We also knew that our future boss, Kay Lynn, might be at the center.  

The building is almost as spectacular as the view from its deck.  It’s a huge cabin built in the trapper cabin style only much larger and with a much nicer and larger food cache (not used for food.)  We walked in the front door and heard a cheerful voice say, “Welcome to Tetlin.”