Category Archives: Cordova, Alaska

Cordova, Alaska – Belle Epoch

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We thought Cutterlight fans might be interested in seeing a short (three minute) video that captures life in this small coastal Alaska town – as well as the community’s commitment to sustainable energy.

Of interest to us is that with a population of just over 2,000 inhabitants, Cordova is nearly identical in size to Henry Thoreau’s Concord, Massachusetts of 1860. The similarities between the two towns don’t end with size. With no roads connecting Cordova to the world beyond, it requires intention to reach our community. This relative isolation creates a balance of independence and tight-knittedness that formerly marked most U.S. small towns.

With Copper River salmon runs still strong enough to fuel a fairly healthy economy, most of our electricity generated from local rivers that continue to flow with nearly pristine purity, full of spawning salmon each year, and a downtown replete with library, art gallery, hardware store, grocer and other shops and restaurants within pleasant walking distance, we seem to have arrived in Cordova at its belle epoch. 

Life here is… serene. Police and emergency sirens are few and far between; common courtesies are many. Sidewalks are clean and it is uncommon to encounter a line at any of our shops or the post office. So many of the things that “made America great” – things we remember from our youths of decades past – still thrive in this community where people of European, Asian, Native American and other heritages mix together seamlessly. Although March nights still get cold, already the afternoon sun warms our deck into the 70s so that outdoors reading and dining are thoroughly comfortable. We’ve had hummingbirds at our feeders all winter long…

It would seem that a crystal ball isn’t required to see that in the not-so-distant future, people will leave places that are either too hot, too dry (Colorado is currently experiencing a nearly state-wide water shortage), or too vulnerable to coastal flooding. Calling it a “hoax” won’t make it go away, and I think we all know what is meant by “it.”

So where will these people go? Alaska is warming at a faster rate than places further south. Climate models predict that by 2050, average temperatures up here will be eight degrees warmer. With slightly fewer than three-quarters of a million residents and enough land to fit Texas, California and Montana with room to spare… 

Drums, Voices, Dancing and an Incredible Culminating Feast: The 30th Annual Sobriety Celebration Potlatch

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Volunteers steam up copious batches of sumptuous Dungeness and King Crab in the icy night air of November.

Each year in Cordova, Alaska, the Native Village of Eyak sponsors a two-day celebration in honor of Elders and Sobriety. The culminating feast which typically features crab, deepwater shrimp, moose, chicken adobo, halibut, salmon, pasta, all kinds of desserts and other tasty fare is the culinary highlight of the year. Native groups from throughout southern coastal Alaska fly in to join local groups in events that include traditional dances, honoring elders, arts and craft sales and displays, keynote speakers sharing testimonies about the power of sobriety, and special recognition of military veterans. In the tradition of generosity that is part of Native potlatches, the entire community is invited and when, for example, veterans are honored, all veterans present are recognized with appreciation and gifts.

Human voices, drums, dances passed down from generation to generation. Note the Navy ribbons this Vietnam veteran is wearing. Most events took place in the Cordova High gym – a challenging place to make an interesting photo. I made a few double-exposures, some of which worked fairly well.
Participants came from several communities, including Juneau, Kodiak, Yakutat and Tatitlek as well as Cordova.

Migration: The Peeps of Cordova

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Western Sandpipers, Hartney Bay, Cordova, Alaska, May 3, 2024

This was the scene about six miles from the heart of Cordova this past Friday morning, and this is but a sliver of the many thousands of shorebirds that stop for a short while to fuel up and rest on tidal mudflats near the town as they make their way to nesting grounds further north. Figuring in nearby barrier islands and additional flats in the Copper River delta, some five million shorebirds represented by several species will visit the Cordova area over a few days in early May. While they are here, these Western Sandpipers will double their weight. The delta is absolutely critical to the health of these avian populations as there are only a few places in the world that offer the sheer biomass of invertebrates and biofilm these birds require in order to complete journeys that in many cases cover thousands of miles. Look for a more indepth article on this incredible migratory event in the coming days.

Our Town: Cordova, Alaska, Christmas Night 2023

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Christmas night nighttime photograph of Main Street in Cordova, Alaska depicting a quiet town with Christmas lights and the town Christmas Tree.
Our Town – Christmas Night, 2023. We went out last night, after the snowfall, before the breeze knocked the snow off of things, to make a few photographs of our town at night. This picture was made from about the middle of Main Street looking south. My objective was to make a photograph that evokes nostalgia for small-town America. I captured and created several images including some abstracts. I’ll show some of those in future posts.

The Hike to Heney Ridge, Chugach National Forest

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This is what a sub-polar temperate rainforest looks like on the dry side of a mountain. The first part of the trail gently meanders through a forest of hemlock, spruce and cedar. The understory is populated by blueberry, currant, salmonberry, devil’s club, twisted stalk, several species of fern and other plants. 

On June 18 we took advantage of a warm day filled with sunshine to take on the Heney Ridge Trail near Cordova. Lingering snow fields above the tree line stopped us with about a quarter mile to go on this 4.1 mile trail, but from where we stopped, the sweeping views taking in snow-capped peaks and Prince William Sound were nonetheless spectacular.

As we gained elevation, the trees gradually thinned out and in places gave way to muskeg meadows. This is marshy, fragile terrain. Narrow boardwalks and steps installed by the Forest Service help minimize hikers’ impact. (Barbra is right of center – a tiny figure giving some idea of the scale of this landscape.

Getting even a glimpse of birds proved challenging, but along the way we heard the songs and chatterings of Boreal Chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Orange-crowned Warblers, Wilson’s Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, Varied Thrushes, American Robins, Crows and Ravens. An American Dipper buzzed by as we were admiring the upper reaches of Heney Creek, and once we had climbed above the tree line we were able to look down on soaring eagles and gulls. Fresh bear scat. Fox scat dense with hair from its meal.

It was in these high meadows that we came upon an old friend: Shooting Stars, a favorite flower we didn’t have at Chignik Lake and were happy to reacquaint. This specimen is dusted with pollen from evergreen trees. 

Several types of violet are native to Alaska. This tiny beauty is Stream Violet which we found growing near seeps and streams along the trail. 

From approximately the halfway point, the trail became steep (there is a ladder in one place) and mostly rocky. No technical climbing involved, but Barbra and I agreed on the adjective “rigorous.” Totally worth the effort, though. 

At the rocky terminus of our hike, we looked for alpine flowers. Small but beautiful, we found a few. Jewel of the mountains, Wooly Lousewort.

Narcissus-flowered Anemone

One often has to look closely to find the gems that are alpine flowers. This Wedge-leafed Primrose bloom is about the size of a fingernail…

…and these Alaskan Pincushion flowers are even small than that. But they’re all favorites, the two of us calling back and forth to each other with each discovery. Bell heather, tiny Vaccinium, minuscule Alpine Azalea, White Marsh Marigold (which might better be named Snow Marigold) in wet places…

Rock cairns mark the alpine portion of the trail. The last part is fairly lightly traveled, and it’s easy to confuse a rocky ephemeral creek bed for the actual path. Eagles soaring below, piping from perches in the distant forest, waterfalls rushing from melting snowfields, a light breeze, shirtsleeve warm, quiet… We’ll be back.

Sheridan Lake Icebergs: Views from our New Back Yard

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Quite a few of the images I capture are key-worded “vast” in my Lightroom catalog. Here, as I was walking along the glacial moraine at Sheridan Lake, I turned around just in time to catch Barbra and two visiting friends taking in the landscape. Located about 17 miles from our home in Cordova, a short walk through spruce and hemlock forests leads to this magical lake where, in wintertime people ice skate among massive structures of ice and in springtime and early summer kayak and canoe through the same setting.

It was June 12 when we visited the lake, but here on the edge of Alaska’s Chugach National Forest, the world’s northernmost rainforest, it’s still spring as these willow flowers attest.

That’s Sheridan Mountain on the left side of this image – another hike for another day. Just right of center is a peek view of Sheridan Glacier itself.

We’re hoping to visit this lake again soon with our pack rafts, hopefully on a day with a little nicer light. It’d be interesting to get a closer view of the ice, and to put a watercraft of known size in the picture to provide a sense of scale.

Having arrived in Cordova by ferry from Whittier (a 100-mile cruise across Prince William Sound) on May 15, although most of our time has been given to setting up our new home, we’ve already managed to feather in a handful of hikes. With nearly 20 named Forest Service trails within a short drive – and all of them changing with the seasons, all of them beautiful as they wind through stands of moss-draped evergreens, through muskeg, up mountains and along lakes, rivers and streams, there will be lots more to come. So stay tuned!