The Land of the Midnight Sun
Michael Frazier
Although the state is typically shown at the left lower corner of most classroom maps, our nation’s northernmost state is simultaneously the nation’s westernmost and easternmost, as well. Spanning three time zones, the size of the “Land of the Midnight Sun” is truly its most stunning feature. The nearly 670,000 square miles of wilderness paired with a population of about one person per thousand miles means the state is as unblemished by human development as might be possible in our 21st century world. 35 percent of Alaska’s landmass is designated for national park land or wildlife preserves, meaning it’ll be a while before the state is overrun by development and progress. Because Alaska is so large and its majority is reasonably inaccessible most of the year, it’s fair to say this incomparable bastion of nature is a great vacation spot for the naturalist and the nature lover alike. A cross-country drive via the Alcan Highway is 1700 miles of otherworldly vistas through spirit-stirring glaciers, canyons, mountainways, and early gold hunting regions, although the state’s official highway registry indicates that, as of August 2014, only 1367 miles of it are currently paved and there’s an average of one gas station every 312 miles.
Cruises and coastal sightseeing tours might be your best bet if you’re not a fan of long road trips. Alaska is home to the some of the world’s most beautiful, and endangered, aquatic life. With so few human occupants around the vast waterways, a day’s oceanic tour may include sightings of blue whales, puffins, killer whales, walrus, and seals alongside the land-born grizzly and polar bears, moose, and freshwater fish like salmon that toggle fresh and sea water during spawning season. Alaska has closely regulated hunting areas and permitting, but there’s rarely a shortage and the quantity of licenses are rarely limited due to the vast expanse of available hunting grounds and sheer numbers of animal and fish populations.
Culturally, Alaska is one of the few places in the US where groups of native peoples practice rituals relatively unchanged by western interaction. In 2007, the Eskimo Whaling Commission approved nearly 22 regional and international tribes the continuation of a 2000-year-old tradition of the annual whale hunt. Due to the harsh conditions of the northern climate, the success of a tribe’s annual hunt can mean the survival of the group through the long, dark, icy winter. More than that, a tribe’s cultural traditions, crafts, artistic techniques, garmentry, housing, and fuel are all interrelated and dependant on the materials and elements harvested and repurposed from the whale hunt. The tribal hunt ensures the tribe’s sustenance as well as the cultural traditions of the tribe. Any visit to an Alaskan artisan, ethnically regional or not, will reflect the importance of nature and the balance of these delicate systems for survival.
The best reason to visit Alaska may be the most mythic of all, the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights. If you’ve ever wanted to feel the presence of a cosmic divinity or conceptualized the notions of the ephemeral spirit, the image of these phenomena will stay lodged in your spiritual psyche for a life time.
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