Alaska – A Darker View

Cordova Gallery

Just a sample of travel to Cordova, Alaska…

A rainy day in Juneau as seen from the window of an Alaska Airlines flight
The fishing port of Cordova, Alaska
Lupine along the trail at Sheridan Glacier
A muddy Sheridan River drains the lake in front of Sheridan Glacier
Icebergs scattered across the lake in front of Sheridan Glacier
An iceberg from Sheridan Glacier sits in the muddy waters of Sheridan Lake
Trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) forage near Cordova, Alaska
A bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) monitors the Copper River Delta from a convenient perch
The Copper River delta near Cordova, Alaska
The fish processor Dawn unloads in Cordova, AK
Orca Adventure Resort, Cordova, Alaska
The old cannery dining hall serves breakfast at Orca Adventure Lodge
A large winch list abandoned in the brush
A small unnamed stream tumbles through the rock
The Lioness fishing boat belonging to Orca Adventure Lodge
A pole awaits a halibut in Gravina Bay
Fred Cooper fishing with a traditional northwest indian halibut fishhook
Coho salmon ((Oncorhynchus kisutch) on the deck
The author with a nice catch

The glacier looked to be miles wide and flowed from deep in the mountians to where it nearly reached the sea. My view from the aircraft window allowed a perfect view on a beautiful sunny day. Unlike previous times I had passed this way no clouds obscured the scene.

It took a quick look at the map after the flight to identify the glacier I had seen and photographed… Bearing Glacier, the largest glacier in North America.

The glacier starts at an icefield in the St Elias Range, a stunningly rugged mountain range that abruptly rises from sea level to heights near 20,000ft in places. From there a five mile wide river of ice decends over 50 miles to the coastal plain, ending in Vitus Lake dotted with icebergs broken from the glacier’s terminal face. Seal River, a short, two mile long river then drains glacial meltwater into the Gulf of Alaska.

The numbers fail to capture the sheer grandeur of the that river of ice. While the view from 30,000ft was impressive, I wonder what it would be like to stand in the middle of that expanse on such a beautiful day.

Fishing Cordova

Summer 2025 featured another family fishing trip.

This time the destination was Cordova, Alaska. Why Cordova? Why not? New water, new adventures, new things to see.

We had never been to Cordova, bouncing through the airport on the milk run from Juneau and Yakutat does not count. The area feaures some interesting history, very scenic country, more than a few glaciers, and access to Prince William Sound for fishing.

Crabber

Geraniums

2022 in Photos

With recent history having been a bit bumpy, looking back on 2022 is not too bad in out little part of the world. More than a few good memories.

Kailua Bay on a typical Saturday Morning
PBR’s with Asparagopsis taxiformis
Harvesting algae from the PBR’s at Symbrosia
A raceway pond full of Asparagopsis taxiformis at Symbrosia
Waimea Canyon
Kīlauea lighthouse
Kōloa sugar mill
An air compressor rusts in the abandoned Kōloa sugar mill
Sunset over Lawaʻi Beach
The quintessential Alaskan charter boat anchored to fish halibut in Yakutat Bay
Ben halibut fishing in Yakutat Bay
A nice king salmon from Yakutat Bay
Icebergs on Harlequin Lake
A six inch gun emplacement from World War II at Cannon Beach, Yakutat
Total lunar eclipse on Nov 8th, 2022
Fred and Andrew Cooper at the earth’s equator along the Masaka Road, Uganda
A street in Masaka, Uganda
Line for the ferry at Nakiwogo, Uganda
Kids come to see what we are doing at the fishing village of Kazinga, Uganda
An older male lion (Panthera leo)
Tour vans arrive to view a lion
A Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) on the shoreline of Lake George, Uganda
A Rüppells starling (Lamprotornis purpuroptera) at the lodge in Katunguru
A Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus)
An elephant visits the Kazinga Safari Lodge at Katunguru, Uganda
A close-up of an elephant’s eye
The Toyota Land Cruiser at Kazinga village
The 2022 Mauna Loa eruption at dawn
The 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa on the second day
The 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa on the second day
Sunset over Lawaʻi Beach

On the Dock at Tenakee

The Nordic Quest docked for the night at Tenakee

To the End of The Road

There is only so much road to explore and we explored much of it.

Yakutat, like so many Alaskan communities is accessed only by sea or by air. Not to say there are no roads, they just do not go anywhere else, much less connect to the road network that crosses the continent.

In the case of Yakutat the furthest you can get from town is about 26 miles as the crow flies taking the road to Dangerous River and Harlequin Lake. This road is a well maintianed gravel road heavily used to access popular fly fishing rivers and hunting areas, as well as by loggers harvesting the local hemlock and sitka spruce.

Fishing Yakutat

It has been three years since the last voyage of the Nordic Quest. In the meantime the Quest has been sold and a pandemic raged. Three years is long enough, time for a return to the mainland and another fishing trip. My first visit to the mainland since the pandemic started.

My father and brother had not taken much of a pause, with the sale of the boat they have instead headed to a fishing lodge for their annual fishing. After some research my father decided on Yakutat for the abundance of halibut and more generous fishing regulations than found in SE Alaska.

For the last couple years they have used Yakutat Lodge, a choice I have to agree with. We had a great time with five days of fishing on Yakutat Bay.

Sea Lion Flophouse

Sea Lions using the Wrangell Narrows mid-channel marker as a resting place

Tag: Alaska