Bears, Part 1

I have a bear phobia.  They featured prominently in my nightmares as a child so when our family packed into the Sierras, camping on the shores of Waugh Lake, I lay awake in my pup tent for what felt like all night every night listening for bears, convinced I would be a midnight snack for one of them.

But the universe has a way of making us face our fears, or at least taunting us with our fears, in a variety of ways.

This summer it seemed I received a number of bear themed postcards.  This one is from the Kodiak National Wildlife Refugee, established in 1941 to protect the habitat of the Kodiak brown bear.  This bear is the world's largest land carnivore. NOT on my bucket list:  seeing  a Kodiak bear in the wild.

P.S.  Thanks to Sandy & Duke for sending me all the postcards from their Alaskan adventure!

P.P.S.  Previous bear postcards:  here (the bear in the strawberry tree statue/sculpture in Madrid) and here (grizzly bears).

More Animals - Dall Sheep

I seem to have started an animal series, and I see no reason not to continue.

Dall sheep are native to northwestern North America, and according to the postcard "can climb straight up cliffs to avoid predators".  In fact, the Dall sheep on the postcard almost looks like it is photoshopped in, as there appears to be so little to stand on.  Dall sheep look a lot like Bighorn Sheep, but are apparently separate species.   Interesting to read the Wikis about both types of sheep, as DNA testing is now being done on these animals to determine if each has a variety of subspecies within its species.  While the Dall and Bighorn sheep are not considered the same species, let alone subspecies, their DNA lineage is complicated by some instances of "hybridization".  I've seen Bighorn sheep while hiking in Colorado and around the Ritz Carlton Palm Springs, but had never heard of Dall sheep. (It might have something to do with the fact that I've never been to Alaska.)

A shout out to my friend and birthday soul sister, Erin, who sent me this postcard from Alaska, where she went with her dad for a very wonderful and exciting fly fishing adventure.   Her mom and dad are regular contributors to  my postcard collection, and she wanted in on the action.  At one point, she dropped out of college and ran off to Alaska (what she is referring to as her "freebird" days).  Sounds like she's having a blast revisiting her old haunts. 

Alaska

When I first found this postcard, it made me think, "When did they change the name of Mt. McKinley to Denali?", as this postcard has no reference to the name Denali and was mailed in 1996. I thought this mountain, at least in recent memory, was called "Denali".

Turns out it was never changed. The mountain is officially named Mt. McKinley, although it is also known as Denali, "The Great One." As the highest mountain peak in North America, it stands at a height of approximately 20,320 feet (6,194 m) above sea level. From Wikipedia, "Mount McKinley has a larger bulk and rise than Mount Everest, although the summit of Everest is higher measured from sea level 29,029 feet (8,800 m). Everest's base sits on the Tibetan Plateau at about 17,000 feet (5,200 m), giving it a real vertical rise of a little more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m). The base of Mount McKinley is roughly a 2,000-foot (610 meter) elevation, giving it an actual rise of 18,000 feet (5,500 m)."

The whole name thing is controversial. Alaskans refer to the mountain as "Denali", from the Koyukon language, and in 1975 requested that the US Board on Geographic Names (who knew there was such an organization?) make the name "Denali" official. A congressman from a district in Ohio, where McKinley (the president for whom the mountain was named) was from, has continuously fought efforts to do so, using all sorts of political maneuvering, and the official name remains Mt. McKinley to this day. The "compromise" was to name the national park Denali, with Mt. McKinley as its centerpiece. Phew. If you're interested, you can find more info here.