Archives for June 2007

BECOMING A NAVAL HISTORIAN

June 23, 2007 by Brian Berry Leave a Comment

One of the things my Dad and I did was tour the island’s old buildings. Some date back to the days of World War II when the island was first turned into a base for the Navy and they go all the way up to 1997 when the Navy eventually closed up shop on the Island and turned the land and buildings over to the native Aleut people.

Lots has changed over those years and some was sad to see (destroyed by neglect or vandalism) and some was fun to explore (old and rich with heritage). We drove the dirt and gravel roads in our rented beater four wheel drive early 80’s suburban- no mufflers, no plates, and lots of rattles, but it did the trick all week (even took it mud bogging in the rain. Yeah boy.) Here’s the pics.

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BECOMING A FISHERMAN

June 23, 2007 by Brian Berry Leave a Comment

I fished a lot as a kid in streams during the summer. Mostly really small fish. So, it doesn’t take a lot to please me. Give me a pole, a river, and somewhere to hike next to cold water and I’m good for days. I really enjoyed fishing in the lakes and streams of Adak. There were some salt water dolly varden trout that were starting to run up the streams- and most were between 14 and 16 inches long and put up a pretty good fight… they even jump a little which is cool. Most we threw back. Some we kept… to watch the eagles eat and to eat ourselves. Yahoo for fishing!

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BECOMING A BOTANIST

June 23, 2007 by Brian Berry Leave a Comment

I even took pictures of plants. I have to confess, I do this a lot. If we go to Disneyland, I take pictures of my family- and the plants. I do it at the San Diego Zoo. I do it all over the place. I think it’s a disease I caught as a post 30 home owner who does his own gardening. But for whatever the reason of this metamorphosis going on inside me, here’s the photos I took. Like the birds, I have no idea what most of them are.

(photographers note: almost all the flowers in this set and the ones above are about the size of a pencil eraser head. Like really really really small… but beautiful and plentiful. Due to the high winds and the extreme cold, the island has no native trees on it. Every plant is knee high or lower)

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BECOMING A BIRD WATCHER

June 23, 2007 by Brian Berry Leave a Comment

Well, one thing that Adak has is birds. It’s evidently a world renown bird watcher destination- one of the few real tourist attractions that causes people to come to this island is to watch the migration season at Clam Lagoon.

So, I tried my hand and my camera at bird watching this week. I have to say, I could get used to this…. I had some fun.

Here’s three photo sets. This one is of the like 50+ pictures I got of Eagles this week. They are all over the mountain cliffs, streams, and river ways.

This one is of the same American Bald Eagle, but in it’s pre-sexually mature juvenile state where it’s plumage is brown and it’s beak black. Go figure… I even sound like a bird watcher with that sentence.
This one is of the many variety of birds I saw and photographed as I traipsed all over the place with my camera. I have no idea what most of them are- cuz I suck at being a bird watcher. But it can be lots of fun. Be sure to click on it to make them large enough to enjoy.

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BECOMING A MOUNTAINEER

June 23, 2007 by Brian Berry Leave a Comment

When you’re 1300 miles from the mainland on a remote artic island, you try your hand at a lot of stuff you don’t normally do in our busy world of sunny San Diego.

Day one in Adak found us in a weather situation that is so rare that my mom claims it only happened twice in the 15 months she was on the island while my Dad was stationed in the Navy. It was so clear that you could see for miles to the other islands in the chain. Simply breath taking. My dad and I siezed the opportunity to get some elevation under our feet and try our hands and feet at mountaineering to take in the big views. So we hiked to about 3100 feet, to the top of Mt. Moffett, one snow covered summit shy of it’s peak at 3600 feet. The view was breath taking. I took a panarama with my new camera but it’s too large to post… but take my word on it. It’s sweet!!!

Here’s my photo collage of our hike and the distance we hiked is from our beater rental suburban to the top of Mt. Moffett, viewed in the far right of the picture.

And here’s my favorite picture of the week.. my Dad standing in view of the rarely seen from Adak- and a sight that very few people on the planet will ever enjoy face to face- the perfect volcanic cone of Kanaga Island.