Alaska Photos

Ugak Bay

Photograph by George F. Mobley

Ugak Bay sleeps beneath a winter sun. Many of these long inlets deeply cleave the coast: No site on land is more than 15 miles [24 kilometers] from the sea.

—From "Kodiak: Alaska's Island Refuge," November 1993, National Geographic magazine

Grayling Lake Trail

Photograph by Michael Melford

A water lily-carpeted pond edges Grayling Lake Trail, north of Seward, Alaska. One of the lakes along the trail abounds in grayling, surface feeders with long dorsal fins.

—From "Taking on the Kenai," May/June 1998, National Geographic magazine

Ayakulik River

Photograph by George F. Mobley

Fabulous fishing creates tent towns on the Ayakulik. Six salmon species—chinook, sockeye, pink, coho, steelhead, and chum—spawn in it.

—From "Kodiak: Alaska's Island Refuge," November 1993, National Geographic magazine

Old Harbor, Kodiak

Photograph by George F. Mobley

Snug outpost, Old Harbor—population 298—nestles beneath sheltering peaks. On Kodiak [Island] nearly everyone fishes, including the island's huge brown bears, which roam a renowned wildlife refuge.

—From "Kodiak: Alaska's Island Refuge," November 1993, National Geographic magazine

Breaching Whale

Photograph by Flip Nicklin

Whale-watchers flock to such spectacles [as breaching] during the spring-to-fall feeding season off Alaska, while scientists debate whether groups of whales hunt cooperatively.

—From "Listening to Humpbacks," July 1999, National Geographic magazine

Alaskan Brown Bear

Photograph by George F. Mobley

Coastal [brown bears] emerge from their dens in March, April, or May, often with snow still on the ground.... By August the bears are eating as much as 90 pounds [41 kilograms] of food a day to prepare for their winter sleep. Cubs, usually twins, are born in the den in January or February; they stay with their mother for two or three years. She teaches them to fish, forage, hunt, and defend themselves.

—Text from the National Geographic book Alaska's Wildlife Treasures, 1994, and photograph from the National Geographic book Wild Animals of North America, 1979

Tana Glacier

Photograph by George F. Mobley

As summer sun melts ice atop the [Tana Glacier], rivulets disappear into surface holes. In time trickle becomes torrent, and a hole widens to a moulin, a gaping cave that plunges into the bowels of the ice—likely more than a thousand feet [305 meters] in this case.

—From "Alaska's Sky-High Wilderness," May 1994, National Geographic magazine

Shishmaref Inlet

Photograph by George F. Mobley

The livid light of late October illuminates Shishmaref Inlet, located just 21 miles (34 kilometers) south of the Arctic Circle in Alaska. The Inuit living in the village of Shishmaref may soon be the first refugees of global warming. Rising sea levels and the melting of permafrost are causing their island to quickly erode into the Chukchi Sea.

—Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic book Alaska, 1969

Icy Bay

Photograph by George F. Mobley

Nearly midnight on Icy Bay, and late June twilight still mixes with moonglow. Glaciers that covered this spot 90 years ago continue to carve new features on the many faces of Wrangell-St. Elias [National Park].

—From "Wrangell-St. Elias National Park: Alaska's Sky-High Wilderness," May 1994, National Geographic magazine

Aurora Borealis

Photograph by Bruce Dale

A herd of stars makes tracks across Alaska's northern lights in a time exposure taken when the temperature reached minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 50 degrees Celsius).

—From "Alaska: Rising Northern Star," June 1975, National Geographic magazine

Tongass National Park

Photograph by Michael Melford

When the tide goes out, a starfish is exposed to the elements in Tongass National Forest. A popular spot for tourists along the Inside Passage, the Tongass is the largest remaining temperate forest in the world—even as the logging industry lobbies for greater access to it.

—From "A Wilder Passage," May/June 1999, National Geographic Traveler magazine

Kodiak Brown Bear

Photograph by George F. Mobley

The Kodiak brown bear—among the world's largest bears—is a subspecies unique to the Kodiak archipelago. To limit access to these popular animals and to offer a lifetime thrill, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service runs a viewing program; 250 people from around the world applied for 90 slots in 1992. Vic Barnes (at left), who started the program, radio collars a bear with his 11-year partner, state biologist Roger Smith.

—From "Kodiak: Alaska's Island Refuge," November 1993, National Geographic magazine

Prince William Sound

Photograph by Karen Kasmauski

A sea otter shares the waters of Alaska's foggy Prince William Sound with a spill-containment vessel nearly a decade after the Exxon Valdez ran aground and fouled these pristine waters with 11 million gallons (40 million liters) of crude oil. Intense clean-up efforts after the disaster lasted more than four years.

Now, evidence of the spill is hard to detect. But some beaches still have Valdez oil buried just below the surface. And scientists say some animal species, including sea otters, harbor seals, harlequin ducks, and herring, have yet to recover from the spill's negative effects.

—From "In the Wake of the Spill: Ten Years After Exxon Valdez," March 1999, National Geographic magazine

Killer Whales, Glacier Bay

Photograph by Steve Raymer

Killer whales break the water's surface of Glacier Bay in Alaska. Also known as orcas, these marine mammals often use echolocation to find their prey, which usually consists of fish and squid.

—Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Risk and Reward on Alaska's Violent Gulf," February 1979, National Geographic magazine