Cape Peirce, Alaska

In the summer of 1997 I spent three months in Alaska. For two of those months I had the privelage of spending time as a volunteer at Cape Peirce, part of Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, which is about 150 miles west of Dillingham.

Cape Peirce is a wonderfully diverse region but is most is famous for its WALRUS and its BIRDS.

The only way to get to Cape Peirce is by float plane. It is a 90 minute flight from Dillingham, the nearest town. The scenery in the area is breathtakingly beautiful, ranging from snow capped peaks, pine covered mountain sides and tundra flats broken up by stunted patches of willow and alder and the occasional salmon filled river. These photos were taken while flying there.

These are the cabins where I stayed for 2 months. Our food was flown in every two weeks (weather permitting) and our drinking water was from a spring in the nearby hill. The weather at Cape Peirce is usually very windy, cold and wet. Due to El Nino (we think), the year that I was there the weather was more moderate and we had many wonderful sunny days.

In the front of the cabins are ponds where along their shorelines a variety of shorebirds such as Red-necked Phalarope, Least and Western Sandpiper breed. Further in the distance is Nanvak Bay (a tidal estuary with a mind of its own and a favorite haunt of some Harbour Seals) and behind it, Slug Mountain. Many wonderful days were spent hiking in the tundra in the shadow of this gentle mountain.