The Ukivok settlement (image by kertelhein) was finally abandoned in 1970 when all inhabitants were moved to the continent. It is hard to imagine, how tough the life was on the island, when food had to be gathered during the few summer months. The winters were spent more or less inside the four walls.
I checked the ice map of NOAA and found that even now, on last week of May, the King Island is completely surrounded by ice. In a few weeks time there will be visitors coming to the island again. From the top of the island the view to east shows the Alaskan shore if the weather is good. That is where we go next.
The Seward Peninsula on the mainland is geographically very similar to the Russian side. The terrain is low tundra, where small rivers have carved their channels. Little by little the ground level rises and the first mountain come into view. We cross a road and river and see a reminder of the days of the gold rush.
Gold was dug here in industrial scale using dredgers, which operated on the river bank. This unit in the front was probably operating in early twentieth century (image by misterbigtoe). The Kigluaik mountains rise higher and higher and to my delight the Panoramio icons are quite common sight. Since the Kigluaik is not the most spectacular mountain range, I skip the pictures there and find one beautiful spot behind the mountains (photo by R Wideman):
This picturesque landscape is called Pilgrim Hot Springs and it is a ghost village from the Gold Rush era over 100 years ago. It is now designated as a US National Register Historic Place. The church in the center was built after 1918 flu epidemic for the orphanage. The Seward Peninsula is not very crowded place. After 50 kilometers we see a small town near the Niukluk River. The town of Council is quiet as it has not had permanent inhabitants in 100 years. Today it is a history site on summer months, where you can see old mining equipment lying around.
This image (by Christophe Rochat) shows one piece of the historical junk found in the town and in the vicinity. After leaving Council the landscape turns again very mountainous. The inner parts of Seward Peninsula are virtually roadless and even the smallest villages have an airport or actually just a landing strip for small planes.
The landscape is by no means monotonic, but due to the low accessibility those with a camera seem not to frequent these areas. The things change only when we arrive to the neck of the peninsula where the River Koyuk discharges to the Norton Bay and sea. The town with the same name is built on the northern bank of the final bend of the river.
The image ( by Dan Baldini) shows the town of Koyuk seen from south-east. I have the feeling that the sea will not be seen for a very long time. With this view in mind we continue to east. The tundra seems endless but the from south we see a large river. It is the Yukon, which just short of the 65th parallel turns east and starts to follow our latitude. Yes, fair enough, of course the Yukon flows from east to west, but still it remains with us for some distance.
Right after the bend there is another small town with another indigenous name Koyukuk. With only 100 inhabitants it is interesting that the airport is actually better equipped than that of Koyuk.
This image (by Will Forsberg) shows the sandy shores of River Koyukuk, which joins the Yukon right at the town Koyukuk. But back to the Yukon where we see a continous stream of islands in the river, as the Yukon's multiple channels are twisting like a watery braid. This seems to be common for the rivers in the permafrost landscape.
This plaque (image by Pavel Filin) is found on the shore of Edith Island in the Yukon River. The place is called Cross Point. It is too easy to forget those history lessons, but in fact Alaska used to belong to Russian Empire until the year 1867. The signs of the Russian presence can still be found in many places. That is one reason why Alaska is also very popular for the Russian tourists.
Upstream the Yukon channel the river starts to turn more and more north. Just as we are about to leave Yukon for good, we encounter a small town called Tanana. Tanana is also a river which joins the Yukon here.
The city offices of Tanana are in this traditional style log house (photo by Pavel Filin). It is nice to see how, despite its mere 280 inhabitants, complete functioning town Tanana is. The airstrip is 1700 meters long, enabling even mid-size planes to land and take-off. This has some historical significance since during WW II military airplanes exported to Russia made landing in Tanana. About 80 % of Tanana citizens are native Americans.
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