Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer


delivered to ice
Dog Mushing camp at the foot of the Godwin Glacier, Seward.
Stars & Stripes
US flag floats on Godwin's Dog Mushing camp.
canine craving
Dog mushing dogs howl, eager to run.
fresh customers
Helicopter about to land at Godwin Camp, with customers
On hold
Dog team lined up for another walk around the camp.
Icefield Expedition
A detail from one of the tents at Godwin's Dog Mushing camp.
husky howl
Dog howls longing to be able to go on another journey.
Vocation Selection
Keepers pair dogs at Godwin's dog mushing camp.
Summer Dog Mushing
Dogs tow a sled through the snow of the Godwin Mountains.
Zig and Zag
Dog mushing in zigzag, next to the camp of Godwin, Seward.
On my way
Groomer is towed by a newly formed team of dogs.
Traffic signal
A decorative sign from Godwin's dog mushing camp.
outdoor kennel
Pack of dogs from Godwin's Dog Mushing Camp, near Seward-
Affect of Handler
Greg Stoddard pets one of the dogs he's assigned to care for.
a tight curve
Groomer leads a team of pulling dogs he has just formed.
It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.

Judging by the sound alone, one might be led to think that Juneau was at war. Seaplanes take off one after the other, gliding along the Gastineau Canal.

And dozens of helicopters fly over it and its surroundings on lightning missions.

Originally, the cause of this turmoil are the gigantic cruise ships that dock every day at the city's docks, leaving it in the shade, as the sun goes down behind.

The Alaskan Strangeness of the Juneau Capital

A veritable army of visitors disembarks from each of the ships and goes to the first souvenir shops they find.

Like most towns in the state, Juneau is tiny. It catches the typical Lower 48 Yankee off guard, accustomed to endless spaces and imposing metropolises.

Inspired by the sheerest ignorance, they offend the locals over and over again, asking them, in the middle of downtown Alaska, “where is juneau after all?” or the way to get there.

When elucidated, they get fed up with their minimal urbanism in a couple of hours and seek to make up for the disappointment with unforgettable achievements in the last US border

They are the preferred customers of scenic flight companies. Tourists with a mania for grandeur, wallets to match or just a willingness to spend.

Helicopter, Godwin, Seward, Alaska

Helicopter about to land at Godwin's camp, with customers

Panoramic Flights. One of Alaska's Summer Mines

On a sunny day, its offices and hangars never rest. Reservations are made and more reservations are made, weighing after weighing and giving briefings after briefings from the early morning hours until late sunset.

Helicopter pilots, these, repeat the same routes, locutions and jokes until exhaustion, satisfied with the accelerated enrichment but still eager for the end of the season. Not as much as their sacrificed mountain partners.

Until some time ago, scenic flights were limited to discovering the best scenery in Alaska. But American marketing creativity knows no bounds.

From the mid-XNUMXs onwards, scenic flight companies made landings on glaciers and the ice fields that feed them a commonplace.

The Profitable Relationship between Panoramic Flights and Dog Mushing

And, shortly thereafter, they joined the main dog breeders and mushers from the Great North and enriched their adventures with baptisms "to be shipped" by Dog Mushing, in those same extreme places.

Over the years, this has become one of the most profitable packages whether or not it cost each hour and a half tour over 500 dollars.

But if the life of investors in the business is limited to managing and collecting profits, some of the participants lower in the hierarchy suffer very well to guarantee their dividends.

Dog mushing camp, Godwin, Seward, Alaska

Dog Mushing camp at the foot of the Godwin Glacier, Seward.

We took off from the surroundings of Juneau, for a second “mode” experience.

As the helicopter climbs, we leave the floodplain of the Mendenhall Peninsula. We ascend to the heights of Thunder Mountain.

Against the wind, the pilot conquers a final slope and reveals Lake Mendenhall and a wide valley painted blue by the homonymous glacier.

 

To the Mendenhall Dog Mushing Camp Meeting

We then continue along the 19 km of the ice river to the high white expanse where it rises.

There, we catch a glimpse of an enormous white camp half-camouflaged over the snow, where hundreds of dogs are barking, excited by the sudden appearance of the aircraft.

We are welcomed by Ted Williams, the person in charge of the field that leads us to his malamutes and huskies favorites while talking about the romantic but arduous life of the team.

Ted describes the long periods of mountain retreat. He and the other members usually go down to Juneau only once a week.

Tent Detail, Dog Mushing Camp, Godwin, Seward, Alaska

A detail from one of the tents at Godwin's Dog Mushing camp.

And, in between those days, they put up with a little bit of everything, excited only by the money they make and by socializing with their colleagues and with the dogs they train and treat.

When the storms settle in, the helicopters stop showing up and the isolation can last for weeks.

Dog mushing-camp dog mushing dogs, Godwin, Seward, Alaska

Dog mushing dogs howl, eager to run.

The Hard Subsistence of Many Affectionate Mushers

most of these mushers they are passionate about the sport and compete with their best dogs in major competitions, including the world-famous Iditarod Trail and Yukon Quest.

Dog mushing, dog mushing camp, Godwin, Seward, Alaska

Dog mushing in zigzag, next to the camp of Godwin, Seward.

A few days before we get to Juneau, we met Greg Stoddard about the Godwin Ice Field, situated near Seward, in the highlands of the Kenai Peninsula.

Dog mushing handler, Godwin, Seward, Alaska

Greg Stoddard pets one of the dogs he's assigned to care for.

Despite the deafening barks and howls, Greg explains us how the camp works but quickly cuts the way for clarifications and stories of the real mushing. 

He confesses, without ceremonies, that the association with panoramic flight companies and the months spent on the mountain allow them to dedicate themselves full-time to training and competition, avoiding old financial constraints, the same as many of their colleagues mushers continue to suffer.

After a few minutes, he resumes interrupting the conversation to meet the new wave of tourists who have just left the helicopter.

Dog mushing-camp dog mushing dogs, Godwin, Seward, Alaska

Dog mushing dogs howl in anticipation of being able to run across the Mendenhall Ice Field

Take another short tour of the camp.

He brings together a team of eager dogs and, after transmitting the passengers the basic instructions for driving the sleds, a colleague makes the canine team slide over a closed trail already well excavated in the snow, encouraged by two leaders Siberian Huskies conflicting.

Keepers and Dogs, Dog Mushing Camp, Godwin, Seward, Alaska

Keepers pair dogs at Godwin's dog mushing camp.

Taking advantage of a short break from the tour, a fifty-year-old “passenger” in a flowing dress with flowers and a straw hat asked to change from the sled to the post. musher and, in three strokes, utterly confuses the dogs with his incoherent commands.

Until the end of the journey, the dignity of the mushing little improves.

Dog mushing in Godwin, Seward, Alaska

Groomer leads a team of pulling dogs he has just formed.

None of the Eskimo peoples of the Greater Arctic North ever thought that their age-old form of locomotion could be so infamously desecrated.

As long as cruises dock in Alaska and southern tourists disembark willing to spend, this odd Summer Dog Mushing will have to go on.

PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Ketchikan, Alaska

Here begins Alaska

The reality goes unnoticed in most of the world, but there are two Alaskas. In urban terms, the state is inaugurated in the south of its hidden frying pan handle, a strip of land separated from the contiguous USA along the west coast of Canada. Ketchikan, is the southernmost of Alaskan cities, its Rain Capital and the Salmon Capital of the World.
Anchorage to Homer, USA

Journey to the End of the Alaskan Road

If Anchorage became the great city of the 49th US state, Homer, 350km away, is its most famous dead end. Veterans of these parts consider this strange tongue of land sacred ground. They also venerate the fact that, from there, they cannot continue anywhere.
Mount Denali, Alaska

The Sacred Ceiling of North America

The Athabascan Indians called him Denali, or the Great, and they revered his haughtiness. This stunning mountain has aroused the greed of climbers and a long succession of record-breaking climbs.
Jok​ülsárlón Lagoon, Iceland

The Chant and the Ice

Created by water from the Arctic Ocean and the melting of Europe's largest glacier, Jokülsárlón forms a frigid and imposing domain. Icelanders revere her and pay her surprising tributes.
glaciers

icy blue planet

They form at high latitudes and/or altitudes. In Alaska or New Zealand, Argentina or Chile, rivers of ice are always stunning visions of an Earth as frigid as it is inhospitable.
sitka, Alaska

Sitka: Journey through a once Russian Alaska

In 1867, Tsar Alexander II had to sell Russian Alaska to the United States. In the small town of Sitka, we find the Russian legacy but also the Tlingit natives who fought them.
Prince William Sound, Alaska

Journey through a Glacial Alaska

Nestled against the Chugach Mountains, Prince William Sound is home to some of Alaska's stunning scenery. Neither powerful earthquakes nor a devastating oil spill affected its natural splendor.
Juneau, Alaska

The Little Capital of Greater Alaska

From June to August, Juneau disappears behind cruise ships that dock at its dockside. Even so, it is in this small capital that the fate of the 49th American state is decided.
Talkeetna, Alaska

Talkeetna's Alaska-Style Life

Once a mere mining outpost, Talkeetna rejuvenated in 1950 to serve Mt. McKinley climbers. The town is by far the most alternative and most captivating town between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Husavik a Myvatn, Iceland

Endless Snow on the Island of Fire

When, in mid-May, Iceland already enjoys some sun warmth but the cold and snow persist, the inhabitants give in to an intriguing summer anxiety.
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell spent summers on end with the bears of Katmai. Traveling through Alaska, we followed some of its trails, but unlike the species' crazy protector, we never went too far.
Valdez, Alaska

On the Black Gold Route

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker caused a massive environmental disaster. The vessel stopped plying the seas, but the victim city that gave it its name continues on the path of crude oil from the Arctic Ocean.
Skagway, Alaska

A Klondike's Gold Fever Variant

The last great American gold rush is long over. These days, hundreds of cruise ships each summer pour thousands of well-heeled visitors into the shop-lined streets of Skagway.
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Homer a Whittier, Alaska

In Search of the Stealth Whittier

We leave Homer in search of Whittier, a refuge built in World War II and housing two hundred or so people, almost all in a single building.
Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska

The Glacier Behind Juneau

The Tlingit natives named this one of more than 140 glaciers on the Juneau Icefield. Best known for Mendenhall, over the past three centuries, global warming has seen its distance to Alaska's diminutive capital increase by more than four kilometers.
Residents walk along the trail that runs through plantations above the UP4
City
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 1

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beaches
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Hippopotamus moves in the flooded expanse of the Elephant Plain.
safari
Maputo National Park, Mozambique

The Wild Mozambique between the Maputo River and the Indian Ocean

The abundance of animals, especially elephants, led to the creation of a Hunting Reserve in 1932. After the hardships of the Mozambican Civil War, the Maputo PN protects prodigious ecosystems in which fauna proliferates. With emphasis on the pachyderms that have recently become too many.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
Luderitz, Namibia
Architecture & Design
Lüderitz, Namibia

Wilkommen in Africa

Chancellor Bismarck has always disdained overseas possessions. Against his will and all odds, in the middle of the Race for Africa, merchant Adolf Lüderitz forced Germany to take over an inhospitable corner of the continent. The homonymous city prospered and preserves one of the most eccentric heritages of the Germanic empire.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Aventura
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
Tiredness in shades of green
Ceremonies and Festivities
Suzdal, Russia

The Suzdal Cucumber Celebrations

With summer and warm weather, the Russian city of Suzdal relaxes from its ancient religious orthodoxy. The old town is also famous for having the best cucumbers in the nation. When July arrives, it turns the newly harvested into a real festival.
Sirocco, Arabia, Helsinki
Cities
Helsinki, Finland

The Design that Came from the Cold

With much of the territory above the Arctic Circle, Finns respond to the climate with efficient solutions and an obsession with art, aesthetics and modernism inspired by neighboring Scandinavia.
Lunch time
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
Culture
Competitions

Man: an Ever Tested Species

It's in our genes. For the pleasure of participating, for titles, honor or money, competitions give meaning to the world. Some are more eccentric than others.
Spectator, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, Australia
Sport
Melbourne, Australia

The Football the Australians Rule

Although played since 1841, Australian Football has only conquered part of the big island. Internationalization has never gone beyond paper, held back by competition from rugby and classical football.
Manatee Creek, Florida, United States of America
Traveling
Florida Keys, USA

The Caribbean Stepping Stone of the USA

Os United States continental islands seem to close to the south in its capricious peninsula of Florida. Don't stop there. More than a hundred islands of coral, sand and mangroves form an eccentric tropical expanse that has long seduced American vacationers.
Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, New Caledonia, Greater Calhau, South Pacific
Ethnic
Grande Terre, New Caledonia

South Pacific Great Boulder

James Cook thus named distant New Caledonia because it reminded him of his father's Scotland, whereas the French settlers were less romantic. Endowed with one of the largest nickel reserves in the world, they named Le Caillou the mother island of the archipelago. Not even its mining prevents it from being one of the most dazzling patches of Earth in Oceania.
View of Fa Island, Tonga, Last Polynesian Monarchy
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Exotic Signs of Life

History
Military

Defenders of Their Homelands

Even in times of peace, we detect military personnel everywhere. On duty, in cities, they fulfill routine missions that require rigor and patience.
Africa Princess, Canhambaque, Bijagós, Guinea Bissau,
Islands
Africa Princess Cruise, 1º Bijagos, Guinea Bissau

Towards Canhambaque, through the History of Guinea Bissau

The Africa Princess departs from the port of Bissau, downstream the Geba estuary. We make a first stopover on the island of Bolama. From the old capital, we proceed to the heart of the Bijagós archipelago.
Northern Lights, Laponia, Rovaniemi, Finland, Fire Fox
Winter White
Lapland, Finland

In Search of the Fire Fox

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Baie d'Oro, Île des Pins, New Caledonia
Literature
Île-des-Pins, New Caledonia

The Island that Leaned against Paradise

In 1964, Katsura Morimura delighted the Japan with a turquoise novel set in Ouvéa. But the neighboring Île-des-Pins has taken over the title "The Nearest Island to Paradise" and thrills its visitors.
Early morning on the lake
Nature

Nantou, Taiwan

In the Heart of the Other China

Nantou is Taiwan's only province isolated from the Pacific Ocean. Those who discover the mountainous heart of this region today tend to agree with the Portuguese navigators who named Taiwan Formosa.

Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Praslin Island, Cocos from the Sea, Seychelles, Eden Cove
Natural Parks

Praslin, Seychelles

 

The Eden of the Enigmatic Coco-de-Mer

For centuries, Arab and European sailors believed that the largest seed in the world, which they found on the coasts of the Indian Ocean in the shape of a woman's voluptuous hips, came from a mythical tree at the bottom of the oceans. The sensual island that always generated them left us ecstatic.
Kayaking on Lake Sinclair, Cradle Mountain - Lake Sinclair National Park, Tasmania, Australia
UNESCO World Heritage
Discovering tassie, Part 4 - Devonport to Strahan, Australia

Through the Tasmanian Wild West

If the almost antipode tazzie is already a australian world apart, what about its inhospitable western region. Between Devonport and Strahan, dense forests, elusive rivers and a rugged coastline beaten by an almost Antarctic Indian ocean generate enigma and respect.
aggie gray, Samoa, South Pacific, Marlon Brando Fale
Characters
Apia, Western Samoa

The Host of the South Pacific

She sold burguês to GI's in World War II and opened a hotel that hosted Marlon Brando and Gary Cooper. Aggie Gray passed away in 2. Her legacy lives on in the South Pacific.
view mount Teurafaatiu, Maupiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia
Beaches
Maupiti, French Polynesia

A Society on the Margin

In the shadow of neighboring Bora Bora's near-global fame, Maupiti is remote, sparsely inhabited and even less developed. Its inhabitants feel abandoned but those who visit it are grateful for the abandonment.
Cape Espichel, Sanctuary of Senhora do Cabo, Sesimbra,
Religion
Albufeira Lagoon ao Cape Espichel, Sesimbra, Portugal

Pilgrimage to a Cape of Worship

From the top of its 134 meters high, Cabo Espichel reveals an Atlantic coast as dramatic as it is stunning. Departing from Lagoa de Albufeira to the north, golden coast below, we venture through more than 600 years of mystery, mysticism and veneration of its aparecida Nossa Senhora do Cabo.
Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan
On Rails
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
Pachinko Salon, Video Addiction, Japan
Society
Tokyo, Japan

Pachinko: The Video Addiction That Depresses Japan

It started as a toy, but the Japanese appetite for profit quickly turned pachinko into a national obsession. Today, there are 30 million Japanese surrendered to these alienating gaming machines.
Saksun, Faroe Islands, Streymoy, warning
Daily life
Saksun, streymoyFaroe Islands

The Faroese Village That Doesn't Want to be Disneyland

Saksun is one of several stunning small villages in the Faroe Islands that more and more outsiders visit. It is distinguished by the aversion to tourists of its main rural owner, author of repeated antipathies and attacks against the invaders of his land.
Gandoca Manzanillo Refuge, Bahia
Wildlife
Gandoca-Manzanillo (Wildlife Refuge), Costa Rica

The Caribbean Hideaway of Gandoca-Manzanillo

At the bottom of its southeastern coast, on the outskirts of Panama, the “Tica” nation protects a patch of jungle, swamps and the Caribbean Sea. As well as a providential wildlife refuge, Gandoca-Manzanillo is a stunning tropical Eden.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.