Alaska Man Monday: When Traveling, Don't Be Oblivious!

Just last week, we had to spend a couple of days in Seattle. There’s nothing that makes you appreciate a nice, quiet, clean Susitna Valley homestead than spending a few days in a noisy, smelly, crowded city. More on that in this week’s video segment.

Speaking of cities: Even in Anchorage, even in Alaska’s major city, it’s still Alaska, and when out and about, some caution is in order. Case in point: A woman, hiking in the hills just east of Anchorage, was recently attacked by a brown bear. Fortunately, she’s banged up, but will be OK.

A brown bear attacked a woman as she hiked a popular trail in a hillside neighborhood in Anchorage, Alaska, and officials are still looking for the animal, state police said.
State troopers used a helicopter to take the woman from the Basher Trail to a hospital, police spokesman Christopher Barraza said. Her injuries aren’t considered life-threatening, he said.
The woman, who has not been identified, called 911 at around 3 p.m. Tuesday and told the dispatcher that she had been mauled by a bear about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) into the trail, in Stuckagain Heights, Barraza said. She told officials she couldn’t walk.

Here’s the thing:

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game blocked off the area and is searching for the bear, Barraza said.

Anchorage, which is by far Alaska’s biggest city, is home to about 290,000 people. Nearly 350 black bears, 65 brown bears and 1,600 moose also live there.

The moose are actually more of a worry than the bears. Moose are not only more numerous, but they are bigger, and bad-tempered, especially a cow with calves.

The bear in this story may have had cubs nearby, or it may have been guarding an unseen carcass it had claimed. But the sad part is that if it is identified, it will probably be destroyed; that’s the fate of any bear that attacks a human, and when the attack is, as this one seems to be, unprovoked, all the more reason.

No score on this one. The woman who was attacked is going to be OK, and that’s enough.

Now then – I should note that the old saying “There is no problem that cannot be solved with a suitable application of high explosives” is primarily a military saying, and for good reason. Even so, where but in Alaska does someone find 50 pounds of old dynamite in an abandoned school bus?

New details about an operation that removed 50 pounds of dynamite from an old school bus at mile 115 of the Richardson Highway on Wednesday have been released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Anchorage office.
Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Day said the property owner discovered the dynamite in the bus, which was parked on his property, and called local law enforcement, which in turn contacted the FBI.
State Troopers and other agencies were involved in the seven-hour operation that shut the Richardson Highway periodically on Wednesday while it was taking place.
Agents say the dynamite was at least 20 years old. Its location near the highway made it unsafe to try to detonate the explosives there.
“They assessed that the antiquated dynamite was not in a location that they wanted to do a controlled explosion,” said Day. “So, they worked diligently as a team to remove the dynamite to a more appropriate location to dispose of it in a safe and proper manner, which was a controlled burn.”

Having once been involved in finding some old dynamite myself, only two sticks as opposed to 50 pounds, I can safely say this: It’s just as well they didn’t try shooting at it with a .22 rifle.

Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. Good work by the FBI and state troopers.

Now, some travel tips from a seasoned globetrotter.

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