Alaska Facts
Alaska is the largest state in the union - Pennsylvania state would fit into Alaska thirteen times
Wasilla is the fastest growing town in AK - population = 7,000
The town of Barrow is the most northern city - The sun rises May 10th and sets in August - It is the best place to see the Aurora Borealis, since it needs to be dark in order to see it - The Aurora Borealis creates enough energy to light the entire US for 1 year - It is seen in the northern sky on winter nights
Every year on the last Saturday of March, the Iditarod begins in Seward, AK, restarts in Fairbanks, then travels to Nome; 1000 miles northwest, stopping periodically at check points - They climb 3,000 feet traveling approximately 10 mph and are allowed one 24 hour break - The entrance fee is $1,800, but the winner gets $700,000 plus a Dodge truck (they help sponsor the race) - Sleds 2 thru 20 coming into Nome get around $1,000.
Alaskan’s are not allowed to sell or buy wild meat, i.e. – Caribou is considered wild; however, deer is considered domestic - If they kill a Caribou, they are permitted to eat it and they say it is very good meat
If you come upon a moose, you should hide behind a tree; they will not be able to see you
However, if you come upon a bear, you should not startle it
Alaskan’s consume more ice cream than the lower 48
Denali (Mt. McKinley) is the tallest mountain in North America at 20,230’ high - Alaskan’s call it “the High One”
The frost line is only 12” deep; therefore, tree’s have very shallow roots; thus, the trees grow very slowly, the branches do not grow very wide and as the tree gets taller and heavy winds come, the trees fall over
The temperature gets to 60 – 70 degrees below 0 and there are very high winds
Caribou like to eat birch tree bark
The Dall Sheep are named for William Dall - They were being butchered and becoming extinct, so William Dall lobbied Congress for 7 years to designate 2 million acres of land for McKinley National Park - In 1921, Congress allotted $2,000 to patrol the park - The park now is 6 million acres and has been renamed Denali (High One or great one)
The Porcupines eat the bark from the Spruce trees - The sap from the Spruce is used to make cold medicines - The needles are boiled to get Vitamin C
There are 700 earthquakes in the park every year with a magnitude of 1 or 2
The Alaskan mountains rise 1 inch a year; however during the 1964 earthquake they rose 5 feet
80% of the bear’s food are berries and 20% is opportunistic meat, such as baby caribou - Before winter, bears eat many berries and then needles to block their rectum so that during hibernation they don’t eat, urinate or defecate - In January, they awake, have their cubs and then sleep until May
Gas prices in June were $4.80 a gallon on the road system and $9 if not on road system
Wildfires have destroyed 140,000 acres of forestry
There are 100,000 glaciers in Alaska
Last updated December 9, 2008