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Published: February 1st 2016
The Parks Highway continues northward from the entrance of Denali to Fairbanks. My past impression of the 2ndlargest city in Alaska was one of a bleak downtown populated with drunks and not much else. To add to the malaise, it averages 13 below in January and the mosquitoes are notoriously vicious in summer heat. Our time in Fairbanks this year gave me an entirely new appreciation for this thriving and vibrant city.
We were heading to Fairbanks to see a childhood friend and extended family member, Mark Ross, a naturalist at Creamer’s Field, a migratory waterfowl refuge. He is a marvelous artist who creates
Field Notes for the sanctuary.
After a tour of Creamer’s Field, Mark shared some local culture with us at the Howling Dog saloon, the
North Star Golf Club (the northernmost course in the US), the fantastic
University of Alaska museum, and several “
First Friday” evening art gatherings .
Mark also allowed us to camp out in his yard with the caveat that there were occasionally wandering moose. He regaled us with stories of his participation in the
Boreal Birdathon and the grueling
100 mile wilderness challenge.
At one point, he asked us if we knew what an angry bull moose sounds like. No, we sure
didn’t. He proceeded to demonstrate with a bizarre
">backwards hiccupping noise. We found it so funny we asked him to repeat it a few times. A moose, he informed us, can be very aggressive and kick in all directions, an ability needed to ward off wolf packs.
”, we said good night and trundled off to our 2 person tent wedged between his canoes and woodpile. Once we settled in, I began to read a book on my Kindle while Terry drifted off to sleep. In the distance we could hear some dogs barking in neighboring yards.
All of a sudden, I was startled by a tremendous crashing stampede through the nearby woods and coming right towards us! I sat upright and yelled loudly, waking Terry immediately. He heard the approaching hooves as well and began pounding the ceiling of our tent with his pillow.
The thundering hoofbeats halted abruptly just before reaching us. Our hearts were now in our throats as we listened to the cautious steps of a large unknown animal walking to the other side of the canoes and even with our tent. We sat soundlessly
wondering what would happen next. The silence was broken with a perfect reverse hiccup! Then he simply walked off. We collapsed laughing in disbelief and relief that we had just heard the unique sound in the wild only hours after Mark’s demo!
