Alaskan Memories
A travel report

Alaska has attracted me for long, bringing in my mind the image of an unspoilt beautiful land of melting glaciers feeding rivers and lakes. Of herds grazing in green valleys surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Of bears catching the salmon that jump off-water, fighting the currents on their march upriver. The quintessential wilderness.

Family and friends had another image of Alaska, though. "Alaska? What is there to see besides snow?" they asked when I started talking about my travel plans. "June is almost summer there, it is not that cold!", I replied. "What is summer in Alaska like, -20°C?", was usually their next question. How wrong! Yes, there are eskimos and polar bears in Alaska too, but this vast state is definitely not only snow.

So finally this year I went Alaska. Traveling in June 1997 with my friend Ernani, whose photographs will illustrate this report, I spent 18 unforgettable days there, on land and sea. And we saw only part of what Alaska has to offer, the more "civilized" portion of the state. For the more adventurous, Alaska has yet more enchants.

Get ready. Put on your hiking boots and start retracing my steps in Alaska, the Last Frontier.