 Previous Day |
Seward → Palmer → Anchorage 220 mi (354.1 km) |
 More 2015 Adventures |
Moo, everyone!
Our last day in Alaska dawned cloudy but much calmer. I took a stroll along the shore near the RV lot to see what I could see: the starting line of both the epic Iditarod and the railroad that opened up Alaska’s interior! It was a great way to start a day too, for we had a fair amount of driving to do today, from the tip of the Kenai Peninsula north to Palmer, where herds of living fossils awaited!
 |
 |
The Musk Ox Farm here in Palmer got started in 1964 after anthropologist John Teal captured a group of calves on Nunivak Island and brought them to Alaska to replenish the population. Today, descendants of his original herd are still thriving on this farm in the Matanuska Valley and can be visited all summer!
 |
The musk oxen are unusual creatures, not really oxen at all but definitely musky! They’ve got two thick layers of hair to keep them warm in winter and spiral-shaped nose cavities that heat up their breath when they inhale freezing air! Alaskan natives call them Oomingmak, which means “Bearded One,” and many still support themselves by selling beautiful garments made from the undercoat of the musk ox, called qiviut!
 |
On a short tour, a guide led us out among the pastures in the shadow of 6,398-foot Pioneer Peak. The mighty musk oxen were taking it easy, but we were encouraged not to make any sudden moves or loud noises, because they can hit the fences hard when they get angry or scared! There is a spongy cushion under their horns that protects their brain from major impacts, but there’s no such cushion between their horns and a foolish person! Apparently, they’re also really great jumpers too!
Much less intimidating were the little calves, who were sorted into pens by age until they could be released to play with the adults. They came right up to the fence to be petted and to nibble bits of grass that folks were sticking through the fence! Musk oxen only have calves every 2-3 years, which made it easy for them to be extirpated from Alaska in the 1800s. I was glad that the musk ox farm gives them a safe place to live and have babies carefree!
 |
It was marvelous to behold these ancient Pleistocene relics, and I wished we could have lingered longer. The tour came to an end, though, and we were southbound for the final time. My friends, who had a later flight, dropped me off at the airport, and it was time to say so-long to summer! I have to come back to Alaska some day; it’s just too beautiful! For now, though, I must prepare for another trip to the southern ice fields.
See you beyond the Equator!
Previous Day |
Total Ground Covered: 1,286.5 mi (2,069.8 km) |
More 2015 Adventures |