Discoveries... American National Parks: Alaska

The always-wonderful "Discoveries" series of travels through America's national parks and related marvels takes us to the 49th state this time. After a striking introduction to Alaska's glacier-covered mountains and wide rivers where Alaskans and visitors wade through icy waters to catch fish for dinner, the focus shifts to the amazing Alaska Highway, 1,700 miles long, suitable for heavy equipment, and built in 1942 to help defend North America against a Japanese attack. Not surprisingly, a drive through the gorgeous bush country on this highway guarantees one will see wildlife scurrying along or grazing at the road's edges, including bears of all sorts, caribou, moose, rock sheep, wood bison, and many other species. Crossing over into classic Alaska weirdness, we pay a visit to a hirsute gentleman who runs an unlikely museum of vintage buses, which he keeps chugging along to take tourists on sightseeing runs. Carrying on this theme of Alaskan eccentricity (remember "Northern Exposure"?) is another strange wonder: Signpost Forest, two acres with 72,000 handmade signs of all sorts, left by visitors since 1942. It's an overwhelming sight: a haphazard jungle of posts covered with crude signs of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Yet it inspires an odd joy in the collective character of unknown people who left their contributions there. The travelogue continues to Seward, a small, waterfront town that is a major commercial fishing port, and which draws sport fishing year-round. Nearby is the Kenai Fjords National Park, which at one time was covered in 100% ice---now down to 50%. But the park's 700 square miles (the third-largest for a U.S. national park) is sufficiently covered in glaciers to inspire awe. This "Discoveries" program ends with a quick look at several glorious places, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 19 million acres of protected Arctic ecosystem, wildlife, and Native American communities. The same is true of the much smaller Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, protecting a portion of the Brooks Range in Northern Alaska. Strongly recommended. Aud: K, E, I, J, H, C, P. (T. Keogh)