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Life

What does a 1st-time Alaska visitor read to get ready?

Whether they’re built on John Muir’s journey along the Southeast in a Tlingit canoe, Christopher McCandless’ iconic teal…

Moon shot: Looking for signs in the sky

Life

Moon shot: Looking for signs in the sky

I am mystically inclined. I look for patterns in my life — filtering meaning through cards or the…

The single track on Tsalteshi Trails offers the chance for snowshoeing and fat biking during the winter while the main trails are open only for skiing. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Life

Five ideas for spring break fun

Next week is the start of spring break, leaving families across the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District one…

A willow rose on a Barclay willow near the Sterling Highway in Soldotna, February 28. Note in the background a stem from the same willow that was browsed by a moose; the rose gall was not eaten. (USFWS photo/Matt Bowser)

Life

Refuge Notebook: A willow, a fly, and a moose

While traffic rushed incessantly up and down the Sterling Highway on a glorious June day, a male Barclay…

A male Wilson’s Warbler bathes in a small waterfall, Santa Elena, Costa Rica February 20, 2018 (T. Eskelin).

Life

Refuge Notebook: Vacation through the eyes of a naturalist

First let’s paint a picture. I am sitting at a concrete table sipping the best cup of coffee…

Life

An Outdoor View: Bonefishing, Part 9

Author’s note: This column is the last in a series about fishing at Christmas Island in 1987. —…

LeTourneau tree crushers were used in the 1970s to create browse for moose on the Kenai National Moose Range. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Life

Refuge Notebook: How resource management has evolved on Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

People (including my mother) often confuse National Wildlife Refuges with National Parks, thinking they serve similar purposes. But…

A bicyclist makes her way down the path at Centennial Park on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. The Soldotna Department of Parks and Recreation recently began grooming the loop trail at Centennial Park for multiple uses, from walking to skiing to biking. The central Kenai Peninsula got a fresh coat of snow Saturday, with more predicted for Sunday night and Monday. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

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Out for a spin

A bicyclist makes her way down the path at Centennial Park on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018 in Soldotna,…

Using a drip torch to light piled vegetation and other burnable debris to reduce fuel loads along the wildland-urban interface on Funny River Road. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Life

Refuge Notebook: The ‘why factor’ in fire management

In a time-compressed environment, such as during the initial response to a new wildfire, responders don’t always have…

Life

An Outdoor View: Bonefishing, Part 8

Author’s note: This column is the eighth in a series about fishing at Christmas Island in 1987. —…

This October 2017 photo shows the Denali Cabin, a public use cabin, at the Kesugi Ken Campground near Denali State Park, Alaska. The Denali Cabin is one of an extensive system of federal- and state-owned public use cabins on park lands across the state of Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

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State asks to build more public use cabins to meet demand

Alaska’s public use cabins are really popular. Rentable cabins of all shapes and sizes occupy corners all over…

A black bear mother and her three cubs on Skilak Lake Road in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (July 2017). Delayed implantation of the fertilized egg prevents pregnancy from starting until late fall, several months after mating. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Life

Refuge Notebook: Winter wildlife babies on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

Being six months pregnant in the dead of winter (as I am) has its challenges — from trying…

This page taken from the Kenai Penisula Borough Lands Department’s documentation submitted to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly shows the proposed new location for the Cooper Landing Rifle and Sportsman’s Club’s gun range. The club has operated the gun range on Bean Creek Road in Cooper Landing since 1947 and is now considering relocating further outside the community. (Courtesy the Kenai Peninsula Borough)

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Cooper Landing gun range looks to move out of town

After more than 70 years in the same place, the Cooper Landing gun club is looking to move…

Musher Travis Beals crosses the finish line of the Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race with his team to take second place Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018 at Freddie’s Roadhouse in Ninilchik, Alaska. Beals came in just after winner Nicolas Petit and said he used the race as training for this year’s Iditarod. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)

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Nicolas Petit claims his first T200 victory, third win in a row

Musher Nicolas Petit can finally say he’s won the Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race. By claiming the top…

Following tracks left by American marten in the Kenai Lowlands can be a great way to experience the outdoors in winter. (Photo by Andy Baltensperger)

Life

Refuge Notebook: Contact with the natural world benefits our well-being

I read in a recent newspaper article how even a brief contact with the natural world, or nature,…

A Soldotna Parks & Recreation worker sprays a layer of water to be frozen into a skating rink Thursday at Soldotna Creek Park. (Photo by Joey Klecka/Peninsula Clarion)

Life

Ice skating the big thing on area lakes

There are a variety of lakes that provide a perfect frozen landscape for lacing up a pair of…

Life

An Outdoor View: Bonefishing, Part 7

Author’s note: This column is the seventh in a series about fishing at Christmas Island in 1987. —…

Drivers skid around one of the corners on the ice track atop a frozen lake at the Decanter Inn on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2018 in Kasilof, Alaska. Every Sunday in the winter, the Decanter Inn hosts Peninsula Ice Racing events for drivers to try their hand at the frozen track on the shallow lake at the bottom of the hill behind the inn. The racers can use studded tires on their front wheels only and equip the sides of their vehicles with bumpers as other vehicles are likely to slip and slide into them. Spinning out is common. A tow truck waits on the sidelines to retrieve drivers who get stuck on the berms alongside the track. Fans gathered Sunday despite the cold to cheer the racers on. The men race in the morning, followed by the women’s races in the afternoon. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

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Ready, set, skid

Exhaust plumes toward the sky and engines rev, clattering against the icebound trees and windblown snow around the…

Life

Ways to go

Learning to move is a task that comes along just a few times per life. As an infant…

Participants in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge’s “Stick and String Naturalist Camp” canoe across Dolly Varden Lake in hopes of catching rainbow trout or arctic char on flies that they tied themselves. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Life

Refuge Notebook: Magical moments on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

I have a collection of outdoor memories I carry around in my mind at all times. These are…