In the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes a stream carves a canyon through rock formed during the 1912 eruption of nearby Novarupta Volcano. The snowcapped peaks are Mount Griggs and Mount Katmai (far right), part of an active system of ten volcanoes surrounding the valley, a hundred miles south of the proposed Pebble mine.
“We love our fish!” says Ina Bouker, a Yupik native and teacher from Dillingham who opposes the mine. “The salmon always run. But if their habitat is destroyed, they will not come back.”
Chikuminuk Lake reflects the raw wilderness of 1.6-million-acre Wood-Tikchik State Park. One of the largest state parks in the U.S., it is home to five species of salmon as well as moose, caribou, and brown bears.
These wild Alaskan brown bears are a thing of beauty. But keeping them at a safe distance is paramount.
Photograph by Chris Gray
Underneath the ice, spikes meet spikes as an Alaska king crab the size of a nickel crawls over a knobby sea star. After a dozen years, the crustacean will grow to the size of a tractor tire. Photograph by Brian Skerry
Posting the National Geographic Photo of the Day here. I do not claim any ownership of these photos.
