17 Oct 2024 Kahtnuht’ana chu Yaghanen (Kenai River People and the good land) A story that my mother shared with me is that the Kenaitze Dena’ina originated from sisters who traveled from the…
16 Oct 2024 Relocation of the Darien-Lindgren Cabin In 2005, as the new Cultural Program Coordinator for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe, my first big task was coordinating the…
14 Oct 2024 The Other Creation Story: A traditional Dena’ina story Today, our people have a good opportunity to determine what kind of society and what kind of government we want.…
22 Oct 2023 Resurrection Creek: Bringing More Salmon to Hope’s Backyard A conservation organization, a mining company, and the U.S. Forest Service sit down to plan a project... That may sound…
Cecil Rhode with his filming equipment. 15 May 2023 Cecil and Helen Rhode By Clark Fair It is nearly impossible to pass through Cooper Landing and fail to notice craggy Cecil Rhode Mountain…
The Mary Lowell Homestead. Photo courtesy Resurrection Bay Historical Society, 21.1.4. 04 Oct 2022 Iditarod Trail Pioneer Alfred Lowell Alfred Lowell was born in 1876, the son of Frank and Mary Lowell, who settled on Resurrection Bay in 1884,…
Big Jim's gold nugget & Mercury head dime 06 Jul 2022 More Fun in the Finding than in the Having – Part Three By Clark Fair AUTHOR’S NOTE: Last time, we learned how “Big Jim” O’Brien and “Little Jim” Dunmire came to the…
Little Jim & Big Jim with furs. 28 Jun 2022 Coming Home & Battling a Bully – Part Two By Clark Fair AUTHOR’S NOTE: Last time, we explored the story behind the name of Jim’s Landing, on the Kenai…
A friend approaching the Jims' home near Schooner Bend. 22 Jun 2022 Coming in for the Landing: An Origin Story – Part One By Clark Fair The name itself receives little attention, but the “Jim’s” in Jim’s Landing is misleading. The apostrophe implies…
05 Mar 2022 Devil’s Creek Nordic Ski Loop is a Worthy Stop By Amanda Sassi When driving through the variable roads between Turnagain Pass and Kenai Lake, you could likely zoom past…
26 Nov 2021 #OptOutside This Winter in the KMTA National Heritage Area! #OptOutside This Year... Spending time together and spending time outdoors has always been an integral part of life in the…
Photo by Paxson Woelber 16 Nov 2021 National Take A Hike Day is November 17th! National Take a Hike Day Today, we celebrate hiking not generally as our primary transportation, but for recreation and exercise. …
05 Jul 2021 Wible Doesn’t Wobble By Clark Fair Today, the average dump truck hauls about 10 cubic yards of gravel every time it roars out…
01 Jun 2021 Named “Mud” No Longer By Clark Fair Every year, thousands of tourists and other travelers stop at Tern Lake, at the junction of the…
Benny Benson’s original submission for the flag competition. ASL-MS14-1, American Legion, Designs by School Children for Alaska’s Flag, Alaska State Library-Historical Collections. 20 Apr 2021 Benny Benson: An Alaskan Kid Who Made History Before 1927, Alaska did not have a flag. At the time, Alaska was still a territory, meaning that the federal…
Photo by Paxson Woelber 01 Apr 2021 Hitting the KMTA Trails this Spring? By Sarah Schuh Spring is at our doorstep, bringing with it longer days and warmer temperatures. There are so many…
Shawn Lyons (Facebook) 02 Mar 2021 Memories of Shawn Lyons By Art Copoulos Shawn Lyons was well known for his monster endurance hikes like the Chugach 12 peak challenge of…
Trail Lake Lodge today. 03 Feb 2021 KMTA Business Spotlight: Trail Lake Lodge in Moose Pass, Alaska By Karen Lewis An unexpected text popped up on Jen Boyle’s phone this past new year. A former guest was…
Winter View of Seward circa 1905-15 (SCLA-4-4) 28 Jan 2021 Mary Lowell: A Link Between Cultures By Deanna Ochs One might wonder why, until recently, there were no peaks named after her. After all, two of…
Alaska Nellie 20 Jan 2021 Alaska Nellie By Helen Hegener “There were possibilities of an extensive business at this place for at least three years, as I…
Harry A. Johnson (far right) with a party of hunters, 1904. 14 Jan 2021 Harry Johnson: Man of the Mountains By Clark Fair By the time Harry A. Johnson heard the handcar moving toward him down the rails, he had…
The Gull Rock trail near Hope provides amazing views of Cook Inlet and the mountains of the Chugach. 07 Jan 2021 We Can All Use a Little Hope – Recalling What Gave Us Comfort in These Unprecedented Times By Steve Cleary Trails have increased in value through the pandemic, for both physical and mental health. And Hope has…
Looking at the Manitoba ski area lodge and further south across the Mills Creek drainage (Virginia Schuster) 31 Dec 2020 History of the Manitoba Mountain Ski Area by Shawn R. Lyons All winter long and well into the spring, backcountry skiers from Palmer and Anchorage to Seward…
Looking up to the headwaters of Falls Creek 09 Nov 2020 Solars Mountain on the Kenai Peninsula By Shawn R. Lyons We only had to cross the 15-foot wide stream and climb up through 100 yards of…
View from the door of Manitoba Cabin with the Lauritsen Cabin on the near right. 07 Oct 2020 Haunting History of the Eastern Kenai Peninsula By Shawn R. Lyons Though one can’t see them, one can sense the ghosts around Manitoba Cabin. One can sometimes…
A flock of geese fly over the gazebo at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center 24 Sep 2020 Do You Like Birding? Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is the Place to Go! By Duane Magoon and Lily Grbavach The southbound fall migration of our winged, feathered friends has begun. Thousands of…
02 Sep 2020 Tell Us Your Stories? – Heritage @ Home KMTA National Heritage Area is seeking stories from the people that live, work and play in the KMTA area. We…
A northward view of Fourth Avenue in Seward, Alaska in the early 1900s. (SCLA 1-216) 28 Aug 2020 Happy Birthday Seward, Alaska! Happy Birthday! Happy 117th Birthday Seward, Alaska! August 28th, 1903 is the official birthday of the city of Seward when…
Late Night Trail Running on Mt. Tiehacker near Seward, Alaska by Nelson Brown (Entry into the KMTA Photo Contest 2020) 25 Aug 2020 The Persistence of Nature’s Wild Side By Dan Walker Anyone who drives the Seward Highway and enters the mountains west of Portage gets the sense that…
Overlooking Spencer Glacier 28 Jul 2020 Wishful Thinking: A Journey from Turnagain Pass to Spencer Glacier By Shawn R. Lyons As we started down the far side of the ridge toward Spencer Glacier, glistening in the…
The Bore Tide of Turnagain Arm Circa 1930s-1950s. Photo courtesy of the Marie Silverman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage. (HMC-0778:) 03 Jun 2020 The Power of Turnagain Arm By David Reamer The Turnagain Arm’s appearance is deceptive. The water appears safe, or as safe as any other waterway.…
Jujiro Wada with other marathon racers. (Courtesy of Jujiro Wada Memorial Association, Japan) 19 May 2020 The Samurai Musher Jujiro Wada By Lia Slemons “This is my country, Frank. I hope to live and die here.” Jujiro Wada’s friend, Frank Cotter,…
01 Mar 2020 Sylvia Sexton, Business Woman of the Early 20th Century and Prominent Alaskan Photographer By Becky Butler Despite being a transplant, Sylvia Sexton's life in Alaska proved her to be an industrious, creative, and…
The author and his brother rest at the top of LV Ray Peak in 1997. 07 Feb 2020 The Naming of A Peak LV Ray Peak Near Moose Pass By Clark Fair Hikers climbing the Carter Lake Trail near the Trail Lake…
05 Dec 2019 By Snowshoe, Sled, or Snowmachine, Johnson Pass a Storied Route By Lia Slemons Johnson Pass Trail allows backcountry access through spruce forests to striking subalpine lakes. Today winter visitors share…
