Why Alaska?

What do you know about Alaska? Maybe you know that Alaska is the land of the midnight summer sun and frosty winter nights; a land of endless unnamed peaks, of expanse untouched glaciers and rivers that flow to the sea. Maybe you know that Alaska is beautiful, vast beyond measure and virtually unpeopled. But did you know that Alaska is a gift; an unparalleled creative masterpeice, an abundant source of truly wild adventure? No matter if you are a seasoned Sourdough and have lived in the 'Last Frontier' all your life or if you're a Greenhorn who has never set foot in this great state, we at TNX want to let you know that you have a standing invitation to partake in something more that your average backcountry experience.

Alaska is an extremely unique region of this rock we call Earth and we are supremely blessed with the resources we have at our fingertips to explore, enjoy and be inspired by that ultimately points to a Creator who is exuberant about His creative works!

This land that TNX and 660,000 other Alaskans call home is 2.5 times the size of the state of Texas and stretches east to west as wide as the Continental U.S. or Australia. This comes down to Alaska having "elbow room"...a whole one square mile per person.

You may know or have heard of Alaska being known for its extreme beauty! It's true! In 1899, Henry Gannett, who was the chief geographer on the Harriman Alaska Expedition gave this pearl of wisdom to those who would dream about coming to this great land,

"There is one word of advice and caution to be given those intending to visit Alaska for pleasure, for sight-seeing. If you are old, go by all means; but if you are young, wait. The scenary of Alaska is much grander than anything of the kind in the world, and it is not well to dull one's capacity for enjoyment by seeing the finest first."

We are blessed with 17 of the 20 highest peaks in North America including the highest, Mt. McKinley (or Denali), which reaches 20,320 feet into the sky, some 18,000 feet above the forests below. This boasts the greatest vertical rise of any mountain in the world above sea level, including Mt. Everest.

It goes on - Alaska has over 33,000 miles of coastline, more than the lower 48 and Hawaii combined! Moreover, we have over 3 million lakes over five acres and over 100,000 glaciers, many of them unnamed! Why stop here...?

Alaska has over 40% of the United States' fresh water resoruces, yet 75% of Alaska's fresh water is stored up as glacial ice that covers 5% of the state. Don't let the fact that three quarters of our fresh water is frozen dishearten you - it melts...we have over 12,000 rivers and hundreds of thousands of smaller creeks and streams.

Why are all these facts about Alaska significant you might ask! The answer is, God has created such a mind-boggling, awe-inspring landscape rich with resources that we cannot deny His existence. Alaska's beauty screams, "Glory to God!"

The Psalmist wrote, "The heavens declare the the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands" (Psalm 19:1). We can gaze across Alaska today holding God's Word in our hearts confirming, "God looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the hills, and they smoke" (Psalm 19:32). Alaska is full of wonders and suprises, from having the 2nd largest earthquake ever measured in the earth's history to its over 70 active volcanoes, His creation is still alive and active and proclaiming, "Mighty is the Lord...He is the king of Glory!" A powerful reminder that if He can raise mountains from the seas and knows every star by name, surely He can "move mountains" in our own lives!

Alaska is a place where ...

glaciers calve ice blocks the size of five-story office buildings into water creating the rumble of "white thunder," the sounds of the ice crashing into the water that can heard for miles;
the grizzly bear and caribou roam freely across the emmensity of its landscape;
a person can experience true wilderness, untrampled by humans and ingest pure solitude presenting the environment to slow down one's mind and allow God's creation to penetrate your soul;
millions of salmon return to the streams and rivers where they were born, creating waterbodies crawling with nature's bounty;
Unnamed peaks in every direction is your screansaver and the song of water over the stones in the river is your soundtrack;
the sun cirlces continuously overhead for sixty days during the Arctic summer; and
the northern lights dance across the winter skies.

We at TNX are thankful for the Lord Almighty for creating such a place that displays His power and creativy that it speaks for itself about His love and care for us! And it is natural that we can worship Him out in it with open hearts and use it for His glory to renew and change lives.

There are so many preconcieved notions about Alaska that may or may not be true. Below is a suite of Questions & Answers about this great land and its people that might help clarify what this place is like.

Question: Do Alaskans live in igloos?

Answer: Yes and no! Igloos today can be used as temporary shelters to get out of the elements of wind and blowing snow, but most people today, including Alaskan natives live in permanant cabins or homes.

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Question: Is Alaska all frozen?

Answer: No, only 5% of Alaska is covered by ice. Alaska has everything from deserts to 100 mile long secluded sand beaches to temperate rainforest where spruce and cedar trees grow more than ten feet in diameter.

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Question: What is the deal with sunlight or lack thereof?

Answer: In summertime, because of the tilting of the earth's axis, Alaska is blessed with a immense amount of sunlight. From the north to south, Alaska is 1400 miles wide. This means that as you travel north in the summertime, the more sunlight you will encounter. And above the Arctic Circle in late May through mid-July, a person will experience almost continuous sunlight...a recipe for almost perpetual exploration! In the winter, the opposite is true! For those who live above the Arctic Cirlce, they will loose the sun in late November and will not see it again until mid-January. But they also experience incredible twilight and northern lights dancing across the sky that is unequalled anywhere! In Anchorage in mid-June, it is common for people to be mowing their lawns at midnight or fishing all night, though the sun does go down, it is not for very long!

Moon over an old trapper's cabin in the Bay of Islands, Naknek Lake,

Katmai National Park & Preserve - 2 AM, mid-July