St. George Scenery

A carpet of blues and intense greens greeted me on my initial drive from the Airport on the south side of St. George to the town where I would spend much of the next 37 days. The blues were mostly the result of a species of Lupine that I have seen referred to variously as Nootka or Arctic Lupine. Interspersed within these large patches of blue were yellow Arctic Poppies, and a number of other flower species in full bloom. The main east/west ridge line bisecting the island had a few snow banks remaining that made for a nice contrast. The greens, reminiscent of Ireland, were composed of several species of wide-bladed grasses and other variable shades of green consisting mostly of moss and lichen covered rock fields, with a variety of sedges.
St. George seems to be primarily of volcanic origin. It is different from its sister island St. Paul in that it is more topographically diverse and has few beaches that are accessible for walking. Zapadni Beach just to the west of the harbor complex on the south side of the island is about the only easily accessible beach for walking. Zapadni was is a black sand beach with some designs made by wave action on broken sea shell fragments, and kelp washed up during high tides. The few other beach areas such as Garden Cove are reached only after a considerable hike. Most of the other shoreline areas consist of cliffs ranging up to over 1,000 feet at High Bluff. A very rough guess on my part would estimate a shoreline of perhaps 40 or more miles with no more than about 5% being walkable, sandy beach. But the many miles of cliffs (Vern Schneider photo)are the primary reason that the island supports the estimated 2.5 million nesting seabirds.

While we didn't have a lot of sunny days to highlight the vibrant colors of the island, we took advantage of the sun when it appeared to take lots of pictures. A hike to First Bluff several miles west of town provided some good opportunities for flower pictures. Here, great friend Vern Schneider who stayed with me for 3 weeks, focuses in on a few of the plethora of flowers we found there. But foggy and cloudy days also provided some great opportunities for capturing scenes with a very serene aspect. As the summer progressed, other flower species began their blooming process and made for colorful panoramas.The Bering Sea is famous for savage winter storms. We did see some wind and high swells while we were there. But they were nothing like what winter sometimes brings to the Bering Sea. February 2008 brought winds of 120 knots that blew the roofs off some houses in town. The image below is about as close as I got to experiencing a sunset on St. George.