An Alaskan Adventure : July 1 - 29, 2026

Part 3 - Nome (Teller, Council) to King Salmon

July 8: Teller

There are three well-maintained gravel roads out of Nome: Kougarok Road, and roads to Teller and Council. Each one is roughly 70 miles long, and well enough maintained that 55mph is possible for most of the trip. Mathmatically, a round trip could be less than 3 hours. However, with frequent stops to look around, each was essentially an all day trip for me. This day it was Nome-Teller Road, or Bob Blodgett Highway.

pIMG_5908.JPG	Greater Scaup	Tundra Swan	pIMG_5923.JPG
American Wigeon	Penny River	cIMG_5933.JPG	Redpoll
Beaver dam	Spring Beauty	Rough-legged Hawk	pIMG_5978.JPG
pIMG_5981.JPG	pIMG_5994.JPG	pIMG_5998.JPG	pIMG_6003.JPG
pIMG_6007.JPG	pIMG_6009.JPG	pIMG_6011.JPG	pIMG_6016.JPG
Arctic Ground Squirrel	Cabin Rock	cIMG_6028.JPG	Exposed permafrost
pIMG_6040.JPG	Arctic Tern	pIMG_6061.JPG	Fireweed
pIMG_6072.JPG	pIMG_6078.JPG	Cliff Swallow	cIMG_6122.JPG
Cackling Goose with chicks	pIMG_6161.JPG	Long-tailed Jaegers	pIMG_6194.JPG
pIMG_6195.JPG	pIMG_6197.JPG	pIMG_6207.JPG	Pacific Golden Plover (?)
Lapland Longspur	Glandular Kamchatka Rhododendron	Nest mentioned in old guidebook is still there	Interesting shadow from contrail
Parasitic Jaegers	pIMG_6265.JPG	pIMG_6269.JPG	Long-tailed Jaeger
An old dredge	Northern Pintail with chicks (?)	Pelagic Cormorant	pIMG_6343.JPG
pIMG_6349.JPG	pIMG_6362.JPG	pIMG_6377.JPG	pIMG_6378.JPG
Salmon drying racks	cIMG_6385.JPG	pIMG_6391.JPG	Red-necked Phalarope
pIMG_6411.JPG	Teller from the airport	Tall Jacob's Ladder	pIMG_6434.JPG
pIMG_6439.JPG	pIMG_6444.JPG	pIMG_6450.JPG	pIMG_6451.JPG
pIMG_6453.JPG	Harlequin Duck (female)	cIMG_6461.JPG	pIMG_6466.JPG
cIMG_6474.JPG	Arctic Ground Squirrel	pIMG_6497.JPG	Savannah Sparrow (?)
Black-bellied Plover	pIMG_6508.JPG	Tundra Swan	Semipalmated Plover
pIMG_6532.JPG	pIMG_6535.JPG	pIMG_6538.JPG	pIMG_6540.JPG
Long-tailed Jaeger	pIMG_6566.JPG	cIMG_6571.JPG	Muskox
pIMG_6585.JPG	pIMG_6588.JPG	pIMG_6592.JPG	Bird art on each power pole
cIMG_6601.JPG	pIMG_6603.JPG	cIMG_6604.JPG	cIMG_6606.JPG
pIMG_6615.JPG	pIMG_6624.JPG	pIMG_6632.JPG	pIMG_6639.JPG
cIMG_6649.JPG	pIMG_6655.JPG	Hudsonian Whimbrel	pIMG_6678.JPG
pIMG_6680.JPG	Northern Pintail (?)	Red-throated Loon	pIMG_6695.JPG
Western Sandpiper (?)	pIMG_6699.JPG	pIMG_6701.JPG

July 9: Council

On my last full day in Nome, I drove the Nome-Council Road.

pIMG_6705.JPG	pIMG_6715.JPG	Long-tailed Jaeger	pIMG_6725.JPG
Glaucous Gull (?)	Lapland Longspur	Common Eider	pIMG_6754.JPG
cIMG_6755.JPG	pIMG_6764.JPG	pIMG_6768.JPG	Arctic Tern
pIMG_6773.JPG	Plover chick	Northern Pintail	Semipalmated Plover
Eiders with chicks	Black-legged Kittiwake	Moose, in a hurry to get somewhere	cIMG_6800.JPG
pIMG_6805.JPG	pIMG_6809.JPG	Tundra Swan	pIMG_97267.JPG
pIMG_6818.JPG	pIMG_6821.JPG	pIMG_6823.JPG	pIMG_6824.JPG
pIMG_6828.JPG	pIMG_6835.JPG	Pacific Loon (?)	Aleutian Tern
pIMG_6847.JPG	pIMG_6849.JPG	pIMG_6852.JPG	pIMG_6856.JPG
Short-billed Gull	pIMG_6865.JPG	cIMG_6877.JPG	The Last Train to Nowhere
cIMG_6880.JPG	pIMG_6883.JPG	pIMG_6887.JPG	cIMG_6890.JPG
pIMG_6894.JPG	pIMG_6902.JPG	Mallard	pIMG_6914.JPG
Common Raven	An old dredge	cIMG_6934.JPG	Nest with chick in the old dredge
Solomon River near Quigleys Camp	cIMG_6950.JPG	Savannah Sparrow	pIMG_6955.JPG
cIMG_6956.JPG	cIMG_6957.JPG	cIMG_6984.JPG	Fox River
Northern Harrier	pIMG_7006.JPG	Council	pIMG_7026.JPG
Skookum River valley	Say's Phoebe	pIMG_7034.JPG	Looks a bit like an Inukshuk
Brown Bear	pIMG_7057.JPG	pIMG_7061.JPG	pIMG_7066.JPG
pIMG_7067.JPG	Wandering Tattler	pIMG_7069.JPG	pIMG_7073.JPG
Spotted Sandpiper	pIMG_7080.JPG	Big Hurrah Creek	Alpine Sweetvetch
pIMG_7089.JPG	pIMG_7101.JPG	pIMG_7109.JPG	Parasitic Jaeger going after a Kittiwake's fish
pIMG_7117.JPG	pIMG_7119.JPG	pIMG_7122.JPG	It got the fish after the kittiwake dropped it
pIMG_7129.JPG	Long-tailed Jaeger	pIMG_7136.JPG	pIMG_7141.JPG
pIMG_7157.JPG	cIMG_7163.JPG	pIMG_7171.JPG	pIMG_7181.JPG
pIMG_7190.JPG	pIMG_7195.JPG	pIMG_7196.JPG	Pomarine Jaeger (?)
American Wigeons	Scaup	pIMG_7241.JPG	Red-throated Loon with fish
pIMG_7267.JPG	pIMG_7273.JPG	pIMG_7279.JPG	pIMG_7285.JPG
Giant boulders at the quarry	pIMG_7300.JPG	pIMG_7302.JPG	pIMG_7305.JPG
pIMG_7308.JPG

July 10: Nome - Bethel - King Salmon

I filed IFR for the first time in Alaska for my first leg of the day from Nome to Bethel due to a low cloud layer around Nome. There wasn't much to see until the clouds broke up approaching Bethel. After fueling at Bethel, I took a scenic VFR flight via the Round Island walrus haulout on the way to King Salmon. The total straight line distance was 431nm.

Johnson River, about 45 miles north of Bethel	Kanektok River	Nimgun Creek	Togiak River Lodge
Summit Island, Round Island in the distance	Togiak	Summit Island	Black Rock
Round Island	Walrus haulout	pIMG_7396.JPG	Camp sites and trails on the island
A second walrus haulout	Kulukak Bay	Igushik River	Mudflats around Etolin Point
Deadman Sands	pIMG_7436.JPG	Naknek	A Greater Yellowlegs (?) likes the tip of this tree
King Salmon Lodge	pIMG_7473.JPG	cIMG_7475.JPG	Bald Eagle and juvenile
pIMG_7479.JPG	pIMG_7485.JPG