Exploring the Native Alaskan Village of Akutan: Guide Dogs, Sea Caves, Boardwalks, and a visit to the General Store

 

I had Christian put me onshore here to get this picture while standing in a natural rock arch.

This visit to the Alaskan Native town of Akutan, out in the Aleutian Islands, was very unique. We had very nice weather conditions, and I had touched base with April, who is the head of the Akutan Native Village Corp. She told us that she wouldn't be there, but the general store should be open. She also mentioned that the museum hadn't been opened for many years. The town itself only has about sixty-nine permanent residents. All the houses are connected by a boardwalk. The locals use four wheeler ATV's to ride up and down on the boardwalk. I even ran into my friend Mark, who makes traditional skin wooden kayaks, who was in the village replacing all the windows.

It was my first time going inside the store, as the only other time I walked town it was a weekend so the store was closed. My group was ready to help the local economy by buying hats, snacks, and some energy drinks. There was actually a pretty good selection. People working at the nearby Trident fish processing plant must come through from time to time to buy stuff as well. My favorite item was a hat that had 'Akutan' on the front, the latitude and longitude on the back, and 'Life on the Rock', on the side.

Outside the store, a local dog named Coco walked up to us, much to the group's glee. A lot of petting ensued. After that, we had no chance of getting rid of Coco, so for the rest of the morning we had a local guide dog with us. He even tried to get in our skiff when we got picked up a few miles outside of town! We walked the boardwalk through town and out the other side. Then we took advantage of low tide and tidepooled our way down the island. There was a pretty good standoff between three noisy sea lions and our guard dog, Coco. We made it to where a couple of waterfalls tumbled down the cliff onto the shore. Here we got picked up by our small boat.... but the adventure was far from over.

We drove out to the outer point of Akutan Bay, where some pretty cool geological features can be found. There was a big sea arch that I had Christian drop me off inside. The photographs must have been pretty cool. Then we drove into a cave, which turned into a long tunnel, just big enough for the skiff. It came out into a secret little cove. The guests were just blown away. Akutan for the win!

The Safari Explorer, ready for action.

Misty coastline of Akutan.

Skiff tour along the outside of Akutan Bay.

I picked up this beautiful crab while shorewalking with the guests.

After walking through Akutan village, and shorewalking down the coast, we jumped into our small boat and drove into this cave tunnel.

Is there enough room in there for our skiff? Lets go see.

Emerging from the cave!

Its dark in here! Now this is my kind of skiff tour.

Beautiful flowers hanging to the cliff wall as a waterfall cascades behind it.

Ellen holding up a blood star that I found in one of the shallow tidepools.

When visiting the tiny native village of Akutan, you have to check out the general store. There were some real finds in here. I think my favorite were the Akutan hats that said 'Akutan: life on the rock.'

This made me smile.

Our new dog friend, Coco, walked with us all through town and then for a couple miles down the coastline during our shorewalk. He wanted to come with us when the skiff picked us up too.

The walking part of the shorewalk wasn't easy, with big and medium sized rocks to navigate, but it was beautiful!

After reaching the end of the town boardwalk, the trail continued through the fields of wildflowers.

Every little native town in coastal Alaska has a Russian Orthodox church, many of which are still in service.

Coco the dog became fast friends with everyone. We met Coco outside the McGlashan general store, and he stayed with us till the end.

We had to check out the General Store here in Akutan. I always wondered what a store that caters to a population of 69 must be like.

This waterfall poured over the cliff, onto the rocks below. I could always duck behind it. Here comes my group of shorewalkers to check out the waterfall as well.

This is what our shorewalk looked like in Akutan Bay.

There is a really nice boardwalk through the village of Akutan. Here you can see it after the last house, winding its way through the meadow to the building where they burn their trash.

I thought this old truck was pretty photogenic. It looks like it hasn't moved in a long time. I wonder if it would even fit on the boardwalk. Most people in town used pretty fancy four wheelers.

I caught this sunflower sea star and Beth was brave enough to hold it. It had 19 arms. These are sea stars that eat other sea stars.

Walking along the shore under a towering cliff of columnar basalt from some volcanic eruption long ago.

I found some of the largest acorn barnacles here. There must be a lot of food and a lot of current to allow them to grow this big.

The group takes photos of this old harpoon gun from one of the whaling ships that used to be stationed here in Akutan back in the early 1900's.

Coco the dog, leading the way.

Tackling the rocky shoreline of Akutan.

Fiona living in the waterfall moment.

One of the local fishermen was drying and mending his gill net. There was another one set up just out in front of town in the water. Hopefully they caught some salmon and had a good meal.