Shemya, AK 1975

April, 1975: En route to Anchorage, AK prior to next leg of trip to Shemya. Here we are flying near Mt. Rainier.

10th of April, 1975. En route to Shemya; 1st stop was Anchorage, AK prior to arriving at Elmendorf AFB, AK. Here we are approaching Anchorage airport.

10th April, 1975. Gettng closer to Anchorage's airport.

Here you can see Anchorage airport's runway.

Lining up for a landing at Anchorage's airport.

Here you can still see the ice flows as we approach Anchorage airport. Spring "breakup" is experienced in Alaska beginning in April.

After spending a week at Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, AK, I boarded a Reeve Aleutian Airline Lockheed passenger plane bound for Shemya, AK. The "point of no return" location is at Adak. Once we leave Adak for Shemya, there is no turning back for adverse weather

A view from the starboard side of the aircraft towards Shemya, AK as we approached the small 2x4 mile island. The sun was shining a bit this day, and it was a somewhat smooth flight from Adak to Shemya. Pay no attention to the somewhat dilapidated parts.

A view of Shemya Island from the southeast side. One can see the WWII grooved 10,000 ft runway running east/west.

A view of Shemya looking north from the south end of the island.

Another view looking north...you can see the two White Alice antennas on the northern side of the Island.

Heading for a west-east landing on the 10,000 ft WWII runway. You can see the remnants of two older and smaller runways along with their taxi-ways and revetment areas near the bottom of the photo.

Heading for a west-east landing on the 10,000 ft WWII runway. You can see the remnants of two older and smaller runways along with their taxi-ways and revetment areas near the bottom of the photo.

En route from the landing strip to building 600 dorm, we passed by the Civil Engineer's building (seen on the left). Two small islands on Shemya's west side can be seen in the background, "Hammerhead and "Alaid."

A view of the rear-side of the base chapel. Aggatu Island to the west of Shemya can be seen in the backgroud.

To the right in this photo you can see the small outline of Cobra Dane, a six-story phased array radar system aimed towards Russia. Yes...Sarah Palin really could see Russia from her back yard! :-) Also seen here in the far off distance (about 35 miles away)

An early exploratory tour of Shemya brought me to the east side of Shemya, along what was referred to as the "Beach Road," and a view towards the east...towards the United States...so far away...from family and friends...and the security of tera firma!

Steller Sea Lions inhabit the eastern/northeastern shoreline of Shemya. A male will take over a rock and collect females to his harem. This local was referred to as "Seal Point."

More Steller Sea Lions.

I was spotted by one of the sea lions.

Once spotted, an alarm goes out to the rest of the sea lions of the presence of an "invader."

The sea lions share their rocky outcroppings with various birds which visit Shemya. While Cormorants seem to be in abundance, there are dozens of various types of birds visiting the island at various times of the year. The white coloring on top of the rocks i

Most of the time when touring Shemya we'd go out with at least one other person. Picture of George L. Smith wearing his Shemya Parka...wimpy parka compared to ND parkas!

A view of Shemya from the east/northeast side of the island at a local known as "Seal Point." Two White Alice communication antennas can be seen at the top of the hill.

August or September of 1975. George Smith's roomate Roberts, and two other members of the first PMEL lab established on Shemya; Dennis Ahner and George Riegel.

A Steller Sea Lion seen near Seal Point swimming between rock outcroppings.

Looking south from Seal Point.

Also looking south from Seal Point.

More breaking waves seen from Seal Point.

The Steller Sea Lions share the rocks with many different birds that visits the island. Most often seen are the Cormorants. The white "paint" seen emanating from the tops of the rocks is bird excrement.

More Seal Lions and birds resting on the rock outcroppngs.

Steller Sea Lion emerging from the water, making its way onto the rock.

Crashing waves near Seal Point, Sea Lions in the background.

George L Smith with crashing waves and Steller Sea Lions in the background.

Roberts and George L Smith resting on debris with White Alice communications antennas in the background. Roberts was George's roommate in Bldg 600 on Shemya.

Shemya vegetation includes the oldest, Beach wildrye, lupine, and hairgrass. Also present is red fescue and ryegrass.

The Fall season reveals sea activity in the form of ever increasing waves crashing ashore.

More crashing waves.

More crashing waves.

More crashing waves.

More crashing waves.

More waves...and the presence of seals is now realized!

More Fall seas.

More Fall seas.

Fall seas, seems to have a mix of oil or other pollutants mixed in with the water.

More Fall seas.

The seals arrive off the coastline.

A comparatively nice Fall day on Shemya's east coast.

Yet another nice fall day on the east coast side of Shemya...with waves washing ashore and vegetation flourishing nicely. Soon it will be winter, and all will be covered with snow.

More Fall shoreline images, including waves and natural vegetation.

More shoreline images, including waves and vegetation.

A WWII gun emplacement located on the west side of Shemya. Aggatu and Attu can be seen off near the west horizon on nice days.

The west side beaches of Shemya include large boulders that rattle together with the onslaught of fierce waves reaching the shore.

Shemya, west shore. There really is a dock located across the water near the left side of the photo! These waves have kept our Cool Barge (our supplies) out to sea for around 10 days, during which time we ate powdered eggs, powdered milk, salted pork rolls!

More off the west shoreline.

George's roomate, Roberts, escaping incoming waves. Cobra Dane (left) and GE Antennas (right) in background.

George Smith waiting for incoming wave, carrying Canon Movie Camera/bag purchased on Okinawa around 1968.

A rusty old barge, beached years ago on Shemya's western shorreline across from the dock (seen in the background) being splashed with incoming waves. This barge supplies much of the raw steel material used in several construction projects through the years!

Beached barge seen from the dock area of Shemya's western shoreline.

Some of the sea creatures washed ashore, including a gelatinous object and a starfish!

Shemya's dock, located on the west side of Shemya, often gets submerged when the seas become rough. Here you can see our supply barge (Cool Barge) finally docked, with much needed supplies finally off-loaded and moved to storage facilities on the island (such

Cool Barge at Shemya Dock.

Cool Barge at Shemya Dock.

Shemya "village" as seen from the loading dock located on the west side of Shemya.

One of a half-dozen or so island dogs riding on our shuttle bus, occupying his own seat. I don't recall the name of this dog, but I do remember Shemya's most famous dog, Boozer. In our case, I believe it was Boozer III.