4 Best Sights in The Bush, Alaska

The largest of the Pribilof Islands at 40 square miles, St. Paul Island is home to the greatest concentration of northern fur seals in the world—500,000 of them—and more than 180 varieties of birds. Certainly it's hard to reach, but it's also a guaranteed treat for adventuresome naturalists. Russian fur traders claimed and named St. George, St. Paul, and St. Peter Islands, and they also enslaved the people of the Aleutian communities in Atka, Siberia, and Unalaska, relocating them to the islands to hunt for fur seals. About 500 descendants of Indigenous Aleutian-Russians live in St. Paul year-round, and the community has many elements of Aleutian cultures, as well as the Russian Orthodox Sts. Peter and Paul Church, built in 1907. The local museum provides details on how the U.S. government once controlled seal hunting on the island.

Due west of Bethel and separated from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta by the Etolin Strait, Nunivak Island is part of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The terrain includes interior craters and deep lakes from the island's volcanic origins, plus over 40 rivers and a tundra that gives way to shorelines and lagoons. The island sustains a large herd of reindeer managed by residents of the only permanent settlement on the island, the Cup'ik village of Mekoryuk. There's also a transplanted herd of musk ox, along with vast seabird colonies, migratory birds, and an array of sea mammals. For information on the island and travel options, contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bethel.

Rising out of the surging waters of the Bering Sea, the Pribilof Islands are a misty, fog-bound breeding ground of seabirds and northern fur seals that consist of five islets, all tiny, green, and treeless, with rippling belts of lush grass contrasting with volcanic rocks. In early summer, seals come home from far Pacific waters to mate, and the larger islands, St. Paul and St. George, are overwhelmed with frenzied activity. Although St. Paul and St. George are less than 50 miles apart, the island group itself is a 1,600-mile round-trip from Anchorage, over the massive snowy peaks of the Alaska Peninsula and north of the rocky islands of the Aleutian chain.

Few visitors go to the Pribilofs, save commercial fishermen and the most dedicated wildlife watchers. Yet together, St. Paul and St. George Islands are seasonal homes to hundreds of thousands of fur seals (about 80% of them on St. Paul) and nearly 250 species of birds. Some birds migrate from as far away as Argentina, while others are year-round residents. Most spectacular of all is the islands' seabird population: each summer more than 2 million seabirds gather at traditional Pribilof nesting grounds; about 90% of them breed on St. George.

Though home to nearly 2 million nesting seabirds, St. George Island is rarely visited because no organized tours visit here, and accommodations are limited. People who live on St. Paul try to avoid going to St. George because of the weather. Avid bird- and wildlife watchers will find plenty to feast the eye on, however.