The Bunnies Attack

In our last episode I had arrived in Nome, Alaska. I was there to work at Camp Dexter which was about ten miles north of Nome.

When our campers arrived we took them on a quick tour showing them the mess hall and their sleeping quarters. Dexter was a Girl Scout Camp so we would be doing some of the usual scout activities. One of those activities would be flag ceremonies. We taught the girls all the proper etiquette involved with raising and lowering a flag. We planned to start and end each day at the flag pole. We would do the pledge of allegiance, maybe sing a song or two, and take care of any announcements that need to be made.

On the second morning we were having our ceremony and things were going smoothly, so far. The flag had been raised, pledge said, and we were now talking about the activities planned for the day. I was telling them about the hike we would be taking and what they needed to bring when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement.

This is brown bear territory and we had gotten word that a mama bear and her cubs had been seen in our area. Needless to say no movement near the camp went unnoticed.

Again I saw something but before I could turn around one of the girls started to giggle. I looked around and a very large rabbit, or rather a hare, was hopping towards us. Not too far behind him was a second one. They were very big with large hind legs and huge back feet.

There are two types of hares in Alaska, the snowshoe and the Alaskan hare, or tundra hare, which is common on the Western coast of Alaska. The Alaskan hare is larger than the snowshoe and weighs from 6 to 12 pounds and is 22 to 28 inches in length. The "snowshoe" name comes from the large hind feet which adapts them for the deep winter snows. Being summer these hares were brown but come winter their coats would turn white.

Do you know the difference in a rabbit and a hare? A rabbit is born blind and hairless while a hare is born fully furred with eyes open. A newborn rabbit will not even open it's eyes for 7 to 10 days, a newborn hare is able hop and leave the nest almost immediately.

We watched the tundra hares until they hopped out of sight. Then we spent most of our time on the hike trying to find tracks with the hope of seeing more of them.