Okay, so cats and large arctic animals don't have anything in common. However, both types of animals are extremely interesting to the junior Ladybug Kids and they wanted to give our cats equal billing with our dogs ever since we put out Canine Caper. This cache contains a selection of items that will be interesting to domestic felines as well as things for children and adults.
LARS was founded in 1979 with a grant from the National Science Foundation to support detailed study of large ungulates. The first residents were a herd of 16 musk oxen from Nunivak Island. The station is located on the former homestead of Mike Yankovich, who donated the property to the university in 1963 for musk oxen research.
You may view the animals from outside the fence line year-round. Tours inside the facility are offered Memorial Day through Labor Day. LARS also holds a free "Mothers' Day" open house in mid-May when the newborn critters may be seen romping around the fields.
Park at the LARS parking lot at N64° 52.690, W147° 52.000 on the north side of Yankovich Road (trust your GPS on this...our version of MapSend software has parking and the cache to the south side Yankovich) and follow the fence line east and then turn north at the Equinox Marathon 5-mile sign. Watch for reindeer in the fields on the other side of the fence. The evening we hid the cache, the reindeer were bedded down in tall grass and their antlers looked like dead wood snags sticking skyward. The musk oxen may be viewed to west of the parking area.
We recommend that you avoid the area on the morning of the Equinox Marathon (September 20 in 2014, check Running Club North's webpage in future years) since Yankovich Road and the LARS parking lot are full of support vehicles for the competitors who will have just passed the five-mile mark of the race. The trail is also closed annually for one day on May 1. This route to the cache also covers part of the Skarland Ski Trail which has been in existence since at least 1923.
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 : H34432
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