BENCH: A long, narrow strip of level land that is surrounded by steeper slopes both above and below it.
BOAR: A male grizzly bear.
BRAIDED RIVER: A river with small, relatively shallow channels of water that divide and then recombine many times, making the water channels look like the strands of a braid woven with the gravel bars and islands that separate them.
CACHE (PRONOUNCED “CASH”): A hiding place to store things for a short while. Animals will make a food cache to hide food to eat at a later time.
CAIRN: Rocks purposely mounded to mark a specific place or show the direction of a trail.
CALF: A young caribou or young moose.
CARCASS: The remains of a dead animal.
CLIFF FACE: The vertical (or up and down) side of a cliff.
COW: A female caribou or female moose.
DRAW: The low land of a V that is formed when two hillsides come together.
GRAVEL BAR: Rocks (as well as mud, sand, and other sediments) that have been forced by the actions of the water to form long ridges of “solid ground.” Sometimes gravel bars are along the banks of rivers, sometimes they are surrounded by water, like islands.
KNIFE-EDGE: The long but extremely narrow ridge that is formed at the top of where two very steep mountain slopes meet.
KNOLL: Small rounded hill.
LICHEN: A plantlike living organism made of both algae and fungus that help each other to live. The algae produces food and the fungus gathers water. Lichen look like crusty blotches on the surface of rocks and trees and may be orange, red, yellow, green, or brown.
MUDFLAT: Flat, exposed areas of mud left uncovered when the water usually covering it has drained away.
RACK: Another name for antlers.
RAVINE: A deep, narrow, steep-sided valley or gorge that is usually created by running water. It is similar to a canyon but smaller.
RUT: The fall breeding season for moose and caribou. Often these animals display unpredictable behavior and are more dangerous during this time.
SHALE: A kind of soft rock made of hardened clay that breaks easily into thin flat pieces.
SOAPBERRIES: A type of edible but very bitter red berry that grows on small shrubs in the Alaskan wilderness.
SOW: A female grizzly bear.
THICKET: A thick group of small shrubs or trees that grow closely together.
TUNDRA: Treeless Arctic lands where the ground below the topsoil is frozen year-round. It is covered with low-lying plant life such as grasses, small bushes, mosses, and lichen. Sometimes the tundra plant-life is referred to as “tundra.” Also, mountain areas above timberline are often referred to as mountain tundra.