There are a lot of black spruce forests. They are really weird trees with all kinds of funny shapes. I read where few of the movies about Alaska are actually filmed there (usually filmed in British Columbia) so you are seeing the huge trees of British Columbia. Visitors are surprised when they see these black spruce for the first time. They are gnarled and twisted but they are a tough little tree. They grow in swampy permafrost soil and are relatively old for their size.