Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

It’s that time again! Time to hit the road with our camper. This trip, we’re heading to Seward for a few days. The weather forecast is calling for overcast and partly cloudy, but hopefully we won’t have constant rain while there. Not that rain stops us, but it can make wildlife cruises and fishing a little less pleasurable.

We needed to do some much needed maintenance to the camper to ready it for the road. We spent several hundred dollars having the wheel bearings repacked, the slide serviced (it was a little off level) and greased, and the camper de-winterized and systems checked. Money well spent to send us down the road less concerned about problems.

Our travel trailer is officially 10 years old now. Mileage wise, we have about 55-60,000 miles on it. That’s not too bad considering we’ve had it ten years, but since we live in Alaska, we only really use it a couple of weeks each month from June to August or early September. It’s saved us many times what we’ve paid for it in lodging and travel expenses over the years. One of the best investments we ever made in my opinion.

We discovered that voles got into it again this winter. This time, though, there wasn’t much for them to get into, as we pulled most of the stuff out (paper towels, toilet paper, pots and pans, etc). But Steve forgot to empty the utensil drawer and guess where we found vole droppings? BLECH! Needless to say, all of the silverware went through a HOT cycle in the dishwasher yesterday. There are droppings here and there throughout the camper, so we know they were hanging out in there. Which means some heavy duty sanitizing before we pack it up with dishes and linens, etc.  At least we didn’t find sunflower seeds stashed under the bedspread like last year.

Good friends of ours will be house-sitting for us. It’s nice to know that someone will be here looking after the place, watering plants, etc. It’s so much nicer to go off on vacation when things are taken care of back home.

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My friend Amanda and I took a drive up the Steese Hwy last week. We went as far as Central, before turning around and heading back to North Pole. There is road flooding north of Central at mile 145, so even if we wanted to go all the way to Circle, we wouldn’t have been able to make it.

We drove into the White Mountain Rec Area (mile 57 on the Steese) to take some photos from the high point on the road. There were thick clouds, as it was sprinkling rain off and on that afternoon. We were pretty much IN the clouds, which was a neat thing. It was nice to see alpine wildflowers blooming up there too. We saw Narcisus Flowered Anemones, Wooly Lousewort, Alpine Azaleas, Lapland Diapensia and other mosses and plants. We also saw some Alaska Cotton along the way, but I didn’t get any photos of it.

The road into the rec area (Nome Creek Rd) is washed out at Nome Creek, so there’s no way to get to Ophir and Prindle Campgrounds unless you walk in or have an ATV. We drove to the washout and then turned around and came back out to the highway to drive the remaining 65 miles or so to Central.

You can pan for gold on Nome Creek. Gold mining on Nome Creek began in 1900. That year 20 acres of placer mining ground was found on the creek. It was officially known as the “Discovery” claim.

The views up around Eagle Summit were gorgeous, with the range off in the distance. The rolling hills, some still with patchy areas of snow, were lovely and green. It’s so nice to see green! We continued up the highway until we reached Central.

In Central, I directed Amanda out to Circle Hot Springs. According to information I found online in a Fairbanks Daily Newsminer article:

For countless years before Westerners entered Interior Alaska, only Athabascan Indians used the hot springs located on the northeastern edge of the Tanana-Yukon Uplands, near where Birch Creek meandered out into the Yukon River lowlands. Then, in the 1890s, gold was discovered in the region and prospectors scattered into the hills in search of the motherlode.

Circle City (now just called Circle) was established on the south bank of the Yukon River in 1893 to supply the mining camps in the Birch Creek area about 50 miles to the southwest. (Miners erroneously thought the town was on the Arctic Circle, which is actually about 40 miles to the north.)

A roadhouse was built along the trail at Central, about 35 miles from Circle. Then, in the fall of 1893 a prospector named William Greats stumbled on the hot springs while chasing a moose about eight miles southeast of Central.

Other prospectors quickly learned of the Arctic Circle hot springs and began spending their winters there, at first in tents, then building cabins. In 1905 Cassius Monohan homesteaded 106 acres around the springs, and Franklin and Emma Leach bought the homestead from Monohan in 1909.

According to the Alaska Community Database, the Alaska Road Commission began building a wagon road from Circle to the mining camps in 1906, and by 1908 the road had reached Central. The ARC completed the road to Fairbanks in 1907, and in 1930 the Leaches decided to build a hotel at the hot springs.

They hired local sourdough Billy Bowers to oversee construction, and work on the hotel begun in March 1930. Some accounts say most construction materials came by river to Circle and then by wagon to the springs. However, in a 1970’s taped interview, Emma Leach said the logs used for lumber were felled at Medicine Lake several miles northeast of the springs, and that additional lumber was trucked from Fairbanks. The hotel was completed by that fall.

The hotel itself has changed little over the years and for the most part kept its rustic charm. The bay windows on the first floor can be seen in photos from the 1930s and 1940s, and appear to be original features. The only significant changes are the addition of a restaurant at the rear, and a front entry vestibule.

Until the 1950s the hot springs pool remained in a relatively natural state. A 1947 photograph shows the grass-fringed pool with a few Adironack-style chairs along the edge, and a diving board at the pool’s far end. Other early photographs show expansive gardens and several greenhouses to the right of the hotel (where the pool and other buildings are now).

Frank Leach died in 1955, and Emma managed the hotel until her death in 1974. They are both buried in a small cemetery (which contains about three dozen graves) on the hill above the hotel. In 1980 Bobby and Laverna Miller purchased the hotel and hot springs, which remained open until 2002.

In its heyday Circle Hot Springs attracted visitors from all over Alaska and beyond, and was well-known for its aurora viewing. The hotel supposedly even has its own ghost. Some employees are reported to have seen or felt the specter of Emma Leach roaming the halls or haunting the kitchen.

The hotel and hot springs are now closed and the property is for sale. Most of the land around the hot springs is private. You can drive by and see the hotel, but get permission before wandering around the property.

We stopped and got out of the car for a few photos, but didn’t wander the property due to the “No Trespassing” signs. It felt a little creepy too, so we were happy to just photograph from afar.

We didn’t stay in Central very long; just long enough to take a few photos of some of the cute cabins. Next time, when the road is open, we’ll have to go all the way to Circle.

But the highlight of the trip was as we were driving back to Fairbanks. We saw a black bear on the road eating something! When we got closer, he ran into the bushes next to the road, and then ran up a steep hill. He was FAST! The rain was really coming down, so the photos I managed to get (through the windshield) aren’t the best, but I’m happy I got them.

This is one of the photos I took of him, when he was high up on the hillside above us:

Here are the photos from our drive up the Steese Hwy:

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The wildflowers are finally starting to bloom in our yard. It is so nice to see colors again. Prickly Rose and Labrador Tea. The Bluebells haven’t bloomed in our yard yet, but they are blooming on Fort Wainwright.

Until next time…

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(Title is a quote from Susan Polis Schutz - an American poet and producer of greeting cards)

Summer arrived right on time. But it sure didn’t waste any time showering us with warmth. Hard to believe that two weeks ago we were having snow flurries, and just last week we saw temps in high 80s. Our house, which is very well insulated, was about 78F inside; too warm for us. How in the world did we survive the 100 degree days before we moved to Alaska?

We broke down and bought a portable air conditioner for the bedroom. Sleeping at night really isn’t a problem, as the night cools down enough to make comfortable sleeping possible with just a few strategically placed fans and some open windows. But when Steve is on night shift, and has to sleep during the daylight hours, the bedroom gets quite warm as it’s on the sunny side of the house. Despite the room darkening curtains, which are great insulators, it still gets uncomfortable in that room. So we bit the bullet, and parted with a couple hundred dollars, to buy a 12,000 btu unit that is on wheels and vents out a window.

We had to go to three stores to find one, as both WalMart and Home Depot were sold out. Lowe’s came through for us, but I heard from friends that they are sold out now too. Forget trying to find fans too. Must have been a mad dash when 85F hit with a vengeance. So glad we bought ours when we did, although we only had to use it a couple of times as things cooled off when some rain came yesterday.

I’ve been spending as much time outdoors as I can. That’s what we do in the summer months. There’s no way we’d let these days get away from us without enjoying them to their fullest. The goal is to be totally exhausted by the time mid-late September comes so that winter hibernation sounds appealing.

I took a walk with my friend Amanda over at Wander Lake (which is located adjacent to Wedgewood Resort and Creamers Field). The mosquitoes were out, but not as hungry as they are now. I survived the walk wearing my OFF clip-on mosquito repellent fan.  I’ve had pretty good luck with it, thank goodness. I also use an organic bug spray that has ingredients such as citronella, clove, rosemary, eucalyptus, lavender and mint. It smells really nice (much better than DEET), and even though I have to re-apply it more often, I’d much rather douse myself in non-poisonous stuff. It works well for Raven too, as it’s not poisonous in case she licks it off her snout (which is where the mosquitoes bite her the most).

It was so nice to be walking beneath trees with leaves. The leaves early in the season are so beautiful, as they are such a brilliant yellow-green. Since just about all of the snow is melted now, there are ponds and other bodies of water throughout town. This makes for some great reflections. We’re also seeing shore birds and a lot of ducks in all this water.  I don’t consider myself a ‘birder’, but it has been fun to photograph and identify birds over the last several weeks.

I took these photos on my walk with Amanda:

I’ve been taking my camera for a walk around my yard over the last week. It’s amazing to see the mosses and lichens that are growing in addition to the bigger leaves and buds on the prickly rose bushes. The detail in this tiny ground cover is very interesting, and I try to identify everything as best I can. But some of the plant life is a mystery to me at this point. Perhaps as they continue to grow, they’ll be easier to identify.

My friend Julie and I took a drive part of the way up Chena Hot Springs Road the other morning. We both needed a break, and we were going in search of the violet-green swallows and the peregrine falcon that other photographer friends had captured with their cameras.  We couldn’t stay out all day, so we decided to go early. We were on the road by 8am.

We hoped to see some wildlife along the way (moose), but only saw ducks and other shore birds in the many ponds and streams. When we got to the Tors Trail Campground at mile 39, we parked and walked up to the cliffs where the swallows have been nesting every summer for several years.

The swallows are FAST. And they’re not overly large either. We had our long lenses with us (400mm) which means our cameras were quite heavy. We also had our tripods, because we knew our arms would get tired. The tripod wasn’t really the help I hoped it would be, but hand holding my camera and panning the flying birds was bound to wear me out in only a few minutes. So instead, I kept focused on the areas with the most activity and tripped my shutter when birds came into view. But with the bright sunshine, the light was rather flat, and the part of the cliffs where the swallows were nesting was in the shadows. I deleted about 80% of the photos I took because they were blurred. Not a good day for shooting swallows, but I did manage to capture several images that are better than nothing.

The highlight of our swallow shooting excursion was seeing the peregrine falcon. Unfortunately, he was also tough to catch in flight, and when he did decide to sit, he was so far away that even with my 400mm lens, I had to crop the image to see some detail on him.

We didn’t hang around long, as the bright sunshine was hot and I could feel my face burning despite my SPF 30 sunscreen. On the way back to North Pole, we stopped in at Twin Bears Camp for a few photos and to watch the kids and teens learn how to fly fish. The lake was like a mirror and reflected the cabins beautifully.

We had a gorgeous sunset last night - or rather this morning. The sky turned lovely shades of pink and purple-ish at 12:30am. I took these photos from the end of my driveway:

Soon we won’t even be having any sunsets and sunrises. We’re closing in on Summer Solstice and a true 24 hours of light.

Before I end this entry, I just had to share this photo of Raven. I have been having such a blast with her throwing the frisbee, going for walks, and taking drives. She’s such great company and I love her so very much. I love when she smiles at me. OK, so maybe she’s not really smiling, but it sure looks like it!

Until next time…

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Hello my dear friends and readers. I have been absent for so long, and each time that I thought about sitting here and writing, I’ve had something else pressing on my agenda which took me away from blogging. I’ve edited so many photos over the last month -  portrait sessions, newborn sessions, maternity sessions, and dance recital portraits - that I was starting to feel like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, in the scene where he types over and over “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”.

While I did take a day here and there to drive down to Denali Park with both Steve and friends, the pleasure of these drives and *shooting for leisure*, were tempered by the fact that I was even more behind with photo work once I was home again. While I LOVE what I do - especially when I’m capturing special moments in people’s lives - there is so much work that goes on behind the scenes, sitting in front of a computer, that can be tiring on the eyes and the spirit. Who wants to be sitting at a deck, when the winter world is thawing and the roads are clear enough for roadtripping? I find myself distracted by the world outside my windows, and the four legged furkid (Raven) who brings me each one of her toys in a plea to go outside and play. But finally… I am just about caught up, and I am taking the time to write here and share all that has happened over the last month with you all. It’s going to be a long entry, with a lot of photos, so settle in.

SPRING TRIP TO THE GREENHOUSE

Every year, before spring officially arrives in the Interior, I take a trip or two to the local greenhouse for a dose of color and humidity.  Three weeks ago, my friend Amanda and I (and her son Marc) drove out to Plant Kingdom Nursery to enjoy the beautiful flowers and plants growing there. It was a sunny day, and despite the snow still blanketing the ground, we could almost forget we were in Alaska dealing with a winter season that refused to let go.

There were many ladybugs in the greenhouse, but because they are so small it was always a bit of a surprise to study the flowers closely, enjoying the colors and textures, and then see one of these tiny insects appear from beneath a petal or the inner recesses of the plant. I am not a fan of insects, but there are a few that get a pass. Butterflies are beautiful. Dragonflies are neat (although the big ones freak me out). And ladybugs are pretty enough to make me forget they are beetles.

CREAMERS FIELD SPRING MIGRATION

I visited Creamers Field a few times this month. In the early days of May, the field was still very much covered in snow, and the cranes and the geese looked very out of place there. Gradually, the snow melted, and more birds arrived. It was quite busy for about two weeks, but I’ve heard that many of the birds have already left. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to spend as much time at Creamers as I usually do. Here are a few photos I took the few times I stopped by.

EAGLE NEST

My friend Julie told me about an eagle’s nest on Fort Wainwright, so I stopped by to see if they were sitting on it. I got lucky in capturing this photo, but the eagles have since left the nest and haven’t returned. There are an overabundance of osprey in town, and we think perhaps they chased them off. Bummer.

TRIPS TO DENALI PARK

I took two trips to Denali this month, with my friend Julie. The first trip was on May 6th, and the second one was on May 19th. The park didn’t look much different between both trips. A little less snow in places, some additional thawing on the rivers, but other than that - very white and wintry.

On the first trip, we saw some Bufflehead Ducks in the Sanctuary River. I took a few photos, but I was hand-holding my long lens and they were pretty far away, so the photos aren’t the greatest. We then had the good luck to encounter a beautiful cow moose, not too far off the road. She continued to graze without any worry about our close proximity, so both of us were able to get some lovely shots of her. The light was beautiful too.

On the way back to Fairbanks, Julie spotted a Great Grey Owl in the top of a spruce tree near Nenana. The sun was low to the horizon as dusk fell, and the owl stood very still atop the tree, swiveling his head in a wide arc in search of rodents or other prey.

In the last 60 miles, the light gradually disappeared, and the sky began to change colors with sunset. We have 24 hours of light, but we’re still getting some colorful light at sunrise and sunset. By mid June, that will pretty much be gone.

On our second trip to Denali Park (this past Sunday), Julie and I saw swans near Nenana - both coming and going. In the park, we saw some distant moose, but they were too far to get photos of. We also saw some caribou - also a bit far for photos. I saw my first Lapland Longspur bird, and we saw some playful arctic ground squirrels.  We hoped to see bears, but didn’t have any luck there. A fox or lynx would have been nice, but alas - nothing. We were both very disappointed, but glad that we could make the drive, as it was the last day we were permitted to drive our personal vehicle to mile 30. The shuttle buses started running on Monday.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and warm too, so that made the trip totally worth-while. Especially since the week prior, we had snow fall three days in a row, even bringing some accumulation with it. We thought winter would never let go of its grip!

Here are the photos from our second trip to Denali:

INTO THE WILD

In 2007, the movie “Into the Wild” was released in theaters. The movie is based on the story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who, after graduating from college, abandons his possessions, gives his entire savings account to charity, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way he meets many people whose lives he impacts, and who impact his life.

Unfortunately for Christopher - who went by the name Alexander Supertramp while on the road - when he reaches Alaska, he finds he’s insufficiently prepared for the hardships of living off the land. He doesn’t survive the adventure and his body is found by moose hunters in the remote bus (placed there to be a shelter for hunters) where he lived for the last months of his life. You can read more about the movie here.

Sean Penn wrote and directed the film, and it was shot entirely on location, except for the bus scenes. They abandoned the idea of shooting at the real bus out of respect for Christopher and his family. So instead they built a set in the wilderness, with an exact replica of the real bus.

That bus replica is currently on display at the 49th State Brewing Company in Healy, just north of Denali Park. Julie and I stopped on the way home to see it.

NENANA ICE CLASSIC

Every year, a tripod is erected on the Tanana River in Nenana. A trip wire is attached to the tripod and triggers a clock when the ice goes out and the tripod moves. People place bets on the time that the tripod will fall and the winnings usually total more than 300,000.00!

Sometimes several people or even groups share in the pot. Other times there’s only one winner. This year, the ice didn’t go out until May 20th at 2:41pm. The total winnings were 318,500.00! This is the latest time on record for the ice to go out, and a married couple were the only winners.

Julie and I stopped on the way home from Denali, the day before, and took photos of the tripod where it stood on the hardly frozen river. Many people bet on days in late April and early May, not expecting the ice to hang on so late.

This gentleman was keeping watch over the tripod in the final days.

A view of the tripod from the highway bridge:

CHENA LAKES

Despite the frequent snow days this May, there were the occasional days when the sun came out, giving the illusion that spring had arrived. I took full advantage when I could. On one of these days, Raven and I took a drive to Chena Lakes and went for several walks along the river and around the lake.

The lake was still frozen. It might still be frozen; I haven’t been back in nearly two weeks, so I don’t know the extent of thawing.  I have a feeling it’s not going to be ready for Memorial Day Weekend activities, but I could be wrong. I can’t even imagine picnicking and barbecuing near the lake, as ice still floats on top.  So much for kayaking and canoeing.

The reflection on the river was really pretty, and I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few ducks and other birds flying over the water. My favorite are the violet green swallows, with their beautiful feathers. They fly awfully fast though, and my arms were exhausted as I moved my zoom lens trying to catch them. I took hundreds of photos and only a handful turned out OK. The light could have been better - the sun was very bright - but I was happy to see that I managed to get them in my lens.

BIRDS IN MY YARD - AND BLESSED WITH AN OWL!

My yard has been very busy with a multitude of birds. Not only have had I had the usual Black Capped Chickadees, but I’ve also seen Downy Woodpeckers, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Boreal Chickadees, White-Crowned Sparrows, Robins, a Hammond Flycatcher, and the most exciting of all - a Short Eared Owl!!!

The owl was definitely the most exciting sighting to date, and for much more than just his rarity in these parts.

As you read in my last blog entry, I had to make the very difficult and extremely sad decision to send my girl Airborne ‘over the Rainbow Bridge’. Airborne suffered from hyperthyroidism, and despite treatment, she continued to lose weight. She was hungry all the time, had lost most of her fat and muscle mass, and was in the beginnings of organ failure. Her hearing and eyesight were also being affected. I probably should have let her go months before I did, but I wasn’t ready to face the reality that my 16yo beautiful companion would not be a part of my life any longer - at least not in the physical sense. I kept her here with me longer than I should have because of my own selfishness, and I feel sad about that.

I made the appointment to euthanize Airborne last week. I chose this past Monday as the day to say goodbye, because I wanted one last weekend with her. All weekend, I held her close, and stroked her sweet face, kissing her nose and telling her how much I loved her. Airborne wasn’t a cat that liked to be held for too long, but this past weekend, she was content to lay wrapped in my arms, against my heart, for almost an hour at a time.

I fed her American Cheese (her favorite), and ice cream. I filled bowls of milk for her, and she’d lap it up. Whatever she wanted, she got. Cheeze-Its, potato chips, anything.

I took her for a walk (in my arms) around the yard so she could watch the birds at the bird feeder. I put her down in the grass so she could feel it beneath her paws and nibble on it a little. I talked to her constantly. I did these things when she was healthy too, but in these final days I really savored each moment.

On Sunday morning, I pulled open the drapes to let the sunshine in, and saw an owl in my yard! It was perched on a dirt hill under the trees only about 10 feet from my back deck. I’d never seen an owl on the ground, and this one was also much smaller than the owls I’ve seen in trees or flying overhead. At first I thought it was a Boreal Owl, but it was later identified by a birder as being a Short-Eared Owl.

Short-Eared Owls don’t usually hang out in places like North Pole. They are typically field dwellers, and fly low over the ground looking for voles and other rodents. They also usually hunt in the evening and the early morning hours, but this owl flew around my yard at all hours of the day and night. And when it wasn’t flying around, it was perched under the trees within view of my back door and window. It was so beautiful, and I took many photos of it through the window - wishing I could step outside and get some photos without that pane of glass between us. But I was afraid I’d spook it and it would leave my yard. I did manage to take one photo of him outdoors. I slipped out my front door and photographed him from the side of my house. He elongated his body and perked his ears up, looking quite menacing (or angry) so I didn’t do that again.

On Monday, the vet appointment was at noon. The owl perched on my septic tank vents and flew back and forth across my yard in a frenzy at times. So many times, while photographing it, I felt that it was looking right at me. As if it knew I was there - with only glass separating us.

When I came home from the appointment, emotionally drained and swollen-eyed from my tears, the owl was still sitting in my yard. He looked right at me when I stood in the window watching him.  And he stayed there until Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he was gone. I haven’t seen him since.

I did some reading about owls online. Not just about owl behavior, but the owl in spirituality. The most prevalent Native American symbolism of the owl is one that is associated with death and spirits. Some tribes believe that the owl carries spirits to the afterlife. Coincidence? Who am I to say whether that owl appeared just as a fluke of nature, or for something that has deeper meaning? Whatever the reason, the owl took my attention from my deep grief and brought a little bit of joy and excitement into my life. He distracted me from my pain and sadness. I am thankful for that. Perhaps he also carried Airborne’s spirit soaring to the heavens.

Airborne
June 1997 – May 20, 2013

Missing her terribly…

Until next time…

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