Category: Life in Alaska
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Wild Life
We have spent the past week in Healy, where my primary focus has been volunteering at Denali National Park. We have a good group of volunteers providing Wildlife Safety and Education at Savage River Trailhead. I am the only returning volunteer in this position and am working regularly until the middle of June. While I…
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Owl, Moose, and Caribou
We are enjoying viewing wildlife and scenery in and around Denali National Park. Snow is disappearing rapidly, though every few days we get fresh snow that doesn’t last long. We finally saw our first caribou of 2025, just above Teklanika River. There were 2 mature females. One of these had large antlers for a female,…
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Aurora 2025
After days of snow and clouds the weather finally cleared. Even though the Aurora Forecast wasn’t great, I suggested we set an alarm to look out the windows just in case. We saw so much magenta this time. The northern lights were everywhere all at once, in all directions, as well as directly overhead. We…
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Tracks in the Snow
We have a new friend this year. It’s nice to watch a snowshoe hare hop about first thing in the morning while one relieves oneself in the privy. This morning it was snowing when I got up and the dusting of fresh snow added interest to the tracks on my walk. Notice the fresh snow…
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Day 16 Arrived in Healy Spring 2025
After 4085 miles of driving plus 3 lovely days on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, we have arrived! The snow isn’t deep, and our little dry cabin is warming up at a reasonable pace. Top priority tomorrow is to drive 20 minutes to get water. Our 6-gallon aquatainers are completely empty (if we had left…
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Sockeye II Part 2 AND Coho Count I
During the latter half of our 6-day “Sockeye II, 2024” I finally caught my first sockeye salmon by flossing. Three of the four in the photo below are mine. It was a lot of work and in a crowd, so I am still not a fan of this type of fishing. July 29 we fished…
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Info on Riley Fire
This fire near the Denali National Park entrance is keeping C busy. One of the “especially effective” helicopters mentioned in the July 1 post at 4:45 is the one he manages.
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Birds
I have been spending a lot of time birding now that I am retired. I rarely write about it as I doubt most people are interested, and I rarely have decent photos. My highlight this week was definitely the gorgeous breeding plumage Long-tailed Ducks at Otto Lake. I don’t have a photo, so Google them…
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Dry Cabin Daily Rhythm
Yesterday we arose early and spent 8 hours looking for wildlife. Unlike last weekend’s phenomenal day, we saw few animals (primarily 6 caribou and 1 porcupine). Today I am shifting gears to a theme I put off while writing about more exciting things. 2 a.m., South bedroom window If we had indoor plumbing, I…
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Aurora V, from Denali National Park
Astronomical twilight (the darkest it gets this time of year) started at 12:06 early this morning. Since it was a clear night I had set my alarm for 12:20 am. I wasn’t expecting much as the forecast kp index was only a 3. To my surprise, there was some color in the sky, dramatically obvious…
Me & C 