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June Snow and Weather Summary
June 1 we woke up to a dusting of snow. Since mid-March the temperature has ranged from -24F to around 75F, though our max/min thermometer shows higher when it gets in the sun. Toward the end of the post I show max/min reading by month.
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Wildlife Babies II, Denali National Park
I saw tiny twin moose calves today! A first for this year. Today’s mother moose did NOT want her babies out in the open. So the above photo is from last year with a less cautious mother. This mom wanted a drink, but kept coming back whenever her calves tried to leave cover to follow…
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Spring Foraging, Week 11 in Healy
Fireweed & rose shoots have finally brought some freshly harvested greens to my diet. I also added some variety to my berries today. The bog cranberries taste similar to lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea, lowbush cranberry). Both overwintered well & are very juicy despite being around 7 months old. My tastiest find was a few dried blueberries.…
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Wildlife Babies I, Denali National Park
I saw a baby Dall Sheep! My first wildlife baby of the year. I could see it well with the binoculars but didn’t even try for a photo. C saw a moose baby earlier this week. I hope to see a baby caribou this year! On Friday I took the free Park shuttle bus to…
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Twilight III, Week 10 in Healy
Photo at 3:13 a.m. on May 23 We have over 19 hours of daylight, less than 5 hours of civil twilight, and ZERO nautical or astronomical twilight. May 20 was the last nautical twilight in Healy for awhile. It is never dark & is greening up so fast! I can almost see the buds unfurling…
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Watering the Garden, Week 10 in a Dry Cabin
At some point I may use some of our precious hauled water to water my 3×4 raised bed. But I am hoping to avoid that. I have a 15-gallon water barrel but haven’t set up a tarp to direct rain into it. Besides, it could still freeze & I don’t want to break it. The…
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Showers, Week 10 in Dry Cabin
We are starting our 10th week residing in a dry cabin in Healy. The snow melted from our shower over a week ago. We discussed using it this weekend but with other options so convenient, are waiting for it to get warmer. Yesterday we used our favorite but most expensive local showering option – Totem…
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Wildlife in and near Denali National Park
In 24 hours I saw 3 Moose, 3 Porcupines, 2 Caribou, 2 Dall sheep, and my first Harlequin ducks. We also saw lots of Ptarmigan & at least one Spruce grouse. I like living here. The ducks were strikingly gorgeous hanging out on the thawing river.
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Lingonberries, Week 9 in Healy
These tart berries overwinter! They can be eaten after fall frost, dug from the snow, or – in my case – harvested as the snow melts. They are also known as low bush cranberries, and are related to cranberries and blueberries. All around the cabin we have mats of Lingonberries mixed in with Labrador Tea…
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Steese Highway III
We saw a variety of ducks along the Steese, including some gorgeous ones I had never seen before. I think we saw Scaups, Goldeneyes, and maybe Buffleheads. We finally saw some mammals! We worked our way up in size. Red squirrels, a beaver, then a porcupine. I most wanted to see caribou while C most…
Me & C
Roaming: Shenandoah River to the Alaska Range
Me & C 