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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…
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Steese Highway II, Circle May 13, 2023
We left Eagle Summit mid-morning Saturday and slowly drove the remaining 55 miles to the end of the road at the Yukon River in Circle, Alaska. We were in the village about an hour before I realized that the significant river pictured above was just a small meandering arm of the Yukon River. What I…
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Steese Highway
We spent the weekend traveling the Steese Highway, which brings travelers within 50 miles of the Arctic Circle. Be sure to stop at Chatanika Lodge for a meal (likely a great place to spend the night too). It is a quirky & fascinating Alaskan backwoods “museum” that you can explore while waiting for your delicious…
Me & C
Roaming: Shenandoah River to the Alaska Range
Me & C 