Atka

Atka is a village on Atka Island almost to Adak on the Aleutian Chain in Alaska.  It has a latitude just above 52 degrees north and 174 degrees longitude west- 280 miles south of Ketchikan.  It is WAY out there - closer to Japan or Russia than the continental United States.

I read a fascinating book by Ethel Ross Oliver.  Here she is on the book cover.

 

For the most part, it is her journal record when she and her husband, Simeon Oliver, helped rebuild Atka Village after World War II in 1946 and 1947.  The reason it needed to be rebuilt is that our own military burned the village to the ground so that Japan could not occupy it.  I can understand that but I think it might have been nice to allow the villagers a half hour to get their packed suitcases out of the houses before they had to get on the boat to Southeast Alaska.  (The conditions that they faced there is another story for another time.  Suffice it to say the conditions were awful.)

Ethel Oliver was a renaissance woman: teacher, collector of local flora for 5 botanical museums, excavator of several archeological sites, recorder stories of inhabitants, nurse/doctor, and writer.  The journal style gives a glimpse into the people and the day to day life that they all shared.

The book is organized into chapters that are also the 12 months that the Olivers were on the island.  Here is a picture of the newly "rebuilt" village.  


Ms. Oliver was also not only respectful and understanding of Native Aleut culture, but appreciated the people and culture and tried to integrate culture and language into her classroom.  This was quite unusual at the time.

While Ms. Oliver was there, she meets two Aleut prisoner of war survivors who were captured and transported to Japan in 1943: Mike Lokanin and Alex Prossof.  These unedited stories, in the book Appendix, were fascinating all by themselves.  


The whole Alaskan war theatre is interesting in its immensity and complexity and its notorious bad weather.

Winter Ferry to Hoonah

The day after Christmas, I was feeling just enough better to get on the ferry with the rest of the family to visit my brother and his family in Hoonah.  Luckily, I was under the influence of modern drugs like tylenol and advil.

Riding the ferry in wintertime is great.  Usually, there are few riders.  It's warm and dry.  You get to hang out and watch the wilderness go by.  Sometimes, you'll get a glorious evening like this:

I was too sick to bother going outside, so this photo is taken through the thick plate glass window.  And, of course the ferry is moving, so it's nearly impossible not to get a blur.  But, this might be as good as it gets under the photographic conditions.  What a night.

Sick as a Dog over Christmas!

I'm not sure where "sick as a dog" came from, even though I'm sure that I could google it and find out.  No matter where it came from, I was sicker than I have in a good 35 years - and of course it was over Christmas.

But, one of the reasons that I write to myself in this blog, is to notice the little things.  Here I am lying on the couch trying not to tremble from a 102 degree fever, and the sun is doing it's winter thing - not very high in the sky but wandering low across the windows.  And since it is so low in the sky, it's shining back in the living room.

There's this little display that ML had put together that was downright beautiful in the sun.  I hope you like it too.

I confess that the picture isn't as green as the reality.  The green of the bottle set off from the light green of the wall made my sick heart feel fine, for a few minutes anyway.

This is another picture that was a lot prettier in reality.  Again, with ML's artistic ability, she had put some dried flowers in a vase.  The silhouette against the light green of the wall paint was beautiful.








I wouldn't have been staring into space looking at the walls if I hadn't been sick.  Maybe it was a good thing.

Happy Solstice!

ML and I went for a walk today.  It was a glorious day.  Have a great solstice.

What a nice place to sit if you have a sitpad and warm clothes!

Snowshoeing

Luckily, my friend Bob was off from work and was interested in a trip up the mountain.  Time to strap the snowshoes on the backpack and see how much snow was up on top.

We have a nice little winter route that starts up Cascade Creek just at an old dam that must have been used as a water supply at one time or another.  You have to go straight up through some of last year's salmonberry bushes.  But then it opens up in big trees.  Pretty soon, take a right hand turn and follow the ridge up - and up - and up.  

Just before the trees opened up, we strapped on the snowshoes.  By that time, the snow was plenty deep - in fact it was time to do some slogging.  Bob had some excuse about "not sure where to go."  That just meant he wanted me to break trail.  He's a pretty smart guy.

 

We break out of the trees.  Mt. Edgecumbe is in the background.

Then we just walk the ridge.  

This looks out toward Biorka Island.  

From the top, we hung a right and walked down Gavan trail.  The top of the trail is mostly wooden steps because it's so deep.  It's always a challenge to make it down in deep snow - too deep to walk and sometimes you can't see the steps.  But on snowshoes, you have to alternately ski or slide or fall.  We did our share of all three.

Toward the bottom of the trail, the sun came out.  In the winter time, the sun is so low in the sky that there it seems to glow.  With the big hemlock and spruce trees spreading their green branches and the sun filtering through, it's like being in an outdoor cathedral.  As Bob's friend Don says, "I attend the Church of the Outdoors."

I'll leave you this photo title, courtesy of Led Zeppelin:

"Stairway to Heaven"

Winter in Sitka - a bit of snow and 30 degrees

ML and Hannah decided that we should spend Christmas in Sitka and Hoonah this year.  So we did.  I admit I had my reservations - mostly due to the expense and holiday travel, but so far I think they did great.  The reason?  Right now we have some glorious winter weather.

This picture is from our front glass doors.  It was taken exactly at 8 a.m.  It's already getting light!  But, the light level is a little more illustrative when you see the much brighter light from the streetlight in the right of the picture.

Here is the house with blue sky in the background and a beautiful layer of snow on the tree branches.  Luckily, we were here to brush off the snow from the rhododendrons and few other trees whose branches might break if it turns rainy (which it will).

Time to go to the grocery store, which has one of the best views in town.  Mt. Edgecumbe is in the background.

As long as we're on our "back to town" rounds, we may as well go to the library.  It has a nice view from its parking lot too.









When you're in a rain forest, any weather can happen - but mostly it's rainy.  This is great luck to have 4-6 inches of powder snow and just below freezing temps.  Get out the snowshoes!

Photo!

Hurricane Sandy is making landfall, but we're moon watching and hanging out by the fire

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BOOK REVIEW: The Boy, Me and the Cat

 I'm not a bibliophile (although I did spell it correctly before I looked it up), but I do love books. Mostly, I love the telling of a great story. Last year at Christmas, Bob and Glenda gave me a variety of nice things (Glenda is a great gift giver) that included the book on the right.

 WARNING: This is a little longer post than usual . . . .

It is hardback with a woven cover. There was no title on the front or back, no pictures, no logo, just the stippled feel of an old cloth cover. The title was on the spine: “The Boy, Me And The Cat – Henry M. Plummer.” And the aroma: the smell of heavy paper, a whiff of cloth bound with glue, and just a hint of mustiness – maybe almost a touch of mold. It reminded me of our Grandfather's “library” in his West Grove, PA house, books lined on the shelves – shelves completely covering three walls, the slight musty smell of them, maybe a sneeze of dust – where the cousins “hid the thimble” and disturbed the sanctity of them.(see note #1 below)   I had also known about the book from other sailboat cruising references – and it was reputed to be a great sailing story. And it is. 1912-1913, an engineless  30 year old 24.5 foot catboat, a 15 foot dory with a 3 horsepower engine, a son, a cat, the East coast from New Bedford to Miami, and lots of time – can dreams turn out any better?

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Mr. Plummer, 

    “The Author

      The Illustrator

      The Editor

      The Publisher

      The Printer

      The Binder

       and the Captain of the Mascot,” (Preface, page X) 

tells the story through his logbook. He writes who he is: genuine, honest, and with an understated sense of humor.   If you were sitting on the porch on a warm summer's day drinking a beer and telling stories with Mr. Plummer, time would pass so fast that dinnertime would arrive before you were hungry – and you would have to listen very carefully to know when to laugh. You might even get a few good recipes for your next meal.

 

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I'll just give you a little teaser of the author's writing style. On the third log entry on page 2A, Mr. Plummer writes:

“October 14^th. Mighty busy cup o'tea this morning. Tumbled all the “last things” on board. Crawled under the shed, caught the cat rubbed her full of flea powder, and dropped her into a gunny sack to moult. Will have troubles enough without fleas.”

As cited above, Mr. Plummer is also the illustrator.  I just love the drawings.  Here is his drawing of the cat.

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I won't ruin the mystery by telling you how it was originally published.  Just pop on over to amazon.com - quick – there are only 6 left!! Or, better yet, ask for it through “interlibrary loan” at your local library. You won't get the cloth bound edition like mine, but at least it won't be on your kindle.

Note #1: It could be that our Grandfather read some or all of the books in his library, but I think he was more well known in family lore when he was in his 80's, for having to use a cover for his paperback books to hide “scantily clad” women.

Booked Up! Larry McMurtry's Bookstore

Years ago, ML read about Larry McMurtry's bookstore in Archer City, Texas.   We were in the area, so it wasn't too big a deal to swing by Archer City, which a ways northwest of Fort Worth, Texas - in amongst farm, ranch, and oil land.  It's called "Booked Up."

Archer City, where Mr. McMurtry grew up, is mostly bookstore and a few conveniences.  Maybe there's more, but we didn't see it. 

We weren't even sure the bookstore was open.  But it was, although we were the only customers.  The person who took our money (we think related to Mr. McMurtry) stated that lots of people come to the bookstore - and a surprising number of people outside the U.S.A.

The best thing is that there are lots of books!  I wouldn't say cataloging and organization are the strong points; I'd say volume and browsing fun are what is best about it. 

I'd also say a coffee machine with good coffee might be a good idea.   .  .  

But I found something right away - which happened to be on a table when we walked in.  I guess it was meant to be - and it was 25% off, too!

It's a book about photographing Arctic Native populations, which includes Native and non-Native photographers from a variety of time periods. 

I don't usually buy books anymore (that's what libraries are for), but this one is great.

Hike into the Wind River Range

I had been interested in checking out the Wind River Range of mountains.  Mary Louise was soon on board.  We stopped in Pinedale, Wyoming and asked at an outdoors store where we might get into the range just a bit.  The answer was obvious - "Turn left at the grocery store and follow the road to the end." So, pausing to buy a sandwich and a water at the store, we turned left and followed the road.

The trail was hard packed and easy to walk.  The forest smelled like balsam and pine.   The only difficulty was breathing easily at 12,000 feet in elevation. 

ML got tired of me walking on her heels, so I went on ahead to where the trees opened up and I could see across the range.  

This is looking east with a pretty little lake nestled in the trees.

I was able to use my intuitive skills and figure out what ML was telling me.  I hope you can too.

On the way down the access road, I took this picture.  That way, I was sure I'd know what was in the picture.

I think the range is worth more than a day hike.

Meeting the Warings

The world is such an interesting place.  As conventional wisdom says, "it's a small one, too" - or something like that.

We started up the trail toward the ridge above Yellowstone Lake and saw an older couple (older than us, anyway) looking through their binoculars at something in the woods.  We stopped and asked what they were seeing.   As we had thought, they are birders.

Amazingly enough, in our short conversation, we learned that:

- they had been in Milawi, Africa, as had our daughter Hannah.

- they lived in Juneau in the 1980's and Ms. Waring had come to Hoonah to do some census work - maybe having visited us at our house, although no-one could remember that detail.

- they had just spent some time in Ozello, Florida - where we have a friend with a house that we had stayed in for a long weekend.  The houses were nearly next to each other.

Huh, you figure it out.  Pretty amazing.  We really enjoyed them.  The photo is them checking out the view.

Much luck to the Warings.  It was great meeting you.

Jackson Hole to Rock Springs, Wyoming SHEEP!

Our stretch of weather continues!  Not too cold, not too hot, and no bugs.

We turned onto route 189/191 up the Hoback river. 










We turned a corner and traveling along the road was a few sheep.

I guess the grass was better along the road!  I pulled off the road quick - fortunately there was very little traffic.

They were all reasonably young - there weren't any full horn curls among them.  But it was fun too see.

Gallatin River, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton

From Belgrade, we took route 191 that follows the Gallatin River up to it's headwaters and then down the other side into West Yellowstone.  It was a beautiful day for a trip up a river and mountain pass.

Up toward the top, we moved through some localized fog.  With the various shades of yellow and browns set against the bright blue of the river and the green of the trees, it was very pretty.  Photos, at least mine, don't do it justice.

We turned east to turn into Yellowstone National Park.  It's just an amazing place.  Here you can see the fumaroles and volcanic activity from a distance.  The only thing better would be a foot of snow!

We took a hike up to a ridge above Yellowstone Lake with the Absaroka Mountain Range off in the distance.  Other than the huffing and puffing from the altitude, it was great fun.

We kept going into Grand Teton National Park and the headwaters of the Snake River. 

Belgrade, MT - Casino time

We stopped in Belgrade, Montana, just outside of Bozeman.  We had a great meal at the "Mint Bar and Cafe."

Just across the street was this casino.

"Lucky Palms"?  In Belgrade, Montana?  Not only that, you can get a fine can of Old Milwaukee for pretty cheap.  Of course, not as cheap as I used to get them (another example of old age remembering) - a whole six pack for 99 cents. 

Lake Louise to "back in the U.S.A."

We had never been through Kootenay National Park in Canada.  Now was as good a chance as any.

This was a really pretty falls along the way.  Note the romantic shadows on the right!!











The road winds through the mountain passes and comes out in Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia on the west side of the Canadian rocky mountain range.  From there, we turned south along the headwaters of the Columbia River and interrupted a boring day at an isolated border crossing and then into Eureka, Montana.

Jasper to Lake Louise, Alberta

Another great drive is Jasper National Park to Banff National Park - or vice versa.  At first you follow the Athabasca River all the way to the Columbia Icefield.  The color of the river is just too pretty for words, backed up by the spruce trees and the granite mountains in the background.

Here's another photo of the same river. 

 Along the way we were lucky enough to see a black wolf and a bear.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of the people animals taking copious photos of the bear.

The bear didn't care about us - he or she grazed around and then took a swim in a little pond and wandered off.

I had remembered that we had hiked "Wilcox Pass" when we drove our Toyota 4 Runner up from Tampa in 1999.  Hannah read Harry Potter books and slept the whole way.  We camped out at Wilcox Campground and I hiked up without the girls and saw a dozen Dall Sheep right next to the trail.  I made them walk up, and they were (fortunately), still there.

Anyway, ML and I walked up again.

This photo looks down on the Columbia Icefields (glaciers) from Wilcox Pass trail.

We're up walking through the pass.  No sheep this time, but it was still worth it.  I always like walking up through the last of the trees and above the treeline.

Now we're past the Icefields driving toward Lake Louise.

We didn't really want to stay in Lake Louise, but ML copped us a nice room with a view of the mountain behind Lake Louise.  And the price could have been worse.

Smithers, BC to Jasper, Alberta

The closer you get to Prince George, British Columbia, the more boring the landscape.  It's always interesting to me what happens as you get older.  Lately, I've been feeling more like my parents generation, who "remembered when."  ML and I were talking about how we "remembered when Prince George was just a sleepy little frontier town" when we came through the first time in ML's chevy pickup truck with 170,000 miles on it (we were told clearly the odometer had not turned over, but I'm sure it had . ..  ), all our stuff in the back and a black lab and us in the front.  Now Prince George is overrun with Safeways, Home Depots, and you can picture it already, I'm sure.

But, the road between Prince George and Jasper is isolated and fun to drive.  We stopped at an "Ancient Forest," which turned out to be a rain forest in a dry area.  There were huge red cedar trees.  This is, of course, ironic, because Sitka is a rain forest.  The vegetation was the same, but it was fun to see the big cedars.

Mount Robson, the second highest mountain in North America, is rarely seen like this!  Not a cloud around it.  

It's really pretty on the other side of Mt. Robson with turquoise lakes nestled in granite mountains.  The fall colors, which this far north are pretty much all yellow, stand out against the green spruce trees. 

Nice.

Across Canada

I think it's the first time we visited Prince Rupert that it didn't rain.  Nice.

Route 16 across northern British Columbia makes for great travel.  Not too crowded, nice scenery. 

The Skeena River comes through a mountain gorge and the road follows the river most of the way.   The Skeena is a big powerful river with lots of life and salmon running up it.  This is a picture from an earlier trip from a rest stop on the road - I just took it because it's so impressive. 





For some reason, I didn't take any pictures across the Bulkley River valley.  There are isolated farms, but for the most part, it's an isolated area.  We stayed in Smithers, one of the many self-proclaimed "mountain bike capitals of the world."  Maybe we'll rent a bike and find out another day.

When I drive the road, I often think of Bob and Glenda bicycling it from Jasper to Prince Rupert towing the dog.  Impressive.