Back from chasing elk

 

We got back from the elk hunt on Saturday, but since then it has been a whirlwind of cutting up and packaging meat, cleaning and putting away gear, and catching up on life after time spent away. Only now have things slowed down enough to finally do a blogpost.

It was a successful elk hunt and we brought home lots of elk meat. We also hunted with 2 new guys on the crew - Brian and Matt. At times the weather was truly awful, and at one point we spent about 44 hours hunkered down in the teepee while it rained 4 inches and blew hard. But the sun did come out and the Afognak scenery is always spectacular.

This year we used a new tent for time on shore - an eight man teepee made from dyneema. It only weighs 6.2 pounds but is HUGE inside. Life by the woodstove was much more roomy. 

More to come in subsequent posts.

Patrick

Snacking on Lingonberries

 

It has been a good year for lingonberries. On my dog walks I have been eating them on the go, and the dogs have also been snuffling them up. I've probably been eating a cup of berries on every hike. 

What's funny is that no one seems to be picking them. Generally by this time of the year all of the berries close to hiking trails have all been picked. But not this year. And I think it is because it has been a bad year for berries. There were no salmonberries or blueberries in town. And so people just have not been out picking berries.

Patrick

Doggie Portrait Day

 

Yesterday I took the doggies up Pyramid and tried to take their pictures. Taking dog portraits is not easy because they do not understand posing. I'd get it all right and would be waiting for the picture when they would suddenly turn and run off - or run up and try to lick my face. But it was sunny and warm and I persevered. And this is what I got.

Patrick

Termination Dust

 Yesterday driving to work I noticed a dusting of new snow on the mountains behind Bells Flats. Whhhooooo Hoooooo Termination Dust! Winter is coming! 

I immediately diverted to the Near Island bridge to take a photo for Nora and Stuey. I was a few minutes late for work, but the first termination dust of the year is important. It put me in a very good mood. However, a few hours later when I looked up into the mountains I noticed that the new snow was all gone.

Not to worry though Uksuq Taiyuq - winter is coming. 

I know that from now on the snow is going to slowly make its way down the mountains and will eventually reach town. Slowly, inexorably winter is on its way!

Patrick

Leaves and Grass

 

In New England where the Fall foliage is kind of famous the fall colors are all about the leaves. The wide variety of deciduous trees all turn a different bright color - reds, orange, yellow, brown. Here on Kodiak most of the trees simply turn yellow - and it is mostly just cottonwoods. But willow and birch also turn yellow. Alder stays green until the leaves fall off and spruce stays green all year. About the only shrub that I can think of that turns red is the high bush cranberry - a viburnum - and these shrubs are generally hidden away.

On Kodiak we rely on herbaceous plants and not trees for our reds - bearberry, bunchberry, fireweed - and a big part of the show is the grass. The grass turns golden and luminesces in the sunshine. The greens are also an important part of the show. The green, green crowberry contrasts dramatically with the red, red bear berry. and then there is the stolid green spruce trees. It's a different kind of show than what you get in New England. Different but just as worthy in its own right.

Patrick