A Welcome Change of Scenery

Magan and I had the good fortune of trading a week of sub-Arctic winter for a week on the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. We gave up about 42 degrees of latitude but gained about 110 degrees of ambient temperature. The vacation was great and entailed a week of enjoying the sun, good food, fishing and each other. Some friends gave us a great deal on their time share so we uncharacteristically lived in posh comfort and spent a fair amount of time around the pool and the swim up bar.



Just a few days prior to leaving I was regulating hazardous substance clean-ups on the North Slope oil fields. It was a welcome change of scenery in Cabo.


The second day in town we got out on a charter and had good success catching Dorado...when the day was done we had hooked 8 and put 5 in the boat. We saw whales, porpoises and marlin to go along with our catch.



On the way back into the harbor we threw the rest of the live bait to the well trained local birds.


This friendly pelican thought that he could get one last Mackerel out of us...no such luck.

Once we made it back to the harbor we took most of our fish to get frozen and packaged. We took one nice fillet to a local restaurant where they made us fish tacos and blackened Dorado...mighty tasty!

We enjoyed a few of libations throughout the week.

The local entertainment was fun and made for an even better dining experience.

We had a hot tub on our front porch that got a fair amount of use...all we needed was a sunset or a cocktail or a cup of coffee to make for a nice soak and a great vacation.

Chistmas in the Whites

Me, Magan and our two dogs enjoyed Christmas eve and Christmas day in the White Mountains Winter Rec area. We skied into Colorado Creek Cabin under a beautiful moon and starlight sky making the use of supplemental light optional. The starlight sky and light breeze on the way in made for about as nice of a ski as could be asked for.



We spent the night at Colorado Creek Cabin and enjoyed the very warm wood stove and a bunch of tasty food.

Once we were back on the trail the winds were really howling up on the open ridge where we were starting from. Nothing a little activity could not combat thought. Above is a picture of Magans set-up...Jack up front, Magan with backpack and skis and a pulk full of gear in tow.

The trip out was great, the trail is a fairly gradual downhill grade, the snow was fairly fast and the breeze was either to our back or blowing sideways. I could not have asked for a much nicer Christmas.

Fall Fun In and Around Fairbanks

It has been a very graceful slide into winter this year in Interior Alaska. September and the first part of October have allowed everyone to finish up all of the outside chores that usually get left until next spring thanks to warm weather and no real snow. This mild fall has also let us enjoy some fun activities that don't include ski's or snowshoes.

Working in the Western Village of Gambell-


Gambell is located on St. Lawrence Island, west of mainland Alaska. It is actually closer to Russia than the U.S. It is an interesting village with strong ties to the local marine mammals, using them as subsistence resources. It was nice to hear them speaking their native Yupik language more than English which is something that I have not experienced in the Interior villages that I have visited. The picture above shows a pile of whale bones and a skin boat used for hunting and fishing.


Dried seal and a few dried dolly varden char.

I bought a nice pair of seal skin mittens from a local woman.

Gambell is located on a spit and was always blanketed by fog in the mornings when I was there.

The Equinox Marathon-

The annual Equinox Marathon is truly a highlight of every year for me. This is the second year that team BIZP has run the relay together. We still have not broke the speed record, but we are shooting for the worst facial hair mark.


Luke is ripping up the course on his way down Gold hill Rd.



Liz hosts the annual "sinners and winners" support booth. You can enjoy a cold Gatorade or a cold Pabst if that is what you need a the time.


Magan ran the last leg of the relay for her team. Although she claims to hate running I think she enjoyed this race.

Test Ride on the Clearwater-


I recently pulled the trigger on a new/used inflatable boat. So Magan, the dogs and I went down to the Delta Clear Water for a trial run.


Magan is trying to hook up with a late season Silver Salmon. We did not catch any fish but had a good time on the river.

Establishing the Garden-

We got the future garden site tilled up and our soil samples pulled before things froze up.

Angel Rocks with darleen-

And just this past weekend we got together with a great friend darleen and hiked the Angel Rocks trail. We even got to enjoy some home grown chicken with Mike and darleen at their place after the hike.

I'm Done!

Well at least as far as the bank is concerned I'm done with my house building project. I have a multi-year plan that includes many upgrades such as: landscaping, a garage, a sauna, a garden and too many other small improvements to include in this post. The bottom line is the major construction phase is over after about 18 months. Now that the house is done, the wild game is in the freezer and the woodpile is big, I invite winter to start creeping into Goldstream Valley so the work can finally end and the skis can come out along with long nights and good times at my new home.

My driveway looking out across Goldsream Valley and up at Ester Dome.

I still have a large deck to build on the front of the house but for this year I am satisfied. This piece of land has changed a bit since my June 2008 post Building for the Future.

A shot of the front of the house.

The Kitchen

The living room...a rocking chair, a wood burner and a good dog. No complaints here.

This is a custom railing built from local birch with a inlaid piece of metal work. My Mom and step dad helped finance the railing and Magan helped with the construction.

The bedroom

A view from a side window into the parking area...in a couple of years I will build a garage where the vehicles are currently parked.

My wood pile...I will make many trips to this stack throughout the winter months. I am actually looking forward to whittling through the stack.

Blue skies and golden birch leaves make it hard to leave my little homestead and drive into Fairbanks for another day in the cubicle...I guess I'll survive.

Hunting 2009

I was lucky enough to take two more trips up to the Brooks Range this August. Both trips were walk-in backpack hunts for Dall Sheep and both trips provided me with memories and lessons learned. I must say that the weather was less than desirable but the quality of the company and the sheep meat in the freezer will be tough to trump.


Luke and I walked in during a blizzard on August 9th. Once we made camp we were tent bound for the next 30 hours due to crappy conditions.

Once we started sheep hunting we realized that finding white sheep on snow covered mountains might be a bit challenging.

We ended up moving camp to get us in a more huntable location. It was a great valley but the sunshine did not melt the snow quick enough for our liking.

The bright sun and fresh snow was creating concerns for Luke and I. Neither of us had brought sunglasses and feared snow blindness. We created these sweet mesh masks from the ventilation panels from his hat. We also used a little duct tape for sun screen. I'm pretty sure we are not going to get accused of having too much extra gear on this trip.

We could not find any legal rams on that trip, but we certainly had some good laughs and a good time overall.

My buddy Shawn Verhulst came up from Wisconsin a couple of weeks later to chase caribou and I was still looking for sheep. We walked into the same place and found very similar weather...cold, windy, and mixed precip.

Shawn and I were enjoying a little down time on the tundra before we glassed some nice rams a couple miles away. From where we were sitting in this picture, we began a stalk that ultimately yielded a nice legal ram.

A nice 9 year old full curl ram.

I shot the ram almost ten miles from the road. We were able to get the field dressed animal back to camp at around 1:30 in the morning...it was not too late to have a few celebratory sips of whiskey. The next day we packed the ram and camp to the rest of the way out to the road. It was a heavy load on the way out. It was a good heavy though!

After giving up most of our elevation we were able to enjoy some of the colors of the late season tundra.

After Shawn and I got back from the Brooks Range we teamed up with Luke to do some trout and salmon fishing on the Kenai River. The weather was fantastic and the fish kept us very busy.

Luke had us totally outfitted. Here we are on our way back to camp after a day of floating and fishing. His rig looked pretty sweet stacked up with the camper and the boat.

We had a grizzly follow us for a few hundred yards one day. It was a pretty cool experience. He was just out for a nice swim and some salmon fishing too.

Luke hooks up.

This deformed catch really should have won fish of the trip but Shawn ended up with the title by landing a chubby 24+ inch Rainbow trout. (pictured below)

Our last day on the Kenai we took a little time to pursue Silver salmon. We had a couple on the stringer at the end of the day but several other fish showed us up by denying final capture after we set hooks into them.

When all was said and done Shawn got to go home with some fresh salmon fillets and a few prime cuts of sheep meat as well as a few memories I would suppose.