At play where the midnight sun holds court
I was interviewed by my friend Tyler, for his podcast Advanced Retroadaptics. Check out the link below to listen or go to Spotify, Apple etc. Many thanks to Tyler for asking me to be on his podcast and for the fun conversation. I recommend checking out his blog for experiments in living and tales of … Read more
Day by day winter slowly envelops the land. The last of the leaves drop off the trees, snow slowly accumulates and temperatures drop while darkness takes over. Each day we lose 7 minutes of light, nearly an hour per week. It feels like just yesterday that I was walking outside in the light near 11 … Read more
Living in Alaska for many people means living in a place that is very far from any kind of family due to the many that originate from elsewhere in Alaska’s urban areas. For me that holds true as well. I was raised outside Chicago, IL and almost all of my family and friends are still … Read more
I wrote this article for the May 2018 edition of Alaska Magazine about the evolution of the town of Wiseman, Alaska over the past 100 years. Here is the full version. Sixty-three miles north of the Arctic Circle lies a cluster of log cabins that form the town of Wiseman. The town sits beneath towering … Read more
Last week I returned to Wiseman for the first time in three years, only the second time since I left indefinitely when I moved south to Fairbanks. I was driven out primarily by loneliness, a lacking sense of community and a lacking of meaning in my day to day life. The experience started out with … Read more
When it comes to trapping, there are a few animals that quickly come to mind. One is wolves, which are iconic among wild animals, are sought after by trappers for their prized pelts and draw the support of those against the practice of trapping. Another is the beaver, the animal that brought men to the … Read more
Bears, wolves, wolverines and lynx. All rank high on the lists of animals that people wish to see when coming to Alaska. However in a state located so far north, population densities remain small. The coupling of minimal vegetative diversity and a harsh climate make for an environment that is unfriendly to large populations. Despite … Read more
In 1925, the first airplane to land above the Arctic Circle set down on the gravel bar along the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River near Wiseman. Residents had anticipated the plane’s arrival and a young boy was the first to spot it far off in the distance. As the plane rolled to a stop, … Read more
The coastline stretched out across the horizon, beyond lay the jumbled heap of ice, offering the only relief in this flat landscape. Among the pressure ridges and fissures, there likely lurked a polar bear. Perhaps, an arctic fox followed close by in its tracks, hoping to scavenge any leftover scraps. Beneath the surface, there was … Read more
Wood lays haphazardly stacked next to the woodstove, ready to provide service in the battle against winter’s cold. Inside the stove, the fire burns. A bed of hot coals sit beneath the logs radiating their warmth to the exterior surfaces. I have run a fire continuously since the beginning of October, when the cold settled … Read more