Living in a shack, down by the River

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A cabin in the woods in winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

My humble abode. This is after I shovelled all the snow off the roof. There’s about another 6-9 inches of snow on the roof already!

The original part of the shed is the part covered by the sloping roof. The porches, the flatter roofed sections, were add-ons later. The main area is probably 14′ x 16′ or thereabouts. There’s a little platform, like a loft in the roof, which really warms up when I’ve had the fire running. I’ve been doing a few little add-ons here and there myself, mostly with just odd bits and pieces of timber I find lying around, in my downtime, here’s a look at the new Shaq, a la Carl style:
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The Wrangell Mountains, Wrangell-St. Elias

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A panoramic photo of the Wrangell Mountains, Mount Drum, Mount Sanford, Mount Zanetti, Mount Wrangell, from Willow Lake, alpenglow in the wintertime, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a closer look at the same mountains, Mount Drum, Mount Sanford, Mount Zanetti and Mount Wrangell. This is a panoramic image – click on the single frame and will open the full size photo for you – the finished photo is I think 8 horizontal frames stitched together in Photoshop – which means this sucker will print up H-U-G-E! Hopefully this does the view some form of justice.

Cheers

Carl

The Wrangell Mountains

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The Wrangell Mountains, including Mt Drum, Mt Sanford, Mt Zanetti and Mt Wrangell, from Willow Lake, frozen over and ice covered in winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Just got back into town for a brief respite, some catchup work, and I’ll try to post a few photos. This one from the trip home this afternoon. I think there is no grander vista in all of North America than the Wrangell Mountain Range from Willow Lake. I can’t think of another place where one can see so many really big mountains – all of these are over 12 000′, and haven’t included Mt Blackburn, a little to the south (right) which is 16 500′.

It was REALLY cold here, and is expected to get down to -37˚ F this evening, hence I took some photos and then jumped in my (heated) van and headed to Anchorage. But I’ll be back, soon.

For now, I’m headed to bed. I’ll write a catch up post tomorrow.

G’nite.

Cheers

Carl

The Latest Update

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Hey Folks

I hope this finds you all well.

Whilst I sit here and delete spam, I’ll add a short post. The other day my generator busted. The 3rd time I used it. Don’t you just love modern technology and manufacturing! The hose from the fuel tank to the carburettor split in half … so it leaked a whole tank of gas .. which TOTALLY sucked.

However, the fellow who owns the cabin, and has lived here in McCarthy since 1955, totally hooked me up .. we (mostly he) mended it and replaced the hose (I still can’t believed he happened to have a piece the right size) .. Jim’s amazing. Then the axe busted .. the handle split right down the middle .. I glued and taped that sucker up and kept on a splitting .. I ain’t gunna get cold because of a split axe.

I’ve gone looking for a particular shot of Mt Blackburn twice now and both time been thwarted, due to weather .. yesterday was SO close .. all but the peak of the mtn was out. It was beautiful, and I did get a few other images that were nice, but I really want a great shot of Mt. Blackburn. This is the only time of year it gets alpenglow on the southside, as during the summer the warmer light happens when the sun is on the northside of the mountains. But the soutside view is spectacular. Try and try again. I did get some nice images the previous evening as well, but the best light on the mtn is in the morning.

I shovelled all the snow (about 3′) off the roof off the cabin, as it was starting to ice up on the bottom .. the heat from the inside of the cabin melts the underlayer of the snow, which then refreezes, and gets icy ..or it melts and comes thru the portch, and gets ice on everything on the floor .. it’s a hassle. But – now it’s all clean.

I cut down another tree the other day .. landed that sucker on a dime. Fortunately, the dime didnt happen to be the one in my back pocket. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the dime I was hoping it would land on .. in fact, it was about 180 degrees from the direction I was hoping it would go. So that sucked – I had to trim the fallen tree, and carry all the logs up this crappy snow-covered hillside, and over to the cabin. took some work, for sure, but now I have tons of firewood to keep me warm at night!

Now that I have the generator working again, I recharged my laptop and downloaded all my photos, and backed them up to another HD. It’s definitely a hassle trying to shoot digital images in a cabin with no electricity. I’ve thought of buying a film camera again and some film to not have to deal with it. I wish I’d saved one of my film cameras, I spose.

Well, that’s about all for now. I’ll try to get some images online and post a few before too long .. a week or so I hope.

Take care and stay warm.

Cheers

Carl

Life in the Bush, Alaska

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Hey Folks

Well, it’s been a busy week. Today, for example, I chopped down a tree, to the tune of “I’m a lumberjack, and I’m OK” .. it was kind of weird, to watch a spruce tree fall at my hand, but knowing the tree was already dead kind of made it OK, I suppose. I cut the tree up, trimmed all the limbs off it (spruce trees have many, many limbs), and stacked the wood in the little wood shed I have. Not bad, but a lot of work in the snow – and it snowed all the while I was working.

This morning I shot a few images that I think will work out nicely when I get them on the computer and processed a little. It was cloudy and overcast, and I had commited the morning to doing some writing, when the sun started to come out … I headed out into the woods, and shot a number of images. We’d had some snow the night before, but a little nefarious breeze blew most of it off the trees. Pesky breeze!

Yesterday was gorgeous, and I got a few nice images of Fireweed Mtn, outside the cabin. It was crazy cold though, like 20 below and wow were my fingers chilled!

I’m really enjoying the life in the cabin – it’s quiet, simple, and has a rhythm that is so different from living in a city, or even a small town. The routine is good – wake up, stoke the fire, go back to bed, wake up, stoke the fire, go back to bed, etc .. then I get up, have a little breakfast, some coffee, stoke the fire, then do some reading by the lamp. I have 2 lamps – a kerosene lamp, and a propane lamp. The propane lamp puts out a lot of light, but it doesn’t feel right – even turned down low, I prefer the kerosene lamp .. it just ‘feels’ better for life in a little cabin in the ALaskan woods.

It’s kind of funny how weird it feels to come here and sit on the computer and do emails, etc on the internet, when a few hundred yards I live in a cabin with no power, etc. The rhythm shifts – I’d prefer to simply avoid the computer when I’m in this kind of place, I think. Unfortunately, work calls, sometimes. Mostly I come here and delete spam emails, and/or respond to people who want images for free.

Cheers

Carl

More no Photos

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Hey Folks

Nothing online from my stay here yet. It’s tough, dealing with no electricity. However, I DID hook up a small generator this morning, and all works fine, so I should be able to get some images on tomy computer, at least, and somehow then get something online. In the meantime you’ll have to deal with chatter.

Yesterday I walked with Jim, the cabin owner, over to McCarthy. It’s a several mile walk, and we took our time. Right before we left I thought I should bring my camera, but I figured it would only hold things up, and the weather didn’t look like ti would be nice light anyway. Sure enough, I leave the camera at the cabin, and within an hour, the alpen glow on the mountains north of us was astounding. The first sign of good light I’ll be up early and heading towards the ridges and glaciers up that way, hoping for some images.

Living here is something else. It’s extraordinary. The mountains, the snow, the forest, the quiet, it’s another world. The cabin warms up incredibly quickly with a small fire, and I’ve cooked on the wood stove most nights. Maybe 2 nights I fired up the little 2 burner propane stove and treated myself to a little luxury. If I didn’t need a computer and batteries recharged, I’d see no reason for electricity here at all – though when I want to next start my van that may change.

Every day I walk in the woods, snowshoeing or just hiking along .. there’s tons of snow machine trails here, so often I don’t need the snowshoes.

When the weather’s really crappy, I read some, write some, lounge by the fire, chop wood, and enjoy the quiet. It’s nice.

I’ll try to write something at least semi-thoughtful next time here, regarding life in the Alaskan winter woods, but usually I’m so pressed for time when I cmoe over to do email, it just doesn’t work for me. If I didn’t have Spam, my email time would be about 1/1000th of what it currently requires.

For now, I’ll finish up deleting spam, and then head back over to Shacky, where it’s snowing right now. Tomorrow the weather looks promising, so I’ll aim to do some early photography.

Cheers

Carl

No foto?

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Hey Folks

No photo today – I’m on a borrowed computer, in the middle of the woods. I’ll try to get some from my camera to my laptop to the internet somehow.

Just to be brief .. all’s fine. No chains needed, no hasles on the road at all – other than starting my van the 2nd morning on the way in, at 25 below .. my van didn’t like that too much.

The wather here has been awesome .. cold, but clear and still. I love it.

The cabin is warm, I’m comfy and all settled in – pretty much.

I’ll try to post again before too long.

Cheers

Carl

The North Face – and the last supper

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The north face of Mt. Bona, in the University Range, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. Black and white photo of Mt. Bona..

Hey Folks,

And so, with little to no ado, I bid adieu, for the time being. I’m hitting the road in the morning, and I’m not sure when I’ll have internet access again – hopefully it’ll be no more than a few days between swigs. I’m heading out in the morning to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, to live in a cabin named “Shacky”. I’ll be there a couple of weeks or so at a time, then make a run to Anchorage for some groceries and a little warming up, then back to Shacky. If all goes as planned. If all does not go as planned, I’ll spend a few nights there, say something like ‘this is C-R-A-Z-E-E-E!!!’ and boogie on back to the relative comfort of Anchor-ville. I’ve too little pride to tolerate discomfort long. Continue reading →

Great Egret photo, St. Augustine, Florida

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A great egret, in flight, comes in to land in its nest during breeding season. Breeding plumage Great Egret, St. Augustine Florida.

Hey Folks,

Finishing up with some old scans I need to tweak before heading out, so I thought I’d post this Great Egret photo, taken a few years back on the old slide film. I shot this on one of my few trips to Florida. Florida’s hot and humid and flat and nasty. Great Egrets are cool, and there’s perhaps no better place to view and photograph them, but I’ve not much time for Florida.

Cheers

Carl