Pics

Oso and his King Salmon





Momma Bear with 2 cubs
Bear


Bear


Blind river Rapids

outhouse, bears and King Salmon

The outhouse is coming along very nicely. We have the walls up, siding on and rafters built. Tomorrow we are heading over to Petersburg Mt so see where we will place the outhouse and to start digging the pooper hole. This weekend was pretty productive. Friday was typical...laundry mat, Oso had his radio show and I went out the road to Beach Comers for dinner with some friends. Saturday Oso and I went driving around out the road and ended up fishing at Blind river rapids. Not a lot of fish but so happens a lot of bears. When we got down to the river a bear was across the river and one was on our side of the river. So we headed down the river away from them to fish. We both did not have our waiters but we got in anyways we were up to our hips and then Oso realized he had his cell phone in his pocket so it was toast. Then a bear was behind us on the side we walked down on so Oso yelled and told him to get and he listened. I think I was more focused on where the bears were at then the fish so we decided to head home. On the way back up to the trail head we saw another bear but with two very cute baby cubs!
Sunday we went to Crystal lake Hatchery to see what its all about because I am keeping it open as a possible job next year. Then we went back to Blind river rapids to fish. We did not see any bears but high tide was only 11.3 so it was still pretty shallow and lots of rocks to get my hook caught on. So in the end I was catching the allusive sea weed and occasional rock, however Oso managed to catch a king salmon on his fly rod which was only a 6 lbs line test. 45 minuets later he landed it and threw it back. It was huge! The salmon come up the river to spawn and then die so this fish had been in the fresh water for a couple days now because it was darker and turning brown, so its not as pretty as it could be. Oso said it was still hard and not slimy yet so you could still probally eat it but not for to much longer. Anyways here are some pics and videos!

pics

petersburg lake (my section) after


before


sun over Petersburg lake


dill pickles and salmon berry jam


salmon berries


wood shed I help built

Petersburg Lake

SO I was at petersburg lake for the last 8 days. We built a wood shed and re-finished the cabin. We had some time left so we used the cross cuts to cut some fire wood. Before that I was at West Point and caught the biggest fish yet a 16 inch Dolly. I caught about 5 fish that week and kept about 3 they were very yummy for breakfast. Also yesterday I went salmon berry picking and this morning made some jam and cucumbers were 36 cents each at the grocery store so I also attempted to make some dill pickles. Tomorrow I am going to a wedding reception in town and then next week Monday-wed I will be out at Castle river and flats doing a log out mission and doing the regular maintenance to the cabins. Then the last week in July I should be in town out the road working at the nursery building an outhouse to put on the Petersburg Lake trail. SO here are some pics

Petersburg Lake

I just bought my very first fishing license today...$145 and if I wanted the king slamon stamp it would have been another $100, but I figured this way when I get off work for the day out at the cabins I can walk down to the lake and fish. So Monday we flew out to Petersburg Lake by float plane. Its a wilderness area so you cant use power tools so I learned how to do everything the old fashin way which is very time consumming. So Tuesday we woke up made some coffee ate breakfast packed our lunches and we started to hike the trail. The trail is 10 miles long but the we needed to hike to the wilderness boundry which was only 6 miles from the cabin. So with our packs and tools we hiked the 6 miles and then took lunch. After lunch we started to hike back while working. We were brushing and logging out the trail. So day one we got maybe about one mile done and we stashed the tools for the next day. Wednesday we got the rest of the trail logged out and brushed and I twisted my ankle in the morning. So I got to hike 10 miles on it and by the end of the day it was swollen and a little bit brused. Thursday we stayed around the cabin fell a tree with the crosscut and split and stacked fire wood. Friday the plane came around 11am to get us.
For Monday I will be flying out to Kah Sheets bay in the morning and then getting picked up that afternoon ( 2 of us are going ) and then Tuesday we will all go by boat to the lower cabin (Kah Sheets Lake) to bring in fire wood and I think we are spending one or two nights. You can look up the cabins on the link posted in the blog post titled going out west So here are some photos so far...
. Helicopter get up, still missing my helmet


I think this is Paterson Glacer
Swan lake, still frozen over and 5 feet of snow




Swan lake
swan lake
Petersburg lake Wood shead done with crosscuts

Petersburg America

Tried to connect to the wireless to upload some photos but did not work so maybe next weekend I will try. I will be off to Petersburg Lake Monday-Friday camping out. We are flying over by float plane and I will be learning how to use a cross cut saw since its a wilderness area. Swan lake was awesome and the helicopter ride was bad ass. 5 feet of snow and the lake was still frozen we had to shovel our way to the cabin door. This past week has been training at the office so pretty uneventful. Tonight at sandy Beach is the sesonal Forest service picnic which I will be going to get free food and beer yummy. Also I found out ontop of what I am getting paid I also get Cost of living which is another 20% so hopefully I will be able to save some money this summer. But we also have a lot of pro deals this summer so I can see myself buying a lot of gear. Smartwool, snow peak and MSR for now but we are trying to get a sleeping bag and backpack company as well.

during one of the trianings the lady ment to say petersburg Alaska but said Petersburg America and for some reason Cara and I found it so funny I have to get up and go get myself together because I was laughing so hard, so now thats the new joke

Alright well I will hopefully talk to everyone soon I guess tomorrow
or next weekend would be the only time, but I will keep you guys updated and hopefully get osme pics up soon

Whales

Today we headed out to West Point cabin and Portage Bay Cabin. We cleaned the windows, swept, dealt with the poo in the outhouse which yes was very smelly, took the brusher and cut back the grass along the path and filled the wood shed. Heading out of town about 20 minuets into the boat ride I saw my first hump back whale and on the way home we saw another one. Also at one of the cabins someone had killed a bear and skinned it and took the meat but left two paws so that was kinda cool and gross to see since it was still on the fresher side. I am also learning a lot about boats and how to tie knots I now have the clove hitch down.
So tonight I will pack and get ready for the over night and ride into Swan Lake. It should be pretty cold still and lots of snow. Also I have come to realize that I can NOT row a row boat for the life of me. We anchor the big boat in the water and then row to the beach with our supplies and ourselves and for some reason the waves, current or wind gets the best of me and I am no where near the boat. Today Jeff Taped the whole thing on his camera so if I get a hold of it I will show you guys because its pretty comical. Also I can now officially drive stick shift, I made it to town today without stalling once!

Week two

So I have 7 minuets left until the computer kicks me off at the library so I will see how fast I can type. Week one was good. Monday was the holiday, Tuesday We moved plank, a ton of plank enough for 5 people to move and take 9 hours to finish. Then the rest of the week was cainsaw training. We watched videos, and power points and learned how to take apart and put back together a saw, then Thursday and Friday we were out in the field. We bucked, limbed and fell trees. I did not get to my falling yet since my 45 degree face cut is not to great yet but stumps better watch out becuase if i see a tree stump I will be practicing. So for now I have my A and hopefully by the end of the summer I can re test and get my B in chainsaw and falling. This week was my first week on the cabin crew we are getting gear ready for our Swan lake trip this Thurday. I think their is about 6 feet of snow left at that cabin and the highlight of the week will be the helicopter ride into the cabin!!!!! Okay have to sign off but more to come

Going out West

Its almost time for another summer adventure. I will be heading back to the town of Petersburg, Alaska to work on the cabin crew with the Forest Service. I was hired on as a STEP, which means I will be continuing my college degree after this summer and I did not have to compete with veterans for my job. I am a GS 4 position and will be receiving $13.18 an hour. I will be on a crew with 3 others and will be resupplying and maintaining the cabins in the Tongass.
Here is a list of cabins I could be traveling to and working on this summer. http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/cabins/cabinlist.shtml

My start date is May 25th and end date is Aug 26th.

More to come

Back to Reality

So I got back to Maryland yesterday morning and things sure do move fast around here. Just in the airport alone were more people I have seen all summer. I have spent my summer in a small town with no stop lights, one road, where mph don't go over 30, everyone waves while passing, where you don't even notice the bold eagles flying over head, the deer or bears because they are so common to come across. Waking up on the Mt. to the sound of wolves howling or the sound of rain on the tent. I have been thrown back into reality at 100 mph. Traffic, stress, people on the go and I am now realizing how lucky and stress free my summer was. School starts Tuesday so I am moving into college park tomorrow. I have nothing packed or even looked at my class schedule yet. So many people to call and catch up with now that I have cell phone service again.

Overall, I had an amazing summer and can't even begin to describe how I feel about Petersburg, Alaska or working on trails. I have found another thing I love to do and can't wait to go back next summer. The count down has begun to my next adventure.

Thanks to all the people who have kept in touch this summer and supports my crazy adventurist life.

My favorit Pic of the summer:

ONE MORE HITCH TO GO...

So I head out on Monday for my last hitch. Then it's back to Maryland just in time to start school. I just looked up my flight info and its messed up so now I have to get that fixed somehow. It says I leave Petersburg on Aug 2nd and then leave from Juneau on Aug 28th so I guess I had a 26 day lay over in Juneau? So the first day out in the woods Josh and I were unloading the helicopter loads of food and were putting it away. Josh tossed frozen fish into the refrigerator and broke the glass shelf but I guess he did not realize it. Then I went to shove some food in the fridge and my right pinkie finger got sliced open. So then I had to hike out and I got 2 shots, 4 stitches and one butterfly band aid. 12-18 days the stitches can come out and I guess its healing and looking pretty good. I will get them cut out this weekend before I head back out.

So cya all in about 2 weeks!

Six years...

How come 6 years can seem so short and long at the same time? I can remember that night so clearly as if it was yesterday but then when I think of all that he has missed it seems more then 6 years. People have said that it will get easier with time but it doesn't, I think it gets harder. The little things about him I have begun to forget like his voice and jokes and that scares me. Not to mention the mile stones in my life he has and will not be their for. I hope that I have made the right decisions and he would be proud the way my life is headed.
I miss my Dad.

The crew is getting smaller

So this was our last hitch with the whole crew. Josh leaves during the middle of the next hitch and then around Aug 15th a bunch more people leave. The log deck is clearing up finally. We have four more logs to place. The three are right next to the sills and one needs to be trenched. We are just waiting to get the rock machine since the cabin crew borrowed it and we can't do anything until we break up the rocks. That should take us pretty much all of next hitch to finish. The saw is pretty fun to use and I have been cutting notches into the logs. The bugs are not bad at all anymore and I think I might finally be getting use to the mice. My hands got broken in this hitch and are really sore, cut and callus. I cut my self pretty good with a gerber hand saw. I should had remembered the motto " Always saw toward your buddy."
As for school, I am coming back to finish up and I will just come back here as often as I can. Brent and Gene are going out of town and is letting Oso use their boat so it looks like we will go out on the water tomorrow. I guess thats it for now until I think of more exciting things.

Log roll, this is right before I fell into the frezzing water and lost

me at Three lakes

All the Salmon and Blue berries you could hope for

So Iam back in town once again. The last hitch went well. We used up all the bundles of plank and will get more dropped in. Everyone is working their own plank projects now above the log deck and Josh and I are working on the log deck. I like it but its just a much slower process then the planking. It rained a lot more then all the hitches combined so it was kinda hard to get motivated. Drama has kinda happened with one of the paid employees and she has been taken off the saw so I was asked if I would like to learn and of course I am jumping at the opportunity. So on Monday I will get trained in chainsaw use and I am pretty excited about that. The berry season is in bloom and in town they are just about ripe. On the trail they are ripe on the flat but wont be seen till later up by camp. The Salmon berries are a deep red when ripe and look like raspberries.
So I am just going to put this out their since it's been on my mind a lot lately but I am not to sure about going back to college. I would love peoples opinions and see what you have to say about it but this is what I think....
School will always be their and I can go back at anytime. Its a big decision and I realize that and I don't want to regret it but Iam not happy when Iam at school. Life is short and you get one spin at it so why waste my time with something my heart is not in? I can keep doing stuff like this and move up once I gain more experience, I can do AmeriCorps again, I am looking into a back country crew in California which people know people and I would most likely get a spot. This kinda of stuff does not make a lot or tons of money but by working on trials and living this kind of lifestyle I would not need money. I have been offered a paid job to stay here in Alaska working on the trail we are working on now once the crew leaves. It would be a small crew of about 5 just cranking out trail. I just feel like my opportunities are endless right now and I could do anything that my mind can think of. I have nothing holding me back.

skunk cabbage...also very nice toilet paper

world's largest totem pole in Kake

view from the bunkhouse

looks fake but its not

Me as Sammy the Salmon at Kake fish derby

girl's tent

Josh and I's project, just waiting for the steps to be chainsawed

grip hoist ( how we move the tree trunks)

I think I am looking pretty cool with the overalls and hard hat

Y-U-R-T yurt yurt yurt!

Lara showing off the toilet at camp

I am back in town and ready to head back out already. The hitch went well we finally got our helicopter drop of plank. Now we can hopefully start cranking out some trail. I feel like it has been really slow going up on the mountain. We had some issues with the helicopter drop spot because we had to fall some trees in order to make some room in the canopy. One tree was holding on by a splinter and then got hung up in a tree near by. Finally, it came down and we just finished making this hill side safe for hikers and ourselves. I was ready to leave the mountain when I knew a shower was in the near future for me. But being in town for about 24 hours I was already to go back to the mountain.
Dana (a girl on the crew) and I were talking on Wednesday round 3 in the afternoon and decided that it was not too late to hitch hike to 3 Lakes. We were packed in 10 minutes and had our PB and J’s made. Three lakes is about 25 miles out of town and each lake has a row boat. We brought a tent ad pitched it in the one 3 sided shelter they have. We hiked to all 3 lakes and out to Frederick Sound. A grizzly bear was seen in the area the day before so we brought bear spray with us. It was more for a peace of mind even though if the bear wanted to eat us it would since you need to be 15 feet from the bear when using the bear bomb. There are only black bears on Mitkof island so the grizzly had to have swam over from a near by island looking for food. In the end no sight of a bear on our trip. As for hitch hiking we got a ride from a lady with her two kids out to the Trees (RV park about mile 15). Then we had to walk for about a mile until a guy heading out to the cannery picked us up and dropped us off at the trail head. People definitely have some interesting stories and its kinda funny what people will tell you about their life. The woman that picked us up moved to Alaska to get away from the in-laws, which then they moved here so they are moving again. The guy that picked us up graduated high school in 2006 and in just 3 seasons of fishing bought his house at mile 4 down the highway! On the way home we walked for about 2 miles until we got a ride all the way back into town from a lady that works at the airport here for TSA. Overall it was a very successful first hitch hike. Also, I think its funny that at mile 20 the paved road ends and from their on it’s a gravel road. We also saw a porcupine and Moose tracks.
Then was the 4th of July. The parade lasting about 2 minuets and went a total of 2 blocks. Then they circled around the block and went through again. The parade consisted of the 3 fire trucks in town and then it was mostly kids with decorated bikes, the forest service truck with Sammy the Salmon and Smokey the Bear. They had events all day like egg toss, bed race, 2x6 , which was boots nailed to a 2x6 and 4 people had to walk their was to the finished line. At 6 was the log roll and main harbor and it was $5. I had to do it because I new if I didn’t I would never get the chance to log roll again. So the rules were basically 18 and over, no shoes and life jacket. I of course was paired up with Jill 2 year champion in the first round and was knocked out. You get onto the log off the dock and then two guys with these really long sticks with hooks on the end pushed the log out away from the dock and then you started to roll. I am happy that I was still standing up on the log after they just pushed us away from the dock. Fireworks were at 11 here since it does not get dark till about 10:30pm. I was really impressed with the fireworks I thought they were going to be lame and last about 30 seconds. It was a good show and I have never been close enough to see them shoot off the ground and then go up in the air. Also the mountains in the background made it ever cooler. At the end the light propane tanks on fire and there were huge fire balls in the air. I am thinking that next 4th of July I will bring log rolling and propane tanks back to Maryland’s 4th.
Tonight Sex in the City the movie plays at the high school. I am not really into it but I think I will go because afterwards its Lady’s night at Kido’s Kave. That’s a big deal here to since they don’t have happy hours at the bars so I drink special will be nice since everything is so expensive.

Here are some random things I have noticed or loved about Petersburg:

When you check out a book from the library they still take out the card from the pocket and stamp it with the return by date.

Everyone waves or says hi when driving or walking around

The town dog will follow you on you errands and wait for you to come back out of the store

They have a newspaper that comes out once a week

One paved road in the town and have no traffic lights

Alright so off to the mountain on Monday for another 10 days, also my cell phone has no service so don’t try calling cause its off till end of August.

Where do I start?

So we have completed our first two hitches. We had a 5 day hitch followed by a weekend in town , which i spent in Kake helping with a kids fishing derby and then another 5 day hitch in the woods, followed by this weekend in town which i have spent at the bar last night to celebrate my 21st! Monday we are off again for our first 10 day hitch.

Our first hitch stated off slow work wise because we had to fall some huge trees so we cold use for natural trail building materials and it will be our new helicopter drop spot for the $50,000 worth of wood planking that we will use to build the trail. I worked with Matt the first week building about 15 feet of trail with the planks. It will get faster but for now its very time consuming. First you have to put down sills and they cant be more then 4 feet apart from center to center. They have to be level and dug into the ground. Then we can put the plank on and see if we need risers to go with the grade of the incline. Then we nail and cut the planks.

For the natural trail we use trees. So first Oso will fall a tree then we have drawl knives to de-bark the tree so it will not rot as fast. Then we use a grip hoist to drag the trunk to the part of the trail we need. A grip hoist can pull 4,000 tons and if you add a switch block it can pull 8,000 tons. We connect the grip hoist to a standing tree and we start cranking with this handel. Its like we are rowing a boat and every crank will move the tree about a 1/2 an inch. The sills are also part of the tree we have fallen and we stake in those sills. Once we get the tree onto the sills we mark where the tree sits on the sills and flip it over so Oso can come by with the chainsaw and make notches. We flip it back over using PV's and then re bar the trunk into the sills and then Oso will cut steps into the trunk. ( i will need to take a pic of the grip hoist in use and maybe it will help to understand what the hell I am saying).

Camp is going well. We already have a mice problem but I guess that's going to happen. Angie forgot she had a piece of chocolate in her pocket and she woke up in the middle of the night to a mouse munching on her piece of candy right next to her face. I have not been woken up by the mice but apparently they hang out in our tent and yurt at night. The food is awesome and their is so much of it ( so much for getting in shape). I made pasta with shrimp and scallops in it for my meal. We had a taco night and just lots of seafood. Smoked black cod is amazing by the way. We need to get Maryland into smoking fish because that's something I am really going to miss here.

So for Kake we left on Friday around 4 and it was a 30 min plane ride to the town. The landing and take off was so smooth and we flew low and we could see bears on the ground. I saw the orlds largest totumpole and we went to Cascade waterfall ( i think thats the name of it). Two trees had fallen across the water so I was walken on one and thought I should jump to the other log. So I jumped and well I did not make it. I fell into the frezzing cold alaskan water! My boots and clothes were soaked and it had gone up to my shoulders! The kids derby was fun, we had games and prizes for them. They just fished off the dock and caught the ugle bottom feeder fish that you cant do anything with other then use for bait.

Not around

Just letting people know I will only have a phone June 20 and 21st this month and again not until July 2 and after today the earliest I can get Internet is July 2nd. Our hitches begin and Next weekend I am off to Kake in a float plane! Also my 21st Birthday will be spent in the woods but I mean who can say they had their 21st Birthday in Alaska , while living on the side of a mountain?