For many years I tagged along as our youth group backpacked 26 miles from Girdwood to the Eagle River Nature Center through Crow Pass. One year as we finished setting up our tents and were breaking out our stoves to cook our first meal, someone hollered, "Bear!" This was before cell phones, so these Alaska kids were diving into their tents to get their cameras. We gathered all of the teens into a ...  Read More

Late May and the pond at my cabin is still completely frozen. As with all of our lakes, if a person drew his or her idea of what a 'lake' was in midwinter, he would think that a lake is simply a large, barren sheet of ice. If all truth was found on the surface of the way things appear, he would be right. But a lake is NOT a barren sheet of ice. To understand a lake you need to go deeper. Under the...  Read More

Hebrews 12:28 says, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe." We know a little bit about being 'shaken' in Alaska. As unbelievable as it may sound to you, Alaska averages between 50 and 100 earthquakes per DAY. That's a lot of shaking! Our last really big one was about 5 years ago. One of our church...  Read More

I am always amazed at the amount of money that some people spend on their children's outdoor clothing. Not that good gear isn't important, it's just that they grow out of things so quickly. When I was a kid we simply made do with what we had. Waterproof boots? We never heard of them. Waterproofing for us was Wonderbread sacks over our socks. As I've grown older I've learned the importance of being...  Read More

Persistence pays. Trying to get my youngest son a caribou proved to be a long endeavor. It looked like this: drive 250 miles, hunt for 2 days, drive 250 miles home. We did this several times before finally seeing a small band of caribou standing in the snow in heavy fog. My son got one off-hand shot before they bolted into the timber. He said that he thought he hit one, but nothing went down and t...  Read More

If you are fortunate to visit an Alaska native village during the 'run' you will see fish racks drying salmon. In the interior you may also see a cache. This looks like a tiny log cabin on stilts- usually 15 ft or more up off the ground. This is where hunters would store their meat to keep it from predators. The meat freezes in cold weather and is good all winter and spring. When it comes to food,...  Read More

For many years this was the time of year when I harvested our spring and summer meat - black bear. I'd still be doing it if I had a place to hunt... but not because it's fun. For me sitting in a tree until midnight, covered with mosquitoes, is not fun. Skinning and cutting up a bear well after midnight by myself is not fun. Getting a bear roast out of the freezer is fun. Men are wired differently,...  Read More

My wife, Laura, grew up in Alaska but not in a hunting family. As the oldest child she did much of the cooking for the family when she grew up, but she said that she was too squeamish to even cut up a chicken. As a young married couple in Copper River we were allowed one subsistence caribou each. She wasn't happy about it, but I insisted that she shoot one because we needed the meat. She, however,...  Read More

I'm not as strong as I used to be. People who hunt Dall Sheep understand that an 'empty' pack when you leave camp is actually very heavy. You need binoculars, rangefinder, spotting scope and tripod. You need a scoped rifle and extra ammo. You need rain gear and warm gear and an emergency phone. You need food, water, knives and game bags. On top of that, for many years I brought a whole Dall Sheep ...  Read More

While I have crossed many glaciers in my life, there is only one time that I was actually inside of one. Friends and I were out on snowmachines and noticed and opening in a glacier. I walked up to the opening and to my surprise was looking into a beautiful, large ice cavern. I actually drove my snowmachine inside. A year later the opening was gone. You see, to all appearances glaciers are rock sol...  Read More

Though nearly the middle of May, I found myself climbing in fresh snow yesterday. Alaska is indeed a land of extremes. A number of times in my life I've heard people from Southern California complain about the monotony of continuous sunshine. That's never been my experience. Don't get me wrong, I love snow and the crisp, cold air... in winter. But this time of year I find myself anxious for the sn...  Read More

It's May 11th and I have a fresh blanket of snow the ground. About a month ago I got serious about climbing again. It's unpleasant. In fact, I'm always a little bit nauseous until my body adjusts to the exertion. Many of the things that are good for us in the long haul are difficult in the moment. Maintaining sexual purity until marriage, sticking with your marriage even when things get tough, lab...  Read More