It has snowed for 7 days in a row at my house. This came after 7 days of glorious sunshine. While this is little more than interesting trivia, I would point out that we are beyond our 6th month of winter. Why do people choose to live here? For many reasons, but for me just one- God has called me here. I never intended to come to Alaska, and I never intended to stay. And yet, in this far away place...  Read More

From the moment of birth, life is a series of 'firsts.' We remember a baby's first crawling, first steps and first words. Later, it's the first day of school. As young adults, we have our fist day on the job or first day of college. For men who hunt, it may have been your first turkey or your first deer (or in Alaska, your first caribou or moose). And somewhere along the line, whether in early chi...  Read More

I've gotten back into my practice of morning climbs. Heavy socks, heavy mountaineering boots, hiking pants, 2 light layers under a thin wool shirt, gaitors, warm hat, light backpack with emergency gear, crampons,  hiking poles, warm gloves... this is my morning regimen of getting dressed for the climb. The photos from the top of the mountain are fantastic, but it isn't just the photos- BEING on to...  Read More

Every sunrise is special. It brings hope for a new day. It signals a fresh start. No matter what you went through yesterday, today is brand new. Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!" Why should we rejoice? Because the God who created the universe knows us by name! He loves us and is preparing our future home- a NEW heaven and a NEW Earth wi...  Read More

They say that a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Sometimes a picture seems to perfectly capture the innocence of a child. There is something a little surreal- holy- about that moment in time. Somehow, deep within us, we all recognize that this is how life is supposed to be. In that innocence we see a glimmer of perfection- of what it means to be created in the image of God- wonderfully and marvelou...  Read More

By the time we were back at the bottom of the mountain, we had little more than a hopeful guess as to the direction of the bear. We split up in the timber and began a slow meander trying to find the clearing. Soon I heard a shot, and my partner, Tim Hand, had a beautiful cinnamon colored black bear. It was then that we discovered another mistake. We had been in such a hurry to get to the bear that...  Read More

I laid in my tent waiting for daylight. As soon as I could see I climbed to the summit and began walking the ridgeline glassing for bear. My partner, Tim Hand, simply set up his spotting scope next to the tents and sat down to wait. I have never been good at sitting still. I walked a mile or so and then came back to the tent. I hadn't seen a thing. Tim, however, had spotted a bear at the bottom of...  Read More

I was in the best shape of my life, but even so, it was the worst climb I've ever done. It was far from the highest mountain I've ever climbed and the hike in to the base was easy. We were climbing with our full packs, intending to set our camp up high. But on this particular mountain, the only one I've ever been on like this, the vertical incline didn't stop even for a moment. The steep pitch was...  Read More

Beginning 'winter' mountain climbers find out very quickly the difficulty going up. What surprises them most is discovering the unexpected difficulty coming down. It's so easy for us to aim for a certain 'high' only to discover that we ended up in a bad place. In all of my years of sheep hunting, I've never gotten into trouble going UP a mountain, but have been in incredibly dangerous positions th...  Read More

I've hunted caribou over 1,000 miles south of Anchorage and nearly 1,000 miles north... all in Alaska. Unlike the Adak hunt, the northern hunt was with a bow and arrow. In order to take a caribou with an arrow, you need to get close. Some things can be done successfully from a distance. For example, praying for or sending money to a missionary in a foreign land. Other things require close proximit...  Read More

Years ago, hunting caribou on Adak Island was 'walk-in' only. A friend of mine who works for Alaska Airlines 'buddy passed' (free flight) me to go hunt caribou with he and his brother. We had no idea what we were getting into, but fortunately met a man from Adak on the flight out who let us sleep out of the incessant wind and rain in his apartment. The hunting was extremely tough. I shot two bulls...  Read More

My dad used to say, "I've never been lost, but once I was bewildered for 4 days." I was born with an amazing internal compass. I somehow intuitively know what direction I'm walking, and no matter how much I wander I can turn around and point toward my starting place. But last year, in the middle of the forest, my destination was not where I thought it would be. I expected to come out in a clearing...  Read More