Icewind's Ramblings

What’s it like to live under the steady gaze of the sun in our arctic locale? The clock ticks . . . the sun is there . . . never blinking . . . never hiding . . . Our day never really ends . . . just moving from one date on the calendar to the next. This continues for several months and brings with it several differences from living Outside. Relentless is this sun by your side . . . above your head . . . all the time . . . in your face. Animals tend to be somewhat confused as birds who tend to ‘sing’ more at sunrise can be heard 24 hours a day belting their song until there seems to be nothing left . . . then there is another one close by who cranks it up. Children can be found outside playing long past a ‘normal’ time when those of us who work and get up early would be heading for bed and that much needed sleep. No need for a night light as the kids who go to bed at a regular time hear the calls of their playmates still at play well past ten. The sound of

An odd couple of days here in Alaska as the tourists are here in full force enjoying the magnificence of this great land. For some it’s a boat ride seeing the tidewater glaciers up close enough to hear the ice cracking before breaking off falling into the water. It’s an incredible experience and for a few it was another experience altogether . . . Can you say . . . Oops! Here’s the story from Anchorage Daily News by Mary Pemberton . And there was also the old theme of Triumph and Defeat . . . Denali Picture by Bob Hallinen from ADN archives 2006 As one climbing enthusiast (tourist) had one of those once in a lifetime experiences of climbing to the summit of North America’s tallest peak (20,320’) reaching the summit of Denali (Mt. McKinley to Outsiders) on the evening of the Fourth of July where he shortly collapsed just off the summit and died after other climbers tried to revive him. Here’s the ADN story by Lisa Demer on the f

Men and women will act rationally . . . When all other possibilities have been exhausted. I hope everyone had a nice 4 th of July celebration wherever you found yourself. I took a much needed break and headed off to Big Lake for some time away from it all. Call it a pre-vacation warm up for our August trip. My family headed out on Friday morning to meet up with Scott and his family who left after work on Thursday. I am reminded why it is difficult to go anywhere with the young ones as my daughter who has been recovering lately from an illness came along with her husband and one year old. I also took my granddaughter (4 yrs old) so packing up all of the items was a major pain. There were all of the sleeping bags, tents, porta-cribs, coolers, chairs (which I left in the rig as we did not need them), food, ice, dog, kids, and even a little fixins’ for my cooking. We loaded up everything on the party barge and headed out across Big Lake , Mud Lake , a