Denali Update

I have been remiss once again in not keeping this Blog updated. MUST get better - MUST get better.

Well, I am a month and a half into my sojourn here in Denali and have just shy of 100 presentations under my belt - have done 98 as of today. My 3rd person presentation is solid and received the NPS vote of approval. Research is underway for my 1st person impression which looks like it will be Andrew Fleutsch, a ranger from Glacier who swapped with one from here at Denali for a time. During his time here, Fleutsch accompanied Adolph Murie on some of his excursions when the latter was here undertaking his groundbreaking study of the wolf and its relationship to prey species. Glacier is sending us a packet containing a lot of information on this ranger and I am looking forward to sifting through it and learning a lot about him which I can then in turn create a 1st person presentation from.

Savage Cabin, where I do my living history presentations, sits in the overlap area between the Nenana River and East Fork wolf packs. I keep hoping to see one passing through in the quiet times between tours. Have three more months so hopefully it will happen, either at the cabin or somewhere else in the park.

There was almost a two week stretch where Denali ( Mt. McKinley ) could be seen clearly. That, from what I have been told, is something which never happens. A few days ago, this changed. There are over 100 wildfires in the state, 6 of which are within the park and 10 more in different places along the boundaries. Smoke from these, along with clouds, has reduced visibility at times, to make even the closer mountains hazy and forget about seeing Denali. From the vantage point I have seen it, the mountain is still about 70 miles away. But when "the mountain is out" ( this is how we refer to it being visible ), it is an incredible site even at that distance. It is in a perpetual state of ice and snow, so is easily picked out along the horizon.

The first men to successfully summit Denali did so in 1913. Some of their descendants set out a few weeks ago to attempt a 100th Anniversary climb, following the route of their ancestors. This is NOT the route most climbers take today. In addition, the start off point for modern climbers is to be flown into a base camp several hundred feet up. These descendants set off from Kantishna and hiked to base, starting from there. They reached the summit successfully two days ago. Quite a feat if you ask me.

As far as wildlife goes, cows and calves abound ( moose ) and I have seen two bull moose, massive creatures. There is a willow right next to the porch of the cabin which this morning had fresh limb breaks and bark rubbed off from bull. It was about 7-8 feet off the ground. These fellow must be huge. If he is marking territory right there, my presentations could get quite interesting come rutting season. I have not seen another bear, but have seen a lynx. It caught a grouse right behind the cabin one morning.

The mosquitos ------ I do not care what they say. These guys ARE the state bird of Alaska. They are big and have attitudes. The ONLY spray that works as repellent is that which contains DEET. Apparently this is the worst year for them in a long time. One of the wildlife techs explained it this way. With the late snows in May, the birds which migrate here arrived to find several feet of snow and no insects to eat, so either moved on or starved. When the hatch DID occur, there were, and are, very few birds to eat them. I saw my first dragonfly today. Those guys better get busy !

Well, I have rattled off enough tonight in an effort to get back in the swing of things.
STAY TUNED !!

Denali - Boots on the Ground

I am wrapping up my fourth day in Alaska and second in Denali National Park & Preserve. It is beautiful up here with snow-covered mountains, one to feet of snow and drifts of several feet. The mountains are rough and, unlike the Appalachians I am used to, are characterized by rock cliffs rising several hundred feet. The tree level is at the base of the slopes or below. The forest is made of a mixture of Black and White Spruce interspersed with what I believe are Aspen. I will have to wait until the snow melts to see what, if any, undergrowth exists. Further into the park, trees give way to the tundra. You can see for miles across the valley between the two mountain ranges.

I have been in orientation the last two days, including extensive informative sessions today with NPS staff. Yesterday afternoon, one of the interp coaches gave us a tour of the sites from which we will be doing presentations. One of them is the Savage Cabin built in 1924 as a cook cabin for the first tourist cabin in Mt. McKinley National Park now known as Denali. It is a gorgeous setting with spruce trees dotting the landscape. We were told the area was a favorite hangout, at different times, of a grizzly bear, a caribou, and a lynx. On the wooden shutters are nails pointing outward to deter curious bears.

It was during this tour I inquired about the distance across the tundra to the base of the distant mountains. He said it was roughly 8-10 miles from the road we were on. We also saw an arctic squirrel, which we were told would put on a show to enhance its "cuteness". He also said if you were able to get really close and take a picture, shake the camera slightly to get a blurred image of the squirrel ------- then tell people you had a close encounter with a grizzly.

Tomorrow morning, training begins for official interpreter certification. I am looking forward to getting down to the nuts and bolts of my job here ( can I call it a job ? ). Plus, I can take this certification anywhere and will look great on my resume along with the job experience. We will be training for a few days and then we will "shadow" one of the coaches and take the Denali History Tour so we see how it all works.

My excitement for what I am and will be experiencing this summer is counter-balanced by the distance from home. Except for a couple of trips she took to Texas to see her brothers and a few CW events for a weekend, my wife and I have been together daily since fall 2005. Our daughter has been with me every day over the past year - through the summer and picking her up from the bus stop everyday. I miss them terribly and love them very much !

Much love from Denali !

Surreal

The time has almost arrived. This Friday morning, it begins - the adventure of a lifetime. I will be traveling into the great northwest wilderness in the interior of Alaska to Denali National Park for the summer. I am both nervous and excited. The chance to experience the wildness of America's last and most enduring frontier is something I never thought possible. It has become not only a possibility, but a reality.

I am looking forward to learning about a new time era and putting everything I can into meaningful, informative presentations to the public. My impression will be a 1940s park ranger and spending a lot of time when working at the Savage Cabin. This was one of the first structures built in the park and is still used by rangers during the winter as a way station while patrolling the snow-draped backcountry with their sled dog teams. The history of this area is so different to what I have studied throughout my life here in the southeast. It is a far cry from the American Civil War, Revolutionary War or the French & Indian War. However, as with any area, there is HISTORY. The local indigenous population, Athabascan ( sp ? ), is involved with interpretation in the park, there is Gold Rush history AND to the southwest in the Aleutians, WWII was felt when Japanese troops landed and fought a series of brutal, mostly forgotten, engagements against American troops. Though my concentration on historical research has mainly centered around events in American history east of the Mississippi, my interest in history is of history itself, regardless of the time frame.

The hardest part will be the separation from friends and family here at home. However, it is only a few months and there WILL be a homecoming. It is not like I am being deployed for 12 months, or more, to a war zone where the possibility would exist of me not coming home. In addition, with today's technology, I can keep in touch via cell phone and Skype.

I truly do not know what to expect and realize I have a LOT to learn, both with my position and the way everything is going to work. My wife worked in Yellowstone for four years before I met her and she is able to share some insight, but even that was not recent and things may have changed. Not only that, but Yellowstone and Denali are two separate NPS sites.

Friday morning will be a bit rough with parting ways, but I will not say goodbye for I will be returning. A great experience, a foot in the career door, and a great addition to my resume. I pray God will keep me safe as well as my family, and have faith He will help me to do my utmost and totally ROCK this position.

Even with it being so close, for the moment, it has not sunk in. It probably won't until I am at the airport and even more when I actually arrive there.

For now, it is very --------- surreal.

Summer Duty Station

I have been involved in Civil War re-enacting since 1994 and giving presentations and talks since 2005. My unit hosts an annual living history at Andersonville National Historic Site in March and one in September at Sweetwater Creek State Park. In this role, I have been extensively involved in the planning and organization of these events. In addition, I am in the process of pursuing an Associates Degree in History.

All my work on these events, and participation in, has been on a volunteer status. However, all the hard work and dedication paid off in quite an unexpected manner. I was offered, and have accepted a seasonal position as a living history interpreter at Denali National Park in Alaska. It is a foot in the door in the career direction in which I want to go and will look awesome on a resume !

Bears and wolves and moose, oh my !
:-)

Springtime in Georgia

For 45 years, I have been either immune to or ignored by the yearly pollen assaults which many I have known through the years has suffered from. Alas, my luck ran out. I have spent the better part of the last two weeks learning the true meaning of spring allergies. The last week has been the worst, with practically sleepless nights, extremely sore throat and congestion in the throat which I could not cough up. My nose itself contributed to it all, but the coughing wreaked havoc. My throat has been raw and coughing and my head, chest, and abdomen muscles are sore. Yeah, I know, there are probably many of you out there knowing full well what all this feels like. However, it is a first for me.

I pray the allergy medicine and saline continues to work. Sorry to make this one short but have to track down a new box of tissues. ARGH !

Progress - or is it ?

Today's world is so chaotic and hectic. Employers push deadlines and create high stress environments they expect you to thrive in. The electronic age is a driving force with its ever changing technology and constant introduction of gadgets to awe the consumers.

Do not misunderstand me. I am a casualty, if you were, of data dependency. I sit and type this on my laptop as I text someone on my cell phone. I take college classes online, do historical research on the internet, keep communication open via email with my re-enacting unit, update webpages, spend time on marketing and advertising for my writing and my wife’s photography, use Facebook for re-enacting contacts and also keep in touch with family and close friends. All of this is done from either one of our computers and is part of the magic we call progress.

On Dictionary.com, progress is defined as:

the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level.

In some cases I would have to agree, but taken as a whole, progress to me has destroyed the American way of life because we never adapted it to coincide with our modern era mentalities. I have many times said that I believe we could survive just fine as a society without most of the newfangled things this “development” has given us. Medical advancements in some areas have been beneficial especially with regard to knowledge and diagnosis of. Of course, I also know this reflects on other advancements which allowed these to happen. However, I know that my wife and youngest daughter are alive today due to medical advances. Fifty years ago or more, they both would have died.

Taking that into consideration, there are times we would like to have that primitive cabin way out in the wilderness for us to escape to. It would be a place with no modern worries, phone calls, urgent business conference calls, traffic delays, car horns, sirens around the clock, or stress filled workdays. Ideally, the cabin would have its own garden, the forest full of wild game, and the streams filled with fish.

This would indeed be wonderful and as much as it pulls at our soul, we could not just disappear to a place like this. We have too much family and friends, and yes responsibility, to do this beyond a long weekend. Though having a place like this is indeed a dream for us, we know in this day and time, it would have to be “wired-in”. Of course, who is to say we can’t hit that main power switch from time to time and enjoy quiet nights by lantern and days of working the earth.

Close to Home

We live in the foothills of the Appalachians in northwest Georgia. By foothills, I mean the real beginnings of the mountains before they rise into the more well-known peaks toward the state line. Even at that, there are sizable ridges and low mountains in the area. The hustle and bustle of life often causes us to forget how close they are.

Today, my wife, daughter and I, along with our two dogs, spent the better half of the afternoon meandering along trails located less than 5 miles from our house. We chose a 2-mile loop which is part of the greater trail network of the area. Just minutes away from the truck, it was very easy to forget we were so close to town and the major thoroughfare of I-75. According to the scenery around us, we could easily have been miles from civilization and deep in the wilderness.

I have always found it peaceful to be walking along a trail, crisscrossing along the rising ridges through cut-backs and gradual rises in elevation. The breeze rustles the leaves on the forest floor and causes those still attached to their branches to dance in time with the music on the air. A vulture cruising low over the treetops was the only wildlife we saw during the hike, but traces and signs of others were apparent to the diligent observer. Freshly turned earth was seen around the opening of holes leading underground, downed trees had been freshly carved into in search of grubs or other insects, fresh marks on the barks of trees from woodpeckers and bark rubbed smooth by repeated use as a “shoulder scrubber”. The scent of a skunk even briefly assaulted our senses.

There are so many things going on in the forest whether you see it actively happening or not. Besides animals and birds, the plants themselves are waking from their winter slumber and sprouting from the earth or budding in preparation for their grand reveal. Mosses are beginning to bloom and pipsissewa is more abundant. The forest floor slowly changes from its bleak winter grays to the vibrant greens of spring and summer, dotted with splashes of color as this plant or that displays its yearly canvas.

There is an overlook which is a popular resting spot. In fact, many people were there today enjoying the views and the sunshine. It is a rocky outcrop which gives a wonderful vista to the west and south of the recreation area. A nearby reservoir sparkled in the afternoon sun and a river snaked into the distance. Modern intrusions are clearly visible, but do not necessarily detract from the view. It is quite beautiful and we spent quite some time there taking pictures.

Though it did make us crave a trip up into the North Georgia Mountains or the Smokies, it was a great reminder of what we have right in our backyards. That is the essence of my intent with Under the Smoke. Get outside and enjoy it, whether it be a state or national park or community recreation area. You never know what jewel you might find in your own neighborhood.