-= Alaska Wild Adventures =-

May Day

alaskawild — Sat, 19 May 2012 21:03:31 +0000

Spring Fling

alaskawild — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 02:12:38 +0000

Hey Friends!

I wanted to update you from the last post. We got dropped off out here Deadman’s Port in December. It was a brutal winter out here. We got over 100 inches of snow since December, and about 1/4 of a mile of boardwalks to keep shoveled off. We have been cutting and chopping firewood all winter and hauling it out of the woods pulling it out by sled loads. Then after we get it back to the cabin we have to split it and chop it. Another chore we have to keep up on is beating ice off of the Pelton Wheel Hydro Electric Generator. If we did not beat the ice off it would freeze up. During the winter the water volume coming out of the lake got too low for the plant to put out enough volts to run the electronics. This winters temperatures ranged from the 20’s to -5 degrees. The pipeline is about 1 mile of pipe from the headwaters to the beach where the power plant is. During the extreme cold spells when we lost voltage we ran a little 2000 watt generator and charged batteries to run our electronics. Total we had about a month without Hydro Electric power. Now that it is warmer and thawing out we have plenty of water running through the Pelton Wheel.

This is the time of year we start preparing for this Summers Fishing and Gathering. We plant a garden, fish for Halibut, Rockfish, and all species of salmon. Last years garden produced a bounty of lettuce, celery, broccoli, kale, swiss chard, spinach, and herbs. I went to Sitka last summer to visit my mom and we picked Huckleberries, currents, and blueberries. We made some of the best jam and jelly ever! In Kodiak I picked salmonberries, and wild Raspberries. There is even an island out here named Raspberry Island. I make all kinds of preserves, I make a special Raspberry Chipolte sauce that is good on anything. We make a spaeial Venison with Raspberry Chipolte BBQ Sauce that is to die for!

With Spring comes the annual migration of birds and whales. We have already been seeing a pod of 6 Finn whales out front here in the channel. We love the whales and can not wait to see my Humpback friends. We have been seeing the same families for over 3 yeas now. I learned that Humpbacks have a fingerprint. It is their tail. Every Humpback has a different tail and can be identified. I have been learning new and exciting things all of the time out here in the wilds of Alaska.. Another thing that is beautiful out here in Kodiak are the Wild Sitka Rose bushes. They are everywhere and smell wonderful.

Real life out in the Alaska Bush! Stay tuned for the next adventure! We are going on an adventure on a 100ft crabber that has been converted in to a research vessel.

Always something new and exciting out here in the wilds of Alaska!!

Take care, Alaska Woman Jill Davis

March Madness from the Wilds of Alaska

alaskawild — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:12:32 +0000

Join Alaska Man George Davis and Alaska Woman Jill Davis on their hunt for adventure in the Wilds of Alaska!! Real life living in the Alaska Wilderness~

Marooned at Deadman’s Port

alaskawild — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 23:50:28 +0000

Deadman's Port

Hey friends!!

It has been awhile since my last post. We have been really busy in survival mode since December. We got asked by a friend to take care of his cannery and lodge for the winter out on a remote Island off of the mainland of Kodiak. We came out here in October to check it out and had to do a few things to get ready to take on such an undertaking. We had to pack major survival gear and get ready to huncker down for at least 4-6 months. By the time we got everything in place it was already December.

We got flown out to this Island in a Dehavaland Beaver on floats. All we could bring with us is what we could fit in the aiplane. Besides that limitation, the plane was bringing out some much needed propane and gas, so we had to account for that being in the plane. We were going to Be dropped off in the remote wilderness with everything we would need for 4-6 months. Luckliy this place has a pantry with main supplies like rice, beans, pastas, and cooking oil. There was some food in the freezer too. The best part is that there are plenty of deer on the island and deer hunting season did not end until December 31.

When we got flown out here and got our gear and supplies unloaded and up to the cabin we were going to be living in, we come to find out that there was no firewood to stay warm. There were propane and diesel heaters, but very limited supply of fuel that should be saved for the propane stove and diesel for a generator that would be needed for power if the hydro electric went out. George immediatley had to get out his survival fire starting kit. There was actually water in the woodstove!! There was not a twig of kindling, so George went in the woods and gathered some dry twigs for firestarter to use along with his emergency firestarting kit. We scrounged up some wood off of the beach and split enough to keep in the cabin for the night. It took George an hour and a half to get a fire to burn in the woodstove. Finally Warmth!! It was in the upper teens outside. Inside temperatures were about 50 degrees in the main cabin and 37 degrees in the kitchen and dining room. It was 36 degrees on the floor where we had our bed mattresses and down sleeping bags. George stayed up all night having to tend the fire about every 15 minutes. It was a rough night for both of us!! I am just glad that the water was left running, otherwise in those temperatures the water would be totally frozen in the kitchen, and the hydro electric pipeline that provides electricity for the lodge would be frozen as well! Even though the water was running there is no hot water hooked up so unbeknownesd to me the people that were here had left 3 commercial size sinks full of dirty dishes. I was not looking forward to cleaning up that mess.

Well, in my experience I take things one step at a time and our first step is to stay warm!! The next day was a quest for wood. We needed to find the most dry and accessable wood to bring in the cabin. Out back of the cabin there are Spruce trees. George found some dead standing trees. Even though they are dead standing, they need to be cut down and they are what most would call “green”. George cut and fell a nice size tree and we started hauling out rounds on a sled 1/2 mile to 3/4 of a mile away from the cabin. When we first got here there had been a December thaw so there was not very much snow on the ground so most of the trail we were pulling the wood across was bare ground.

We finally got some rounds hauled to the yard and then George had to split the wood with a variety of tools that he brought with him which includes an 8, and 6 pound maule. He uses and a 10 pound sledge and splitting wedges also. This was a lot of work… we were used to using a hydrolic log splitter the last 2 seasons, but George is a champ and has been splitting wood by hand his whole life so he was ready for action.

We got some wood split and brought in the cabin which made us feel more at ease. In the meantime besides all of that I had to clean a sanitary place in the kitchen to cook us some food. I found some pots to boil water and some pans to cook up some grub. Let me tell you after expending that kind of energy our apetites were fierce!

Once we got a program down it started getting eaiser and I started to work on cleaning the Commercial kitchen and dining room that needed some major TLC. George worked on getting wood to the yard and splitting, and trying to sort through the tools and parts scattered around the cannery. If George would not have brought his own chain saw this would have been in a major disaster because the chainsaws that were here would not cut a branch. It was going to take some major work to get the chainsaws that were here sharp, up and running.

This is just the start of the saga of being marooned at Deadman’s Port!! Stay tuned for more chapters of the story!!

Take care from the wilds of Alaska!!
Alaska Woman Jill Davis and Alaska Man George Davis

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