The Scheins' Blog: Alaska Trip

Monday, August 17, 2009 (afternoon)

Ok, sorry for the delay. We went to the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse this weekend. We'll post a blog on that soon. I just got Ed & Jeanette's pictures form Alaska, so check back on this post and the others on Alaska - I'll likely be adding some of their pics as I get a chance to go through them.

Ok, after fishing and exploring around Pasagshak, we made it back into town and Trident Basin in the afternoon. We met Josh and were soon on the plane, headed northwest toward Uganik Bay on the north side of the island. More on that in a minute. 1st, some pictures from the flight over.

Some of the mountains above the treeline.
Same Mountain Goats on top of one of the mountains.

One of many crystal clear glacial lakes on top of one of these mountains. Josh said when conditions are perfect, he can land in this lake.

Back down near sea level on the north side of the island, at the head of the bay.

Josh flying.

We landed near the head of Uganik Bay so that Josh could deliver something to a retired couple that lived in an awesome cabin here. Talk about my dream home!! I wish I had some pictures of it. This is a beautiful bay with steep wooded hillsides and a beautiful estuary at the head. As we took off again we saw some sea otters. We only flew for about a minute when we landed again. Perfect timing, because Ed and I were starting to feel bad with the plane bouncing around a bit.

We landed at an old cannery on the east side of this bay. There we met a friend of Josh's, named Bill. He was a very friendly guy who was the resident care taker of the facilities. He gave us a very comprehensive and fascinating tour. This place used to employ hundreds of people at a time, many of which were college students from all over the world, each summer during the salmon runs. They canned literally tons of pink salmon each summer. The big salmon boats would pull up to the docks, unload their cargo, and then they went back out for more. This place was opened in the late 1920's and was in operation until 2001, but then changed owners a couple of times, and in the process, some very nasty environmental problems were discovered. They'd like to reopen the place, but have to fix those problems before they do. Until then, they hire men like Bill to keep the place in working order and to occasionally store set net boats from the salmon fishermen.

This is really a fascinating operation. He took us throughout the grounds, showing us where they process and can the fish, the living quarters for the workers, the store, dining hall, wood working and metal fabrication shop, and his living quarters. There was also a post office and communications office. He keeps in touch with people with internet and has a satellite phone, but other than occasional deliveries from people like Josh and fishermen, he's completely alone. It must be an incredible amount of work keeping this place up!

This place was really fascinating and I loved that we stopped here. In some of the rooms it felt like the workers had just left and were expecting to be back the next day. There were a few things left on the store shelves and boots left in the dining hall. According to the caretaker, they probably were expecting to come back. Many of the workers came back each summer, and the change in ownership was unexpected. Apparently this cannery work is good money. Very good.

After we said our goodbyes, we got back on the plane and had another very quick flight over to Quartz Creek Lodge ( http://www.quartzcreeklodge.com/ ) to visit the Pingree family.

Josh brought Sarah, Jon David, and I here last time we visited, 4 years ago. This lodge is MANY miles away from anything that you could consider to be a sign of civilization. The entire place was built by hand by the family. David, the father, moved to Kodiak years ago from Massachusetts, met Pam, the mother, and they've built an incredibly beautiful place with a wonderful family. To Sarah and I, it feels like the Swiss Family Robinson. They have a wind turbine (new since our last visit) and a hydrological generator in a stream behind their lodge for all of the electricity they need, a sauna, outdoor hot tub, cabins for a few guests, and of course their big, beautiful house with a big deck that overlooks the bay and ocean on the horizon. They catch, hunt, and grow most of what they eat. They know just about everything there is to know about their environment and how to live in it.

They host only a few guests at a time, and the guests can do just about anything, from whale watching and birding, to big game hunting and fishing. Last time we were here they took us fishing for halibut, crabbing, and whale watching, and it was amazing. This time though, we arrived late in the day and there was no time for that. As we pulled up to their beach they were cracking open their fresh catch of snow crab on rocks on the beach.

We visited for a while outside. They showed us how they diverted part of the waterfall/stream behind their house and installed the hydrological generator. Genius! They have a nice little garden in the yard and home-made toys for their kids. On the path to the hot tub there were some trees that had just been knocked over in recent nights by bears going through their property eating alder berries. Most of us worry about dogs, maybe raccoons going through their garbage. Others worry about one of the largest land predators on Earth.

After enjoying a beautiful sunset on their deck, we and 1 other nice retired couple from Washington state came in to enjoy an amazing dinner. Pam is a wonderful cook, but I have to say - when the ingredients are this fresh (caught that day, sometime only minutes before), it might be hard to mess things up. Appetizers were crackers with a nice cheese and smoked salmon. We had 2 different styles of King Salmon, ling cod, salad, a chicken stir fry (I think that was a special order for Jeanette - they don't have chicken very often and were actually very excited about it. Imagine that - considering chicken a special treat because you eat the freshest-possible finest-quality seafood every day - what a life!!!), and the piece de resistance - the crab they had just caught and steamed. Everything was delicious, but the crab is amazing. I don't often order crab in restaurants because it is not only expensive, but often too much work for the little bit of meat. These crabs are enormous - 1/2 a crab is plenty of food for most people. Also, don't even think about butter for these crabs - that would be insulting to crabs this good! Ed and I both ate a lot more than just 1 half, but I think we both would have tried to eat our weight in crab if we didn't care about embarrassing ourselves. Oh, and then we had a really great dessert, a new creation made by Amy, the 2nd oldest daughter. So new it didn't even have a name yet. ANYONE who wants to experience a real Alaska outdoor adventure should come here.

Well, I can't believe I don't have more pictures from this part of the day. I guess we didn't take many because we took so many last time we were here. I love visiting this wonderful family and seeing how they live. They have a life I can only dream of - living off the land in one of the most productive and beautiful places in the world. I would love to spend some time with them and just absorb everything they know and how they do it. What an amazing life!

Josh let me fly for a few minutes on the way home. You might think this would make a slightly nervous flier more at ease. Let me tell you, it did not. I don't know how to explain it very well, but suddenly it was very clear that I was in control, and if ANYTHING went wrong I wouldn't have a clue what to do. It's also weird because he's let me fly before and it didn't bother me. Anyway, it was probably better that I gave it back to Josh after a short time - I didn't see her, but 2 others in the plane saw Jeanette's face while I had the controls, and she had a look of complete terror. I think because soon after I took control the plane made a couple of slight drops. That certainly wasn't me! I hate those drops.

We got back pretty late, and even though we were tired, it was a really amazing day. Looking back on it, it is hard to believe we did all of that in 1 day. That's one of the great things about summer in Alaska - the days are so long you can do so much - which is nice, because there is so much to do, even on a relatively small and largely uninhabited island.

Extra pictures from Ed & Jeanette

The view from the Pingree's cabin.