On Sunday, April 25th a wire will be attached from the top of the 30 foot tripod to the watch tower on shore. The tower will be manned around the clock from Sunday until the official breakup on the Tanana River. For the history and premise of the contest you should check out my original […]
Ships of Old Alaska
I’ve been digging around the Internet and the library for a few days now pursuing my own interest in the great ships of Alaska’s history. The information is startlingly scattered so I have set about creating an account of the boats that have been a part of Alaska’s discovery, boom, gold rush, fishing industry, tourist […]
State of the Volkswagen Bus – Spring 2010
I get considerably more email inquiring as to the state of the bus and/or the happiness of the dog than I do of my own well being. Go figure. If you‘ve kept up with my Alaska Highway by Volkswagen Bus series or Sled Dog Alaska, Getting There you’ll know that the old girl limped into […]
Nenana Ice Classic
The deadline for the 2010 Nenana Ice Classic is just around the corner. The last day to purchase tickets is April 5th. I’ll be grabbing a couple myself. Official ice measurements this past Thursday ( 25 March 2010) were more than 50 inches thick, which is a mark reached only six times in the last […]
Fairbanks, Climate and Daylight
Punxsutawney Phil was right, six more weeks of winter. But I imagine Phil has no groundhog concept of Alaska. I think they should bring him to Fairbanks one year. I’ve got my money on the “immortal” groundhog freezing to death inside of five minutes in that pseudo stump of his. How do you say #@$!@#@ […]
Ice Alaska, The World Ice Art Championships
The World Ice Art Championships at Ice Alaska is probably the single coolest thing that I’ve seen in Fairbanks this winter. Ice sculpting underwent a renaissance in interior Alaska in 1988 when organizers decided to revive the spirit of the 1930’s winter carnivals by flying in ice sculptors in from around the world for an […]
Hitchhiking at -26, Alaska
Haha, good idea right. I’m a fan of hitchhiking in general. It’s a good, cheap way to get around and lends you to many an interesting experience that you might not otherwise be privy to. This post is destined to be about hitchhiking to Fairbanks from Nenana, Alaska on one very cold day, but I’m […]
The Yukon Quest is Under Way!
As most of you know I had the pleasure of living with Pierre Heritier, the Swiss musher as he trained for the Yukon Quest 2010. This race is generally considered to be the world’s most difficult race and the supreme adventure through some of North America’s most difficult country. As it were, the race commenced […]
Alaskan Geologists
Question: What do geologists in Alaska do for fun? Answer: Light methane seeps on fire. See Photograph: