Mail Day in McCarthy, AK

Imagine that you live 60 miles from the nearest paved road in a vast wilderness of 13.2 million acres. Your only power comes from solar panels or propane, usually in the form of a generator. On a good, summer day, it takes about 2.5 hours to drive that 60 miles and in the winter, it's not unusual to get to 50 below zero. If it's a Wednesday or a Friday, it's Mail Day!

In Alaska, planes are like cars. They are a dominate form of transportation to remote areas and are often the "lifeline" to a community. McCarthy and Kennecott are two small communities of about 40 year-round people that reside in the heart of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve. They are served by Copper Valley Air Service on mail days.

A small shed is the post office, where volunteers unload the plane and sort the mail into everyone's slots. Folks stand around catching up with one another about weather, trapping success, good books read lately, etc. The mail shed's not heated so if you're dressed for snow machining, you're dressed for mail day! After the mails sorted, they grab their mail, and maybe a "neighbor's," and take off for home on their snow machine or cross-country skis. But if you're a winter visitor, like me, it's plan to have someone meet you that has a sled on the back of their snow machine so they can haul your gear to your cabin!

I flew both ways on this plane and loved seeing scenery I had come to appreciate only in Spring, Summer and Fall. When you experience such a vast place like Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve, and take in such extreme beauty, words like awe, wonderment and humble are so tiny to try to describe snow covered mountains, river & glaciers that repeat in an unending fashion.

It was in 1999 that I met retired National Geographic Photographer, George Mobley, at his part-time residence in WSENP&P. After chit-chatting for a while, I asked him, "George, you've been all over the world on assignments and seen some of the most beautiful places in the world. What made you decide to live part of the year here in Wrangell-St. Elias?" His eyes spoke to me before his words. "Because it IS the most beautiful place in the world." No further questions, your honor.

I'm grateful for my experiences and the friendships I've made in the our nation's LARGEST and least visited national park in our system. For more information about this park, visit: www.nps.gov/wrst/

She's Rounding Third Base. . .

Dateline Minneapolis:

Yes, I'm almost home! When our nearly full 747 lifted off from Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage at 8:00 p.m. Alaska time, there was cheering and applause for Northwest Airlines. They chartered this hulk of a plane with a flight attendant crew that flew up to AK and back to MN in the same day. Way to go guys and dolls! We arrived @ 4:00 a.m. and I now sit waiting for the 7:00 a.m. flight.

Good things do come to those of us that are patient and this flight was a prime example of "going with the flow" the last few days. My flight was due to leave at 7:30 so I arrived at the airport at 5:30 and stood in line while not 1, but 2 ticketing agents closed down their stations just as I was the next person in line. I get all the luck, right? Fear not, readers! When I walked on the plane @ 7:15 and started to head to row 28G, the flight attendant said to me, "Find an open seat. It's OPEN SEATING."

As I had looked at the seating arrangements of this aircraft online while spending my days in Anchorage, I headed right to Business Class. Snow boots, fleece and all! Sure enough, there was one seat left and it was right behind my Anchorage friend that was heading to Washington for a conference. We had lunch 2 days previously and I had told her about the 747 that they were bringing in for us. As her flight had also been cancelled, she pulled out her iPhone and immediately got booked on my flight. Then we ordered lunch. Priorities DO prevail, you know!

So "patient Peggy" got a full meal on the plane (I ate it ALL!,) a seat that practically became a Sleep Number bed, and a personal Video monitor to watch movies. Yeah, I tried to sleep on that comfortable seat but I just never got there. I think it was the chocolate I ate! The first chocolate I'd had in 3 days! Kurt, my seat mate, told me that he'd been hanging out in Anchorage for 4 days. A fellow Milwaukeean had gone to Alaska for her college Spring Break and got stuck there. And there's a whole gaggle of U.S. downhill and nordic skiers who have just completed their U.S. Championships hanging out in Anchorage.

Just for laughs, I just pulled up the Alaska Volcano Observatory website and Mt. Redoubt has been spewing small amounts of ash up to 25,000 ft through the night and it's slowly drifting towards Anchorage. You guessed it, it started just before we took off!

I LOVE adventures! Here's the OTHER plane I flew into Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

Temporary Residence in Alaska

By now I should be home in Milwaukee after a winter photography trip to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve in Alaska. However, Mother Nature has other plans for me and that might include temporary residency in Alaska. Not that I would mind that, as I love the landscape and the people of this state, but I'm a guest at a friend's home and waiting for Mt. Redoubt to settle down enough so that the planes can fly again.

Yes, Mt. Redoubt's an active volcano that's been threatening to erupt for weeks and on the 23rd of March, she did. It didn't bother me then, I was in our cabin in WSENP&P photographing the beautiful scenery and the ash was making it's way north of the eruption. But now that I'm 2 flights back into Anchorage, the ash fell our way last night and the airport's "closed indefinitely."

The ash started falling about 6:00 p.m. last night and the TV reporters had dust masks and goggles on when doing their "live" reports outside. It's not as bad as the eruptions of 1989-90 but let's just say that there's a whole bunch of people that are stuck here as well as points south, trying to get here. Kind of like a big, ole' Midwestern snowstorm that cripples air traffic for a few days. You in the midwest know exactly what I'm talking about.

The big difference between snow and ash is that ash can destroy anything mechanical or electronic. There's images of the check-in kiosks at the airport covered with big, black, plastic bags to keep ash out of the electronics. Sled dogs can't be kept outside and all those active Alaskans, who have spent their winter cooped up, can't get out to play right now.

So it's time for me to work on an article about what's it like to experience beautiful, Alaskan winter scenery and then a volcanic eruption. The volcanologists say this eruption/ash fall phase could go on for weeks or months. Let's just hope my article is a "short story" and not a non-fiction book!

Ice Sculptures on Lake Michigan

Yesterday was the kind of day I'd been waiting for!  We'd had some cold nights that allowed things to freeze things up solid and then we were blessed with a clear, sunny day.  I loaded up my new Kata pack & tripod and headed out on the ice along the Lakefront.  Ever aware of the possibility of breaking through the ice, I picked my way out in a circuitous fashion, staying along ice ridge lines and testing the ice with my tripod.

I got a few images I had scouted out which were fairly close to edges, and then slowly walked around looking for other possibilities.  Then I broke through - slightly - just enough to cover the top of my boot.  And this was away from the edges.  Time to get out!  Stay aware and follow my tracks back to the shore.

Next destination - Big Bay Park in Whitefish Bay.  In January I had stopped to scout this location while doing an errand but I didn't have my camera then.  It was an awesome scene with lots of ice that spread far into Lake Michigan.  I made a mental note to return on another sunny day after a cold spell.

The ice was well formed but on this day, the slow waves were rolling in slushy ice.  As I photographed I was surrounded by that great "white noise" of the waves coming in.  You know, the kind that brings immediate relaxation to one's senses!  That's all I heard as I made a few different compositions and watched the sun move a little lower in the sky.  Besides one runner doing a hill workout, it was just me, the ice and the waves.