Site Summit: Summer Job in 1972 Washing dishes, scrubbing floors and racing cars at a Cold War missile defense site in 1972 by Michael Hankins It’s not often a person is able to take the mundane job of washing dishes and write about it. My 6-month dish washing stint was much different than scrubbing pots […]
World-Class Brown Bear Viewing In Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park
Up Close & Personal in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska By: Courtney Dowd-Stanley Bear viewing in Cook Inlet and panoramic vistas in Lake Clark National Park—this is what experiencing the rugged Last Frontier is all about. If you do anything this summer, be sure to reward yourself with active volcanoes, brilliant coastal brown bears, snow-covered […]
This Day In Alaska History: The First Ascent of Denali
The First Ascent of Denali By Anne Sanders This year, 2017, marks the 104th anniversary of the first successful ascent to the top of Denali. To be exact, on June 7th, 1913 at 1:30 p.m. Walter Harper, an Athabaskan Alaska Native, became the first man to stand upon the summit of North America’s tallest mountain. […]
Growing Up In An Alaskan Village
Alaskan Village in the City by Michael Hankins The serenity of living in a rural Alaskan village is something I’d love to experience. It seems a subsistence lifestyle has distinct advantages. Hunting and fishing to stay alive makes a person stronger both physically and mentally. Clean water and air untainted by pesticides and smog can […]
Surviving In Alaska’s Bush With A Husqvarna 640
The Husqvarna 640 Mystery All one man needed to survive in the bush was a Husqvarna 640 By Mike Rogers I’ll admit from the onset of this piece that I’m a rifle nut. I genuinely like messing around with hunting rifles in all their various forms and permutations and have for all of my adult […]
Hope, Alaska – Memories of Mining, Camping and Reviving One’s Spirit
Hope On A Rope – Memories of Hope, Alaska by Michael Hankins The first time I visited Hope, Alaska, was the summer of 1966. My father transferred to Elmendorf Air Force Base (A.F.B.) that year from Reese A.F.B. in Lubbock, Texas. We arrived in Anchorage on May 17th and headed straight to the Lucky Wishbone […]
An Average Alaskan Boy – Remembering The Fallen
An Average Alaskan Boy By Heinie Snider | from his book, “So Was Alaska” originally published in 1961 This story is about one such boy, just an average Alaskan youth. It was in the year 1917 and Anchorage was just starting to be a town—Fourth Avenue was the only street—Fifth, Sixth and Seventh were still […]
Captain Payne – The Greatest Shipmaster of the Alaska Marine Highway
Captain Payne – “What a ride! What a captain!” by Captain Bill Hopkins AMHS (retired) Captain Harold Payne (1921 – 2002) was, in my opinion, the greatest shipmaster the Alaska Marine Highway System has ever produced. Payne was a kind man, and some took advantage of his good nature, but very little ever escaped his […]
Shemya Island – Exploring In Remote Alaska
An Unlikely Thing – Exploring Shemya Island By: Michael Rogers | Photos by: Jeff Brummett My work in Alaska has never been what my friends in the Lower 48 think of as “normal.” I had travelled to many locations that by the reckoning of my childhood friends were positively outlandish—the North Slope oil camps, remote Interior […]
Captain Hofstad – A Mentor Who Taught How to Navigate Alaska’s Waters
“Captain Hofstad” Captain Hofstad – A Veteran of the Alaska Marine Highway and Mentor Who Taught How to Navigate Alaska’s Waters by Captain Bill Hopkins AMHS (retired) Many fine captains with incredible backgrounds and experience have sailed with the Alaska Marine Highway System. Sailing under the leadership and mentoring example of Captain Richard Twain Hofstad […]
A Grueling Day of Family Fun in the Fireweed 200
A Long Ride to Valdez Racing in the Fireweed Bicycle Race by Anne Sanders Each July, for the last thirteen years, bikers from across the world have been lining up at Sheep Mountain Lodge in Glacier View, Alaska, and readying themselves for a 50, 100, 200, or 400 mile jaunt along the Glenn and Richardson […]
Scary Encounters While Hunting on the Melozi River
Close Calls on the Melozi River by Marty Van Diest As we circled above the wooded valley, setting up for a sandbar landing next to the Melozitna River, I inwardly doubted Bob’s enthusiasm about this hunt. Among the small rivers that flow into the Yukon River between the towns of Tanana and Ruby are the […]
