Once An Alaskan Always An Alaskan

Sled Dog Racing Heats Up

2012-01-25T19:16:00.000-08:00

by Robert L.Gisel

The dog sled racing season is really heating up in Alaska. The Kusko 300 just completed with a surpise win, the 1000 mile Yukon Quest is well enrolled in February, and the Iditarod comes up in March with 69 sign-ups so far. All told there are nearly a dozen mid-range and long range sled dog races in Alaska.

The finish of the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race sees Rohn Buser first across the line. That is Rohn, not his four time Iditarod winning father Martin. This is an outstanding win for Rohn, considering the high caliber of his opponents in the all-out dash for the $20,000 prize for first place.

This is a high-purse race that pays prize money all the way to 20th place, you just have to finish without scratching. This year, of 16 teams, 15 finished, one scratched, and last place still made $2500. The top 5 usually get paid $20,000, $15,000, $10,000, $7,000, $6,000, and it slides down from there to make this a popular race of the legendary racers.

This is a good race to test your dogs, so it gets a number of Iditarod veterans preparing for that key race coming up in March, or for the Yukon Quest. So far, only one of the K300 racers is entered in the Quest, Lance Mackey. 13 of the 16 racers have all run the Iditarod multiple times and all but three of the 16 have entered the 2012 Iditarod.

The list of who Rohn beat reads like the Hall of Fame Honor Roll of dog mushers. With a finishing time of 41:12:02 he beat out the rest of the top five by as little as 31 minutes, to 2 hours 26 minutes. Only 31 minutes behind him to finish second was last years Iditarod record breaking winner Greg Baker. 16 minutes behind Baker is the last years K300 winner, Paul Gebhart. Another Iditarod veteran, Lance Mackey, came in fifth, two and a half hours behind Rohn. Lance is the only Iditarod winner of four consecutive years and four consecutive wins of the Yukon Quest, said to be the toughest of them all, that runs 1000 miles between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Canada. His father, Martin Buser, another four time Iditarod winner, plus two times winner of the Kusko, finished the 300 mile race in ninth place. He won the K300 his first time in the race in 1994. All told, competition was tough, the best of the best.

Rohn's time averages to about 7.3 miles per hour, including all the stops and the four hour mandatory layover at Tulusak, making this a fairly high speed race. Rohn comments that his dogs did all the right things, stayed happy, ate when they should and slept when they should so team and driver were tracking together well. Sunday morning they mushed through a headwind and chill factors to 50 below.

He started with 13 dogs, as one of his pick got loose and went AWOL before the race, and finished with 10. He and his father brought 28 dogs from their 100 dog kennel and divided them up. Looks like Rohn got the fastest dogs, or else they just cooperated well with him for the race. By winning this Rohn has made himself known as one of the best in dog sled racing.

It you have observed the dogs when staging for a race they are excited and their eyes are bright as they leap up and down raring to go. This is what they live for. They get to travel, go on beautiful road trips, get their picture taken lots, and eat steak when they win or finish well. Alaska celebrities.

A couple other race wins are worth mentioning. Bill Kornmuller wins the two day speed classic in 1:21:32. For the 32 mile race that is an average of 21.3 mph. We are talking fast dogs! In 17:41:19 Jennifer peeks became the first woman to win the Bogus Creek 150.

There is still time to book your flights to Fairbanks and Anchorage to catch the action of the long range Iditarod and Yukon Quest races. It you haven't been training with your dogs, it is too late to enter these.

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Santa Claus Charged With Benefice

2011-12-21T11:40:00.000-08:00

Is this Santa's Church in Arctic Village?

by Robert L. Gisel

An investigative team is in Alaska trying to track down Santa Claus, to get some hard answers from the internationally renown world traveler and philanthropist, who appears to be in hot water.

It has been determined Mr. Claus, who also uses the aliases Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas and Kris Kringle, is the single most sought individual for answers to the real concerns of peoples today. It is yet to be decided whether he has been answering the questions or causing their origination. For this reason he has been accused by overzealous Prosecuting Attorney Ebenezer Scrooge of deceitful manipulation of information to children of the world, insider trading called gifting, and discretionary favoritism.

The Prosecutor further alleges he has evidence of a Santa's List with naughty and nice designations. Scrouge claims that on the charge of benefice alone, if found guilty, Santa could be looking at hard time for 6 billion counts of a 100 years.

The intensity of the widespread search to find the fugitive Santa Claus is so much more than previous years there has been a record high disrespect to the pretend Santa's in the malls of the world. This has resulted in unprecedented reports and more than the usual number of complaints filed for pulled beards and exploratory punches to the stomach pillows.

Rumor has it that a log cabin church in Arctic Village in the Brooks Range is being staked out for the possible appearance of the famed woolen-garbed jet setter. The sagging roof is believed to be the indication of repeated landing of a reindeer sleigh. Special hoards of eggnog and cookies were flown in for a sting operation to attempt to snare the suspect.

Some of the burning questions flooding in to his usual hideout in North Pole, Alaska, which been of highest interest are these:

-- What effect will today's economy have on Santa's deliveries this year?

-- Is good will and giving as important as it used to be?

-- Has joy to the world lost its meaning?

-- Will the loss of value in the world's currencies falsely inflate the value of loving friendships?

In spite of satellite surveillance and drone technologies Santa has miraculously managed to fly under the radar and escape detection. Numerous Elves have been pulled in for questioning as to Santa's whereabouts but no data is forthcoming.

Mrs. Claus is quoted as saying "Santa is such a quizitive youngster, there's no telling where he and the Elves are playing today." As the Prosecutor says, "This Claus fellow has been illegally crossing borders, transporting goods with no customs checks, or any regard for hallowed authority. We have got to crack down on this beneficious giving before people start getting the idea it is possible to live free and be happy."

The reward of great satisfaction is being offered to any verified leads on Santa's whereabouts. Just leave the data in the comments below.

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Clever Whales and Clever Tour Guides

2011-12-17T19:10:00.000-08:00

by Robert L. Gisel

As I mentioned in my earlier post Close Up Whale Watching, the bubble net is a trick used by groups of whales to round up their very own smorgasbord. One particular Alaskan company, Alaska Passages Adventure Cruises takes advantage of this.

You have to come to Southeast Alaska for the event as it is one of the few locations in the world where you can see this phenomena of the humpback whale. Alaska Passages hails out of Petersburg.

Whales work together as a team activity to create the feast. Freaking out a herring school with an encircling "curtain" of air bubbles, the humpback causes the herring to come together in a tight ball. One, or several whales, creates the bubble net, while others swim below to drive the herring up to the surface, then others yet herd the fish into the bubble net by vocalizing. All together they sweep upward through the center scooping mouthfuls of herring, thousands at a time.

It is most usually multiple whales, but single humpbacks have been seen feeding with the bubble net technique. When you come to think about it, it is a very ingenuous method.

In a South Pacific nation the native fishermen would float slats of wood on the surface casting shadows through the water. Creating the appearance of solid bars this way, fish were driven into the shallows where they could be netted. Perhaps they learned this from the intelligent whales.

It is obviously a very practiced trick. In this video you can see the herring ball before the whales breach together into it. Here is another video that shows the tightening circle of the bubbles around the herring ball.

Alaska Passages Adventure Cruises is a private yacht that is familiar with this and home in on the group breaching activity for an exciting tourist adventure. Here they have posted their explanation of how it works. They know of the trick and look for it.

It would be bad business to promote whale watching and not see any whales, but Alaska Passages is clever about this. They utilize a radio network of fishing boats, other whale watching tours, aircraft, and their knowledgeable experience to locate whales. They have seen groups as many as 25 whales strong breaching in mass. That is really delivering the money's worth.

It must be the massive size of these wild mammals that is such a high interest item. Alaska Passages don't only engage in whale watching, though. They are aware of the other high interest items, fishing, wildlife, glacier touring, and kayaking, or whatever else you might come up with. It is a flexible and cozy private cruise, 6 persons maximum.

Please note, when it comes to whale watching, close to, not in the middle of, a bubble net is most recommended.

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Exposure Alaska -- Active Tours

2011-12-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

by Robert L. Gisel

Now this is what I have been talking about -- swing a paddle, left an ice pick, extreme Alaska, go anywhere the tour boat isn't. The tour guide company Exposure Alaska has a trip for everyone, and if you don't see it in their itinerary then they will help you make one up.

The owners say about the business "After living, working and traveling around the world, we've made Alaska our home because there's really no place else on earth quite like it." (Emphasis mine.) This is what prompted me to write a book about Alaska, to start the blog Once An Alaskan, and to help promote tourism for people who really want to reach out to the wilds of Alaska.

To stand and look from the deck of a cruise liner you will see memorable scenerama. When you spend some time paddling with whales in the salt water mist, tossing down the rapids, backpacking through remote woods, or mounting the glacier, this is live experience which will impact you even more with its rich experience. "Sure you might get a little tired and wet, but the rewards will be well worth it."

You can see I am a firm believer in activities that put one hands on with the wilds of Alaska, so I can relate to the guiding services provided by Exposure Alaska.

This site came up on a Google search for a winter dog sled tour but I didn't find this on their site. The winter tours button went to a "page cannot be found", however. The principles Don and Tina document their having worked at the South Pole so this would very likely include dog sledding experience, but I'm stretching. Perhaps they will fill me in when I can get my cell phone back from where I left it.

A Big Storm Is Not Unusual

2011-11-09T18:38:00.000-08:00

Photo: Alissa Pasinski

by Robert L. Gisel

The AP is running a news feed that the monster storm in Alaska is unusual. This is dubious. Not at wind gusts up to 80 knots. Where I come from it is called Taku winds, and it happens pretty much every year in Juneau. It could be that the news reports are overblown.

This one is "different", it is said. The forecast 7 foot higher water apparently hasn't occurred recently, but it is still 1/2 the 1974 storm, which was less than the record storm in 1913. Also, it comes earlier in the year before the ice has formed that would normally shelter the shore. It is likely to be an exceptionally high tide on some low land beach front not protected this time by the harbor ice.

"The last time forecasters saw something similar was in November 1974, when Nome also took the brunt of the storm. That surge measured more than 13 feet (4 meters), pushing beach driftwood above the level of the previous storm of its type in 1913."

So things are moved up to the second story, the picture windows of the beach front Polar Cafe in Nome are boarded up, the people will live through a bit of storm, Alaskans are still Alaskans. The reporters who are in a whoo-haw about this should stay out of Alaska and forget any on-location reporting. The residents don't want to have to save the rear end of some Chechaquo who can't take a little weather.

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On Alaska: An Alaskan Boy Talks of Life With A Bush Pilot Dad

2011-10-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

by Robert L Gisel

To publish or not to publish: it is getting really down on the line, and as usual the author is never yet satisfied.

There have been a lot of questions of when the book will come out showing that there is much interest in it, which is a good thing. This may even encourage the author to stop choking up on the bat and slam it home.

Publishing is a wonderful gig, but you have to appreciate the trepidations of a writer. Once you hit publish, it is out there, public domain forever, minus retractions. Regardless of how many times before you have hit the publish button it is always with a sense of anticipation and generally undue concern.

With today's electronic society we have a high speed freeway of information. Flub a tweet putting out a nonsense word like "refudiate" and it can become the subject of two million articles in a matter of months. What is the worst that can happen? It could make it really tough, if not impossible, to run for President. That suits me fine, as I never aspired to run for President.

With that in mind the book, On Alaska: An Alaskan Boy Tells Of Life With a Bush Pilot Dad has been finished three times, at the least. This time the deadline line is to be released in December.

The delay is in part for final thematic edits. The book will actually be one you will be glad you read. The other part has to do with the final fact checking which is requiring some adjustments to the text. Then there is the report yet to come by from the Private Investigator on some particularly salacious...(just kidding).

Contrary to popular speculation it is not an expose. I'm sorry if that disappoints the gossip columns, but I cherish my friends. It might be amusing in a weird sort of way, but my philosophy is that juicy is for chewing gum, screenplays and romance novels. So my friends are off limits for that kind of tripe. Except for my big brother.

There is a lot of humor in the book just so you don't get bored. In case you have any problem with that there is a drill. You bounce your stomach while saying Ho, Ho Ho, and it will come naturally after a bit. We can't have anyone saying it wasn't funny.

This is all camouflage for the real reason for the book, something I have wanted to say that has to be said without sounding too serious. When my family first arrived in Alaska it was the year of Statehood. It is not something I would have voted for, but they didn't ask me. After the official tally it was only a State in name and still wearing the mantle of Territory for many years yet to come.

The flavor of frontier is what makes Alaska what it is, and Alaskans proud to be a part of it. In too many ways this has been threatened by clueless politicians four thousand miles away and "well meaning" Chechaquos. The last stronghold of the freedom, independence and rights to life of the nation founded on those tenets is seeing a last stand against mongers of endless rules and control. Heaven forbid that Alaska will subdue to a mindlessly boring status quo.

Why do people go to a frontier if not for freedom to have and independence to do and enough space to be what they want. There's all of that, and there's also usually some really good outdoor eatin'. I just went there for pan fried trout.

Then there was this novelty that Father was a Bush Pilot. One who loved fun, was mischievous, highly respected, exceptionally courageous and very good at what he did. It added dimension to life. Everyone should grow up that way. But then, if everyone could climb in and fly off from their back yard the the population rush might overcome the remoteness and smother the frontier.

With all that, here is a book, coming soon on an ePlatform near you.

Alaska's Monsters

2011-10-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

Loch Ness Monster

by Robert L. Gisel

Now the Loch Ness Monster is in Alaska, soon to be showing at a theater near you. Since the Kushtaka (spirit people) bear in Chuck Keen's movie Timber Tramps didn't make adequate history we need a remake.

The Strangest Story Ever Told first made famous, outside of Alaska, the Kushtaka, the spirit people of Alaska Native folklore. Looking for a rich vein of gold reported to be in the Thomas Bay just north of Petersburg and Wrangell, the prospector came back truly scared out of his wits with an unbelievable tale.

In what is now known as the "Devils's Country", the story teller Harry D Colp's miining partner was chased by these half humanoid, half ape devil creatures. Hairy all over, about four feet tall with very large feet and overlong arms, they took up pursuit of him from which he barely escaped alive.

He was so shook up about the incident he was very reluctant to talk about it. All he wanted to do was go immediately back to the States. All that drama and other supporting stories gave credibility to the tale which has only garnered more tales since its first telling in 1900.

The gold rush to the Canadian Cassier area was itself prey to to the Kushtaka that stopped the mining from happening sooner than it did. The Indian Chief refused to take them to the head waters of the Iskut River as he was convinced there were spirit people there killing anyone who went there.

That was in British Columbia off of the Stikine River which comes out just south of Alaska, but also winds up into Canada on the other side of the border from Thomas Bay. Before that you hang a right onto the Iskut River a hundred miles due west of Thomas Bay. That's perhaps not coincidental, as the spirit people can really get around.

Contemporary stories of the Kushtaka abound around Petersburg. My best friend worked there for a summer, surveying, when he talked to a young man who talked to a lady who had a face to face with a Kushtaka. The man would park down a road with his girl friend near the lady's house. Her husband had gone missing and she put candles in the windows keeping alive a hope for his return. After about a month the candles were no longer there. The man and his girl went to her door to ask about this, that maybe they had found her husband.

It happened like this. One night she had a knock at the door. When she opened it there stood a Kushtaka. In silence he raised his left hand knuckles towards her to show that he had her husband's wedding band on his finger. She closed the door and that was the end of that.

Modern enthusiasts for this sort of urban legend claim the Thomas Bay Kushtaka is a Bigfoot. There is no mention of the difference in height from the four feet of the former and the eight feet or more of the later. Don't worry about that -- Wookee or mini-Wookee, we can just adjust the camera angles.

East of there in Canada is also where Albert Ostman was held captive by a family of Bigfeet (is that the plural of Bigfoot?). That is his story and he is sticking to it.

Iliamna Lake, Alaska is now presumed to be the host of Alaska's own Loch Ness Monster. After reported sightings the Anchorage Daily Times sent a reporter to investigate. Finding nothing, a reward of $100,000 was offered for any solid evidence. Perhaps the closest encounter was another writer, Craig Medred, who says he lassoed the monster, but he had to let go when it was dragging his kayak in excess of 30 miles per hour. What was he thinking?!

Alaska's Loch Ness Monster now has attracted the attention of the TV people of The Greatest Catch. An Alaskan fisherman caught a video of the creature in Kathemak Bay good enough to send the TV adventurers looking for it themselves. The critter is being called a Cadborosaurus, just so they have a somewhat legitimized species to give bonifides to their search.

We'll see. Legends are great things, aren't they?

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Glacier Trekking in Juneau

2011-09-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

by Robert L Gisel

So you want to go home with a wild tale of Alaska? What better yarn can you tell back home than touching and crawling around inside a glacier for your own personal rendition of Jack London.

In Juneau there is an opportunity to experience the glacier that you won't easily get anywhere else in Alaska. Because the Mendenhall Glacier is so accessible this makes for a very memorable adventure, can be done within a day, and get you back to the ship on time.

On a trip up the inside passage possibly the best way to experience Ketchikan and the Misty Fjords is by kayak, but in Juneau you can get close in on the glacier, and that is something you don't want to miss, while it lasts. That is a sad tale, for us old time Alaskans.

Of the glaciers in Alaska roughly 20% are advancing and about 80% are receding. Taku Glacier is advancing. Mendenhall used to advance 40 feet in the winter and recede 80 feet in the summer. Now it is receding 400 to 600 feet a year. It still comes up to the lake, but only for another year or two. Get up there soon, in other words, before it backs off entirely leaving rock in front of it.

You can go there on your own, if you have any experience with prowling around glaciers. The fairly easy trails on either side of Mendenhall glacier require no guide, East Trail for viewing it from above, West Trail to access the glacier itself.

Mendenhall Glacier 2002

If you want to explore the ice caves, though, it is safest to go with a guide. The caves can be unstable and dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. For ice climbing, go with a guide.

You can rent a kayak, if you didn't bring your own, and paddle on Mendenhall Lake up to the glacier to view its magnificence that way. That doesn't require as much vigor and still the scenerama is awesome.

To make sure you have the best hands-on glacier adventure get a real Alaskan guide to take you to their favorite spots known to be exciting . There is a good tour guide service that will make sure you don't get lost in a crevasse or crushed by the glacier, which I recommend, Above and Beyond Alaska, LLC.

Born and raised in Alaska that makes them Sourdoughs, for Sean third generation, second generation for Becky, and they are professional, experienced, and licensed guides. Heralded as "a real Alaskan experience", "life changing", and "the highlight of our Alaskan trip", these are great testimonials to their glacier trekking and ice climbing tours.

Go there while it lasts and get close in on the glacier, bring a camera, and bring back a good yarn.

On Alaska, The Book

2011-08-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

Chilcat Ferry to Juneau, 1959

by Robert L. Gisel

Soon the eBook will be done and published. Seems much more to do comes to light as I take another read of it and consider its elements. This will just make it that much better. Still, there is an end in sight.

Having grown up in Alaska with a Bush Pilot father made for some interesting times. We were always going somewhere in the plane or the helicopter. It was an exciting lifestyle. Being neither a city dweller nor a ground animal was ever my gig, so this played to my desires.

Growing up is a crystallizing experience as it is. Having flying vehicles and the wealth of adventure afforded by that is edifying to a lad. Peers of mine had never been up in an airplane, what I took for a regular occurrence. It just means you get to experience the land from the top to the bottom. Those experiences make for an interesting story.

Statehood was voted in the year we moved there but in most respects that didn't catch up with the land until much later. We no longer called it a Territory but it acted that way nevertheless. Decades of Federalization has hammered at those freedoms but never taken away the wild side.

A lot of what it means to be an Alaskan has to do with the fact that it is so newly a State. The rest lies in its circumstance of being so far off the traveled paths, and in being so vast that there aren't even paths to travel to most of the land.

It has always been that the Great Land provides much opportunity for excursions into the frontier wilderness. The land is so spectacular even the more sedate Tour Boat route takes your breath away.

The book has much to say about all of this. It is worth reading. Now I need keep my fingers on the key board and make it available.

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Remote Alaska Backpacking

2011-08-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

by Robert L. Gisel

The sweet spot of The Great Land is that its wilderness is so vast and its wilds are so uninhabited you truly can go where no other has trekked for some time.

It has been noted that separating from the crowds and getting out to activities off the beaten track is gaining popularity in Alaska. A trip is a lot more memorable when you get off the tour ship, way off.

Frontier wilderness can be as dangerous as it is beautiful. Before you set out on a roll your own Lewis and Clarke expedition you should consider going out with an experienced Alaskan guide for this kind of adventure. This is for your protection, whether you are an experienced hiker or initiate, but as much so, to protect the virgin land from careless incursions.

I have come across a guide service I would recommend. Alaska Alpine Adventures has as a purpose to reach out to "...the most remote and spectacular places in the state..." This fits the growing need to part from the crowds and experience the untouched scenearama (that's a word, now, Wikionary take note).

Their web site at first (text, not images and layout) seems a bit boring, until you go through it all, read the testimonials, the blog and the staff thumbnails. You will leave civilization and enter remote wilderness. It is an opportunity to touch the natural beauty, to connect with your travel companions and to assume a new peace with yourself.

Their hiking trips are generally 10 to 13 days, a small group of 8 at the most, with a 1 to 4 guide ratio, running about $3-4,000, rave meals included, with a satisfying package well designed to please.

The outfit has been in operation since 1998 and have been recognized by publications such as National Geographic, Adventure, and Outside Magazine for their professional service. They have not shown up in Hustler, Mad Magazine, or the 5 O'clock News, which we take as a recommendation as well.

Their trips are mostly hiking but they do have some some kayaking, inflated canoe rafting, and skiing trips where solitude, wildlife, and nature make for an even more unforgettable trip.

If you can't hitchhike the universe you can still hitch along on trips into the bush with these professional and personable folk.

See their site: Alaska Alpine Adventures

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Blue Whale Close-Up

2011-08-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

by Robert L. Gisel

Some people insist they must watch whales from really close. At feet away, on a paddle board, this was just about too much for the rider.

It is the season of krill runs off the coast of the organic health food capital of the world, Orange County, California. This has attracted a good number of whales to feast on the delicacy, not missing the fact that nothing provides Omega 3s as well as krill.

With the whale some tens of yards off, the paddler decided he could slip into the water to get some great underwater footage. When the path of the whale takes it a dozen feet away that is evidently too scary, and the paddle boarder is back out of the water like a shot.

It is just as well. Twelve feet from the side of an eighty foot blue whale what is there to see? A wall of blubber. Watch out for fins. When the whale dived the fluke surfaced a mere 20 feet in front of the surfer. Seems he could been swatted by the massive tail.

Truth be known, these sea mammals are quite aware of their surroundings, very alert about people, they are not clumsy, and are not likely to step on you accidentally. They are decidedly not aggressive.

The guidelines of the National Marine Fisheries Services declare a separation order. You are prohibited from deliberately approaching within 50 yards.of whales. Evidently, when it is other way to, the whale approaches you, you have an alibi. The best interpretation of this is that it is not Moby Dick that is of concern, rather it is the matter of offending the whales lest they change their behavior. We wouldn't think an 80 foot mammal would be so sensitive.

Communing with cetaceans, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, is like going to a Mensa gathering: they are very intelligent, much smarter than politicians, in fact.

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Best of Kenai Fijords National Park

2011-06-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

Kenai Peninsula tour, day 2.

by Robert L. Gisel

Surfing links today I came across a great 5-day tour that has a variety of activities and gets one involved. It is too weird to use a cliche and call it proactive?

Still, you get a train ride, kayaking, boat tour, whales maybe (they have to be home), over water, over land, Alaska fjords and glaciers. This is a pretty good 5-day package for doing the Alaska thing. Just leave your laptop at home, you won't want it where you are going.

Alaska Heritage Tours calls this their Best of Kenai Fjords National Park 5 days/ 4 nights. This is one of the partner companies of of the CIRI Alaska Tourism Corporation of Alaska Natives, links at the bottom of their web page. In other words, authentic Alaska.

Look at their itinerary below.

Kenai Fjords 5-Day Tour:

Day 1: Anchorage / Seward / Fox Island

Travel by rail Anchorage to Seward
Transfer by boat to Fox Island
Overnight at Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge

Day 2: Fox Island / Sea Kayaking

Embark on a full day guided kayaking excursion
Afternoon at leisure on Fox Island
Second night at Kenai Fjord Wilderness Lodge

Day 3: Fox Island / Seward

Check-out after breakfast on Fox Island
Depart Fox Island on the Northwestern Fjords Tour
Overnight at Seward Windsong Lodge

Day 4: Seward

Exit Glacier Walking Tour
Ididaride dog sled ride / tour
Second night at Seward Windsong Lodge

Day 5: Seward / Anchorage

Visit the Alaska SeaLife Center, Afternoon at leisure
Travel by coach Seward to Anchorage
Tour Ends

Experience the Everlasting Great Land

2011-06-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Juneau, Alaska, from the gill netter Kiksadi.

by Robert L. Gisel

It is a bright summer day when you can stand in Juneau and gaze upward to the summit of the mountains, green and white against the clear blue skies, with the last remnants of winter's snowfall glittering in the Alaskan sun. Looking thus you can almost hear the angels song, as your awareness expands outward to appreciate the vastness of untouched lands.

When next you are asked where you are from you say Alaska, whether this be wholly from where you hail or not, such is the pride of having walked the walk. After announcing this you bemuse the odd questions asked as if Alaska were on another planet, or at least a lesser known continent only newly arrived at by Columbus.

What you'd take for granted as every day life circumstance will be of intrigue to those who haven't caressed the land and challenged the wilderness.

It is no myth: Alaska is a magical land. Its scenic beauty is breathtaking. The very extremes defy life. Yet living there brings out the best in more more ways than one.

A group of bears that rip the salmon in their claws, a wild wolf pack sweeping back and forth in the woods in front of you, passing under the deepest blue of a glacier that does not cave in on you, encountering a snorting moose, very still lest he charge, traversing the rain forest to land on a small lake so remote you won't cross paths with a soul, silently slipping through the water in a kayak next to the blow of a sperm whale -- how many memories does it take to endear one to a special land.

Invariably when I say I'm from Alaska it elicits the comment, "always wanted to go there". Or having been there, want to go there again. Truly it is an experience that never leaves you.

It is the land, it is the the wildlife, it is the people that make it an unforgettable experience. It becomes you like no other place I have been. Thus the saying, once an Alaskan, always an Alaskan. If you live there now, or have, you know what I mean.

You are invited north to experience this greatness. But only a few of you, so we keep the population down to frontier numbers.

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Hiking Juneau

2011-06-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

East Glacier Trail.

by Robert L. Gisel

Heading off to the wilderness land without getting off the guided tour is touring without getting your money's worth, says this Alaskan. I'd recommend getting your money's worth on your trip to Alaska, but that may mean you have to be prepared to do some hiking, or pick up a paddle, or trudge a little in the snow. Finding extreme Alaska, or just getting off the beaten path to get a more inside view, you should be willing to strike an adventure.

Ice caves, West Glacier Trail.

Here are a few tips that might have been missed by the travel agent.

You can, of course, take it very easy on a trip to Alaska, ride the tour boat to the Main Street tourist shops and the Red Dog Saloon. If you have waited until your later retirement years where that is as strenuous as you best go, that is fine, do it. You can still pick up the flavor of old Alaska. Three short city blocks up the hill is the Capital Building, same as it was in the Territorial day. That is where you can see the legislative chambers, possibly in session, the Governor's Office and so forth. There is a mounted giant Alaska King Crab in reception. It is about half the size of the crabs that were caught in the 60s, yet still it will cover a small dining table.

Off to the west on 4th Street and around the corner several short blocks is the Governor's Mansion, same one as the Territorial Governor occupied. It is right on the street and you can knock on the door if you want. The Gov may or may not be there, but that is where he stays when he is in Juneau. The street on the way has a good overlook of the lower city, the boat harbor, and the bridge to Douglas Island. If you are just walking the city it is good to walk this way.

If your idea of seeing Alaska is more than walking some city streets, but rather setting out to explore without the guided tours, more power to you. Here are some options.

There are evidently 90 hiking trails around the Juneau area alone, so there is no doubt one that will fit your interests and preferences and difficulty level. Lord knows where these all are, but that is the figure that is given. If you dedicate a couple summers to that you could possibly check them all out.

Several of these trails can be accessed from the city itself, no vehicular travel necessary. The Perseverance Trail starts 3,000 feet down the Basin Road at the top of the city. It is an easy walk up to the Glory Hole. Literally, you start from the city, and it is one of the easiest trails.

Also starting from the city but one of the more strenuous hiking trails is the Mount Juneau Trail. It starts off from a little ways down the Perseverance Trail. It is a hiking trail, but it gets rather steep and tricky in places where you have to scramble up the rocks and switch backs. The view at the top is a nice payoff, beautifully panoramic.

The Mount Roberts Trail starting from the city is factually a rather moderate hike through the tree line to the top, another spectacular view of the area. When you get there you can have lunch in the restaurant and talk with some people who came to the top in the sky tram.

There are two trails you can drive out to on either side of the glacier. The East Trail winds up on the side of the mountains to the east, past a couple Falls and giving an unforgettable look down onto the glacier.

From the West Trail you can approach, touch, walk on, and under the ice. This I say with reservation, as the glacier can be as deadly as a bear. You can go into the ice caves, at your own risk.

These caverns are created from the pull back and the drainage runoff of the glacial mass. It can collapse randomly and will collapse provoked with enough noise. A school friend just had to see Alaska, went to Juneau, walked up on the frozen lake to the face of the terminus with a group of friends laughing, shouting and carrying on, until the face of the glacier calved. Now she is an ice worm, along with the whole group. Don't monkey around with that one, unless you have a death wish for a cold day in hell and like to be smothered in ice.

On the lighter side there are trails to where you can kayak or canoe, and there is a white water rafting trip you can connect up with. You can even hike up to the ice field or arrange to fly there. The Lemon Creek Trail goes all the way up to the Lemon Glacier from where you can hike onto the Juneau Ice Field, if you are so inclined. If the weather is acceptable a couple of flight seeing tours will land to let you walk around or ride a dog sled on the ice field. This is the part about trudging in the snow.

What is left of the wilderness frontier is still close at hand. Scraping your hands on the rocks and scratching your arms on the the underbrush in the fourth mile gets the juices flowing that serve to supercharge your happy memories. This is worth far more than any hundreds of photographs you might take. Taking it all in with the exhilaration of a 3,000 foot drop below you is worth more than all those Kodachromes combined.

Pearson's Pond Luxury B&B Inn, Suites and Adventure Spa, which is highly recommended as a four-star B&B Inn to stay on your trip to Juneau, have gone to great lengths to detail all the pleasure spots and will be happy to point the way to some good hard fun and adventure.

Come to Juneau for a visit, and bring your hiking boots.

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Kung Fu Bears

2011-06-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Be prepared: you never know when you might run into people.

by Robert L. Gisel

It is a hackneyed saying, in the interests of survival in any bear habitat, don't place yourself between a mother bear and her cubs. The instincts of motherhood coupled with the combative power of the species put too much adrenalin in the fore to be reckoned with. It is called 'pissed off', or 'Extreme PO'. Then again, you should consider the wrath of the cubs may be worse.

The good news is the mother will not permit this to happen where that is possible. Should you come in down wind, run in upon the cubs unexpectedly so as to surprise or corner or threaten the mother and cubs, this would be a sure way to invite battle. Given enough advance warning, the mother will herd the cubs out of danger.

Yes, danger, as the bear can consider you dangerous to them as you may consider them dangerous to you. If you think about it, people kill far more bears than the other way around.

An unusual event occurred in the night in Yellowstone National Park where a mother bear with three cubs ripped through tents to kill one person and injure two others before the campers found safety in their cars. The cubs were found to be malnourished. Goes to show, a mother might do anything to feed her kids.

Use good judgment always, but make sure you have learned the parameters of appropriate response. Here is a link to a fairly good list on attack avoidance, for starters, and a definitive Tongass Forest article on living in peace with the bears. The key is mutual respect. Hey, with respect the Palestinians and Israelis could even learn to live without attacking each other.

One man, Mark Stintson, takes difference with the mother and cubs rule. He tells of a black bear sow that hibernated under their porch in Wisconsin for some months. He didn't have the heart to evict this bear, making such a racket under the porch, when he saw she was in labor having cubs. That's truly cohabiting with nature.

Here is a person who walked with a mother and cubs and caught it on film. This modifying consideration does not invalidate the stable datum: don't get between the mother and her cubs without a negotiated settement. It is an apparency of threat that kicks the adrenalin into attack mode with all the wrath of motherly protection.

Several decades ago a Southeast Alaskan family raised an orphaned cub as a household pet. This worked out well until he got too big for the house. The grown bear could stand on its hind legs and poke his head over the eve of the roof.

The family forgot to inform the contract roofer about their pet. When the bear poked his head over the roof the worker was so scared he leaped off the other side -- forget the ladder -- and raced away from there in his truck. They had to get another roofer to finish the job as the first one refused to return. Scaredy cat.

I believe he was eventually sold to a zoo, or maybe it was Hollywood (the pet bear, not the fearful roofer). Wild animals can learn to get along with people, where the people aren't so ornery.

Another formidable reason not to violate the mother and cubs rule is that it has now been discovered bear cubs know karate. The Jackie Chan Martial Arts Program for Kids goes out of its way to be indiscriminate.

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Where Would We Be Without The Coast Guard.

2011-05-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

by Robert L. Gisel

In Alaska you have to appreciate the Coast Guard for all they do, as without them there would be a higher mortality rate in a land already dangerous to the limits. There is no AAA Club Premier service when you are stuck in a crevasse on the glacier or your boat is threatening to sink at Gambier Bay. At times like these who you gonna call?

To me the Coast Guard is its rescue function. The new emphasis on border patrol and illegal crossings is unfortunate. It is like telling the fire department to keep their eyes out for drugs. I can't think of a more appropriate place to have the air and sea mobile assistance of the CG than in Southeast Alaska.

USCG Rush in Juneau.

As one Rear Adm moves on another takes the helm for the division that covers the Pacific. The change of command warrants a celebration visit by the USCG RUSH. Nice ship but mostly too much for the Inside Passage. For the Gulf of Alaska though, based out of Kodiak, this vessel could really be utilized. It looks like it will be more broadly used as it says in their website. "every part of the Pacific Ocean as well as to the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea". That means they could be anywhere from Nome to Guam when you make that call for assistance.

Somehow they always seem to be around to trump the adventure in Alaska.

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The Northern Lights

2011-04-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

See Terje Sorgjerd's video.

by Robert L. Gisel

While Alaska has its reputation as viewing grounds for the enthralling phenomena of the Northern Lights, any of the far north countries in the winter will do. In this case the video is of Russian Northern Lights, which they can now share with us since the Iron curtain came down. Alaska has a lot in common with its former owners including the whole array of Arctic climate phenomena.

Alaska doesn't have a monopoly on the Northern Lights as these can be viewed from any of the far north countries. Alaska was once Russian territory so sharing this video from there is apropos. The photographer Terje Sorgjerd shot the well executed video in Russia. The light show itself is exceptional, one of the best I have ever seen even though this is a compilation of a week's nights.

The Aurora Borealis, known as the Northern Lights, come out to play most often during the equinox, far north and very cold climes. Terje says it is 70 degree latitude north and -25 degrees Celsius. The northernmost tip of Alaska is about latitude 68 while Arctic circle is at 66 and change. Minus 25 Celsius is only minus 14 Fahrenheit, which is, to me, is an average winter day in Anchorage.

The Northern Lights are basically electrical storms outside the atmosphere of earth. For the layman you could think of it as a sort of sheet lightening in the ionosphere around the magnetic poles. Like a magnet pulls in metal shavings, the magnetic poles of the earth draw in toward the north and south poles hot flashes of solar energy, called solar storms. In the magnetosphere, magnetic field of earth, this turns into a visible energy, basically colored light. In short, it's a hell of a show.

This video of the Lights I would visually date in early winter, October or November, or near the end. Notice that the sun in the first video sequence moves along the horizon, that is to say, it doesn't sink it a perpendicular arc as we are used to in the States. There is some daylight but not a very long day. The tag says one month ago. March.

Many a night in Alaska I would find myself out on the lawn in shirt sleeves gawking at the aurora with the neighbors doing the same. It is an unforgettable phenomena to say the least. Nostalgic, I'd have to say.

Google search reveals the Northern Lights is also an American Progressive bluegrass band with as many fluctuations in its make up as the Alaska Northern Lights.

Shooting star and moon watching have become so mundane by comparison I'd recommend a trip north just to see the Northern Lights for yourself.

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Close Up Whale Watching

2011-04-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

by Robert L. Gisel

Watching for whale can sometimes reap a spectacular event, like this one, with no guarantee of a repeat performance.

The usual way to watch whales is from the safety of a local tour boat or from a cruise liner. A kayaker in Katlian Bay near Sitka, Alaska found himself viewing one from the whale's mouth. He must have decided he'd wanted to watch whales from up close and you know how that goes; you have to be careful what you ask for as you may just get its literal rendition.

Seems he ventured into a herring ball at the same instant a whale breached to scoop up the herring. The end result was to be straddling the gaping wide open mouth. He reported "Paddle fast" was his thought just then.

He should have seen it coming. The usual reasons herring will swarm in a tight ball are two-fold. One, is that a school of herring will come together is a tight ball for protection against a salmon siege. This time of the year early king salmon would be arriving in Sitka waters so this is one explanation. The other is that a whale will circle a school and send up a curtain of bubbles out his blow hole. The Herring school will feel trapped and ball up in a tight packed swarm for protection, except the next action is for the whale to breach and scoop up the herring. Either way the paddler should have seen the circle of bubbles, quite noticeable in calm waters like this, or at the least he should have seen the swarm of the herring ball on the surface, visible in the picture.

Note this in your lesson book for Alaska survival tips, along with datums like don't eat yellow snow. Don't paddle your kayak into a herring ball.

The danger to the kayker is probably less than it looks. Whales don't eat objects like a boat and he is more likely to spit out than chew up the unsuspecting kayak. The whale was no doubt as surprised as the kayaker. It was a pretty composed photographer that caught this shot, though.

One other scenario is that the boater, who is a local Sitka Dentist, was trying to drum up business. In that case he should know that whale don't have teeth, only baleen. And no health insurance. It is a nice publicity stunt for a dentist who can handle any mouth.

Go ahead and take that trip to Alaska you've always wanted, but don't expect to get this close to the action.

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The Last Great Race On Earth

2011-03-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes there just isn't enough dogs.

by Robert L. Gisel

The Alaska Iditarod is not over by a long shot but this year's Champion has crossed the finish line in Nome. It was John Baker's first win in the score of times he has finished the race. His run time set a new all-time record: 8 days, 19 hours and 44 minutes. The last person to finish, of the 62 who started, who will get the Red Lantern Award, will come along across the finish line in about 4 days. Win or lose, the game and the glory is to finish.

The terminus city is called Nome by default. The cartographer mistook "? name" for Nome and thus it was accidentally dubbed. The race nominally starts in Anchorage, Alaska, with a PR run to Eagle. The re-start was in Willow nine days ago and this year the route traverses 968 miles overland to Nome. In the gold rush days this was the route to take mail and supplies to Nome and bring back gold. You could say it was the Sled Dog Express. Even to this day there are no roads to Nome and unless you fly or take a boat around the coast of Alaska this is how you get there in the winter months.

The marathon dog sled race is called the Last Great Race on Earth, rightfully so. It is a long haul and the conditions can be horrendous when the weather gets bad with snow storms, high winds and deep sub-zero temperatures that can stretch the race to 3 weeks. This year seemed almost uneventful by comparison to some but nevertheless an intense endurance race. Even in relatively good conditions it is a race that challenges the toughest. Just ask any of the many veterans of the race and rookies still making their way to Nome.

Very well done to John Baker and his team of sled dogs on their excellent performance as they now join the many legends in the history of the race.

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Surf's Up in Alaska

2011-01-14T18:06:00.000-08:00

Paddle board surfing in Turnagain Arm

by Robert L. Gisel

Here is a new twist on surfing: a five mile ride. I have seen the surfing crowd in Turnagain Arm doing sail surfing. They were having a lot of fun. Now the stand-up surf board affords a means to catch and ride the waves of the incoming tide -- long ride.

Turnagain Arm is the body of water that heads out southeast from Anchorage and flanks the Seward Highway that will take you to Kenai, Homer, and points thereof. It is generally always wetsuit water.

Check out the video. Should change some fixed ideas about Alaska.

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The Lure of Alaska

2010-11-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

Juneau photgraphed from the Kiksadi gillnetter.

by Robert L. Gisel

It is no myth: Alaska is a magical land. Its scenic beauty is breathtaking. The very extremes defy life. Yet living there brings out the best in more more ways than one.

Invariably when I say I'm from Alaska it elicits the comment, always wanted to go there. Or having been there, want to go there again. Truly it is an experience that never leaves you.

It is the land, it is the the wildlife, it is the people that make it an unforgettable experience. It becomes you like no other place I have been. Thus the saying, once an Alaskan, always an Alaskan.

What would you like to hear about Alaska? What would would you like to know? Write to me and I will tell you. Leave a comment or email me at onceanalskan@gmail.com.

Peace on Earth and Goodwill Towards Men

2009-12-25T15:24:00.001-08:00

by Robert L. Gisel

Those spiritual words, Peace on Earth and Goodwill Towards Men, oft repeated characterize virtues we could use a lot more of around the globe.

It takes an abundance of trust and high ability to grant beingness to others, to always embrace the benevolence, generosity and greatness to rise above baser emotions that wear on one and taunt like response.

When you would seem to be egged into a needless confrontation you would be advised to have no fear, look it in the eye, take a deep breath, count to 10, or whatever works for you to not bite when bitten. Yet in the world there are insane enemies sometimes about that need to be rendered ineffective to harm. These are too often themselves the unrevealed culprits the politicos and their mad dog press try to foist off on us.

The men of goodwill, those who pursue life honestly and ethically comprise 80% or more of the entire populace. This is who keeps life tenable and the life force moving forward. The Holiday spirit reaffirms this. The Hope is it will last throughout the year.

May you embrace the causes of Peace and Goodwill and be of such import yourself reaping an abundant and prosperous New Year.
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Volcano Erupts in Alaska

2009-01-30T14:09:00.000-08:00

Redoubt Volcano, 21 April, 1990.
Image courtesy of R. Clucas and the U.S. Geological Survey

by Robert L. Gisel

That's the way of Alaskans. A volcano erupts, put on goggles, a breathing mask and carry on. Don't turn on your windshield wipers until you have washed down your car with lots of wet water.

This is what it means to be a Sourdough Alaskan. Confront the environment and keep forging ahead. The environment might be 40 below zero, hurricane force winter winds, a very blustery rain squall or even random acts of nature as in the great Alaskan earthquake and tsunamis. When the weather doesn't keep you on your toes the wild animals will. If you don't have a high ability of confront you won't survive in Alaska, freeze to death or get eaten. If you do, you hardly notice the conditions are not like South California.

There is a lot to be said about the confront of the physical universe. You can even use it as a sort of therapy. Working with and handling physical things brings out alertness and focus on the present. Being mentally in the past, thinking heavily of bygone events, reduces one's liveliness, emotional tone and vibrancy. Touching and handling material objects brings in focus, improves emotional well being and active energy.

So when you can't just get in your car and go but have to warm it up even to get it started, dig it out of the snow, scrape the ice off the windows and then you can go, this tends to bring one way uptone. Overall I do believe the peoples of Alaska are higher toned generally, individually and as a state. This was a factor in Sarah Palin's popularity; higher toned people tend to be straight shooters.

As we all can't be in Alaska to measure our toughness against the elements this lesson can be utilized anywhere to handle the blahs. A good vigorous round of cleaning tends to leave one more alert and exhilarated. Even a walk around the neighborhood noticing things close and far soon handles a blue funk and puts one emotionally back on top and feeling energetic. This is something anyone, anywhere can use.

If you happened to have lived in Alaska the life of a Jack London character more power to you. If you just want to now is a good time, it's winter and better yet, if you hurry you could be on hand for a real volcanic eruption.

Preferred Alaska Tours

2008-10-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

20,320 foot Mount Denali

by Robert L. Gisel

The cruise liner tours are so magnificent they are the main source of the roughly 12 million tourists that go through Alaska each year. These are graciously accommodated by the 670,000 total population of Alaska. We take them on 20 to 1!

Princess Cruise Lines has the best assortment of cruises including one that goes to Whittier and combines with an overland train ride to Denali and even to Fairbanks. Here is their video on this which really says it well.

The season goes through August and not much beyond, then after the winter will start running again. These tickets comparatively high, as liner tours go and furthermore they tend to be sold out quicker to sell out, all a tribute to Alaska's popularity. However the last minute tickets one can get can be considerable savings.

VacationsToGo.com always has good last minute bargains and will be showing good options later this year for the 2009 50th Alaskan anniversary tours. 50 years for the 50th state, one can bet it will be a good year to travel to Alaska.

The tours will embark from Vancouver, B.C. or Seattle or occasionally from San Francisco. These are the tours that typically go the route up the beautiful Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage to Glacier Bay. This gives a good show of mountains and glaciers and marine life as well as stops in the historical cities of the panhandle of Alaska. Here are the remnants of the Alaska Native culture with it's carved canoes, totem poles and lodges. Add to that historic sites of the Russian occupation and the gold rush historic sites there is plenty to see.

This is usually climaxed by cruising right into Icy Bay close in to walls of ice at the Muir Glacier or the Hubbard Glacier or any of the dozens of others. The glaciers in that area come out of a huge ice field that is itself a hundred miles or so of continuous ice field and vast glaciers. It's easy to see the fascination of this to so many tourists.

There are a number of side tours in each of the cities of which are in the main unfamiliar to me except in my home town of Juneau. Here you can tour the now closed AJ Mine, raft down the Mendenhal River and can take flight over the glaciers in a helicopter or a Beaver float plane. Weather permitting this is the best, as the scene of flying across the top of the glacier is unforgettable. Some of the excursions will land on the ice field and you can walk on the glacier or get a ride in dog sled.

Another popular stop along the way is Skagway from where you can catch the train over the gold-rush Chiloot Trail through the mountain pass into Canada. That is a pretty spectacular ride.

My personal all-time favorite way of travelling to Alaska is up the Alcan highway through Prince George to Prince Rupert and catch the ferry there to Juneau. The higher costs of travel and transport on the Marine Highway System may make it cheaper to get a discount fare on a tour boat. Nevertheless the drive, especially the stretch of sometimes winding road out of Prince George through the Frazier River valley then over the pass to Prince Rupert is totally worth it. This way you get the best of Canada as well as the Inside Passage and can go all the way to Haines, from where you can drive to Anchorage or Fairbanks and, of course, Denali Park. The immensity of Mount Denali dominating the horizon is awe inspiring.

If you're driving to Alaska the two routes are to go up past Prince George up and around through Tok Junction to Denali Park and up to Fairbanks or down to Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. The Alcan has seen a lot of construction, is built up so as to be well above the permafrost thus it stays in pretty good shape now for a good drive that doesn't tear your vehicle up the way it used to.

Then there is my favorite route on the Marine Highway via Prince Rupert which also gives you the pleasures of the inside passage, whale sightings, seals and porpoises.

To travel in comfort let the tour boat Captain do the driving.

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Cost Of Living Alaskan

2008-08-29T06:45:00.001-07:00

by Robert L. Gisel

This time last year when I flew from LA to Anchorage the only thing cheaper in Alaska was the gas. No joke. At $3.29 a gallon in LA it was, lowest in town, $2.99 a gallon in Anchorage, went up to $3.09 (lowest station) in the two weeks I was there. Still it was over $3.30 in LA. I was told the lower Anchoarge price was because it was the gas produced in Alaska.

The price was fluctuating so much this summer Dehart's Store in my childhood neighborhood stopped posting the numbers, just an arrow, up or down. This was covered in an article in the Juneau Daily Alaska Empire. As there were questions of the prices in Seattle or elsewhere I put up these comments on the article:

"Milsec above logged these prices from Juneau:

"6/05/08 $4.059 gal $122.54 Barrel 6/11/08 $4.159 gal $128.86 Barrel6/23/08 $4.419 gal $140.21 Barrel7/04/08 $4.499 gal $145.29 Barrel7/09/08 $4.499 gal $145.08 Barrel7/19/08 $4.649 gal $128.88 Barrel8/15/08 $4.599 gal $113.77 /Barrel "

"In Sacramento, North side, the price has been over $4.00 a gallon since June. Mid July or so it finally hit at least $4.43, lowest stations, Kwick Stop and Exon AM/PM, and as high as $4.69 even $4.75 at Chevrons and Shell Stations. This month it finally came back under $4.00.

"Today the price has posted at $3.72, lowest, to 10 to 20 cents higher in other stations. All of these prices were higher yet in South Sacramento. Daily the stations are given a wholesale price figure and daily the price is raised or lowered, or not, according to the competiveness and goodwill of the station manager.

"So why not gas from the refineries in Alaska into Juneau instead of Saudi gas from Seattle? I highly doubt that it is Alaska gas from Seattle. I'd think you'd have a better chance to get cheaper gas where you produce it, even in California which refines gas and still runs among the highest prices in the nation, at least the south 48. Talk to your own, Governor or whoever will listen, as very possibly the cheapest (and home grown) gas available to Alaska is refined in Alaska.

"There's always the alternate route: LimitlessEnergy.blogspot.com. Yank your drive train and put in an electric engine."

Prius Trashed by Un-eco-friendly Bear

2008-08-23T03:46:00.000-07:00

by Robert L. Gisel

Ann Boochever's car gets trashed when a bear gets trapped inside.

It was a Prius Hybrid so this was evidently an un-eco-friendly bear. Of course that's an oxymoron, but you have to admit it's kind of funny. It's not every day the inside of your car gets trashed by a bear, so it's understandable she'd worry that the insurance company wouldn't believe her.

Speculations as to why he was in the car do not include the most logical one, that this juvenile was hoping to go for a joy ride. Delinquent bears can do funny things.

As I haven't heard from Anne in years, once in years since graduating together at JD High, it was a mild surprise to see her in the news. Some of the comments posted to the article surprise me even more. Is Juneau now overrun with Chechakos (new comers)? Prompted me to leave the following comments on the news blog.:

Well, what's Alaska all about if you don't have bears around. It's part of what makes Alaska unique. Learning bear safety is as natural in growing up as training your kids don't take candy from a stranger. My first lessons after we arrived in Alaska were indelible; walking down the long private dark and wooded road to the school bus as kids we learned to make noise, which trees to climb and all of that, from the best, renown woodsman Ralph Reischel. Last time I was there a bear came down to Front Street where the tourists were hanging around. It happens. So if you're afraid of bears you're in the wrong state. It beats having a snake come out of your toilet. God I hate snakes.

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Bow Hunting Bears Makes for a Dangerous Hunt

2008-08-19T01:08:00.000-07:00

by Robert L. Gisel

The ultimate in sports hunting, after hearing the story myself, has to be in hunting bear with a bow and arrow. That my brother Chuck Gisel had the fortune, or dubious honor, to participate as the backup rifle makes for a very exciting story.

The mastermind of this adventure was Scott Leonard, who was working at the Alaska Fish and Game in Juneau. He had bow hunted just about everything except bears. So his idea to go after a one with the bow was a logical progression in his range of trophy hunting. Killing a bear is a dangerous proposition in usual circumstances, but taking one on with a bow and arrow is courageous beyond belief, or simply asking for trouble.

Obviously this is big game hunting and not recommended for the fainthearted or photo-shoot-only crowd.

Doing this sport one is best advised to take along a backup shooter with the proper rifle and savvy at dropping bears at close range. Scott somehow convinced my brother to go with him as his backup gun. The conditions were laid out and it was agreed they would select a small black bear and Scott would get well prepared for the hunt. This included practice snap-shooting for speed and accuracy, which he did, prior to embarking on the expedition.

The arrow selected had a spiral tip that would spin and go through the game in a spiral, coring a plug all the way through. To make this work you had to be totally accurate and hit its heart in spite of any movement by the bear. You might only get one shot, so it better be good.

Bears have a bad adrenalin problem that makes taking one down difficult in the best of circumstances, to say the least. A head shot usually just bounces off the skull. Even with a shot in the heart it will continue it's charge for you for fifty yards or more. Only a hit in a shoulder breaking the ball joint of its limb can stop its attack. You have to do this so it can't run and it drops at your feet.

It follows then that using a bow as the weapon has some real potential drawbacks and questions one's sanity. Scott just wanted the experience and, of course, the hide. Evidently the thrill as well.

After practice, the team set out for Gambier Bay outside of Juneau in a friend's boat. Anchored off North Point the first day was spent just watching the beach for any bear that might come around on its rounds. Seeing none, the next day they went to a different location and watched some landlocked islands, then again for a third day. Several bears were observed but what the hunters were looking for was any repeats of the same one, which means it could be predicted in its pattern.

The one seen to be rounding a circle was a small brown bear which made it almost ideal for the hunt. Black bears are more amiable, if any wild bears can be amiable. The browns akin to the grizzly and are known to be mean and sometimes dangerously unpredictable. This upped the stakes in the bow hunt; a better prize, more risk in getting it.

With a careful study of topographical maps they plotted out where to set up to waylay this bear as it came around on its usual path. They had be down wind, so the bear couldn't smell its hunters, and be hidden well in a thicket of brush. A spot was selected, they got into their positions and the trap was set.

Bears do funny things sometimes, like sneak around to other side of you when you're looking the other way. Hiding in the brush, waiting for a bear to approach and do battle must be the epitome of macho.

This time the bear came around as expected. It walked up its trail quite close to where Chuck and Scott were. Sensing someone was there, it stood up a mere 20 feet from them. It couldn't smell the hunting party as long as the direction of the wind prevailed and kept them down wind. On its hind legs it looked around, sniffing. Still the brown bear couldn't spot what it was missing. If it did, he would be on them in a second.

Scott had his bow drawn for the shot and held it for some moments. Chuck began to wonder when he was ever going to release the arrow. Chuck had his gun up and aimed. At six yards there was no room for misses.

Finally the arrow flew and found its mark through where the heart should be. Naturally the bear protested this with its throaty roar. He was really mad now. At 20 feet away this was a horrendous and frightening sound. Then the long stream of blood pumped out at intervals indicating the heart had been hit.

Enduring the deafening battle cry, Chuck still had his wits about him to shoot it twice to ensure it came down and stayed down.

Still alive, he was pawing the ground and making noise, lots of it. Chuck approached the bear, capped him with his barrel against his skull and that finished him and the hunt.

Chuck said he did a check of his shorts to make sure he hadn't, such was the fearsome experience. Scott was pumped, his first bow-hunted bear kill. Chuck was sure this was his last.

Bears At Large

2008-04-05T02:10:00.000-07:00

by Robert L Gisel

It has been an indelible memory duly impressed upon me the early survival teachings I was initated in when I was a lad. Newly in Alaska, the circumstance that bears were at large was a new element, unknown and definitely a factor to be considered wherever we went.

Our first homestead, a house owned by Ralph Reischel, an old time woodsman, was well off the road at the end of the moderately populated Fritz Cove Road that was by no means city living. Long time Juneau residents lived along this coastal road specifically to be near to the water and far from the city. This put us 13 miles out from downtown Juneau.

We had an access road, one lane of packed dirt that in part went through a stretch of woods. A school bus serviced Fritz Cove Road but we had to walk to the main road down our private access road about 2/10 mile long. It seemed longer then though that is probably all it was, but it was dark.

The shorter days in the winter meant that during the school months it was still pitch black out when we had to go meet the bus. The short patch of woods was even darker and it had shadows and noises. I was only nine and my bother was 11 while my sister was a couple years older yet. Just kids.

We were taught that though the bears probably wouldn't be coming around they could and we had to take measures to avoid them. This was new news, not the usual "don't take candy from strangers" survival coaching kids need in the big city.

This meant talking in the woods was good, or singing, or carry a can with rocks to rattle for noise to announce our presence. If a bear hears you coming he'll most often move out of the way as he really doesn't want the confrontation anymore than you do. Generally.

A sow with cubs can be very protective and really dangerous especially if you get in between the sow and her cubs in which case you could be for it. Given enough advance warning the sow will herd the cubs away and out of danger. Yes, danger, as you are also an unknown to the bears.

A wounded bear is expected to be pretty ornery and quite aggressive. He wants to get even with someone. A bear just doesn't usually stick around though when he hears you coming unless he watches you secretly out of curiosity. The worst scenario is when he sets up an attack plan and is out for blood. This is usually times when he comes out of hibernation and he is mighty hungry or when has been wounded. Sometimes you are just in his feeding grounds and he marks you for punishment.

I asked Ralph what he would. He said if it was an old sow he'd just outrun it. Also running uphill is better as they have shorter hind legs and they really can't run too well up hill. That's comforting to know next time I have a bear chasing me.

Ralph knew a lot about bears. The den in our house still held his collection of exotic bear furs. There was the usual Brown and Grizzly bear pelts hanging there. He also had a Glacier bear which was basically just a Grizzly but with a lighter streak on his back. He had one he called a Blue bear which did have a blue tint when you fanned the back.

His real claim to fame was that he was one of the only trappers around who could successfully trap wolverine alive for the zoos. This was in the 30's and the 40's, long before sedation darts or any technology like that. A wolverine is like a real small bear in some respects. Their fur is thick like a bear, quite bushy, but the wolverine is more the size of a wolf. They are also reported to be even more vicious and every bit as dangerous as a bear especially when cornered or trapped.

Ralph's routine for capturing the wolverine alive was a two man operation. First you have to catch the prey alive in a snare trap. You have to check the traps often, every couple hours. Otherwise the wolverine will get desperate and bite his own foot off to get free of the trap.

When you have caught one alive transporting them was tricky. Their sharp teeth would chew through most anything. For that he devised a metal lined wood barrel.

When he caught one in the snare he went out with a partner and the barrel. The trick is to have your partner distract the fellow while you get around behind the wolverine. Evidently this is much harder than it sounds as getting behind a wolverine especially one you are trying to corner is no small feat. The partner has to get close enough as if to engage in a fight.

Then you work your way around behind the critter and sneak up on him close enough to grab him by the tail and swing him into the barrel. That's all there is to it. Ralph said he had had some whip back around on him though when it all didn't go exactly to plan. He still had his face and all his fingers so it would seem that wolverine wrestling was just part of the fun.

When it came to bears this too was just part of the fun. Ralph coached us how to flee when necessary. Going up a tree for instance can be good, or very bad. You have to pick your tree correctly. Too small and he'll push it over. Too large and he can get his paws around it enough to get a purchase and climb up after you.

Some years later Mom would drive us out to the garbage dump to watch the bears grubbing for something to eat. These were mostly black bears or small browns, used to having people stand around watching them and were pretty harmless. One I walked almost right up to, five feet away with only a fallen over refrigerator between me and him. He never even looked my way, seemingly oblivious I was there.

Sometimes in the wild you just have to pack a gun and know how to use it. In fact whenever you went into any wood where there could be bears it was more than recommended to carry rifle or a heavy caliber pistol. Just a standing rule, have a gun just in case. Personally I never had any encounter with any bears nevertheless.

On a sabbatical one year I was visiting my folks in their retirement cabin at Colt Island and wanted to go wander around exploring nearby Horse Island. You can walk to it at low tide on the spit that connects the two islands. My step dad gave me a rifle to carry as there was a resident bear on Horse. The bear usually hung out behind old John's house hoping John would throw something out he could eat.

I walked around the island several times watching for the bear but mostly was entertained by the deer, doe and fawn tracks that went around the island as they kept on the opposite end from me. I got bored with that and was going through the woods and noticed a patch of skunk cabbage the deer had been eating. The stems had been freshly broken off and hadn't had time to start juicing yet so it was very fresh sign.

At the north end I encountered a fellow who was roasting a weener over the most pitiful tiny fire built of small twigs like he was afraid of it. He wanted to know why I was carrying a rifle and I told him about the bear that lived on Horse. He blanched. Apparently he was kayaking around southeast Alaska, by himself, and he had slept on the island having the idea no bears could be there. He was really a cheechako (Alaskan for greenhorn).

When I got back to Colt my folks wanted to know if I had seen the bear. I hadn't but told them about the deer sign including the very fresh sign in the skunk cabbage patch. That's when I was informed deer don't eat skunk cabbage. Bear eat skunk cabbage. I guess I have been spending too much time in LA. Heaven forbid someone mistake me for a Cheechako.

My Mom had remarried to Lynn Forrest Jr, Bud, a retired architect, and he has had some brushes with bears and dropped a few in self defense. This is where I learned about the bear in an attack plan. The bear is kind of dumb in that he will sometimes formulate a plan to come around and jump you but if the plan is foiled he'll try to go through with it anyway.

On a fishing trip Bud and three buddies were coming back down the trail with their catch. Bud was up front with one friend and the other two were about a hundred yards back. He spotted a bear moving along the other side of the stream who had not seen him yet. Bud had his friend stop and be quiet. The bear's plan was evident, he was going to cross the stream and double back and jump the other two fishermen.

The bear started across the stream towards Bud and that's when he saw them. He kept going on the plan of attack but this time towards Bud and his friend and he broke into a charge. Ready for him with his rifle Bud got a shot into his shoulder joint aned dropped him. Unfortunately they had their fishing licenses but no bear ticket so they had to leave it there for Fish and Game as otherwise they would just get arrested and fined.

I think the ultimate though is my brother's story about going out as the backup gun for his friend who like to bow hunt and wanted go after some bear. That's really looking for trouble. But that's a tale for another blog post, if you're interested.

http://www.robertgisel.com/

Mounts Juneau, Roberts, and Gisel Peak

2008-04-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

by Robert L Gisel

Standing in the Million Dollar Golf Course at Juneau with some friends it was one of those days where I reminded myself how incredibly gorgeous Alaska is, fully made evident by a nearly cloudless day. We were a small group but all waiting for the event to happen.

The Million Dollar Golf Course is so named because really all it is is the mine tailings of the now closed gold mine at the base of Mount Juneau. Is is so named because the flat of land could still hold very small particles of gold if one had the means of extracting it and it was once actually a nine hole golf course set up for fun and mostly in jest. There are no grasses and no greens as such. The "greens" at each hole were compacted sand and evidently one could actually move a golf ball around through all that.

This day it was just a glorified land fill that afforded a good view of the top of Mount Juneau where we watched a helicopter land and unload a single person with his gear. Juneau is on a narrow strip of land framed by these two mountains, Roberts to the the south and Juneau to the north, at this time Roberts was beside us.

We could see the hang glider emerge on the very peak of Mount Juneau as the adventurer set it up. There was an agreed upon period of time in which if he didn't decide to go ahead with the glide the helicopter pilot would come back and pick him up. Understandably launching a hang-glider from the nearly 4000 foot peak could be too dangerous, not just from almost a mile of height but from unpredictable drafts of wind. If the takeoff were successful the whole flight probably would be.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting the daring individual leaped into the air and was off on a long thrilling ride that ended in a safe landing on the flats where we stood. This environment gets quite nasty in the winter months as over on the other side of Mount Roberts to our right is the Juneau Ice Field. The cold winds from this huge permanent plain of compacted ice, around 2000 to 2500 feet deep, has a habit of moving rapidly across the peak and dropping into the valley in high gusts of non-directional winds known as the Taku. This day the air was calm.

Taku is a popular Tlinket Indian name probably meaning something to the Tlinkets but I never knew what that is. A lot businesses in Juneau borrow the name and there is Taku this and Taku that throughout the area. The ice field spills out at its perimeter in various glaciers like the large Taku Glacier on the southeast border of the ice field and the Mendenhall Glacier north of Juneau.

I've estimated on a topographical map that the ice field is roughly 50 miles wide and 50 miles deep as it stretches across the border into Canada. It is said to cover 1500 square miles altogether. It is well studied by Dr. Maynard Miller, who teaches a class of Glaciologists there every summer. The group, now as much as 80 strong, marches in the Fourth of July Parade and then embarks on an eight week trek across the field as they take core samples and generally do what Glaciologists do.

I know of Dr. Miller as having been somewhat instrumental in the discovery of the major ecological issue of the hole in the ozone layer. Apparently the ice field has rings that demark time and weather going way back. There also is evidenced a cycle weather cycle that has been running full circle every 70 years like clockwork. When new core samples showed up a drastic change in that whereby the turnaround was an unheard of 35 years Dr. Miller was concerned to say the least.

As this little known story goes Dr Miller sent out communiques to his various comrades in the field about this including a Glaciologist researching in Antarctica. That scientist sent up a balloon and made a discovery of the hole in the ozone layer now having an effect on the global weather patterns. He got credit for the discovery but the string pull began with Maynard Miller.

Somewhere in the middle of the Juneau Ice Field, on the edge closer to the Canadian side of the ice field, is a set of mountain peaks known as Devil's Paw. Off to the side and to the northwest of Devil's Paw is a previously unnamed border peak that now carries the name Gisel Peak.

In honor of my Dad, Charles A. Gisel, Dr Miller took the effort to get the mountain named for his dangerous works in flying Glaciologists in not the safest of conditions as well as some dangerous rescue work in the helicopter. This took two submissions, being on the border. It had to get approval of the US government as well the Canadian government and Dr. Miller pushed it through both approval processes.

Gisel Peak is a very steep mountain crag that looks formidable to access. At some point it was charted and the height determined at 6,523 feet. Presumably that means it was once climbed by the USGS though I can't imagine this remote spire being at all sought out by the aspiring mountain climber set.

At one point I worked with Cinema Alaska, Inc. owned by Charles Mackey, a small film producer. During my time with the company we completed a short documentary film of a 15 minute plane ride over the Juneau Ice Field including some shots of Gisel

We were all proud of my father and having the mountain after him gave us all some satisfaction not, on my part, entirely satiating the unfulfilled desire to have known him better. It is there though, as a monument to his greatness.

[]

Fly Anywhere, Land Anywhere

2008-04-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

by Robert L Gisel

There are privileges to being a renown Bush Pilot. One of these is that the authorities leave you alone and let you go and do. At least that is my assumption for the wide respect the community afforded my father, Charles A. Gisel Jr.

I know that one time when a friend and I were boisterously experimenting with 150 proof Everclear late into the night the knock on the door was from my father not from the Juneau Police Department. They had gone instead to my father and he came around and politely asked if maybe we could keep the the noise down. Apart from a wake up call for our errant behavior it was an interesting view on how the police handled this by reason of my father being who he was.

How and where he flew airplanes and helicopters was partly allowable, then, just due to the tremendous respect he earned from people. However that explains only part of it. Either nobody cared about the rules, I know my Dad sure didn't worry himself about them too much, or the acceptance of the Bush Pilot and the prevalence of Air Taxi make it a very unique to Alaska flying experience.

When we first moved to Alaska we lived 13 miles out the road from town. Actually we were on the spur Fritz Cove Road which weaved along above the shores of Auke Bay. Ralph Reischel was an old time woodsman who had a house on the beach with a guest house. He and his wife Martha moved into the guest house, that was big enough for them, and we moved our family into the big house.

It was right on the beach. Maybe 6 feet in front of the house was a small 2 foot rock wall and the beach stretched out from there. That was where the highest tides came to, that little retaining wall. To the right of the house a long low log dock stretched out into the water. Left of the house was a small grass yard the length of the house but only about 30 feet wide.

Playing outside on the dock I was surprised to see Dad fly in one day in the helicopter. He was just coming home after the day's work. He had not wanted to go all the way back to the seaplane port so he just flew it home.

Even more surprising to me was where he landed, perched at the edge of the yard, where it did not appear to me to be enough room for the rotors between the house and the trees. He says there was "plenty of room". It seems a common deal to land a helicopter on a larger yaught but this was the first and probably only time I had heard of commuting home in your helicopter.

Another time during a summer vacation I was in town with a friend of mine, wandering around looking for something to do as lads will, when we saw my Dad's copter come in for a landing. We hurried over there to find that he had landed on the landfill just behind the Foodland Supermarket. My friend had the idea you were not supposed to land in the city. Come on! He had run out of King Edward cigars and was just stopping at the store for more. What's wrong with that?

It was usual to spend time flying to places with Dad. One summer he had a contract hauling people and things for a mountain top radio signal reflector that was going up on Mt. Hood. There was an abandoned cannery at the base of the mountain and my brother and I stayed there for a couple weeks for a vacation. Some days he had to haul gas barrels to the top so he could fly all day without coming back down. He would come in and hover low over these and I would run under the copter and hook the cargo net to the cargo hook.

The ski area those days was on Douglas Island just across from Juneau where the Juneau-Douglas Bridge came across. Dad used to run a service flying skiiers from the parking lot up to the mountain top for a small fee or would just carry their skis up for a lessor fee. I'd help him load the helicopter and then take the last ride up.

Whenever we wanted to go anywhere for hunting or fishing, or whatever, there was always a plane available or the copter. Mom wanted to go clam digging one time so Dad flew us and some friends out to an abundant clam beach on Admiralty Island. He dropped us off there while he went around doing his flying jobs for the day. It took two trips going home and Mom and couple others went back in the float plane and my brother and I waited on the beach. In a while he came back in the helicopter and picked us up.

There is a bottomless lake in Auke Bay where we would sometimes water ski. This one particular time there was a barbeque for the Rainbow Girls at a house on the shore. Mom was an Eastern Star so she was active as well overseeing the girls' organization. Eric Lindeguard was our next door neighbor so he brought his ski boat and lauched it into the lake. To top the whole event off Dad would stop by in between trips to the Glacier where he was flying Glaciologists. He wouild land on the beach in their back yard and give the girls free helicopter rides.

Dad was fun loving and likely to do a good humored prank. He started buzzing Eric with the helicopter. It was great fun for dad and us watching this hilarious show of Dad's straffing runs low over the top of Eric's boat. As I recall though Eric was not at all happy about being on the receiving end of this great fun.

The planes and helicopters Dad flew for work became like our personal rec vehicles. It just seemed the way things ought to be. John Travolta set up his home in Ochola, Florida, to accomodate his close involvement with flying this way. There is a private community there with a landing strip for the residents' planes. John took it one step further and extended the runway taxi strip so he could park his planes at his house.

On one side of the house is the Boeing 707 and the Gulfstream Jet he parks under an awning on the other side. He comments that he always thought that is the way it should be, that he had grown up thinking that everyone would someday have their own plane parked at their home. I have always thought so too.

Quite some years ago a feature article which I thought was Popular Mechanics portrayed this idea with a kit plane you could buy. It was billed and presented as a flying car. The hood area contained a rotor and the trunk area of the car was another rotor. It was said to be VTOL and could land in your driveway and that was the cover picture on the magazine.

A friend of mined said he had attended an Oshgosh Experimental Flight Meet and there were 1/2 a dozen of these still in operational condition. I don't have any idea what happened that the kits are not still available and for the life of me I haven't been able to remember the name of this or locate it in a search.

It is my ideal scene that a car/aircraft could be so versatel and usual that you just fly it home to your garage and these should be as abundant as you see rec vehicles today. We certainly had a taste of that living under the wing of a Bush pilot as tjhat is just the way it was.This is the way it should be everywhere and if I can make a few ideas work it will be that way.

My Dad Was a Bush Pilot

2008-04-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

by Robert L Gisel

My Dad was a genuine Alaska Bush Pilot. It was for that that we moved to Alaska in a long exodus from Texas. Rumor had it the 49th State was going to broken up into two States and then Texas would be the third largest State in the US.

Originally my dad, Charles A. Gisel Jr, went into the Army Air Force to become a pilot. That ambition was denied him as he was color blind, only saw things in black and white, shades of gray, so he was put into radio communications training instead. He went into a classified project I only found out about inadvertently reading a book on it much later. The experiment was to fly remote controlled airplanes while the Army Air Corps developed a method of flying pilot-less planes or drones into the guns of Navarone for D-Day.

After the service he did a remarkable thing. Somehow getting a copy of the color charts used for the tests he memorized the shades of gray until he could name all the colors. In this way he got his pilot's license and went on to be, ironically enough, a Civilian Flight Instructor for the Army. So he started training the Army's pilots in the Bird-dog Trainer.

The rule of thumb of the Army for its pilot Instructors was to transfer them around a lot. The think was that if they allowed one to stay in a location for longer than 18 months they would want to stay and they wouldn't accept a transfer to the next base they would be needed at. This meant for me many different homes and many moves to different states.

From where I was born in Kansas we went to Oklahoma, to Alabama, back to Kansas, then to Texas all by the age of 7. There in San Marcos, Texas I started second grade. The Army then violated its rule and we stayed living in Texas for 2 1/2 years. When it came time to transfer us again back to Alabama we didn't want to. Not just my Dad but none of us in my family wanted to go to Alabama again. The rule in Mobile, Alabama, is that if it rains on Monday it will rain all the rest of the week. There was more to the decision than just the weather but that is where Dad quit the Civilian Army Flight Instructor business.

By the time he was training pilots at Ft. Hood Dad was now also giving flight instruction in larger planes and even helicopters all the way up to the big transports my brother and I called the flying banana. This led to Dad getting a job flying for Era Copters in the summer of 1959. The job was to transport Japanese Glaciologists around in Glacier Bay for their exploratory work. He was to learn some things about what makes being a Bush Pilot so dangerous at times.

Picking up a Hiller 12-E helicopter at Era Copters in San Francisco Dad flew it to Glacier Bay for the summer contract. There he had a white-out and crashed.

A white-out is a blizzard, in this case where the snow gets stirred up by the propellers, flies up all around until you can't see anything, except white snow. A guiding principle in flying a helicopter is to keep your eyes on the horizon thus keeping your orientation. When in the middle of a white-out you not only can't see the horizon you also can't tell which direction you are going. Thinking he was going forward when instead he was going backwards the tail rudder hit the ice followed by the main rotors and the helicopter beat itself to pieces.

Seeing the photo of the wreckage which was no longer remotely identifiable as a helicopter I asked my Dad how he walked away from that. He says he just unstrapped and stepped out. He flew back to San Francisco and picked up another 12-E and went back to complete the contract at Glacier Bay. One gets the idea this was a sort of inner circle Bush Pilot's initiation: crashes happen.

After that however they adopted a technique of using lamp black to mark the landing area first. A long section of stove pie is hung out the open door towards the ground and lamp black, soot, is dumped in it to lay a black line on the landing area. This worked pretty well apparently, except the one time they got too close to the ground. The back-wash from the rotors blew the soot back up the stove pipe into the cockpit. Now they had a black-out. Well that one came out okay as Dad took it back up, instrument flying, until they could clean off the inside of the bubble and land safely.

By the time Dad had finished flying the contract At Glacier Bay he had landed another job in Alaska. He was going to be a Bush Pilot for Dean Goodwin's Flying Service in Juneau. Dean had a couple Cessna 180 float planes and also a Beaver and an Otter both on floats. The real clincher was he also had a Hiller 12-E helicopter. Dad was set. This was the ideal scene, doing what he loved the most and in the idyllic environment of Alaska.

Just as winter was setting in we set off for Alaska in a caravan of two vehicles, towing two trailers, a packed 16 foot trailer and a 16 foot boat on its trailer. That was a long trip, not that I cared about that as this was the kind of adventure that thrills the life of a nine year old.

When we finally arrived Dad again had to set about another memorization task: the topographical maps of Southeast Alaska. He had me grill him on where things were on the map. This was primarily because this is not where you fly around from airport to airport with an abundance of beacons and navigational aids. There would none of that and with wild and fast weather changes there was no substitute for knowing the terrain and how to get around by sight alone. This was flying in the wild.

Dad started going out to canneries and villages in the float plane and taking Geologists on minerals surveys around Admiralty Island then another contract came up with the Japanese Glaciologists, this time at Mendenhall Glacier.

One day Dean Goodwin came flying in in a super rush and landed the 180 at our boat dock on Fritz Cove Road. He ran up to the house without saying anything leaving my brother and I to corral the plane coasting by the dock and tie it off to worry about what had happened as this was a very unusual event. Turns out Dad had had another crash, this time on the Mendenhall Glacier. Dean wanted Mom to know about it before she heard about it on the news, and to know that no one was hurt, Dad was okay.

Dad told me later how it happened. Flying in 100 feet over the glacier the carburetor iced up and killed the engine. Dad looked for the flattest place he could find and started auto-rotating for it. Feathering the rotors at the last moment the copter plopped on the ice, on the rubber pontoons. It then started a slide to the right into a crevasse that was 16 feet deep. The one on the left side it turns out was over a 100 feet deep. The copter dropped into the crevasse and beat itself apart.

The straight up walls of ice were too high to climb up out of. Being lost to sight in the middle of such huge expanse of glacier it would be weeks before anyone found them so rescue didn't look too promising. One of the Glaciologists had a dislocated shoulder as he was the third man on the bottom when the whirlybird came to rest but there were fortunately no other injuries. Forming a human pyramid with one Glaciologist standing on the shoulders of the other then Dad climbing up on top of him this was high enough to use the ice picks and get free.

From there it was just a matter of hiking off the glacier to a house where he made the phone call for help. The Coast Guard came and retrieved the two still in the crevasse.

Dad went on to live another eight years of flying, sometimes in the hardest of conditions until it was finally a faulty Fairchild Hiller that took him down. The error in the new cowling design permitted snow to sluff into the engine and kill it. This took it's toll during a critical takeoff at Snettisham Dam Project resulting in a brutal crash.

He was extremely well loved and admired. Now we all miss him. He leaves behind some good memories and the mountain Gisel Peak, named in his honor.

Once An Alaskan Always An Alaskan

2008-04-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

by Robert L Gisel

To Alaskan residents past or present it has been a long understanding that the call of Alaska never really ever leaves one once you have tasted the Great Land. Moving around the south 48 I hear mostly these two recurring lines: "I've always wanted to go to Alaska" and "I really want to go back".

Personally I grew up there and I'd be there today but the need for work in my technical skills required I go elsewhere. The dream of returning never departed but was only partly satiated by knowing my family was still there and trips back for visits were still on table. This grand lure is amazingly widespread so one could wonder what this is all about.

One is hard pressed to really find something to object to about living in Alaska where there was some willful desire to go there in the first place. Okay, work can be hard to find sometimes. Not if you are rather intent on going to work though. There is the usual array of jobs found in any city in the US and more in the main industries of tourism, mining, fishing and lumber. There's attorneys and taxi drivers, pizza cooks, grocery clerks, churches, bars and you name it. The population is only around 670,000 in the entire state though, as huge as it is. So some certain amount of people are vying for a set amount of jobs which I'd guess to be less than 350,000, some of which are quite seasonal. Truly though for me there was never too much a problem to keep working when I needed to as I really wasn't allergic to work.

People usually say to me as the very next response to saying I grew up in Alaska "Isn't it cold there?" Of course I concur, how so very cold it is, lest I ruin the game for real Alaskans. Sometimes though I get smitten with a streak of honesty and let them know that is just what we tell people to keep the population down.

The truth is it is a big state. Very big. While it might be raining in Ketchikan that very day there could be also a cold snap that at 60 below zero freezes a spittle before it hits the ground at Point Barrow. It is after all a distance between those two communities of about 1320 miles as the crow flies. Being around a hundred miles north of latitude 70 and about 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle Barrow is really far up there.

To exaggerate this even further the temperature varies not only in degrees but in the mind of the beholder. Personally the dry cold and little or no winds found in Anchorage suits me fine so that 10 below zero Fahrenheit is just right. The air is really fresh and crisp like that. It kind of snaps you alert and that is it. Throw on an overcoat, don't even button it, gloves or not, and no hat is all that was needed. When cross country skiing around the seasonal golf course it was just a heavy turtle neck sweater and no gloves. If the temperature dropped to 20 below I'd throw on an open coat and keep some gloves handy in my pocket.

In my brief stint living in Fairbanks during the winter the temperature was dropping down to 30 and 40 below while I was walking to work 15 minutes away. At 40 below a scarf over my face was necessary and there would be icicles on it from my breath when I got to work. Here again it is is a dry cold and no winds to speak of.

Just when I was thanking my lucky stars there was no breeze to drop the wind chill factor, one of the neighbors came racing out at top speed on his snow mobile on the park strip. That could be one very cold ride, one would think, but not to watch this fellow. He was obviously quite used to it and he was having a ball out there recreating before he had to go work. You get acclimated to it and more so by reason of one's consideration than anything else it would seem.

On the other hand it is more of a wet cold in Juneau where I grew up and tends to have extreme winds in the winter so that 30 degrees above with a 40 to 50 knot wind can be somewhat bitter because of the wind chill. Dressed well with a good coat and hat though this is no problem either. All that considered, it was a much wetter cold in the Missouri winter so that at 35 degrees above in that climate chilled me to the bone and was too uncomfortable for me.

Talking to people from the upper lower 48 it was at first amazing to me to learn the weather there was colder than what we were experiencing in places in Alaska. Montana, Wisconsin or Minnesota which regularly go into minus temperatures are far colder than Juneau which stays around 30 degrees and occasionally lower.

Once in Juneau I saw the temperature break records by going under zero down to 12 below. At that time the winds were whipping around at 40 to 50 knots so the chill factor was so ridiculously low I had to invalidate my calculation of it as nothing could be that cold. Believe it or not we really didn't mind it.

Until we found my car on the street had a flat tire. I still have to thank my friend Doug for spelling me on the tire iron to finish the job as that was just too brutal, even for me, a die-hard Alaskan. It's still a consideration: Doug was smiling away, getting that tired changed without a complaint.

New York and Massachusetts always saw more snow fall than we did. One time there was 36 inches of snow in a 48 hour period and that was the most I ever saw in Juneau. New York gets piles more than that every year. In Anchorage the snow was even less. Remember it is a dry cold and thus a dry snow.

One year there was so little snow cover insulating the permafrost it started thawing. The wood building our business was in shifted on its foundation and we started having trouble opening the doors. The permafrost, the level of underground frozen water table, is an essential facet of building foundations.

The summers turn around into warm days anywhere from 60 to 95 degrees depending on where you are and the amount of sun or clouds. I went water skiing a lot in the summers in Juneau. I believe it was Doug and Bill and myself near the end of one school year who water skied down the Channel past the High School windows brazenly announcing our tardiness.

Maybe it was just that, these extreme variances and the cocky acceptance of them, which makes one forever an Alaskan. When you watch the radical difference in the length of day and night you really get the idea you truly are barely perched on the side of the globe. The winter I spent in Fairbanks the sun never fully came up above the horizon. Midday was dusk at best.

One other time I went to Fairbanks over my summer vacation and watched the mid-summer sun tracing the line of a shallow bowl as it rolled across the horizon , never setting below it.

You just know you are someplace really different and if all this hasn't impressed then realizing you don't have to watch out for snakes anymore as there are none, but you sure better keep alert for those bears as they will impress you.

"Scenic" was almost taken for granted while all the time my backyard was a mountain, where literally walking from the yard into the woods sloping up steeply 4000+ feet was the mountain top, and the glacier was just over there where you could practically drive up to the face of it. I came to realize this as the most beautiful place in the world. For sure it has been that for me.

It's time to go back again.

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