29 Hour Goat Hunt

Brooks and his goat

I just got back from a 29 hour mountain goat hunt with Brooks H.  The short story is that we took a float plane to the head of a nearby bay, hiked up into the mountains, camped, woke up and harvested a goat at 9 AM the next day - and then slogged back to the sea burdened down with meat and camping gear. We just beat the rain and got back to Kodiak in time for dinner.  A hard hunt to be sure, but, for the first goat hunt in a long time, nothing went dramatically wrong.

But of course there is much more to the story.  The hike in was 6 miles and almost 3000 feet up there, and the landscape was stunning.  There were bears everywhere along the river near the bay where we started our trip.  Salmon heads littered the banks and we could see fresh tracks in the sand.  It was so hot we saw a bear just hanging out in the water to cool off, and Brooks even took his shirt off for the climb to the alpine.

Brooks sporting his 'stream-crossing' slippers

Once we got up to the alpine we set up camp.  We decided not to hike any further into the mountains because we did not want to spook the goats out of the country.  Brooks headed further up the ridge to scout for goats while I set up camp.  I was relieved to find plenty of dry wood for our woodstove, and this at 2000 feet.  By the time Brooks got back from scouting (no goats nearby but some on a FAR ridge) I was cooking a rice and beans dinner on the woodstove.  Earlier a HUGE deer had run panting by camp (I swear he had his tongue hanging out) - clearly spooked by Brooks on his scouting trip.

The next day, we woke up in the dark, and lit the stove.  Brooks later confessed that there is no better sound than the clinking of pans while lying in bed and KNOWING that soon the woodstove would be lit and there would be coffee.  After a leisurely breakfast we were off as soon as it was light enough to hike without headlamps.  We were not sure if we'd get a goat and carried our entire camp with us so that we could deal with any contingency.

But as luck would have it we did find a goat before 8 AM and Brooks had it down by 9 AM.  That is quick work!  Best of all it died on a flat place and did not jump over any cliffs. He shot it perfectly through the lungs and clipped the spine, and there was very little in the way of spoiled meat.  But the goat was pretty darned big.  I'd sort of been hoping that Brooks would harvest something small, and easy to carry back to the sea.

That's me contemplating a BIG goat and the beginning of the REAL work

Soon after the euphoria of the harvest ended we realized we had a big job a head of us.  Our packs each ended up weighing 120 pounds and it was six miles as the crow flies to the ocean.  And we had a time crunch.  Rain was in the forecast and if we wanted to get back to town before the storm we had to be at our pickup spot by 6:30 PM.  So off we trudged.

Near the end there it got pretty ugly.  As usual I have already sort of blocked it from memory, but I vaguely remember a period of constant pain.  I think the worst parts were the steep downhill, and then the unending river plain to the sea. At one point I was struggling to get up after a short rest and my pepper spray fired off a burst that soaked my thighs in burning hot pepper sauce.  By the time we got to the river flats my thighs were on FIRE.  It sort of took my mind off of what was happening with my glutes, waist and shoulders.  And then it started to rain.

At this point who cares if you get water in over the tops of your XTRA tuffs!

Brooks slogging it out to where the floatplane could pick us up

But we got there and the plane picked us up on time.  We beat the storm back to Kodiak, and got to cut up our goat meat in town the next day while it stormed outside.  There is some primo goat meat in the freezer and later this fall we'll be making up a batch our favorite Italian mountain goat sausage.  All and all a successful hunt - as good as it gets for a goat hunt.  Patrick

Sea Otters & Surf

Theres no denying it- fall is here. With stronger breezes off the ocean, leaves falling from trees and later sunrises and earlier sunsets, its really here. My favorite season. 

Our friends, Julie and Ray arrived from Anchorage  and we went to Afognak to fish, hike, pick berries and visit. A trip that we've been planning together for nearly 5 months.  Patrick and Ray skiffed over with gear  in the Whaler and set up camp~bless their hearts!   

Julie, the kids and myself took a float plane and enjoyed a silent trip over to the adjacent island from Kodiak. The plane was short one set of headphones, so I just plugged my ears for the short trip over.   After the flight I was happy to learn from Julie that the kids hadn't spoken a word on the headsets! Often the trip can be fraught with "evil eye" looks from me when they do silly talk in the headphones so it was a treat to enjoy the views without any concern about how the kids were or weren't behaving. I was in an "in-flight" bubble. 

Arrived!

The only things that we leave on the property between visits are the
-cast iron bathtub
-broken red firewood basket (a beach find)
-1 small elk antler (found by Katelyn earlier in the summer, I believe)
-Square slate stones on which to assemble to the cookstove upon inside the Kifaru Tee-pee.



On the prior trip out to Afognak in July, we left a bottle of 1/2 consumed liquer nestled in the tree trunk right near  where we set up camp. When we returned this go-around, it had been consumed. Not a drop left. I am so curious about who consumed and feeling very glad that we set up and take camp with us on our trips.

Sawing wood+good conversation=excellent Afognak times!

On this trip, Julie introduced us to the world of camp cookies! She brought a few packs of pre-made Nestle cookies and they baked up well in her special camp oven. 

tent scenic

Nora's new seaweed 'do' :) Silvers caught on the beach by Patrick. 

Every time when we are packed up and ready to return back to Kodiak, I return to the emptier piece of earth where the tent used to stand. My heart is sad for a moment, not ever quite ready to go. Taking a deep breath,  I envy the sea otters which get to float around the point every day, or the eagles which nest in the trees.  Or the fox that frequents the land.  All of these beings are what make our experience rich.

The breeze blows through the trees and the salmon berry bushes and I realize that I've never cared about a piece of land as much as this one.

Zoya

My new 'old' bike

My bike and I last week

Recently I resurrected an old friend - my three speed bike from graduate school.  Back in the day when I was at the University of Wisconsin in Madison I rode that bike everywhere.  I used to call it my 'horse' and never walked if I could ride.  Once when the bike was in the shop for repairs I got shin splints from the unusual exercise of actually having to walk to class.  

I rode it in the snow and ice during winter, in the rain, even out on the lake-ice when Lake Mendota was frozen over, back from bars, down railroad tracks - everywhere.  And when I moved to Kodiak the bike came along too in the back of my Chevy S-10.  I'm pretty sure that if I moved someplace else today I would not be able to fit everything in the back of a pickup truck like I did then.

For a few years after I moved I continued to use the old bike here on Kodiak.  My 'old ride' did some hard duty as a 'mountain bike'.  I remember biking to Saltery Cove with my neoprene waders full of ice and in a backpack.  Then I'd use the waders and catch a couple of silver salmon and put them back into the once -again ice filled waders for the ride home.  In the photo below you can see that I also used the bike to ride up the Saltery Cove Road to access summer snow for skiing.

Somehow around 2000 I was convinced to buy a true mountain bike - another Schwinn same make as the old three speed - and for a few years I really got into mountain biking. Meanwhile the old three speed had some gear/chain issues and got retired to the ceiling of my barn.  It hung there for almost 15 years until just about a month ago when I decided to get it repaired.

And then I rode it for the first time in what seemed like forever.  WOW! The old saw is true about how once learned you never forget how to ride a bike.  That bike just feels so right.  Rather than bending down over the handle bars one sits back and enjoys the ride.  It's a perfect 'around town' bike.

At the start of a bike ride down the Saltery Cove road in 1999 - I got my skiis on the backpack.  Back then I tried to go downhill skiing at least once a month

State Street in Madison, WI 1993 - I took this photo while riding my bike.   I always bought my coffee beans at the 'Steep and Brew' seen on the left.

More from our Alpine Hunt

Our big boy from the first evening

Here are a few more images from our weekend hunt.  We spent all day Monday processing the meat from the hunt. Three deer takes a long time to process and we ended up with quite the haul for our freezers.  And deer meat from August is the tastiest of all - way better than the gamy deer from November.

We had a great hunt and in retrospect we even enjoyed the rain.  If it had stayed sunny we would have had a hard time keeping the meat from the first deer cool.  On our arrival we had set up an extra tent on dry ground just for keeping meat dry.  This worked out great and the ground and dry grass kept the meat cool and dry.  Also unlike a tarp the tent did not flap excessively in the wind - and we did get some high winds.

Patrick

Rolan contemplates our load of firewood while loading the floatplane - I doubt many people fly out their own firewood  (even with wood our load going out was at 800 pounds)

Whooo hoo - meat on the back to carry back to camp

It did get seriously wet - this is me chopping the local willow wood up for firewood

Gregg cuts up salami for the evening meal while inspired by the 'daily hunt'  Lisa draws on her black paper 

We brought along an extra tent to keep our deer meat dry - the 'meat' tent is in the foreground with the 'living' tent (and stove) behind it

Pretty comfortable

Another deer just before it started to rain

Robot-girl

"I-am-Robot-girl" Nora said, very spontaneously. Her elbows were flexed in a robot-like-fashion and she had a sparkle in her eye as she moved her arms along with her words. "Robot-girl-ready-for-bed. Robot-girl-very-tired".  She spun around in a a small circle as a robot on its final moments might do. I wholeheartedly laughed and said, "I like your robot girl, Nora!"

"Thannnnnk you." She replied.

A few minutes later she states  "You like Stuey's robot  better."

"No I don't, Nora. You're the original. The best robot girl here." I encouraged. As she swung in her hammock chair she looked down at her feet and replied, "okkkkkk."  Silence.

                                               _


This year Nora and Stuey are in the same class at school-its a mixed 2-4 grades. After a couple of days I asked the kids if they notice each other across the room, to which Nora replied, "No, I don't even notice Stuey is there." and Stuey said, "I'm really quiet. I don't say anything and if I do, I whisper." I think Stuey is moderately afraid of getting into trouble.

Stuey knows exactly which buttons to press to anger Nora and Nora is very sensitive to Stuey's (devious?) moves so their sibling "love" feeds off of each other beautifully at times here at home.

At school, this sibling behavior is a non-issue. Thus far.

It seems that people have forgotten that so many kids used to be (and still are) educated in 1 room school houses around the country and world. And that having siblings in the same class is NOT the end of the world.  Family members have suggested that we move Nora to another school to be away from Stuey. Nora is going on her 4th year at St. Mary's and she loves the school and I would never do that to her.

"How was your day?" I ask the kids in the car ride home.

"Good" Stuey replies, "In PE  we played a fun game...."

"..And then in class, Mr. Brian came to talk with our class." Nora finishes.

Gone is that competitive moment in the car, when Nora would try to tell her story of her day and Stuey would interrupt. And often it would end with someone mad at someone else.

 Now it is collaborative. THEIR class. THEIR experience. Their time looking at the events of  their day  is through a similar lense.

Zoya

                                           

Our Fly Out Hunt

Saturday's sunrise from a mountain top - it was raining by 9AM

This past weekend Lisa, Gregg and I took a floatplane ride out of town for a quick deer hunting trip.  This is not our usual method of getting to where we camp and hunt.  Normally we drive someplace and then bushwhack up through the brush to where we camp and start our hunt.  Consequently our floatplane ride seemed very decadent.  Since we did not have to carry camp on our backs we could take a big teepee, woodstove and other extra luxuries - even beer and soda on ice.  This made for a cushy hunting trip.

The weather report was not good but we brought along some firewood and figured the ti goat wood stove would keep us warm, dry and happy.  When we arrived at our alpine lake it was brilliantly sunny and hot.  We even managed to harvest 2 deer before it started to rain and blow.  Then it was teepee time!

The good thing about a woodstove is that camping is fun even when it rains.  We made quesadillas on the stove, drank tea, stayed warm, and read books.  The teepee is big enough that we could even stand up and walk around.  And when we did go out and hunt in the rain we knew that we had a woodstove to return to that could dry everything out.  We even managed to harvest another deer.

By Sunday evening it had cleared off and we got to bask a bit in the sun before the plane arrived to take us back home.  Patrick

Cushy camp in the alpine - teepee time

Seeking out deer

Hiking a deer back to camp in the rain

Drying out in the teepee

Fall

MARISSA

Saying Goodbye to babysitters is always tough. Especially after a long summer when they have played Monopoly for hours on end, and have been so patient and caring. This summer Marissa was over to our house several days a week when I went to work at the coast guard base. She left for Anchorage to start college and her gentle presence at our house will be missed. 

CALCULATIONS
"How much does the earth weigh?" Stuey asked my long time childhood friend, Nick, and I on our hike up Old Womans mountain.  Nick started the calculations and pulled soon pulled out his iPhone calculator. After about 10 more minutes of density of elements, circumference of the earth type of computations, he came up with a number with 27 0's in it. This put it in the million, billion, billion category.  A google search revealed his guess was 50% accurate, which I was impressed with. Especially since I had to retake a semester of physics in college and a large part of it was big problems with planets revolving around each other and gravitational forces. Bleh!

There is an undeniable curiosity with the life of a paleotolongist, especially in contrast to my work as a physical Therapist. Nick's recent  journeys included a trip to retrieve dinosaur bones from a mining project and then the project of finding space to  house these large animal artifacts begins. Crates of bones with so many stories waiting to be told.

BOOTHS
For Nora's 9th birthday, her present was to come into the voting booth with me. (Yes, Stuey wanted to come also but I have zero desire to take him into public places lately-hes in a limit pushing mode recently where he'll tug at my arm, interrupt me and other behaviors that just don't dictate the privilege of being out and about with mommy).

Nora had he chance to practice coloring in a circle or two and enjoyed the whole scene with voting booths. After Nora put the card in the "sucker-uper" machine, we stepped into the evening sun to be greeted by Patrick and Stuey who rode over on their bikes to say hi. By then Stueys disappointment about not voting had waned but I could still see tear stains on his cheeks. Nora and I proceeded to walk home, just the two of us along the bike path.

YES!
The first real sign of spring here on Cliffside drive isn't frost, or fireweed…its the first day of school. The back-to-school enthusiasm was so thick the past couple of days that Stuey and Nora packed their own lunches last night, complete with garden carrots and mint oreos. The lunch bags were nestled inside the fridge until this morning when they pulled them out for school.

Zoya

That's why it's called 'Hunting'

We left camp at 5:30 AM and had been hiking and glassing for over an hour before the sun came up

This past Monday I went hunting with Lisa and Gregg and we did not get a deer - oh well.  We certainly saw a lot of deer and we even passed on a spike, but no big deer to carry home on our backs at the end of the day.  The cold hard reality of hunting is that you are not guaranteed to harvest an animal every time you go into the field.  That's why its called hunting.  Conversely, when a trip to get food is guaranteed it's generally called 'shopping'.  There was no Safeway with a credit card machine up in the mountains where we went.  And those deer are sly indeed.

Still, it was a beautiful hike.  Lisa announced that it just might have been her prettiest Kodiak hike of all time.  Lisa has lived and hiked on Kodiak for a long time too - so that is high praise indeed.  Patrick

Rugged mountains and the sea so close

Fall colors in August - Summer is coming to an end

Jacob's ladder - so called because the leaves look like a 'stairway to Heaven'

The 'salad days' are behind us

The garden is starting to die.  It's producing better than ever, but things are starting to bolt or fall over and turn yellow.  Every year it seems like it takes forever for the garden to start growing (May/June), then it's neat and tidy and looking good for a few weeks (late July), then comes the 'lush' stage when the weeds start to take over (early August), and now the decline.  I always think of it as sort of like the stages of an empire.  Right now I'd compare our garden with Rome in maybe AD 350.  The Vandals are on the horizon!

Lately we have been eating carrots and potatoes like crazy.  In years past I always sort of saved the potatoes until they were completely mature.  But this year I decided that 'new' potatoes are just so darned good that it's a waste to let them mature.  New potatoes are sweet and like nothing you can buy in a store.  Add some butter and parsley and you have achieved culinary heaven.

Ironically, despite the title of this post, our salad greens are still doing GREAT - green and cold.

Patrick

Lots of carrots!

The peas have fallen over and are turning yellow

Kale is still doing strong - but one tried to bolt

Aphids on a fireweed stalk

Our black pack on a walk in Abercrombie

Wishes Come True

Do you remember how much you looked forward to birthdays as a kid? 

Only a few birthday celebrations stand out  in my mind. Vivid party memories  involve sleep overs and sneaking out in the woods at night with girlfriends. We'd tiptoe down two flights of stairs trying to not giggle then ease our way outside and make our way through the trees on the small trails. We truly believed our parents were sound asleep and wouldn't hear our footsteps on the stairs. 

As a younger child, I remember a birthday celebration with small group of friends on a sunny day down by the large pond near our house.  Running through  the salmonberry busy trails, swinging on the bouy swing with friends and thinking of jumping into the cold pond below, but never doing it.  

And when blowing out birthday candles, I always wished for an Atari video game set. Over and over and over. Until it finally arrived. Then I think my wishes revolved more about wanting attention of boys. Sigh. 

Now as my daughter  pauses and grins at the cake  before she blows out her 9 candles, I wonder what her wishes are and if her dreams will come true. Is she dreaming of events she wants to have happen or something more material, like a doll.  

Several weeks before the party Nora asked me, "Mom, can you be in the pool with me?". 

"Yeah, I can do that. Do you want me in there even if daddy's going to be in there?" I asked her, trying to slyly get out of it. 

"Yeah. I really want you in there, mom. " she replied. 

"Ok. Hmmm. But  I'll need to get the party set up somehow.  Maybe me being in the pool wouldn't work." 

Nora said, "Oh, you can just get out a little early to get things set up."

Alrighty. It was a deal, I would be in the pool. As I thought about it more, this could be one of the last few birthdays where I would get an invite to be IN the pool with my daughter. 

While I treaded water and sat on the side in the deep end, the kids did jumps and flips off the board and took lots of tries at touching the bottom of the deep end. Patrick took underwater posed pictures and there was a shared love for the water with all the kids. The next day, Nora told me, "Mom, thank you for going in the pool with me".

At the end of the day, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else…so close to the action and smiles.  Zoya

Joy in Waves

On the eve of Nora's 9th, I plugged in the Happy Birthday Lights in the living room-a family ritual. This assured that when Nora rose in the early morning light she would be greeted with the light of the circular letters hanging in the living room.

                                                         -

"Mom, I'm having so much fun!" Nora said so frequently today as we shared the time together with her friends. The later summer sun was kind to us today with temperatures in the 60's on our nearby Mill Bay Beach.   With 1 boogie board and 1 kick board shared between 4 kids, they shared chances to briefly ride the gentle waves which rolled up on shore. (The word "crashed" onshore would be an overstatement.) Squeals of delight came from all four kids as they took turns riding the tail end of the waves onto the beach.

I, meanwhile, sat on the beach blanket on the sand and watched Nora innocently run around in such birthday glory. Thinking of how to help her keep her enthusiastic, curious spirit. And how to release expectations for who I think she should be or do and just enjoy every moment of her.

In those tough parenting moments so many of us can relate to, it can be hard to remember to release expectations. But in the glory of the warm sun on the beach, I am reminded how much Nora is loving life and enjoying every chance she has to run in the ocean waves.

Zoya