Moose Crossing!

Mama Moose and Twin Calves

I spent my two last Saturdays in Alaska fishing at the mouth of the Tanalian River, knee-deep in the ripping current. To my right, in deeper water, spawning salmon undulated in the current like rusty torpedos. They have travelled hundreds of miles to spawn in their home waters.

On my way back to the lodge that first  Saturday afternoon, I turned off the Lake Clark runway onto a dirt road. Right in front of me was a mama Moose and her twin calves. They ignored me completely and vanished silently into the woods like three brown ships.

In another few weeks, I'll be heading back to the Lower 48 and to my own home waters. It's hard to believe that my time in Alaska is almost over, and that I'll be saying good-bye to moose, salmon, and sunsets over Hardenburg Bay.

Sunrise over Hardenburg Bay

It's been a remarkable summer and I've certainly seen the wonders of God in nature and in the souls of man.

I've been invited back to guide next summer and Lord willing, I'll return. I imagine that this will be my last blog for the summer. Samaritan Lodge will be hosting the SP Soldatna, AK, staff next weekend. Then we'll clean and winterize the camp before flying out on for Soldatna/Kenai on the 19th.

I'm going to travel and visit family and friends in September and part of October, so I hope to see you soon and have a good long chat about your summer. Much love, Elizabeth

My Samaritan Lodge "Bonus" Daughters (Warning! Spiritual Content Ahead!)

Isaiah 54:1 "'Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the daughters of the desolate one will be more numerous than the daughters of the married woman,' says the Lord."

I promised to introduce you to some of my co-workers and friends. These three beautiful women have become my dearest friends and adopted "bonus" daughters.

Natalie works in the Tanalian Dining Hall and is a remarkable pastry chef. She is reserved without being shy, calm, affectionate and funny. She is also my favorite Banana-grams partner! We greet each other every morning with an enormous and enormously lengthy bear hug. It's the best possible ritual and I don't know how I started the day without her all these years!

Natalie, Katie and Val

Katie is the assistant cook at the Bunker (staff dining) and my next door neighbor. She is a spunky, focused young woman whose dream is to serve with Samaritan's Purse full-time. She packed her first Operation Christmas Child box as a 6-year-old and determined then and there that she wanted to work for SP. She's another hugging buddy and often lifts me off my feet when she sees me. We frequently curl up on her bed or mine for a good long chat at day's end, though those have slowed down a little since she started dating one of my fellow guides Carlin!

Val's husband Jay is a resident of Port Alsworth, Alaska, and works full-time for Samaritan Lodge as a Jack-of-all-trades, though his background is in landscape architecture (Atlanta, GA). I call him our SL Transformer, for he drives all our heavy equipment as if he's part man/part machine. Val is in-and-out of the lodge along with their Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Susie Q, and has become another Banana-grams addict and adopted daughter. She has a quirky and playful sense of humor, feels things very deeply, and is a gifted artist. I'm hoping to pull out my watercolors and spend a Saturday painting with her before summer ends.

I once told God: "If I'm going to remain single, then you had better send me on Adventures." Well, He has sent me all over the world on incredible adventures. I have ridden in rickshaws and on riverboats in Asia. I have flown in rickety airplanes in Africa. I have hung over the edge of the Andes Mountains in a Toyota Landcruiser. Now, I spend my days on floatplanes and small boats in Alaska.

But, I haven't always been reconciled to my singleness, no matter how loaded with adventure. I have mourned the lack of a husband and family -- and if I'm honest, even railed at God at times. But I have grown content and secure in the knowledge that He loves me. And I know that He's good. And the words of Isaiah 54 have come true for me out here on the frontier: for though I have never borne children, I have many daughters. 

A Great Day with Greta!

If the woman on my left looks familiar, it's because she's world famous for her work as a commentator and television personality for FOX News. She's been dubbed one of the "100 Most Powerful Women in the World".

Friday morning, Greta Van Susteren joined our veteran couples for a day of fishing. Franklin Graham handed her a rod and pointed at me: one of the 100 least powerful women in the world.

Fortunately for both of us, she didn't ask any questions about politics, and (providentially) she caught two fish right off the bat. To say that I was relieved is an understatement!

Though her intellect and political savvy is certainly intimidating, Greta is lively, open and and not the least bit intimidating.  This petite fireball is as low maintenance as they come. She is also an engaging story-teller and has a wonderful and often self-deprecating sense of humor. She instantly found common ground with the veterans and their spouses.

To my utter surprise, both of these photos made it onto Greta's blog today (see Gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com). The first one was taken by Franklin Graham as I was trying to dodge out of the photo. A comment on one of the threads said something like: "Looks as if the other girl is afraid she's going to be slapped by the fish!"

The second photo was actually the lead photo this morning along with the caption "Check out this pic! (and by the way, the women can fish!). 

Having my photo on Gretawire was certainly a highlight, though by 3:30 pm I was supplanted quickly by photos of hairy carnivorous mammals: bears, not presidential candidates!

Many of the photos show the veterans and their spouses having a wonderful time in Alaska. It's terrific publicity for the Operation Heal Our Patriots program and a wonderful "shout out" to our veteran couples. Thanks Greta for a great day!

Berry-Picking Time!

It's August, and berry season is about to begin in earnest. Everywhere you look, low or high, you find small globes of orange, red, black, white or blue fruit forming. This week, I'll throw a few dozen zip-lock bags into my pack and add "berry-picking" to the agenda on all my guided outings. Last week on the hike to Tanalian Falls, we found exactly four ripe (and very early) alpine blueberries. Each person had just one absolutely perfect blueberry.

When we go out on the Jay Hammond (our 34-foot boat), we often beach the boat temporarily. We stop just long enough to drop off a guide and our guests on a short gravel beach at the start of a trailhead to an unnamed waterfall. A ten minute climb upward through long grasses, Devil's Club (or Devil's Walking Stick), berry bushes, and other dense shrubs leads to a small but beautiful fall.

This past week, the current bushes were full of fat cherry-red fruit. In a few more weeks, the low-bush cranberries, high-bush cranberries, blueberries (or bilberries). blackberries, raspberries and lingonberries will be producing fruit.

The Dena'ina (a native tribe indigenous to the Lake Clark area) make Nivagi or "Indian ice cream" with berries. The traditional dish is made with "berries, lard (preferably moose or bear) or oil, such as seal oil, fish or animal meat, and a small amount of sugar" (Tanaina Plantlore, Priscilla Russel Kari, 1995). As delicious as that sounds, I think I'm going to stick to Ben & Jerry's!

I've become fascinated with local botany and enjoy telling folks about various plants and their many uses in the Dena'ina culture: for food, for medicine, and often, just for fun.

Last Friday, on our hike to Tanalian Falls, we discovered a dead birch branch covered with fist-sized, nut-brown, ear-shaped protrusions. Were they mushrooms? Was it a strange type of fungus? What was it? Upon my return, I turned to my Tanaina Plantlore book and found that they were Birch Polypore (Arboreal Fungus) or in the Dena'ina language K'evajegha, which means "against the ear".

With great delight, I learned that the only recorded Dena'ina use for the Birch Polypore was as ammunition for a child's popgun! You can be sure that I'll highlight that fun fact on my next hike. And if I can find a pop-gun, I'm going to give it a try...

Yes, even on a Saturday!

 July 27th...I spent my day off fly-fishing with friends at the mouth of the Kijik River on the southeastern side of Lake Clark. Though the * Sockeye Salmon are running, Carlin, Katie, Natalie and I were fishing exclusively for Arctic Grayling.

Grayling are part of the Salmon family and are "little" fish by Lake Clark standards. They have a beautiful dorsal fin that looks something like a miniature sailfish and stunning salmon-colored stripes on their fins.Wickepedia says that they top out at 30 inches in length. Mostly we catch fish anywhere from 8" to about 16" with a few rare ones in the 20-21 inch range. Today I caught a grandaddy of a Grayling. Really, it's not just a fish story! The tail sat at my fingertips and the nose came just short of my elbow. I'll have to get back to you on the official measurement!

We boated across the lake to reach the feeder stream and then walked across a gravel spit. As we waded up the mouth of the Kijik, the surface of the stream was dotted with tell-tale rings: fish mouths gaping, tails swirling, water boiling as fish rose to take insects off the surface of the water. The first cast that drifted onto the surface of the current was immediately taken by a fish and it was the same all day. They were rising to dry flies and would take almost anything you floated past their snouts but seemed especially enamored with Royal Wulff and tan Caddis flies. We caught fifty or sixty between the four of us, a spectacular day by any standard.

We only quit the river when the growling of our stomachs started to scare the fish off...

* I'll write more about Sockeye Salmon later in the week!

Chef Jean-Claude Mille - Chef, Photographer, Chaplain...and Landscaper?

Beware! Chef Jean-Claude Mille with his
secret French sauce!

Would you believe that the man in the rakishly tilted fur-lined hat was once personal chef to the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Milton Burle, and Frank Sinatra?

Jean-Claude went from seminary to culinary school to skid row and you can read his biography at: http://www.chefjeanclaude.com/

Now, Jean-Claude is an occasional landscaping sprayer person (everyone pitches in to get the lodge ready for the season!), but mostly he's the full-time Head Chef and Staff Photographer for Samaritan Lodge Alaska -- during the summer months that is. The remainder of the year he is a traveling chef/chaplain for the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team.

He runs Tanalian Dining Room like a Michelin 3-star-rated restaurant, along with his sous chef, Michael, pastry chef, Natalie, and the volunteer kitchen staff and servers, Mike and Melissa.

I never expected to find a gourmet French chef in bush Alaska and one of the best things: the guides are invited to dine with our guests for dinner and breakfast once a week. Yum!

* For those of you who are praying folks, Jean-Claude is in Anchorage tonight. He is having a simple out-patient procedure tomorrow and hopes to rejoin us in a few days. Please pray for a positive outcome and that he will be back in his kitchen soon.

The Attempt to Summit Tanalian!

Photo from left to right: Elizabeth (me!), Linda (Head of Housekeeping for Samaritan Lodge), Kelly (SL Administrative Assistant), Becky (5th grade teacher and SL housekeeping volunteer for one month), Pat (Pastor and SL kitchen volunteer for one month), Natalie (SL Pastry Chef for Tanalian Dining Hall), Michael (Natalie's brother and SL Sous Chef for Tanalian Dining Hall), Christina and Dan (spouse/Doctor for Tanalian Bible Camp). 

Tanalian Mountain. Difficulty: Strenuous. (http://www.nps.gov/lacl/planyourvisit/day-hikes.htm).

As Forest Gump would say: That's all I have to say about that! But, what would life be like without an attempt on the strenuous, if not the impossible. Doesn't the Bible say: "For with God, nothing is impossible?" And in order to prove the truth of that statement, you have to try the difficult, the strenuous, and the downright impossible. 

On Saturday at 8:30 AM, five of our staff, two volunteers, the visiting Doctor for Tanalian Bible Camp, and the Doctor's wife, all gathered in front of the Bunker to begin our attempt on Tanalian Mountain. Some of our group just wanted to make it to a spot called Traveler's Rest, some wanted to get to a much higher spot called "The Knee", and the rest of us wanted to climb along the topmost ridge and ride the sky at the summit. 

On our way to the trailhead, Spence (SL maintenance man and endurance runner) waved at us nonchalantly and said he would catch up with us in a bit -- after he had showered and gotten a bite to eat. He had decided that morning to take a shot at the trail record of 2 and 1/2 hours -- as he had nothing better to do with his day (!). Two hours later, he laced up his Soloman's, duck-taped a walkie talkie, SAT phone and bear spray together, and hit the 8.1 mile trail. He passed us coming and going and his final time was a stunning 2 hours, 29 minutes and 32 seconds. 

The rest of us took our time, stopping for lunch and taking a few additional breaks as needed. Ok, taking a few hundred breaks as needed. Remember? Tanalian Mountain: Strenuous!

Just below "The Knee", we collapsed onto the springy tundra and inhaled out our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Kelly pulled out her phone and checked her pedometer. Four hours into our journey, she had walked over 10,000 steps! We had walked over 10,000 steps.

Kelly, Pat and Linda decided to start down the mountain after they reached The Knee and I never got the final step count. But I'm dying to know the final tally. Somehow I'll have to figure out how many more steps we took to reach the summit. It's bound to take a highly complicated mathematical formula. So, I will ask Michael (degree: Aeronautical Engineering) to run the equations and get back to you in my next post. Or perhaps I will ask Spence to take Kelly's pedometer on his romp up the mountain!

Anyway, over 20,000 steps later, our band of nine straggled back to the camp in three smaller groups -- clocking in at 5:30 PM, 6:00 PM, and 7:30 PM respectively. I'm proud to say I brought up the rear at the eleventh-hour mark, lagging behind Spence by a thumping eight and a half hours, and, even more humbling, behind our wounded veteran's best time by two additional hours!

As advertised, the trail to the top was strenuous...but, oh the glorious view. It was worth every strenuous step. And I have a lot more to say about that. But it's 11:15 PM and I'll save it for another day.

Happiness is...

A Week in the Life of L-12 (Me!)

Sunday: I usually choose sleep over breakfast on Sundays. But, I try to peel myself of bed by around 9:00 AM, and will head for the Bunker to scrounge up a late bowl of cereal or a banana. At 10:00 AM we all walk over to church which is only about five minutes away from camp. During the season, the Lake Clark Bible Church grows to nine or ten times its normal size, so we meet in a covered, open-air pavilion called the Praise-anasium. I know, it's a funny name, but the building does double duty as a gymnasium for the Tanalian Bible Camp kids during the week and as a church on Sunday -- thus the name. 

After church we return to the Bunker for a huge "Thanksgiving" meal of turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, cranberry relish, rolls, salad, and dessert. After lunch, we roll out of the Bunker and are free and comatose until staff meeting at 4:00 PM.

At 5:00 PM or thereabouts, we all go down to the airfield to meet the veterans and their spouses. Almost all of Port Alsworth comes out to meet the vets waving flags and welcoming them with sincere appreciation. I usually greet one couple in particular and give them a guided tour of the camp before showing them to their individual cabin. It's a bit like an Old West town with all the buildings off of one main boardwalk. There are no saloons or, ahem, bordellos. But the locals do look a bit rough and carry various weaponry.

We have a fire-pit, but there are no beans and biscuits. At 6:00 pm, the couples have dinner in the Tanalian Dining Hall where Jeane-Claude (our french chef) reins supreme. They dine on prime rib, creme brulee, and a variety of other delicacies. I eat almost as well in the Bunker (though I did have baked beans and pork this afternoon). Then I have the rest of the night off.

Monday: 

I'm up at 5:30 to read, pray and get ready for the day. Breakfast is at 7:00AM followed by our daily staff devotions which kick in at 7:30. At 8:00, the guides head for our little office to check on weather, see what the couples have signed up to do for the day, and fill out our float/plane/hike plans. Then we ramp up for the day, getting SAT phones, walkie-talkies, bear spray, fishing tackle, and whatever other personal gear we need. I might load kayaks onto the top of the Jay Hammond (our 35-foot boat), restock air-sickness bags and earplugs on the float plane, or help size women for their waders (always a delicate business). 

Meanwhile, the couples have a kayak lesson, procure their fishing license for the week, and get out-fitted in their fishing waders and boots for the week. Then their Alaskan adventure begins!

This week (Week 5), at 11:00AM, Mark Lang flew four couples and myself to a historical site on Twin Lakes for a visit to Dick Proenneke's Cabin.

(http://www.nps.gov/lacl/historyculture/proennekes-cabin.htm).

John (our other pilot) flew two more groups to the site over the next several hours, taking the previous group out on each return trip (the plane holds room for 12 including the pilot and guide). I stayed behind with each group to catch the plane and host the group while they ate lunch and toured the cabin and outbuildings. 

Kay and Monroe are the NPS volunteers/care-takers for Proenneke's Cabin. They live in their own tiny cabin (Spike's cabin) about a mile away from the site and give guided tours of Proenneke's throughout the season. Then they return to their own home in the Lower 48.

They are a fascinating, lively, and completely adorable couple in their late-60's or early 70's. We have made fast friends already. Kay is teaching me all about the botany of the area and I have pulled out my sketchpad for the first time since my arrival. I managed a few small pen-and-ink sketches of plants while various groups toured the cabin. Monroe was tickled pink about the sketches as his daughter does similar artwork.

The second and third group of veterans had the opportunity to take a photo with the new NPS supervisor for the Lake Clark area and the senator for Alaska Lisa Merkowski (Dem). Then we took off for home.

Mark started calling me L12 today. He saw my lunch sack and said, "Who's L12?". I had written "LIZ" on the side of the bag (Elizabeth is just too long to spell out) and he read it as L12. We got a good laugh out of it and now I'm "L-12."

Tuesday: I went out on the Jay Hammond (our 35-foot boat) with our boat captain Josh Sanner and three couples. We fished for Pike and Lake Trout, picnicked at Indian Point on Lake Clark, and then made for home. 

Each morning, the couples fix up a bag lunch and pack them in their backpacks or load them in a cooler. We always take hot water and coffee in thermoses, and I have developed a mean bush Alaska-style mocha-joe recipe.

Lake Clark Mocha Joe: Combine 1 packet of powdered cocoa with two containers of half-and-half. Stir and add coffee. 

Wednesday: I hiked to Tanalian Falls with three couples, including an AK (above knee) amputee who out-hiked the entire group! We fished below the falls, caught some Arctic Grayling, ate lunch and then headed for home. Wednesday is usually our Barbecue Night at the fire-pit. Everyone shares a huge picnic meal al fresco: guests, staff, volunteers, resident staff, and often, a few extra visitors to the camp. But this week we moved our picnic night to Thursday to celebrate the 4th as an impromptu family.

Thursday: I hiked to Tanalian Falls with two couples. We fished below the falls, ate lunch, did a little rock-climbing to reach the top of the falls (we had an agile foursome), and then headed for home. 

Thursday night was our 4th of July barbecue around the fire-pit. The rain didn't dampen spirits at all, and spending Independence Day with our injured vets made for an awesome 4th.

Friday: We started the morning with a worship service, followed by a baptismal service. Four couples were baptized in Lake Clark on Friday morning. The couples had to be packed and ready to depart by 1:00pm, but we had time for a short fishing trip out on Lake Clark. Carlin (another associate guide) and I took two couples out on the 16-foot skiffs. We fished for Arctic Grayling on 22-Mile Creek. The couples both had fish on the hook from the moment we arrived until we departed. Well, that may be a fishing guide's exaggeration, but it was pretty close to the truth. One guest finally got tired of catching fish and just sat on the beach! It was a great fishing day.

At 1:00pm we gathered around the fire-pit for our closing ceremony. The couples, staff and volunteers all have the opportunity to say something about the week and there's always a lot of laughter and tears. Each week, we hand out Bibles that are signed by Franklin Graham and all the staff. At the end, the chaplains give a benediction and we all head for the airfield to see them off. 

Friday is Movie Night for the staff, but so far, I have only made it to two movies in six weeks! Usually, I hunker down in the laundry room to wash my dirty clothes from the previous week, catch up on email and work on my blog. Then I head for bed.

Saturday: I sleep until I wake up and then roll over and doze for another thirty minutes. At least. Then I read for a bit before heading to the Bunker for lunch. Some weeks, I don't even make it in for lunch. Some weeks I might not make it in for dinner!

We are off all day Saturday. Sometimes I'll go on outings with other staff, volunteers, or friends. Sometimes I'll just stay around camp and take it easy. This past Saturday, I took three of our volunteers out on Lake Clark in the skiff. They all purchased a 1-day Alaska fishing license and we got them fitted out in waders, boots and rain gear. Les & Donna caught their first fish in Alaska and got some great pictures. Pat got shut out, but big-hearted guy that he is, he was thrilled for Les & Donna and said that he caught plenty last year. We hit some nice rollers on the way back and everyone was glad to have worn their rain jackets. 

Saturday night is pretty laid back. If I haven't finished my blog, I try to wrap it up on Saturday. Same for laundry. Then (yawn), it's to bed. And (yawn), it's way past time for bed. Thanks for reading my longer than usual post! I hope you've enjoyed a week in the life of L12.

Brooks Camp - Bear Viewing

We flew to Brooks Camp at Katmai National Park & Preserve for our first week of bear-viewing with the veterans and their spouses. As we came in for a landing, we saw there wasn't a single float plane tied off on the beach. Through my earphones Mark Lang (bush pilot, head guide and the director of Samaritan Lodge) said "Mmm, not a good sign."

But as I dodged through the passengers to the back of the plane in preparation for docking, one of the veterans exclaimed, "A bear!" Through the rear window, across from the mouth of Brooks River, we could see a sow and her two cubs walking along the beach. We had managed to arrive along with the first bears!

Brooks Camp is on the shore of the Naknek Lake. Sockeye Salmon run through Naknek Lake and up Brooks River on their long journey to spawn. The salmon reach a set of falls about two to three miles up the river. Where the salmon congregate, bears congregate. And where bears congregate, so do bear-watchers. That's us!

When we arrived with our first group, a

visiting photographer had set up camp on the bear-viewing platform by the falls. He had been watching all day and remarked that the sow (in the photo above) had spent the whole day at the falls and had only caught one fish, poor gal.

Two days later, the salmon had definitely made their debut at the falls in record numbers. My photo shows about two fish, but over the course of an hour, we saw thousands of fish attempting to ascend the falls. In his 28 years of guiding, Mark had never seen so many fish. In a one minute interval we counted 143 fish and that was a fraction of the total.

Somehow the bears haven't gotten the memo yet. We flew to Brooks twice last week. We only saw three adult bears and two cubs on the first trip, and two adults on the second (one of whom was sleeping). But with the arrival of the salmon, the bears will begin arriving and things will get exciting.

We did have a little excitement on our second trip to Brooks. We saw a sow charge halfway into the river toward a group of fly fisherman. She clearly took exception to the fishermen (who are allowed to fish one mile from the falls in either direction). It will come as no surprise that they gave way to the bear and slowly backed out of the river and back onto the trail. Fortunately for the fishermen, the altercation ended peacefully with the sow returning to the shoreline and sitting down. Another group of fishermen were also trying to return to the trail and away from the bear, but only after taking photos and video of her first.

The trail that the fisherman take diverges from the main trail and shoots off through the forest, meandering through long sedge grasses to the river's edge. The grass grows above the height of a man's head as the summer progresses and hides even the largest bears from sight. One of the Katmai rangers (half-jokingly/half-not) calls the fisherman's trail the "Hall of Terror."

To check out Brooks Camp go to: www.nps.gov/katm/planyourvisit/brookscamp.htm

Porcupine's Nest or Home Sweet Home in Alaska

Many of you have requested a photo of my lodgings in Alaska. The building I live in is called "Porcupine's Nest" and fittingly enough, a porcupine waddled by our dwelling last week.

Our little "eight-plex" has four rooms on the front side and four on the back. I live in unit "C" and as you can see, my door is covered with white mosquito netting and on the porch by my door is a row of shoes: filthy hiking boots, a pair of Keens, and my wading boots.

From the left of the photo, my neighbors are: Eric (in A) (Cook), Katie (B) (Assistant Cook), & Becky (D) (Housekeeping).

My room has space for a bed, bureau, chair and a small cubby. Through the opening to the right of the bureau is a small private bathroom with shower.

I have lovingly named "C" my little monk's cell. The only thing truly lacking is a writing surface. My bed does double duty, so writing and sleeping often merge as a result. In fact...(yawn), I'm headed for bed now. Love to you all!

P.S. Christine -- it's my own tiny-tiny-tiny!

Tanalian Mountain

June 20: Thursdays often find me gasping and wheezing my way to the top of Tanalian Mountain along with some of our veterans and their spouses. I have to be honest with you, hiking to the summit of a 4,000 foot mountain every week was not on my personal PT list. But, when you see a veteran with a prosthetic summit the mountain, you swallow your lame excuses (along with a half dozen ibuprofen), lace up your boots, and go. 

In the photo, the point of the ridge acts like an arrow pointing to Samaritan Lodge Alaska and the community of Port Alsworth. The two parallel strips of gray in the dead center of the photo are the dual (and dueling) airstrips. Peninsula & Lake Air owns the runway on the left and Lake Clark Air owns the runway on the right. Lake Clark Air has the coolest ball caps and the dustiest runway. Samaritan Lodge Alaska sits smack dab in the middle of the two runways on the bay side of Lake Clark. 

The rounded brown hump of land to the left of the ridge is an alpine meadow called "the Knee" where we rest, eat our lunch and pray fervently for the tenacity to reach the top. The climb is six miles up and six down. Imagine being chained to a Stairmaster for eight hours while watching National Geographic and you'll have some idea of how I spend my Thursdays. 

Only, I'm chained to truly remarkable people. Last week one of the injured vets made it to the summit; and down below in the Bunker at Samaritan Lodge, his wife watched through a high powered scope in growing wonder and astonishment. When she saw his red shirt appear at the tip-top of the mountain, she yelled, "That's my man!" 

Lacing up my boots on Thursdays isn't always easy, but I wouldn't trade my job for all the easy chairs and blister-free feet in the world. 

Tanalian Falls in May & Nesting Eagles

When I first arrived, the waterfall (Tanalian Falls) was partially frozen and you could walk out to the center of the riverbed. Now, the rock I'm standing on in the picture is completely submerged and the pools below the falls are ferocious cataracts of swirling water.

The eagle in the picture below is just flying off her nest (on the far left). Minutes later, the male of the pair took her place. As of yesterday, the pair was still on the nest incubating their eggs. I hope to see baby eaglets later this summer!

Week One at Samaritan Lodge Alaska

June 9: I'm relaxing on the back deck of the "Bunker" -- a building which serves as a dining hall for staff and a general lounge for both staff and guests. Depending on your age or weight, the Bunker is either the pits of hell or the heights of heaven. By the mandate of Franklin Graham, fresh home-made cookies must be available at all times!

Right now, I'm settled in a LL Bean chair looking out over Lake Clark and the Chigmit Mountain Range (a sub-range of the Aleutian Mountains).

Weather has been mostly glorious since my arrival in Alaska, an unusual phenomenon, or so I'm told. Last year, "liquid sunshine" was the order of the day. But this year, Alaska is preening, showing off like a young bush pilot.

On Friday, we said good-bye to our first group of veterans and their spouses. I'm officially broken-in to Samarian Lodge Alaska -- and so are my hiking boots! Monday morning the head guide asked me to take three couples on a half-day hiking trail that runs along the lower slope of Tanalian Mountain. My Asolo's racked up the miles all week, with two more trips to "The Falls" -- a two-and-a-half mile round-trip hike to a stunning cascade on the Tanalian River. Those who are inclined to fish packed in their waders, boots, and fly-fishing rods, and we cast below the falls for beautiful little Arctic Graylings. The small fish took a nymph pattern called a Copper John., though they are also coming up to dry flies.

On Thursday, three of us guided a 10-hour, 12-mile hike to summit the Mountain (3,560 feet) with a group of fifteen. Eight of our participants made it to the summit -- which is an incredible feat considering the terrain. We stopped and ate lunch at a spot called "the knee"; it's a beautiful alpine meadow full of tiny flowering plants and I annoyed everyone by singing Sound of Music tunes at the top of my lungs.

Friday morning was a relatively light day. The couples took a float plane outing to a historical site, then in the afternoon we gathered at the lake for baptisms, followed by closing ceremonies.

WARNING! I realize that everyone has a different comfort level with spiritual conversation and talk about Christianity or about Jesus Christ. I want to respect the various faith backgrounds of my friends (and readers). As most of you know, I am a follower of Jesus and He's pretty much the love of my life. So from time to time, I'll write about my own spiritual journey, and also report what I have witnessed in the lives of these couples (in an anonymous and general way) when something marvelous happens. But to honor you as best I can, I'll try and issue a warning if an upcoming paragraph has overtly spiritual content and you can choose to read it or skip to the next one! I hope that works for everyone. If I forget, please remind me!

THIS PARAGRAPH HAS OVERTLY SPIRITUAL CONTENT!
I wish I could post photos of the baptismal service. Three of our participants surrendered their lives to the love of God and braved the forty degree water of Lake Clark to be baptized. Having jumped in to the lake once, I know it takes both spiritual and physical bravery to plunge beneath those waters and come up a new person in Christ.  As our chaplains lowered each person into the water, four sea gulls wheeled over our heads crying. One of the men being baptized was a young veteran who had chronic sores from a battle wound that had plagued him for years. When he professed faith in Christ, his sores were immediately healed. The next morning, his wife caught me on the boardwalk and said, "(He) said his heart feels clean for the first time."

Next week is an abbreviated week for me. An air taxi will take me to Anchorage on Thursday afternoon where I'll catch a flight to the Lower 48. God willing, I'll be in Lexington, Kentucky, on Friday morning. This weekend is my dad's 80th birthday and I'm racking up the miles with Alaskan Air to make it home for the festivities. I'll be home Friday and Saturday, then catch the first flight out on Sunday morning to head back to Alaska. If you want to call, I'll have phone service starting at around 10am on Friday until Saturday around 4pm (big doings on Saturday night and I won't be answering my phone).

For those of you who want to know, my mailing address is:

Samaritan Lodge Alaska
c/o Elizabeth Jones
PO Box 192
Port Alsworth, AK 99653

4th Annual Sourdough Fly-In at Port Alsworth, Alaska

May 31: As advertised, last weekend the whole community turned out for the 4th Annual Sourdough Fly-In, which took place in the hanger and on the runway of Lake and Peninsula Air (Lake & Pen Air). Can you spot the orange cone and the small airborne pizza box in the picture? Domino''s Pizza delivers bush Alaska style! Well, not exactly, though pilots do drop food to hikers on occasion, just for fun. The pilot of the black & white plane is attempting to drop the box as close as possible to the orange cone as part of the airshow events. Planes are disqualified for dropping lower than 100 feet. Pilots also vied for the shortest landing and take-off. We sat along the runway and cheered them on.

The plane bobbling at the end of our dock is an Otter, or to be more precise, a DeHaviland DHC-3. You'll get sick of hearing about planes, but they are a huge part of the culture and a huge part of my job, and they are just plain (!) cool. The second guide actually functions as a sort of co-pilot from time to time.

(Dad, I recommend that you don't read this next part!)

When we take guided trips to the Upper Tazimina or Long Lake, I'll sit in the co-pilot seat. When we take off for home, I hold the plane steady while our pilot John goes through the start-up sequence. Holding the plane steady means just that. I stand in waist-high water (whle wearing my fishing waders). I hold onto the float cleat or one of the plane ropes and verbally clear John for take-off. Then once the prop starts, I climb onto the float, up the struts and into the plane as it taxies into the lake. Enough about planes...

Let's talk about boats...Just kidding. For now.

I guess I've started halfway through the middle. In case you're reading this blog and don't know, I'm on a four-month stint at Samaritan Lodge Alaska in Port Alsworth, Alaska, as one of the summer staff for the program Operation Heal Our Patriots. This coming Sunday evening, ten couples will arrive at the lodge. One or both partners will have been injured in Iraq or Afghanistan - post 9-11. The couples will stay until Friday afternoon for a combination of adventurous outings and marriage resiliency workshops -- adventurous outings will include fly-fishing, bear-watching, hiking some of the local mountains, and of course, the workshops! I think the seminars count as great adventures too, and perhaps will take more courage than facing bears.

That's enough for tonight. For those who pray, please pray for my first week with the veterans
 I miss you all!

Samaritan Lodge Alaska 2013

May 15th: Alaska Airlines dropped me in Anchorage where I picked up an ERA Aviation flight into Kenai/Soldatna and the Samaritan's Lodge Alaska base camp. The Kenai River is the dividing point between the two cities and is famous for its salmon fishing.

The Samaritans Lodge Alaska Base Camp is just a collection of hand-hewn cabins with group accomodations (ie; bunks) and a small dining hall sited next to a small municipal airstrip. Samaritan's Lodge owns several planes and before the summer is over, I'll know them all by sight and sound. Planes and helicopters are the only forms of transportation out to the bush, so I'll be spending a lot of time on them.

The seasonal team trickled in all evening and I'll post pictures and introduce them over the course of the summer. There are a two chaplains (plus their wives), five guides, one housekeeping supervisor, a french chef and various kitchen staff, a maintenance guy, and one administrative person. Add nine or ten volunteers to the mix and you have our summer team.

May 16: We flew on the King Air through dense cloud cover to Port Alsworth on Thursday morning. Everything was a blanket of fog until we came down on the runway and unloaded. The lodge is sandwiched between two runways on the bay and we go to sleep and wake up to the sound of a variety of engines.

If you're into geocaching or GPS technology, Port Alsworth, Alaska is situated on Lake Clark at 60 degrees, 12'30''N/154 degrees, 18'24". It sits on a sheltered bay on the edge of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. The town of 160+ residents is an hour from Anchorage by bush plane. Cargo plane pilots make an extra $1,000+ for landing on the gravel strips here...short, sweet, rough and dusty. The DC-10 fuel planes land here and they say the big birds run it to the inch. The landing is a social event around here and events often revolve around the airfields.

In about 10 days, we'll all go to the 4th Annual Sourdough Fly-In, a pre-season potluck and get-together for the community. Bush pilots and their families fly in for the competitive events like the "Pizza Drop" (dropping a weighted pizza box from 100 feet on a marked spot on the runway). I'll save that for my next blog.