The final lag of this summer Alaskan job was in Limestone Gap, which is about 1.5 hours east of Palmer. We were flown out via bush plane (Gar and Mike at Meekins air service) one by one. Once all the bodies were flown out the gear was flown out, most of which being the food I had purchased and the geology equipment. The first two days it was sunny and 7o deg F, awesome weather we thought, then it turned into 40 deg F, rain, mist, hail, frost, cold, windy, cloudy for the next couple weeks in the mountain environment, some 5,100 feet above sea level. Criky mate, that's no fun.
Below is my culinary playground... set up, purchased, designed, engineered, packed, unpacked, organized... by me. It felt so good to find empty totes and coolers. My indirect way of telling time was figuring out how many totes and lbs. of food we had rid of. No food = time to leave. Fortunately, I have just arrived back at homebase in Fairbanks and have about 200 lbs. of extra food = 5 days of emergency food ration.
My bedroom. I slept as far as I could away from the rest, just because, but it was also closest to the food tent. Wonderful view from my hill top nestled next to the squirrel nests. Some nights I'd awake to hear a racket that sounded like a bear was gnawling at my tent... it was a squirrel of course... with one strong and sturdy kick the noise was silenced. No holes in my tent.
Looking southward from the hill top where my tent was stationed.
South eastward towards Billy Mountain. That mountain to the left was fun to climb. 2.5 hours up after breakfast/lunch and 2.5 hour down, just in time to get prepping for dinner.
Our worksite. 1 big tent was a cook tent and the other two student workshop tents where they worked on their maps and studied cool ammonites, calcite formations, silica, ultramagic findings, etc . So much exposure in Limestone Gap, perhaps one of the best in Alaska. This field camp was planned out well with good location.
Looking southward again on another day. I hiked it all solo in spare time.
Again, here is my panty, inlcuding the guitar. I would serenade the clients as they dug through the double battered extra crispy deep fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy, or whatever was on the menu for that night. Music is essential for proper menu execution and preparation.
My buddy squeeks. He loved the flower. I got to know the squirrels after spending weeks alone with them while the students were out in the field. Boss didn't care for them too much, but I found them appealing because they were something other than food to stare at.
A caribou pelvis I found... looks like the Donny Darko bunny eh? Getting crazy... just maybe... 10 days in...
Here's an eastward shot of my tent and main body camp....
Get me out of here... 15 days... 2 weeks was cool, but after having no one to really talk to except squirrels and shit weather, it was time to start dreaming about getting out.
My office. Loved it.
Student work station = Steve.
Student work station = Andrew.
Student work station = Gus.
Our water came from a stream about 100 yards from camp. It was captured from the stream via several funnels and sent downwards via gravity to a capture basin (tote) that collected all the organic debris and left the clean water ambient in the container...
The purple box is the water collector with the 4 hoses going into it... the next step was for gas water pump to pump the water uphill to our campsite to be treated by a filtration system....
Here's the hose to the camp... squirrels loved it... thank goodness for duct tape.....
The H2O plant in work tent 1...
So many thoughts, so much to see, so many lyrics, so many recipes...
It's been 10 hours since I left and I think to myself... this was one of the most challenging environments I ever worked in, even moreso than Antarctica, because we had to self create our work stations, and as Chef I was entitled to creating the kitchen, cooking the food, managing the food, and keeping the squirrels away (or at least just monitoring their consumption of scraps on the floor). Squeeks I miss you man. More photos to come shortly once I hit the store tomorrow...
Below is my culinary playground... set up, purchased, designed, engineered, packed, unpacked, organized... by me. It felt so good to find empty totes and coolers. My indirect way of telling time was figuring out how many totes and lbs. of food we had rid of. No food = time to leave. Fortunately, I have just arrived back at homebase in Fairbanks and have about 200 lbs. of extra food = 5 days of emergency food ration.
My bedroom. I slept as far as I could away from the rest, just because, but it was also closest to the food tent. Wonderful view from my hill top nestled next to the squirrel nests. Some nights I'd awake to hear a racket that sounded like a bear was gnawling at my tent... it was a squirrel of course... with one strong and sturdy kick the noise was silenced. No holes in my tent.
Looking southward from the hill top where my tent was stationed.
South eastward towards Billy Mountain. That mountain to the left was fun to climb. 2.5 hours up after breakfast/lunch and 2.5 hour down, just in time to get prepping for dinner.
Our worksite. 1 big tent was a cook tent and the other two student workshop tents where they worked on their maps and studied cool ammonites, calcite formations, silica, ultramagic findings, etc . So much exposure in Limestone Gap, perhaps one of the best in Alaska. This field camp was planned out well with good location.
Looking southward again on another day. I hiked it all solo in spare time.
Again, here is my panty, inlcuding the guitar. I would serenade the clients as they dug through the double battered extra crispy deep fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy, or whatever was on the menu for that night. Music is essential for proper menu execution and preparation.
My buddy squeeks. He loved the flower. I got to know the squirrels after spending weeks alone with them while the students were out in the field. Boss didn't care for them too much, but I found them appealing because they were something other than food to stare at.
A caribou pelvis I found... looks like the Donny Darko bunny eh? Getting crazy... just maybe... 10 days in...
Here's an eastward shot of my tent and main body camp....
Get me out of here... 15 days... 2 weeks was cool, but after having no one to really talk to except squirrels and shit weather, it was time to start dreaming about getting out.
My office. Loved it.
Student work station = Steve.
Student work station = Andrew.
Student work station = Gus.
Our water came from a stream about 100 yards from camp. It was captured from the stream via several funnels and sent downwards via gravity to a capture basin (tote) that collected all the organic debris and left the clean water ambient in the container...
It's been 10 hours since I left and I think to myself... this was one of the most challenging environments I ever worked in, even moreso than Antarctica, because we had to self create our work stations, and as Chef I was entitled to creating the kitchen, cooking the food, managing the food, and keeping the squirrels away (or at least just monitoring their consumption of scraps on the floor). Squeeks I miss you man. More photos to come shortly once I hit the store tomorrow...