Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

It's hard to imagine that it's January 27 already. It's even harder to imagine that the weather on the East Coast is so much worse than what we are experiencing in Alaska at the moment. As you can see from these pictures, the snow is pretty well melted down by the water. Outside of some rotting piles along the streets , most of the snow I see here is confined to the mountains. Just the way I like it. I don't want to gloat though- it could all change in a heartbeat and we could be shoveling mountains of it for the last half of the winter. I hope not. I know that there are a few former Hoonah residents who follow this blog and it's been awhile since they've been here, so I thought I'd let them see our new ferry terminal. Its a pretty fancy affair, with a covered walkway, fenced in staging area and a huge parking lot. I don't know why we needed something so big. I guess the powers that be figured we'd be needing it some time in the future. It's a f...

This is a picture of the new boat haul out that Hoonah is getting. I believe someone said it could handle a three hundred ton boat when it's completed. I think it will be a real asset to the community. Right now folks with larger boats have to travel to Wrangell or Sitka or maybe Juneau to get hauled out. With a facility like this here it should open up more job opportunities for the local folks, something that is badly needed. I'm fortunate enought to be working with a crew who is going to be doing some or maybe all of the concrete work. The fellow who got the bid grew up at Game Creek at the farm where we lived for ten years. In the immediate backround is the ramp that the state ferries pull up to. After they are tied up the ramp is lowered and all the vehicles and people disembark and wait for the new passengers to come aboard. The mountains in the backround have been all clearcut unfortunately. All that land is owned by one of the native corporations, Sealaska I believe...