SEP-B-5
THE COVERING NOTE FOR THE FORWARDING
OF THE FIRST PHOTOWORKS
ROLLS
OF THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE
Now you
can see a bit of it!
Clicking
on the attached access to my on-line film library will get you started on the
Alaskan adventure photojournalism. The first roll begins with the not
dissimilar glaciers and high alpine deserts of the
The
first two of quite a few more rolls of film to return from the Expedition into
the Yukon/Koskikwim Delta into the Nushagak River and up the Chichitna Valley
to our grizzly-bear-trashed Spike Camp #2 have returned on line from Photo
Works. You may see a bit of the "blood sport"--but most of the blood spilled on film is from the family
"Salmonidae"!
There
will be many more volumes of pictures should only the city of Washington DC
re-open, but there has been no one in to the office to pick up the two dozen
rolls from the Arctic Tundra left last week for processing and development,
since Hurricane Isabel has changed our lives with wind and water.
I
am going over now to check on the damage at Derwood of three big trees which
have fallen after the four that I had taken out earlier this summer in
preparation for the "gutting and remodeling". The foundations
for the footings were laid after excavation in the wet weather last week while
I was gone in Alaska, and the brick layers are all coming on Saturday to begin
construction, but that has all been set back by weather and downfalls which now
need to be cleared by the same tree removal team as I had work on the large
dead trees in advance of the demolition when I was in the Himalayas.
I
am doing two domestic trips this week, then leave the following weekend for
Sikkim, which should be my last Asian foreign mission for this year, with a new
doctoral degree program which opens up (if the GWU is opened up) this weekend.
The
outline of the Alaskan excursion is printed below.
Cheers!
GWG
SEP-A-1
“NORTH TO
ALASKA-IV”: THE MOOSE IS LOOSE!
Sep-A-1 Index to the Alaska Moose Hunt in the
Yukon Delta with Borealis Outdoor Adventures: Craig Schaefer and Christian
Elwell and I heading into
2 Takeoff
for the long trip to the northern land of the midnight sun from the
3 Entering the
and points beyond by bush pilot into the Yukon Delta
4 Alaska: a Big Game Hunt in
America’s highest population of Big Game in its Lowest Density—a feature of the
unimaginably vast Wilderness I enter into in the Nushigak River area of tundra
along the Chichitna River of the Yukon/Kwoskikwim River Deltas and the “Shotgun
Hills” from Aniak by float plane and up the Nushigak by jet boat from Base Camp
to remote Spike Camp #2 for the Opening Day of Moose Season and fishing in
Salmon-field rivers spotting the rare glimpse of wildlife in glass-and-stalk
fair chase in a pristine Alaskan Wilderness adventure experience!
5 Opening
Day of
6 Rest
and recovery days in and near camp, with a transient illness for all but me,
and some uncertainty about the confidence in accuracy of our scoped high
caliber rifles: We recover with the help
of “Moose Wellington” tenderloins, and resume the “spot and stalk” hunt, with a
completely unexpected encounter with Alaska’s rarest trophy which I
photograph—and then collect, while also observing a big interior grizzly bear
at close range with camera in action and rifle at the ready
7 “The
Moose is Loose:” An abrupt closed range
encounter with the “world book class” monster moose, which charges into us
after a short stalk in response to the rutting call—and the least expected
result of an encounter with heavy rifles at 30 yards range in nearly impassable
riverine habitat
8 The
four day search along a blood trail on foot through nearly impenetrable
terrain, by jet boat and an extensive and expensive futile search by air for my
“tagged moose”
9 Return
to Base Camp after being dropped off in riverside “Bear’s Lair,” passing
otters, mink, eagles and a river-crossing, to arrive in time to experience
phenomenal world-class sport fishing for silver salmon, grayling, my first
Dolly Vardens and rainbow trout
10 A big day for Base Camp hunters,
as we climb tundra hills where Craig shoots and I kill a bull caribou, then
butcher pack it all out, shoot spruce grouse, then head off for Northern pike
fishing, as each of our other hunters with their guides score on caribou and a
big bull moose
11 A day for Craig and I to
climb the tundra to an unexpected close encounter with the second of the rarest
trophies of the Alaskan Wilderness: my close range 60 yard encounter with a
rare lone white wolf, within a whiff of wind of being collected as the second
of my unusual trophies of the “Moose Hunt” with such an unexpected
conclusion—Joe Miller and client encounter the same monster moose, hit five
times,(also), track it and lose it for two days
searching!
12 I pack away a treasure trove
of frozen salmon fillets, as a long waiting day for our float plane pack out
experiences a caribou herd crossing the river near camp before our float plane
fly out return to a celebration dinner at Aniak Slough Bed and Breakfast and
the surprise of seeing my snow sheep on the back cover advertisement for Marcus
Zimmerman’s Taxidermy, just as I am calling him from Aniak for his creative
artistry in a full mount of a big male Wolverine—the UM Mascot and the first
such trophy to be collected in any of the guides’ collective experience
13 The cold packing out of moose meat pallets
and trophy hides, skulls and CITES and taxidermy clearances, before the long
flights in returning diagonally across the USA from ANI through ANC through SEA
through EWR to IAD and Derwood, with a fish box of frozen high price fillets
>>>
photomail@photoworks.com
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Roll
#: 54215167
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