Helicopter Ride and Fishing Trip, October 18th, 2009

Photos from fishing trip.

Helicopter Ride and Fishing Trip, October 18th, 2009

Sunday morning I woke up early. Since Josh wasn't going to work, I decided to go for a hike by myself, so I could carry my photo equipment.

  I hiked uphill from the ranch, towards Okmok. I photographed the sunrise from on top of a Army dugout. I hiked about 3 miles looking for a waterfall I was told was around there, but I didn't find it. So I hiked back to the ranch. 

  It was already noon by the time I got back. It was a nice day, and everyone had decided to go on a fishing trip. We would fly the helicopters to a small river with good fishing holes, on another part of the island. A river where the salmon like to spawn. 

  The helicopter flight was amazing. We could see more of the aftermath of the volcano, it looks like the surface of the moon. Very black and full of crevices. The volcanic ash is not like ash from a fire. It's like a coarse, black, granular sand. It's all over the place, even at Ft. Glenn.

  We flew between mountains, saw coves, inlets, and beaches from the air. 

  When we were at the place where we were to fish we could actually see the fish in the water as we flew over. 

  We saw a few small herds of reindeer, drinking and feeding near the river.

  Then Lonnie took us sightseeing. The valley, and that part of the island are so very beautiful. My photos hardly do justice to the beauty of the place. Streams, waterfalls, mountains, and lots of hot springs. There were hot springs coming out of the ground all over the place. We could see some of them actually boiling out of the ground. 

  After looking around, Lonnie set us down on the nearby beach, so we could beach comb, while he went back to the ranch to pick up more people.

  Josh, Art, Brodie, and myself, explored a nice little beach for an hour, until they came back. Brodie really wanted to play in the water, so I finally let him play in some small tide pools, and he ended up getting the bottom of his pants pretty wet. I wanted to take lots of pictures of the place, but I didn't manage to get too many, as I had to watch Brodie very closely.

  The helicopter came and picked us up after awhile, and took us back to the fishing hole. They had already caught a few nice salmon. You could see the fish swimming in the clear water. 

  Josh fished for awhile and caught a trout. I struggled to keep Brodie out of the river. We found a shallow spot, and threw stones in, which he thought was fun. 

  After several hours we had a pretty good haul of fish. We loaded up, and flew back. 

  Brodie was quite cold by this point, so I had put my camera away to cuddle him, and help keep him warm on the flight back. And of course because my camera was put away, we saw more amazing things that I can only tell you about. 

  The sun came out as we were flying back, so the landscape was very pretty. I could see more of the ocean on this flight. And then Lonnie took us over to see  Okmok.

  What an amazing sight. It took my breath away. From the ranch we only see the rim of Okmok. The caldera is 6 miles wide, and inside the rim, it's a massive, deep crater. Inside the crater there are several volcanic cones, as well as lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. I don't know that it's right that something so destructive can be so breathtaking but it was. I do hope to see it one more time, before we leave here.

  When we got back everyone cleaned, canned, and cooked fish until late into the night.

A Little Shook Up October 13th, 2009

  Apparently, while we were driving back in the bus last night, there was an earthquake. We just didn't feel it because of the rattling old bus. Everyone said it shook the walls pretty hard. 

  I would imagine that earthquakes are somewhat commonplace out here on the Aleutians, but I still find it rather freaky. I just hope these volcanos and earthquakes aren't up to something big.

Evening Drive to the Beach, October 12th, 2009

  Asey, one of the Ranch Hands here offered to drive us down to the beach on evening, for a little sight seeing tour. We rode in a big, old bus that smelled like fish. I'm not sure how that old bus ended up on Umnak, but it was kinda comical. 

  We drove on the old military road, down to the area that they now use for a dock. It's a few miles from the Ranch House. 

  The roads here, are all just old military roads, and there are not very many of them. Nor are they in good shape. They are more like well travelled paths, than roads (as we think of roads).

  On the drive we could see more of the left overs from the War. There are small quonsets and dugouts everywhere. Places they could hide and shoot from during an attack. There are old power lines, or perhaps they were used for communication? They look like power lines to me. We saw a house on a hill, it was the General's house. There are some spruce trees planted here and there, the only trees on Umnak, planted by the army.

  It is a mystery to Josh and I why there are not any natural trees here, or on Unalaska Island. It seems there should be good growing conditions for them. Usually trees thrive in this coastal environment, where there is little frost. Perhaps it's because of the volcano.

  The beach and dock area were very junky. We had to watch Brodie carefully. There was an old barge thing that they were using for a dock, and it was in terrible shape. The wood was rotten on it, and if you fell through, you'd land in the ocean. 

Views of Umnak

  The Scenery here on Umnak Island is pretty neat. It's not like any place I have ever seen. I have captured some of the same landmarks over and over already, but as the light changes, or the weather, the scene looks beautiful and different.

  Mt. Tulik is the cone shaped volcano, and every morning it seems more majestic than the morning before. Often you cannot see the top of it, but when the clouds move away it is quite a sight. 

  Shiprock is out in the ocean, and is quite an impressive landmark. The big, hulking, unique V shaped rock is in many of my photos, and the sun rises there.

  Okmok, is the Caldera, a large volcanic crater, with 6 volcanic cones inside. This is the one that erupted in 2008. What we see is the outside rim of the Caldera. It's right behind our cabin, approximately 6 miles away.

  There is so much I would like to explore on this island, but I probably won't get to. When I go for a walk, I have to carry Brodie in a pack on my back. It's difficult to hike very far with a 30 lb pack on your back (when you're not used to that sort of thing)

  We have went pretty far some days, a few miles, but everything to explore is at least 3 or more miles away, so I seldom reach any destination. It's still nice though.

Sunday October 11th, 2009

  Everyone takes Sunday off here at Ft. Glenn, so we did too. We went for a walk to explore a bit. 

  We walked to a old broken down Hanger, that had been used during the War. It is completely in ruins. It make Josh contemplate on how there really is not anything that man builds that lasts. Some things last better than others of course, but ultimately things eventually fall dawn. It must have been an impressive structure once. It would have been very big, able to hold many planes.

  We continued our walk. We could see the old landing strip. Lonnie has worked on it a bit, so a plane could potentially do an emergency landing on it.

  We walked to the beach, then walked along the sand, looking for things to beach comb. There wasn't too much. The beach was washed bare from the waves.

  On the way back, we looked in some old army quonsets. They were full of cow bones. The cows must go in them to die. Apparently when the volcano erupted in 2008, many of the cattle here perished in the aftermath, as the grass was all covered in volcanic ash, and the streams clogged with it. 

  We covered about 6 miles in total.

  In the afternoon, after we got back, some of the guys were herding the wild horses.  There was a colt with them. That was nice to see. They put them in a pen, and are trying to break the colt.

The Ranch House

  The Ranch House is the main building where everyone else is. The Kennedy Family lives in their own section of the Ranch House. There are 6 Ranch Hands who live in the back end of the house. 

  There is a main kitchen area where the cooking is done, and everyone gathers to eat, and visit. Off of the kitchen area there is a pantry, a small bathroom, and a porch/cold storage area for storing food. 

  Down the hall there is an office, a workshop area, and the entrance to the Kennedy's portion of the house. 

  There is a common area with couches, chairs, a TV, movies, video games, and a wood stove. Everyone hangs out here, or in the kitchen. 

  Everyone has a laptop here, so usually when people aren't working they are on their laptops. 

  In the Ranch House everything must be shared, and people need to get along, as the 15 of us are the only people out here at Ft. Glenn. Everyone does get along, and it makes me think how Reality TV shows are so dramatized and made up. I have lived in a "work camp" situation a few times in my life, and I have to say that everyone usually makes the effort to get along and keep the peace. If people don't quite see eye to eye, usually everyone keeps it to themselves, as best they can.  

  We have met some very good people out here. It is a very different way of life, to live in such seclusion. 

  The only other inhabitants of Umnak Island, are some of the natives, at a small village on the other side of the island, called Nikolski. The village of Nikolski is very old, and apparently is the oldest and longest continuously inhabited village in North America.