Black Saturday

I was pleased to get an invitation this morning to accompany my friend and coworker Mitch to gather the load of wood I purchased from him. I've been buying a "load" from several different people in the village over the past two months, but never really understood where it comes from, or what effort it takes to get. A load propably equates to about 1/4 - 1/3 a cord of wood; and costs $60.

A quick check of the thermometer before heading out showed the temperature at -5. So I donned my arctic carhartt bibs with some capilene long undies on top and bottom, then my mountain hardware compressor "puffy" coat with an old army green ECWCS goretex on top. I needed something warm, but also tough for cutting and hauling wood. I still love my NF Bartoro 400 boots. And whenever riding a snow-go a neck gaiter and good long hat are a must, if not a balaclava to block out Mr. Frostbite.

We rode for about 40 minutes up the mountain to Mitch's special spot. In an unorganized fashion, people spread out in all directions from the village to gather wood. This helps thin the forest from summer forest fires, while also helping not take to much firewood from one spot causing mass deforestation.
Mitch shows me how to pick the perfect piece of firewood. The straightest trees are easier to tie down on the wood sled. It's also good to have a combination of dead dry trees and green trees to burn. The dry wood heats a house quickly and gets the fire going, while green wood burns all night. Its a balance.
We also cut several trees that we left along the trail. Mitch explains he always cuts a couple extras to leave, just in case his chain saw breaks in the future, he can come out and retrieve those logs and still have wood to burn.

My snow-go.

Here is a rough map of the trail we followed to our wood spot. The tab in the center of the map was sent from my SPOT device.
On the way out we spotted Caribou tracks across the trail. It looked like a group of 4 or 5. The signs were easy to spot in the snow. It looks like an animal on stilts post-holing through the snow. I saw an area where the snow was trampled down. Mitch showed me this is where they have to dig in the snow for food. This time of year the Caribou are eating the lichen off the rocks. We looked carefully, but never actually saw them.

Mitch's sled full of wood. I thought hauling this much wood would slow him down, I was wrong. I still had to speed to keep up going down the mountain back to the village.

Can you tell is was -5 from the picture? That's actually a bit warm for this time of year.
The frozen Chandalar River valley.
The Brooks Range looking stunning as usual.
There was some nice deep glades off the packed trail to play in. Who says you can't combine work with pleasure?

Looking back up the mountain we just came down.

It's only 1:45pm but the alpenglow is already sprayed across the mountains. By 2:30 dusk had set in and it was nearly dark by 3:30. Winter solstice is less than a month away.

Its hard to believe these frozen trees make my house nice and toasty.

After seeing how much work it takes to cut, gather, and haul wood- I feel better spending $60 per load. I'm also looking forward to having my own sled and chainsaw to collect my own wood. Up until this point I've been very nervous about assuming I can just take from this land. It isn't my land; the Arctic Village people have graciously shared some of it with me, but I continue to remain very humble about assuming what I can have. It would've been very easy for me to kill a Caribou last month at the airport. Just like I could easily go out and collect loads of wood, but I'm very worried how that would be perceived. I feel as if my role is not only teacher, but diplomat from another world. I believe with humility comes greater acceptance, quicker friendships, and lasting relationships with the people that have lived here for generations. Gretchen and I truly care about the children of Arctic Village, that is seen by many people of the village. I hope they also understand my deep respect for their land and their way of life, this is what will take a little more time to show.