While in Alaska

Summer Solstice and Various Other Activities

// June 23rd, 2009 // 2009: Adventuring

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written last. Since the latest post, we’ve had quite a bit of adventure. We’ve rafted down rivers, took two trips to Wiseman, celebrated Summer Solstice and a medley of other activities! On Thursday the 18th, we were asked by the guides to help move rafts from Coldfoot up to Wiseman. We loaded up the trailers with rafts and drove down to Wiseman. The guides lead tours to Wiseman two or three times a day. Guests fly up from Fairbanks to Coldfoot and our staff drives them the 14 miles up to Wiseman. Wiseman resident, Jack Reakoff, the most permanent resident of Wiseman gives these guests a little tour and talk about the village. It’s my understanding that after this tour, the guides take the guests back down the river from Wiseman to Marion Creek. Guests pay hundreds of dollars for these tours so it’s really a privilege that we are able to go any time we’d like.

The following day, we actually took one of these rafting trips with a few other coworkers. The weather was very cold and rainy but the trip was neat. By no means is it a white water rafting trip. It’s really more of scenic slow float. The stretch of river from Wiseman to Marion Creek runs about 10 miles. After the trip, we helped the guides patch up a road at Marion Creek. It was a long mosquito-filled day of excitement.

Coworkers decked out in their mosquito nets

Sunday, everyone made their way down to the river around 6PM to begin the Summer Solstice celebration. Summer Solstice is the longest day of sunlight of the year. It really doesn’t make much of a difference for us because every day is complete sunlight but for Alaskan residents, it is both a happy and sad day. Sad because it marks the point in the season where it gradually becomes darker and darker until winter where it is dark almost 24 hours of the day. Regardless, everyone had an excellent evening. They grilled up moose and bratwurst for dinner. Our camp manager had shot the moose last winter. It was my first time trying moose. I had it in the form of a hot dog, or a moose dog as they called it. Moose meat virtually has no fat. To cook it, they had to add a little fat to it. Very very delicious. It’s a lot better tasting than beef. A large amount of people attended the celebration. Most of the coworkers attended along with staff from the visitor center and nearby campers. A group of holistic doctors who had been camping in the area stopped in. They called themselves healers and resembled a cult. In fact, several of our staff were convinced they were in a cult. It was an interesting crowd to say the least. We stayed by the fire drinking and socializing until 6AM. It was the first time I had ever celebrated Summer Solstice. It’s a big occasion up here in Alaska. Down in Fairbanks, there are several Summer Solstice activities including a midnight baseball game!

Some of the partygoers celebrating Solstice

View from the river of the Dalton Highway in the Distance

Unfortunately, I’ve been receiving a large amount of spam comments. There are over 1,000 comments that I’ve received and have to moderate. All of them are from different IP addresses but all have the same spammy message. So if your comment doesn’t show up, it just means that I haven’t moderated it yet. Does anyone know how to remedy this problem?

Tomorrow, Cory and I will likely make our way to Fairbanks for a little vacation to civilization. We would only be staying one night and we will likely stay at the Go North Hostel. It’s cheap and they are very accommodating there. We are going to pick up a couple of pool cues for the coworker pool table and some other supplies. It’ll be quite the luxury to use my cell phone and internet that doesn’t crawl like a snail. Getting around is the hard part about Fairbanks, though. Taxis are expensive and everything is so spread out so walking isn’t usually very fun but we end up doing it anyway. If anyone knows of any worthwhile activities going on, definitely let us know!

I shall blog about our Fairbanks adventure in the next few days. Until then, enjoy the post and pictures.