Thursday, June 6, 2013

What Alaskans Won't Tell you

  
 

Alaskans will tell you that Alaska is beautiful. And it is.  Drive down almost any road and mountains rise up before you with lakes shimmering at their feet.  
What Alaskans won't tell you is that an impressive number of Alaskans are deeply religious.
 

 
Yes, many Alaskans worship Detritus, God of Junk.  Yard after yard proudly displays rusting dishwashers, delaminating campers, burial mounds of tires, cadavers that were once cars, junker pickups, fractured toilets and mushroom farms of upholstery.


And if your Alaskan neighbor has more junk in his yard than you have in yours, no problem. Go down to your local friendly neighborhood junk store and buy more junk.

Monday, June 3, 2013

The Road to Telegraph Creek

There's just one road into Telegraph Creek.  Towards the end of its 70 miles it runs high above the Stikine River.  For scale, the lodge pole pines along the edge are 50 to 70 feet high. 

Telegraph Creek has more ghosts than inhabitants.  Its rich history, of which my Uncle was a part, hides behind locked doors



The only road out is the 70 mile road you rode in on.  500 feet below, The Stikine has a Niagara roar. Think of Arizona with Seattle's rain.

Back on the highway, my rear tire was shot.