May 22+

Saturday, May 22.
Elm (the guy’s name. He insists his last name is not “Tree”) came this morning with his excavator and pulled the stumps and filled the ditch. He also moved all the slash piles to the clearing by the river where we plan to put the cabin. We now have a true mountain of limbs, branches, deadfalls, stumps, and roots waiting to be burned. Mid week we must have had a mosquito hatch. Our location by the river is buggy right now. Plus mosquitoes there don’t seem to know how to tell time. Mosquitoes are usually out early or late in the day. These seem to find us any time we stand still too long. This is the first trip I have experienced more than an occasional mosquito in this part of Alaska. It’s not a big deal, just a small glitch in what is otherwise fabulous country. Update: This morning a local fellow informed me this is normal when one cuts down trees and disturbs the ground. Mosquitoes apparently live in the three inch thick moss on the forest floor, and we have disrupted their habitat. He assures me the problem will diminish with time.
Gustavus is the rustic weekend get-away for a few folks from Juneau. I stood by the river with an Alaskan neighbor from Juneau who is building two lots down from us and we watched fingerlings flash the surface near a partially submerged log. He told me last summer he tried casting there and caught a salmon in no time at all. I am told folks will occasionally fish the river, but have never witnessed anyone doing so. The saying goes that good coastal Alaskans don’t eat salmon if halibut is available, and that has been our observation. The river has cutthroat trout, rainbows, dolly varden, steelhead, in summer pink salmon, and in mid-September coho (silver) salmon make their run. That’s a lot of variety at our front door. Plus halibut a short distance off shore.
The sense of community out here is thick. If someone is going into Juneau they often ask if others need anything. Folks seem to fall into two groups, those who try to help each other and those who do not. Joe describes it this way… there are those who are running to something and a few who are running from something. Not that the last group are criminals. In some ways I feel like a little of both. I love the feel of the place, the raw, wild, deep primeval forest with some civilized refinements like electricity and propane. And the peace: I am refreshed not being bombarded by the media with negative news. I enjoy a man’s word being his bond instead of needing a signed contract and a deposit.
Every so often we get a glimpse of what pioneering must have been like and wonder how long it took first-comers to clear 92 trees with an ax instead of a chain saw, or hack logs into a cabin instead of using sawn lumber.
The Point Adolphus whales are back from Hawaii. It was perhaps the breaching whales that affected me most about this place.
Paulette made a fabulous dinner tonight. I don’t know how she does it in our limited space.