The Work of a Changing Season

It has been a while since I posted, but it has been busy and productive while. I am still trying to find that mustard plant that Stephens found, 53 days busy work has come to and end and the weather continues to turn towards winter. The best news of all is that I received orders and can now begin the process of transferring to Air Station San Francisco. Yes I got the bay area, close enough to the family until A-school.

As for the other things going on, the weather is getting cold, the winds have picked up and we had the first snow of the season. It is sleet blowing in the wind at the station, but is sticking to the mountains in the distance. The beautiful colors of summer are all but faded and the wildlife departed. I suppose they don’t appreciate the twenty-knot winds and twenty-degree temperatures. The fog and darkness are enveloping the area and the sun sets tonight at 2058, which is a big difference from 2300. It is all right. The crew is still finding way to have a good time. When the weather clears up it gives us a chance to get out and have nice bonfire, Burn some cardboard, or slyly sneak around when we are putting up the snow fence. The bonfire was beautiful, I could not have asked for a better backdrop. It is getting more difficult to go outside because of the weather and the constant loss of sunlight as the days go by. We are losing approximately five to seven minutes of sunlight per day. The sun is rising at around nine and going down at around nine. Still twelve hours of sunlight, but that will change fast. Winter with all it brings is right around the corner.

There has been a lot of work in preparation for this winter. We already filled the fuel tanks, but are in the process of filling the potable water tanks and prepared the pond for water collection next summer. This entailed putting up all the snow fence that the weather or muskox tore down. We did all we could, but ran out supplies to repair anymore. I begin my departure work tomorrow and that will take a while, but for the most part, we are doing winter projects like carpeting rooms and painting.

SN Fuller sneaks behind a snow fence.

The sun rises late over the snow fences and ponds.
FN Masters burns cardboard.

I have been writing a story about being stationed up here to submit to Coast Guard Magazine and that has been one of the reason I have not blogged recently. It is a lot work to write a story for a magazine versus blog writing. I am trying to keep that personal touch to it, but maintain professionalism at the same time. It is a good learning experience. I was able to get a picture of a log flight during summer; If you were wondering what we see every three weeks. There is one of winter in a much earlier blog.


Other than working, bon fires, writing, duty days, inspections, tank filling, and several loran and engineering repairs this place has been pretty slow. Now it gets a little slower due to winter, that desolate beauty creeping back in. I will keep you updated on the progress of my transfer and look forward to California, the family, the dogs, friends, and all the things I missed in isolated duty. Have a wonderful day and I will blog again soon.

KPC Survival

When we get in trouble in the harsh Alaskan Wilderness we look to MK3 Stephens for advice on how to survive. In the following Example, he shows us how to make fires and cook foods when we have nothing but a knife and some wood. In fact he could probably make a fire out of rocks if he had too. He makes Behr Grills look like a hairless cat in the snow.

A Survival Lesson from MK3 Stephens!
When you get lost in the Harsh Alaskan Wilderness, here is what to do.

Use a Knife and Small Tinder to start a small fire by shaving a piece of wood creating very small pieces that will light easily.

Shelter the root of the fire the best you can while you create heat by wood to wood friction or use of rocks. Whatever is available is fair game.

Once the flame is started add larger pieces of wood or fuel to increase the size of the fire. Is that a Lighter?

When the fire is large enough, ensure you have enough fuel for the duration and cook the food you were able to collect. Hot dogs grow out of the ground at Port Clarence.

And Condiments Too!

Victory Dance!

He starts out with a knife and a stick to make some small shavings to catch first. As he carves them down it makes heat that will ignite them. If that fails, there is always cardboard or paper lying around, according to Behr Grills. When the fire magically starts you blow on it a little to give it some airflow and have all the tinder catch. Once you have the flame large enough you just keep adding fuel until you can cook on it. Stephens prefers the up close and personal touch by cooking with the knife, but you can always carve another stick if you don’t want to get that close. If you happen to have a larger fire nearby then you can start your small “personal” fire and then add burning material started from the larger fire. He appeared to find a lighter and too, so I suppose a lot of survival is just luck. But back to the cooking part of the survival plan. Once the food is cooked you can always count on finding a mustard plant in the wilderness. These are plants that grow bottle of mustard; there is also a counter part for ketchup and horseradish. Once all is said and done, the fire is build providing warmth and the ability to cook. It is time to do the most important part of survival. To warm your body up before you go to bed, perform a victory dance with a very large stick for all to see.

Speaking of the wilderness of Alaska. I got the opportunity to go the Teller, a village across the bay from the station. We were fortunate enough to have an absolutely beautiful day and calm waters. The reflection of the sky was glistening off the water as we cruised across the bay. The dramatic Cliffs in the distance leaving their shadow on the bay and providing the first view of actual cliffs that I have seen while stationed here. We went there for the career day and it went quite well. Teller itself was nothing spectacular in regards to the architecture. The School however was very impressive. The computers were all new Macintosh computers and laptops. I never had that as a kid at school. The school always struggled to get decent computers for the staff or a computer lab. The kids here have an opportunity to learn. I cannot speak for life experience growing up in a small village, but I would venture to say that access to technology and the internet, would enhance their education and worldly knowledge. It was surprising to see the quality of equipment at the school.





The season is getting a little darker now. There is no sun at 0230, it is setting around 2230 now and rising around 0750. The only downside to this change is that the summer is coming to an end. I can’t complain, the sunset from the beach was absolutely gorgeous. It was taken looking south as it was getting dark and we were at the campfire that we built.


It is still beautiful up here no matter how challenging it may get. The natural beauty may not always be obvious, but it remains with us year round if you are willing to look for it.