Uploads from Holdfast Alaska

Currently Playing: 24 Hours Hunting, Trapping & Cabin Building in Remote Alaska

We spent the last days of moose season covering country, searching for a bull to put meat in the freezer. We came home empty-handed, and with the season behind us, there is no shortage of work waiting at the homestead. Winter moose opens next month, and with it comes another chance to lay in meat for the long winter ahead. By then, we can expect temperatures around 20 below zero. And that is only the beginning. Last winter, the mercury fell to 55 below, without the wind. There is little time left to get the ground worked before the frost takes hold. The new cabin has stood waiting through salmon season and the fall hunt. Summer is the better time for building, but the fish run when they run, and hunting season doesn't wait. With those seasons behind us, we turned our attention back to the build. We rented a machine for the day and set about clearing timber, laying down wood, and opening up the cabin site. The Wrangell Mountains rise to the front, with the far end of the Alaska Range at our backs. After a long day's work, we can finally see both. The ground is cleared for the cabin, and a good stretch of earth has been turned up for next year's garden. We also took to the water to set beaver traps and hunt spruce hen. The birds made a delicious lunch on French onion and goat cheese sourdough, and the beaver found its way into a hearty pot pie for supper. There is a particular satisfaction in a meal brought home from the woods, especially this time of year. The animals are putting on their winter coats, and most mornings we wake to another dusting of snow. The days grow shorter, the nights colder, and there is more work to be done than daylight to do it in. Thank you for following our life on the last frontier, -Dennis, Amy & Lena End Music By: @HawkenHorse, who wrote us "Holdfast". Frontier music and history. Get in Touch with Us: Westerlind Family P.O Box 906, Slana, AK 99586 We are also on Instagram @holdfastalaska Donate to the homestead if you wish: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=6B2249KCY6STE