I thought of buying a place like this in Sitka. Seriously, I was close to doing that but in the end, I chose Arizona and built.  The seas rarely freeze there and the weather is more moderate than many locations in Alaska.
The proximity of children and grandchildren prevailed in the end.
But damn, Sitka was appealing.
I’d have had to buy a float plane, and fly to the store, but you can do that, there. Sacrifices…

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32 COMMENTS

  3. Love it…especially the bridge into their spot of Heaven. But like you, Alaska is a bit much on the Winter side of the dial for me, even Dick Proenneke left the Far North at 82, and that guy was as tough as they come.

  4. I just looked at Sitka on Google Earth and it is, of course, beautiful. At 86 inches on average of rain per year you’d do better with a submarine than a float plane. That’s a whole lot of gloom.

  6. I know. The Arizona mountains are about as much cold and snow as I want (clear skies most days and nights). But it really had an appeal.

    I'm looking forward to spending some time in Colorado this summer (The LaSalle Range – Silverton, Durango, Ouray, etc.)

  10. I've never done it. Ok, I've spent time on places like Guam and Oahu during interludes between killing people for a living – in my youth. But the float plane was part of the equation. I am a pilot (old and not that bold) and liked the idea of it, but the expense of insuring, maintaining and feeding the float plane would have become a problem if work slacked off.

  12. There you go – reminding me of home (Southeast Alaska). Just a couple more years here in Montana and then, God willing, I can move back to the mountains and ocean that captured my soul.

  13. Alaska has Boroughs instead of Counties. It's the City and Borough of Sitka (yep, incorporated together) that comprise the total area that you're referring to. They laid claim to the entirety of Baranof, Kruzof and Chichagof Islands (and a bunch of other smaller islands). Most of which is beautiful, wild, and primarily inhabited by brown bear, wolf, and deer. It's rarely cold there (i.e. almost never below 0F and usually never colder than 20F) but it's often wet or snowy. Summers are gloriously cool, rarely getting above 70F and usually in the 50's or 60's for daily highs.

  14. DAVES – That climate is very close to where I live now in Arizona with a few exceptions. We get up into the 80's in high summer and though there is monsoon in summer, the rainfall is much less than Sitka. I love the Sitka area and researched it thoroughly. But I'd never see my family unless I traveled to the Lower 48 and it would be planned. As it is now, if there's some event, I can more or less drop everything, hope in the truck and be there in relatively short order.

    The current plan is to VACATION in Sitka for maybe a month or so at a stretch, fish, hang out and enjoy the place, and return to the Arizona mountains.

  16. I love that area, and haven't been through in a decade. It's not far from Ouray, really, and yes, you're right, worth the drive. I'll do it when I'm up there. Truth be told, when I'm on vacation, I take my time, don't watch the clock (though I watch the weather) and enjoy the experience. Life is too short not to do it that way.

  17. The last time that I was there, I went up through Marble and did the Whitehouse Mountain loop. It's as you say, stunning and worth the trip. Usually I pack a lunch and do day trips. If I really like an area, I throw down a camp and spend the night.

  18. Marble is a very interesting spot on the map, and has (had?) a decent local burger joint, and if taking the rig, the Crystal Mill is just up the road a piece (country speak for about 6 miles). Plus (sort of, depends on how yer bent – we're not bent that way but seems the influx from CA is) every town now has at least one Rec-Med outfit, usually brightly painted so you can't miss it, and very busy…so no matter where you are in the state you can partake in the local "flora", as it were.

  19. Narcotics are not on my menu. Life bends my mind enough without artificial substances to add to the mix. And honestly, the influx of, dare I say, "shiftless hippies" to Colorado makes it less appealing to me. But they tend to keep to themselves and not bother the openly heavily armed rednecks such as myself, so it's all good.

  20. PS to CAMPERFIXER. I had a situation in Arizona years before I moved here. I was traveling through the state, alone, in an expensive rig, and with my white hair, I may have looked like an out-of-stater who was vulnerable. Two twenty-something year olds with a lifted diesel rig, beat up, came at me at a Shell Station and I had to do the, "Say hello to my little friend" thing. I had an MP-5K with me at the time, full auto, legitimately in possession and they backed right down. Which is to say, don't think that the California plate and white hair equals victim. I've only had to do that sort of thing three times while traveling in my life. And that's AZ. That sort of thing never happened in Colorado.

  22. I could have one three years ago when I started on the White Wolf Mine project, but I went another way. At times I sort of kick myself. At times I'm content where I am – because I have a very nice house in a very nice place. Think of me as a bull, up to my belly in tall grass, leaning on and over the barbwire fence to eat scrub.

  23. How not to look like a victim helps…I get it…and the rural Sheriff gets it too (unless you're in Boulder).

    We have a new concern, seems the wandering vehicle in front may not be due to alcohol…cops are having a tougher time, altho the smoke cloud coming out the window is usually a dead giveaway.

  26. You need to visit Sitka, but it wouldn't be quite right unless you were accompanied by Lucifer.

    You should be able to fly with Lucifer if you identify him as your emotional support wolf with one of those wolf-shirts.

  31. "and not bother the openly heavily armed rednecks such as myself, so it's all good." That is not an image I had of you LL, A suave James Bondish kind of cool. I haven't been on your blog for too many months, but ya kind of harshed my mellow on your persona I had built of you. I will recover and build a new improved persona.

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