Camping in the Alaska Wilderness in the Name of Writing Research-Part 2

Skookum Caves, DM Shepard

So we decided to camp out under the Skookum Volcano in the name of researching my writing.

Skookum Volcano getting more ominous as darkness falls.

Did I mention there’s local legends about creepy things watching from the hills that like to cut off heads?

Yeah…

So, where did I leave off last week?

It got dark. Really dark.

Only available light was from our fire and our one gas lantern.

No ambient light whatsoever. Not even from the moon or stars since the night was overcast. Beyond the firelight, the woods were black as pitch. We enjoyed our evening by the fire, drinking wine, and watching the shadows shift in the woods.

Enjoying the fire and a glass of wine. Trying not to think about the legends of the Cet’ aenn, “The Tailed Ones” of Ahtna Legends who live in the mountain.

Not being able to see far is an uncomfortable feeling in the backcountry. Not just because of stories of mythical creatures, but because of the real threat of bears. As I mentioned in another post, when you camp in the Alaska wilderness, it’s important to keep the food away from the bears. We pack everything in bear resistant containers and make sure to properly dispose of all food waste.

Bear resistant container. All food products that have a scent need to be packed in a container like this.

As you can see from the size of our cooler, it’s not very big, so meal planning is essential. We do a lot of single pot meals to maximize space and minimize waste.

To maximize space, we pre-plan single pot meals like pozole (pictured above)

Even with careful planning, there is risk of a bear attack. We typically sleep in the tent with a pistol between us. We leave the bear spray and outside so as not to risk discharge in the tent. We also leave an extra weapon outside (usually the rifle) if someone has to leave the tent in the middle of the night. We do everything we can to ensure our safety in the Alaska Backcountry.

Campsite out at Jack Creek, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

We had a great night camping out at Jack Creek in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. We hope to go back next year and hike to the mines. The Devil’s Valley (coming 2021), sequel to the Dark Land, is set on this side of the park, in winter rather than summer.

If you haven’t read The Dark Land, it is currently available on Amazon. The setting for this story is on the McCarthy side of Wrangell-St. Elias, near McCarthy and Kennecott. I have done a few posts about my research: