Willie shared his journal entry with me to sum up his week:
"It's been a great week! I've continued to explore my surroundings-- climbing, snowshoeing and for awhile, skiing. The tip on my right ski cracked making it un-useable. It's okay though, because this trip is about adaptation. I feel more and more comfortable and less a stranger here everyday. I wish everyone could feel what I am experiencing. It seems like I learn something new with each step I take. Each day I walk out the door and have a little adventure. Our lives are the accumulation of all of our little adventures. And I'm realizing this more than ever before. Today Tuesday, February 12th I went for a walk in a heavy flake snowstorm. I was rewarded with seeing three wolves. One totally black, and two gray and white. I was able to film them at a distance. They had been sitting watching me for sometime. We are playing a game of hide and seek, and I am definitely the loser. I've been looking forward to fresh snow as I am more aware of tracking individual animals and watching their habits. My best times are when I walk out the door".
Willie told me that on February 10th he saw two fresh wolf tracks so big that the indentation they left in the hard packed trail was like what crampons would leave from a persons boots. They also "marked" the area where Willie had urinated outside. They walked up the trail to the cabin about 20 feet and circled around and then headed back down the trail.
On February 11th he heard a lone wolf howling before daylight. The 12th is when he saw and filmed the 3 wolves.
The Denali Education Center is proud to announce the sponsoring of the expedition “Wilderness of Denali 100”. Executive Director Willie Karidis will spend 70 days in the backcountry of Denali National Park retracing, researching and celebrating the life of pioneering naturalist Charles Sheldon. Sheldon spent the winter of 1907 - 08 in the heart of the Alaska Range. Sheldon had the vision for a National Park that would preserve for future generations this unique natural eco-system.
Check out the Denali Education Center!!!
Dates of trip: January 21 - March 31, 2007
- willie
- This trip has been in the works for 22 years when i first read the book, "Wilderness of Denali, Explorations of a Hunter Naturalist" by Charles Sheldon. i thought, wouldn't it be great to be in Denali, at the exact same time and in the exact same places Sheldon was 100 years earlier. That 22 years went by quick, a lot has changed, but my desire for the trip has never wavered. Fortunately i have a loving and understanding wife, Christine, who has supported this dream since we met. Also, i work for the greatest organization a person could ever have the privilege to be a part of, the Denali Education Center. The Board and Staff are extremely dedicated and possess a deep understanding of the need to educate and connect all people to Denali. i am a fortunate soul to have such wonderful people as friends and colleagues. Ultimately this trip is about "Seeking the Balance" in my life and exploring how wilderness can help to attain a balanced world. By living in Denali's wilderness for a short time with very simple comforts i hope to learn valuable lessons which will help us all.
Toklat Weather Station and Access to Winter Trail Conditions
- http://www.met.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman/meso_base.cgi?stn=TKLA2&time=GMT
- This is the kennels page which will take you to the Winter Trail Conditions link. Click on Winter Trail Conditions at the bottom of the Kennels page. Then click on Park Road Conditions for Toklat information. The Park Service dog mushers who are assisting me with the delivery of my gear will update Toklat conditions when they return from dropping me off.
Charles Sheldon
Sheldon, Belmore Browne, Teddy Roosevelt and others are credited with being the primary founders of Mt McKinley National Park. The name was changed to Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980. The best introduction i have ever read about Sheldon is from "The Wilderness of the Southwest, Charles Sheldon's Quest for Desert Bighorn Sheep and Adventures with the Havasupai and Seri Indians" which was edited by Neil B. Carmony and David E. Brown. If you have any interest in the life of Sheldon this is a must read.
Charles Sheldon, a condensed Biography by Tom Walker
Sheldon, the oldest of six siblings, was born on October 17, 1867, into a hard-working family involved in marble quarrying and manufacturing. Sheldon, named for his grandfather, attended Andover preparatory school and graduated from Yale in 1890, the year the family business collapsed. Through family contacts, he was hired as assistant superintendent of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. From there, he moved to Mexico and became general manager of the Chihuahua and Pacific Railroad in 1898, the same year as the Klondike stampede. He invested in the Chihuahua and Pacific Exploration Company, developers of Potasi, one of the richest silver and lead mines in Mexico. In just four short years, this investment secured Sheldon’s financial future and he retired at age 35.
Sheldon’s conservation career began in 1904, when he contacted C. Hart Merriam and Edward W. Nelson of the U.S. Biological Survey and offered to collect specimens and make field observations. Sheldon, a life-long hunter and fisherman, pursued all manner of wildlife but North America’s wild mountain sheep fascinated him most. He first hunted desert sheep in Mexico’s Sierra Madre and then pursued bighorns in the Rocky Mountains. Stories of the so-called thinhorn sheep of the northern wilderness attracted his attention and in 1904, he hunted and studied Stone sheep in Canada’s Yukon. His first book, The Wilderness of the Upper Yukon, detailed his sheep hunting exploits in the Yukon Territory in 1904 and 1905.
His love of these “noble and splendid” animals eventually led him to Alaska in search of Dall sheep, then the least known of the four species of America’s wild sheep. In late June 1906, Sheldon reached Dawson City in the Yukon, en route to Alaska and the range near Mt. McKinley.
Sheldon's social circle included the so-called American Royalty. His friends included Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell, Gifford Pinchot, Carl Rungius, Wilfred H. Osgood, Alexander Graham Bell, and Admiral Richard Byrd.
On February 24, 1917, Presiden Wilson signed into law Senate Bill 5716, A Bill to Establish a Mount McKinley National Park, in the Territory of Alaska. largely the handiwork of Charles Sheldon and Belmore Browne.
Sheldon was anything but a conservation dilettante. Throughout his adult life, he campaigned for protection of migratory birds, forests, and parks. At one time or another, he served on the boards of directors of the Boone and Crockett Club, National Parks Association, American Forestry Association, and National Geographic Society. He was a member of the Explorers Club, American Ornithological Union, and the New York Zoological Society, all organized and dominated by influential and wealthy eastern sportsmen. With Teddy Roosevelt in the White House until 1909, and a force long afterward, these groups enjoyed immense influence.
After Charles Sheldon died on September 21, 1928, in Nova Scotia, the story of his McKinley adventures was edited by C. Hart Merriam and Edward Nelson and posthumously published by his wife as Wilderness of Denali. "He was a man of much force and determination and possessed a great devotion to the right,” wrote George Grinnell, "a strong common sense in pushing forward good measures."
Sheldon’s conservation career began in 1904, when he contacted C. Hart Merriam and Edward W. Nelson of the U.S. Biological Survey and offered to collect specimens and make field observations. Sheldon, a life-long hunter and fisherman, pursued all manner of wildlife but North America’s wild mountain sheep fascinated him most. He first hunted desert sheep in Mexico’s Sierra Madre and then pursued bighorns in the Rocky Mountains. Stories of the so-called thinhorn sheep of the northern wilderness attracted his attention and in 1904, he hunted and studied Stone sheep in Canada’s Yukon. His first book, The Wilderness of the Upper Yukon, detailed his sheep hunting exploits in the Yukon Territory in 1904 and 1905.
His love of these “noble and splendid” animals eventually led him to Alaska in search of Dall sheep, then the least known of the four species of America’s wild sheep. In late June 1906, Sheldon reached Dawson City in the Yukon, en route to Alaska and the range near Mt. McKinley.
Sheldon's social circle included the so-called American Royalty. His friends included Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell, Gifford Pinchot, Carl Rungius, Wilfred H. Osgood, Alexander Graham Bell, and Admiral Richard Byrd.
On February 24, 1917, Presiden Wilson signed into law Senate Bill 5716, A Bill to Establish a Mount McKinley National Park, in the Territory of Alaska. largely the handiwork of Charles Sheldon and Belmore Browne.
Sheldon was anything but a conservation dilettante. Throughout his adult life, he campaigned for protection of migratory birds, forests, and parks. At one time or another, he served on the boards of directors of the Boone and Crockett Club, National Parks Association, American Forestry Association, and National Geographic Society. He was a member of the Explorers Club, American Ornithological Union, and the New York Zoological Society, all organized and dominated by influential and wealthy eastern sportsmen. With Teddy Roosevelt in the White House until 1909, and a force long afterward, these groups enjoyed immense influence.
After Charles Sheldon died on September 21, 1928, in Nova Scotia, the story of his McKinley adventures was edited by C. Hart Merriam and Edward Nelson and posthumously published by his wife as Wilderness of Denali. "He was a man of much force and determination and possessed a great devotion to the right,” wrote George Grinnell, "a strong common sense in pushing forward good measures."
Mount Sheldon
Looking Northwest from Sheldon's campsite area
Press about the trip
The Wilderness of Denali by Charles Sheldon
There have been 3 publications of The Wilderness of Denali. The original book was published in 1930 by Charles Scribner's Sons and then again in 1960. This most recent version was published by Derrydale Press in 2000. You can find it on Amazon and other book search engines on the internet.
1930 Edition
Research and Daily Projects
- Bird observations and recording
- Daily minimum and maximum temperature recording
- Dall Sheep observations and recording
- Photo comparison and documentation shots from same locations from which Sheldon took his photos 100 years earlier. The attempt will be made to take the photos on the exact day and from the exact spot Sheldon did.
- Satellite monitoring at 11pm each night
- Snow depth recording in both open tundra and protected spruce forest
- Soundscape Monitoring
- Trash removal from Toklat River bar
- Wildlife tracking and recording
Food List: The menu is based on 1.5 pounds of food per day.
- Breakfast: Oatmeal 17lbs, cane sugar 5lbs, dried fruit 5lbs, powdered milk 8lbs, 2 large folgers instant coffee, tea
- Lunch: Trail mix 18lbs, dried fruit 17lbs, 70 assorted power bars
- Dinner: Cous cous 5lbs, pasta 5lbs, instant rice 5lbs, mashed potato flakes 5lbs, Usinger sausage from Milwaukee 10lbs, Moose meat 10lbs, Smoked salmon 5lbs, AK Buffalo steaks 5lbs, TVP (textured vegetable protien, yummm!) 9lbs, Cheese 4lbs, salt, garlic, pepper, cocoa (large can), olive oil 1&1/4 gallons
Gear List... clothes, supplies, living stuff...this is an ongoing list, much not listed yet
- 2 gallon bucket for melting ice/snow for drinking water
- 3 Caribou hides for the tent floor
- 3 gallon bucket for washing clothes
- 3 leather journals, had Apocalypse Design make a custom pocket to put on the belt of my backpack to allow easy access
- 4 all weather research journals, pencils
- 4 Expedition and Mid weight Patagonia Zip neck top XL, (1) Smartwool zip neck top
- 6 gallons white gas
- Arctic Mukluks by Steger, size 13 double wide, 3 pairs felt insoles
- Arctic Oven Tent made by Alaska Tent and Tarp
- Atlas 1033 snowshoes
- Axe fiberglass long handle
- Bahco Force bow saw 24", extra blade
- Bailing Wire small roll
- Beaver and leather hat
- Beaver gloves loaned from Laura Cole, thanks heaps Laura
- Black & Decker LED headlamp
- Brazilian Wooden Spoons (my musical instruments!)
- Bunny Boots size 11, game time decision whether i bring these or not.
- Copy of Bible
- Copy of Gandhi, an Autibiography
- Copy of Qur'an
- Copy of The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Wisdom
- Copy of Wilderness of Denali
- Cylinder Scout Stove w/ warming tray, 4" stovepipe, spark arrestor, damper
- Duct tape 1 roll
- Firewood, lots
- First Aid kit, extensive
- Fischer Ultra Air touring skis, Riva cable bindings, metal edges, loaned from Mike Speaks, thanks Speaks
- Fleece Pants with full side zips, double knees, double butt, suspenders, made by Apocalypse Design, Fairbanks
- Fleece vest heavyweight
- Headband, Apocalypse Design, Fairbanks
- Knit cap, 100% wool
- Leather 3 pin ski boots, Fabiano?, size 45 or about an 11
- Leather gloves
- Leatherman tool, the Wave (i use it everyday...)
- LED Indigo Lantern, hand crank, Freeplay Energy for Life
- Liner wool gloves
- Marmot Alpinist Jacket XL
- Marmot Backpack, Terraplane L with XL belt – biggest belt to accommodate layers
- Marmot Expedition Weight Bottoms Extra Large
- Marmot Mid Weight Bottoms Extra Large
- Marmot prototype Alpinist Bib XXL – to accommodate extra layers
- Marmot Randonnee Mitt XL - to allow heavier liner glove
- Marmot Sleeping Bag, Prototype COL -30 overstuff Long
- Marmot Super Hero Balaclava
- Midweight (2) Patagonia Zip neck top XL
- Mountain Hardwear Down Jacket
- OR Gaitors, Gore-Tex, full velcro
- Parbat Mountaineering camp booties
- Plastic gear sled
- REI Gore-Tex pants, full side zips, L tall
- Sewing kit
- Silk short sleeve XL undershirt
- Ski kit, Swix red, blue & green, base binder, scrapers, cork
- Smartwool zip neck top 100% wool
- Speedy Sticher, Awl
- Swix Nordic ski poles
- Whisper Lite stove (2) with repair kit
- Wool Sweater, black army issue (same one Magneto wore in the X-Men movie!)
Partners who have helped make this trip happen
Great Friends, Supporters, & Wise Sages
- Brad and Brenda Ebel, thanks so much for your encouragement and the wood, i'll be keepin' warm cuz of you!!!
- Bruce Lee and Geralyn Hath, thanks for the use of the caribou hides, counsel and great contact, score!
- Carl Malatin and Jilly Boelsma, thanks so much for the Speedy Sticher/Awl and for the lesson on how to use it. This is a wonderful gift, thank you.
- Carol McIntyre, thanks for your friendship, patience, and for getting our Birds in order
- Christine Karidis, your unconditional love and support fuels me each day and will only make me stronger as the days go on, you are the Love of my Life...
- Dave Bolton, dude, your van worked great, thanks!
- Debbie and Mark Moderow, your encouragement and ideas early on helped me tremendously to map out the trip, thanks so much
- Denali Education Center Trustees, Thank You for your support, vision and dedicated commitment to the cause each day. You are the reason for all we do... my deepest and most sincere appreciation for each and every one of you.
- Denali National Park Researchers and Employees, thank you for taking care of this glorious and inspiring land, your efforts both preserve and provide the window of opportunity to experience this great Park for future generations
- Elwood Lynne, Philip Hooge and Kris Fister, your support and counsel has been invaluable
- Ev and Tim from Beaver Sports in Fairbanks, thanks for all the ski wax advice and your darn good attitude.
- Jane Bryant, your lifelong dedication to the history of Denali is inspiring, thank you for sharing your Sheldon knowledge
- Jersey Jones, thanks for the wood haulin', gear schleppin' but most of all for your friendship and laughs
- Jilllll, Liz, Sue, thanks for all you do...what a Fantastic Team! Getting back to all of you will truly be Joyful, thank you for all your great work...
- Jodi Rodwell, thanks for taking on the details of running the show and for everything you do each day, you are a Rockstar and a Superstar!
- Kris Denton, supplied the Canon XH A1 High Definition camera/accessories, thanks for believing...
- Laura and Land Cole, thanks for your generosity, kindness, counsel, Beaver Mitts and for having Oliver the best boy ever.
- Leigh Ann Williams, your iPod Shuffle will bring wonderful thoughts of Christiney and for that i am eternally grateful
- Mike Sfraga, you are a Great Leader and Visionary, thanks so much for all you do
- Mike Speaks, thanks for the skiis, counsel and overall never stop FUN HOG attitude
- Mom, Dad and Jane, i will miss our conversations, thank you for your encouragement and support, i love you
- Nan Eagleson and Bob Shelton, your encouragement and love of the land is inspiring. i deeply appreciate your friendship.
- Paul Anderson, thanks so much for your vision and unwavering support
- Rick Brugger, your gear will keep me warm, your friendship is the bonus, from one Sheldon junkie to another!
- Sam Auster, what can i say, your friendship, counsel and belief in this trip has never faltered, sincere thanks, hope you make it out
- Susan Sharbaugh, thanks for your positive attitude and support
- Tom Marsik, thank you for your friendship, your food advice and for your wonderful attitude about life and the world.
- Tom Walker, thanks so much for your encouragement and for your diligence in finding the lost photos of Sheldon
- Troy Henkel, solar panels, batteries, satellite phones, my head is swimming in technology! Thanks for it all and enjoy your adventure in Antarctica!
Google Earth, absolutely amazing...it truly is One World, if you haven't already, Download for free
Why is Wilderness important to you?
Blog Archive
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2008
(91)
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February
(30)
- 40 Days In The Wilderness! - February 29, 2008
- Toklat Temperatures For February 29, 2008 - Day 40
- Video - Day 1 - January 21, 2008
- Video From 1st Day- January 21, 2008
- Thursday, February 28, 2008 - Day 39
- Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Toklat Temperatures
- Dall Sheep
- Moments Alone
- Glorious Denali
- 3 Lunar Cycles
- Tuesday, February 26, 2008- Day 37
- Saturday, February 23, 2008- Day 34
- Journal Entry From January 26, 2008
- Video Of Willie From January 26, 2008
- Thursday, February 21, 2008- Day 32
- Signs Of Wolves Left In The Snow-Toklat-Photos By ...
- The Latest GPS Collar Data On The Wolves
- Journal Entry From February 1, 2008
- Total Lunar Eclispe Tonight!- Wednesday, February ...
- Tuesday, February 19, 2008- Day 30
- The Pearson Cabin - The Cabin Willie Is Staying In
- The Wolves Of Denali
- February 13 & 14 - Days 24 & 25
- Willie's Journal Entry for 2/3 - 2/12
- For The Tri-Valley Alaska Studies Class
- The Week of -55 Below Zero!
- Sunday, February 3, 2008 - Day 14
- Saturday, February 2, 2008- Day 13
- Wood/Water/Food/Batteries
- Musher Update- Saturday, February 2, 2008
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February
(30)
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