Dall Sheep, Wolves and Mushers

Willie hauled his arctic oven tent and wood over to the Charles Sheldon area on February 25 . He set up his camp behind the Cabin Woods area in an area called Cabin Peak. He camps out in the arctic oven tent for a few days at a time (3-4 days) then heads back to the Pearson cabin (about 3 & 1/2 miles or so away) to restock his food & supplies. His days have been filled with snowshoeing & hiking the ridge lines in the area. He has finished up the dunnage volunteer project. But is still doing his daily projects of: bird observations & recording, temperature recording, photo comparison/shots from 100 years later, satellite monitoring at 11 pm each night, snow depth recording, sound scape monitoring, and wildlife tracking & recording. Plus, there are the daily chores of getting fresh water to drink, melting snow, solar charging the batteries, his personal journal writing, and just plain old staying warm out there and dealing with the elements. He said his days are long, and with all this new daylight, he feels a sense of urgency to do as much as possible everyday. The wind had been a huge presence out at Toklat for much of his time out there. Willie said the wind started to feel like a personality, a character, it has had such presence blowing through the open Toklat area. Sometimes a harsh character... The wind has died down recently out there & the weather has been beautiful.

Willie had a great week of sightings. Dall sheep and more wolves. I am curious about that "biggest" wolf that scratched his claws into Willie's trail at the cabin...Willie never felt threatened by them, but I find this to be interesting behavior none the less...

Last night, Friday February 29, Willie saw PEOPLE for the first time since January 28. (32 days ago) Carmen, Krusty & Sarah made it back out to Toklat. Willie had dinner with them last night. The mushers are on their way out to Wonder Lake & Kantishna. (The end of the park road) This is their "BIG" March trip all the way out to the end of the park road. I'll keep you updated on them as I hear news about their travels. Thank you PLOW for your care package for Willie! The mushers got it out to him for you. And I'm sure he is enjoying it's contents.