Rainy Monday, Last Work Day of the Trip

Derek and Lester in the tool room.

 

It rained almost all day today but it did not stop us from getting in a final full day of work today. There was one final salvo of painting in the recreation building byr Becca and Nancy, finish carpentry and drywall sanding/painting in the camp director's residence by Denny and Ken, more brush clearing for the gazebos and wood cutting for the fire pit by Wally and Tim, and more caulking in the showers by Don and Ed. Charlie inspected the gas heaters in the cabins, and replaced a ballast in a big light outside the cafeteria. Lester and Derek helped Denny and Ken in the morning and built a cover for the firewood by the fire pit in the afternoon. Mary once again did more laundry in a day than I think is humanly possible. Connie and Jan worked in the kitchen with Becky Livengood making three more awesome meals. I saw Ed and Derek working on a siding project outside the mess hall. There were other projects I am sure I am missing. Debbie got some amazing pictures of the wild life today. I worked on the blog, and drove tractor to haul away brush and helped stack fire wood to earn my keep.

The highlight of the day for me was dinner. We had salmon caught by members of our team and moose. For most of us this was the first time to eat "Bullwinkle" (sorry, inside joke for the team). After dinner we got final instructions about our schedule for Tuesday. We will spend the morning cleaning up after ourselves in the lodge and getting packed. Right after lunch we will head into Anchorage to do some final sight seeing and shopping and then we will have dinner at "The Sourdough Mining Company" restaurant (named after a famous minor named Sourdough, not the famous bread).

After dinner we will be off to the airport for a 12:30 AM flight to Seattle. Then we flight from Seattle to Minneapolis, and then on to Columbus. We should be at Port Columbus shortly after 6PM Wednesday evening. It has been an awesome experience being in this amazing "final frontier" for two weeks. Connie has done an amazing job organizing our trip. Chuck and Joanne Nicholson have done and incredible job coordinating the work and keeping us all busy using our particular skills and abilities. We have worked hard, played hard and ate too well and too much. God has blessed us with new friends from Oregon, and from Alaska. God has blessed us as we have tried to be a blessing to the people here and to people we may never meet who come to this camp in the future.  Terry Livengood (Camp director) tells us there are groups here the majority of the weeks in the year. So there will be a steady flow of people who will benefit from the work done by this team.

We came to help make Camp Maranatha a better place for people to encounter the presence of God. In the process we were blessed by God. Thank you all for your prayers and support and we will be home with you again to share more stories and many more pictures before you know it!

Ken finishing the baseboard on the new flooring in the director's residence.

Denny painting the drywall facade he and Ken built around the steel beam.

One room of the Camp Director's residence was the saw room today.

Don caulking one of several shower surrounds.

Charlie changing a ballast on an outside light, important for those long Alaskan winter nights.

Jan displaying the fresh caught salmon we would have for dinner Monday.

The bonfire pit is back to normal but now with lots of firewood thanks to Wally and Tim.

The new smaller gazebo now has a clear few of the lake thanks to brush clearing by Wally and Ken.

Don and Ed's staircase is done and in use.

Windows and trim by Denny and Ken, paint on the trim and door by Becca and Nancy.

The large gazebo now has a clear view of the lake thanks to brush clearing by Wally and Tim.

Derek repairing siding on the mess hall.

The campfire wood has a roof thanks to Lester, Derek and Kenny.

Weekend in Denali

All aboard the Denali Star.

Friday we took a train north a couple hundred miles to Denali National Park. It was a scenic trip and the mountains grew larger as we went. The train ride took most of the day. After checking into our cabins, we had supper in the small tourist area next to the park entrance.

At 6AM Saturday we headed out by bus into the Denali National Park. The first moose spotting was before we even got to the park entrance.  The vistas just kept getting better and better as we traveled on the dirt road deeper and deeper into the park and closer and closer to Denali (aka Mt. McKinley). We saw all kinds of wildlife, including grizzly's, moose, karibu and sheep. We stopped at various points to take pictures of Denali.

After 6 hours and 90 miles of dirt road, some of which was 4900 ft up on the edge of the mountains, we arrived just after noon at Kantishna. the farthest most point in the park. Here we ate lunch, panned for gold, and took short botany tours before boarding the bus for the long ride back out of the park. But we were rewarded with many big animal sitings, including bull moose and 10 grizzly bears including a pair of grizzly's disputing about a piece of territory, and a mom trying to get two cubs to leave her alone.

After a 13 hour day in the park we ate supper in the restaurants outside the park and headed back to our cabins for the night. Sunday morning we got to sleep in. We had devotions in a meeting room close to our cabins and enjoyed lunch while waiting for our 3PM charter bus ride back to Big Lake. After an afternoon on the bus highlighted by a clear shot of Denali from the south, we arrived back at Big Lake about 7:30. We had supper and devotions again and then turned in for the night.

Tim and Connie enjoying the scenery from the Dome Car as the train crosses a gorge.

Passing the south bound train.

Rounding a bend as we near Denali National Park.

View of some of our cabins as the train nears the station.

Salmon Bake for our first meal at Denali.

One of our cabins for the two nights we spent at Denali.

We saw this bull moose on the road by the cabins before we even entered the park.

Female moose.

One of the many breathtaking views inside Denali National Park.

Some of the many Dall sheep we saw high on the hills in the park.

Denali from the east with a scarf made out of clouds.

There is a reason they don't let just anyone drive these 90 miles inside the park.

One of many switchbacks carved on the edge of the mountains.  We were almost 5000 ft above sea level at one point.

Tim and Connie with our bus driver's wife soaking in the views.

Becca and Derek taking pictures at a scenic overlook.

Don and Ken taking pictures at one of the scenic vistas along the way.

Elk or Caribou in the valley.

First of ten grizzlys we saw that day.

We were 4-5 feet away from this beast. Fortunately we were safe inside the bus.

Denali (Mt. McKinley) from the north with just the peak shrouded in cloud.

Another moose

Kantishna from above as we started out decent to this lodge for lunch and to pan for gold.

Lunch is over and swatting mosquitoes until we could pan for gold.

Another Grizzly looking for berries.

Grizzly cubs wrestling.

Same cubs wrestling or making up.

Mama Grizzly with two cubs picking berries.

One more "bullwinkle" before we left the park after 13 hours.

Denali (McKinley) from the south.

A closer look at Denali from the south.

Thursday in Big Lake

Fully repaired amphitheater

Thursday was a beautiful mostly sunny day with a high near 70. Today was probably the best weather we have experienced so far on the trip. Several projects were finished up this morning. Both gazebo's are complete. The amphitheater is fully repaired. The new stair case is done. Many cottage doors were replaced. Large windows were replaced. Many bed frames were built and all old and new bed frames have been painted. The Suburban runs, as does the Yamaha Rhino (my favorite toy). Large areas around the camp have been cleaned up and organized. Computers have been repaired. The woodshed is full of split wood for winter. And countless other projects, like disassembling large fans to store for winter, have been completed since we started working last Wednesday.

With the work here almost done, many of us went into Anchorage today to see native Alaskan art and do some shopping. Others worked around the camp this morning doing things like replacing the caulking in the showers. In the afternoon most of the guys who did not go shopping, went fishing. I understand Don was successful in catching two trout in the lake tonight. And I saw the two trout Lester and Charlie brought back from their fishing excursion in a nearby river this evening.

We will be back at work at the campground Monday, but from Friday morning through Sunday evening we will be on an excursion to Denali. We will take the train north from Wasilla to Denali tomorrow some 200 miles into the mountains where Mt. McKinley lives and we will come back to camp by bus Sunday evening.

One of many new doors installed by our team

Charlie and Lester with their catches of the day

The smaller gazebo completed

The larger gazebo completed

Fury creatures staring down at us at the Alaskan Fur Exchange today

New staircase on the end of the mess hall