Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Spring Is Here! lol

Sounds like a swell time!

Well, from my house looking south, it appears to be trying to clear.
Who🤷‍♂️ Knows

Looks busy.

Many years ago while I was at Site Summit we seemed to get our worst winds and heavy wet snow in April. We would get snowed in at the launching site and spend several hours waiting for the snow blower to push it's way through the huge drifts just to change crews. I surely don't miss those winds and heavy snow storms. The launching site was at 3200 feet and the barracks was at 4000 ASL.

kwg

I don't consider it spring here (SE Oregon at 4,500ft) until mid-June. It just might be safe to finally plant one's tomatoes. Even then, we've had snow in July and August. Got a couple inches yesterday.

LOL..........A couple of my co-workers in a blower and a D-7 got caught in a whiteout on the mountain trying to cut their way to the site. They were there for two days waiting so they could see where they were going.

I have shunshine now. Crazy.

What year was that ?? I was there in 1975 and 1976.

kwg

We had wind overnight, but no snow. Wind is starting to settle a bit. It’s now 34 gusting 51, but was much higher last night. Dogs do not like that!

I can't pinpoint it, but it was definitely sometime after 1974. We were maintaining the road even after the missile battery deactivated, because lots of agencies had commo towers up there, and needed access for repairs and maintenance. After that event, our organization balked at opening it up in winter, and pressured everybody to use snowmobiles and helicopters for winter access.

I was an active duty engineer in '74/'75, and I know a guy who was detailed up there about then. I think he was there until deactivation. Have you seen these?

https://home.army.mil/alaska/application/files/6315/0912/6115/Fort_Richardson_Cold_War.pdf

https://www.nps.gov/places/nike-site-summit.htm

https://www.nikesitesummit.net/

We got a couple inches at our place last night and it was still coming down pretty good when I left for work. The drive into Anc at 0530 this morning was pretty f****** heinous though.

We got enough snow to make the ground white here again. I had big palms of cleaning up dog crap this evening.

Rain here in Sterling yesterday pm. No snow. Wind seems to be slacking off a bit.

Something tinny sounding was banging around half the night. I'm putting off going to see what. Hope it's nothing to do with the garage roof- think it's a panel I have covering a boat trailer. Need more coffee before I go out.

Bet the poly tarps over the snowmachines are gone, or at least off, also.

I wonder if AlaskaAir will let me do a walkaround the plane in the morning- just to make sure no doors have blown off? I know how to do that!

I see one of my tarps way out behind the house!


Power outages from above east foreland down out east end.

https://outage.homerelectric.com/

We got electrons now after being out 6/7 hours.

I drove down to Thompson Pass Friday evening for one last white-tailed ptarmigan hunt...holy hell was it a mess yesterday. I didn't even get out of the vehicle. I just turned around and headed back home. Weather man said 35+ MPH gusts and 12-18 inches of heavy snow was expected yesterday...I wouldn't doubt that was correct.

Gusts in the Delta area were supposed to have been approaching 60+ MPH but I never saw anything that bad.

I left in June, 1976. The Site closed in July 1979. I knew some of the road clearing crew back then. Chuck Anderson was a guy from Iowa who worked for the Army maintaining the Site and clearing roads. I don't recall the other guys names at this point. I actually started up the cat one day to pull a friend out of a snowbank not far from the launching area. It was always plugged in to a heater. The commander came by and saw me in the cat and I thought I was toast. But, he made me the backup snow blower driver and cat driver instead. Unfortunately, I never got it recorded on my driving record for future use.

I will be back in Anchorage for a reunion in September. (16 to 20th) I understand we will be going back up the hill for another tour. I was there in July of 2022 for a visit with some friends. It was somewhat surreal seeing it in it's present condition.

It was quite the place in the 1970's. I left San Antonio in late November 1974 and reported to Ft. Richardson December 16th 1974. I spent 18 months at the Site.

kwg

My son in law has a good friend who lives in Palmer. Unfortunately, I don't know his name.

Hailing yesterday, snowing today, I'm ready for some actual sunshine.

LOL..........I reported for duty on Dec. 18, 1974. We might have been at the Replacement Co. at the same time at Bldg. 650. Within a month of our arrival there were two earthquakes; a 7.0 and a 7.1.........I think. They were strong ones.

I worked with Chuck Anderson as a civilian for several years (I hired on with post engineers in 1981). I believe he retired in 1988 or so. Does the name Dennis Hubbard ring a bell?

Power was out for 24 hours, so no water, no heat, no snow, just wind.

The beer survived, so all is well. Still searching for a place to live in greater Soldotna area.

Had 2.2 inch's of rain and wind last night. We needed it. Good luck with the snow.

No hail in Anchorage, but the grauple was nasty.

A few day ago we live in mud city with our ice (means of travel) getting dangerous rotten,, today it was 2 degrees and 35mph NW wind. We got a scab of snow cover so bad ice is invisible,, hang out here and shore travel until open water and boating!

Yup.
Graupel here too.

still a yo yo here

snow one day

sunny & 60* the next

recent 5 mile hike this morning

Lower elevation snow gone

Elk have moved up 2K'

Deer still hangin' low.........

Snow in Juneau yesterday, after 2 weeks of partly sunny weather and upper 40s.
Our annual April fools joke from Ma Nature, ha.
Pretty much all melted back off at this point today though.

Snow is predicted in where we live in East Tennessee on Thursday. It was 75 just a couple of days ago.
Winter is weird.

Hello
I'll bet we were at the replacement center together. Dennis Hubbard ?? I don't recall the name. I'd have to see a face. Chuck worked weekends at Smitty's bar in Eagle River and when we would stop in he would double shot our drinks. I got really drunk there one night.

Frank Yarbrough was a guy that helped us build the railroad tie guard shack out front of the launching area. We always called him Whiskers because he had a big beard.

kwg

Nobody really wants to see that face.........LOL......... I'll have to let him know that I can still insult him so skillfully the next time we BS on the phone. He's finishing out life on a South Dakota prairie farm a stone's through from the North Dakota border. He's got balance issues and continual Agent Orange issues, but remains as tough as an anvil.

Frank Yarbrough was probably the most beloved engineer in the organization by the time he retired, and was a foundation of the Birchwood Civil Air Patrol over the years. He was our annual Santa Claus at the Christmas Parties, because he wouldn't tolerate the ladies sit on anybody elses laps. His regularly emailed jokes were a daily joy. He passed away a just few years ago. The "N" section of the National Cemetery at Ft. Rich is growing with that generation of patriots. It's like a reunion strolling through each time another joins the section.

Enjoy your coming reunion on Mt. Gordon Lyon. You're a big part of a proud history.

It's good to hear about Frank. He was a great guy. Did you know he lost a daughter to a house fire or furnace fire. She passed at the Brook Army Medical Center. Since that was my previous station before B Battery, he would ask about Ft. Sam occasionally.

There was a guy who's handle on the CB was Washboard. He owned some laundromats as I recall. Was that Dennis ?? We never had a National Cemetary in central Iowa until about 20 years ago. I have not been out to visit it yet, but I do know a whole bunch of former Viet Nam guys who now call it home. I know of at least one who was killed in Iraq in 2004. She was in my National Guard garrison.

Were you by any chance in the orientation where they were showing the frost bite movies and guy got up to leave the room and ran into the fan knocking it over ?? That was just a few days after I arrived in December 1974. They did the orientations in the basement of the reception center and it was hot from the steam pipes. That's why they had the fans on.

My wife and I were in Anchorage in July 2022. We took a trip up to B Battery and the wind was 25 to 30 mph and the temperature was in the high 30's, low 40's. We concluded that was an average summer day at B btry. Our wives (at least mine was) was astounded about how primitive and old the living conditions were for those of us stationed up there and being exposed to the elements and the wind. She was used to her sister's life on an Air Force base.

I'll let you know when the reunion is approaching. Maybe we can get together for a beer or 2.

kwg

It's Fall here. Port Douglas, AUS. Only took us about 40 hours of travel. About 80* , humid, partly cloudy today. No wind currently. Going out on the Reef later this afternoon 4-hour trip. - I probably won't snorkel. Not sure I should go at all.

Came down with a head-cold the day before we left (April 1, there). Just fuggin great! So far I have contaminated 2 US states, 4 airplanes, 4 airports, two continents, and a rental car. I'm on a roll!

They drive funny down-under. All that honking and swerving!

Last night was fairly rough, between cold and jet-lag, but I'm on the mend, I think. Had a nose bleed during the night ( a little peroxide takes those blood stains right out of the sheets.) , and I'm feeling better. I always get nose-bleeds about the time I turn the corner.

Getting in the water on the Reef and having a nose-bleed probably isn't good....

No, I didn't know that!!! There was another man who worked with us who lost a daughter to a house fire that occurred out here in Mat-Su. Sad stuff.

I don't remember the orientation and fan collision, but I do remember the lousy heat regulation in those barracks back in those years.

I would love to have a couple beers with you when you visit! PM on its way with my contact info. I'll have a pic of Dennis with me when we meet. I bet you'll remember him.

Feel better pard!