Sunday Night Blog: Alaskan Adventure by Pam Girdwood

Intro

A few years ago I quit my job as a retail manager. I was kind of in transition, trying to figure out if business, which is what my degree is in, was really what I wanted to do with my life. I went to work for my Aunt at her hunting lodge and some people came down from Alaska to make a hunting video for a television show. I had nothing going for me at the time, no long-term relationships or an important job, so they asked me to come work for them as a cook on a remodeled Alaskan fishing boat. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I didn't want to always wonder "what if" if I didn't go, so I went, not knowing what I was getting myself into, which was fun! I am the type of person who would always wonder "what if" so I had to do it. I was young, and really needed to find myself and what my role in life was.

Alaska has always been a place I wanted to visit before I die so when the opportunity arose to live there, I figured why not? I love the mountains and I love the wilderness, even though I am deathly afraid of wild animals. Alaska is well known for its beautiful wilderness so I had to go.

March 2007
Leave from Pittsburgh to Alaska. I have packed two suitcases expecting to be there for an entire year, but plans would eventually change. I packed all the warm clothes I could fit into my suitcase and headed off to cook for hungry hunters and an entire boat crew. I was excited to do something different and experience life at a young age which I know I won't be able to do once I got older and settle down with a real job. Going to Alaska was one of my biggest dreams to fulfill, and hey why not go all out and live on an Alaskan crabbing boat in the middle of nowhere and get paid for it?

A lot of places in Alaska are only accessible by boat or plane, so most hunting expeditions are done by boat. In order to find these expeditions hunters from all over the world attend conventions, one of which is SCI (Safari Club International) held in Reno, Nevada. The thousands of Hunting Outfitters that are featured must reach a certain criteria in order to be sponsored, so they can be featured in the show. The conventions provide an inside look to each outfitter and also allows fellow hunters to discuss their experiences with a particular outfitter.

Arrive in Anchorage getting ready to head out to sea with the crew. Meet Melissa our dish girl and Erin my boss's wife A.K.A the Galley Head Cook. Living arrangements consisted of two large remodeled crab boats. The Alaskan Leader was the main boat where Mike (boss), Erin (boss's wife), Melissa, and most of the hunters stayed. The second boat was not yet remodeled and still in crabbing form, smells included. I, unfortunately, didn't get to stay in the boat. I had a Porto-potty like plastic hut on the stern (back) of the boat that was held down with big straps, rather than bolted down.

An Alaskan crabbing boat is a big industrial sized boat that they use on, "The Deadliest Catch," only we used it for bear hunting. They just took all the crab cages off of the boat and added carpeting, a big screen TV, and made the living areas better so hunters would feel like its a home.

Get everything ready on the boat including my sleeping hut that has no light. My hut has room for one queen sized bed and enough room underneath to put my two suitcases. They gave me a space heater, which I was only allowed to run on the lowest degree because of the generator that we used to run the two boats would short out if I made it any higher. We head back to shore to do some grocery shopping for the whole season, which consisted of a trip to Cost-Co in Anchorage. That Cost-Co trip cost Mike and Erin $40,000 in food and had to last the whole summer. We were out in the middle of nowhere so we had to be very careful on how we used all of that food. We had to freeze milk, break and lunch meat. All produce had to be kept outside to stay fresh in the coolers. Every new hunt, which was once a week, with zero days off, I had to thaw out the food that needed to be ready for the next group of hunters.

The crew consisted of four hunting guides, who were all my saviors and made each day a little better for me. Joe, a tough military man from Georgia, who left abruptly for personal reasons; An Indigenous Alaskan from Cordova Alaska with a heart of gold. He was a really great guy trying to do great things with his life. He loved to hunt and fish, and made an excellent guide. He also taught me a thing or two about panning for gold! He also roomed in a tiny hut like mine, right across from me; Ryan, a good 'ol fishing and hunting guy from Oregon who spent his summers in Homer Alaska as a fishing guide, was the best! He was full of humor and always had a smile on his face. He always knew the right thing to say and got along great with the hunters; Tom was my favorite. A sweet, outdoorsy gentleman from Kodiak Alaska, who would later become my Alaskan fling, he pretty much saved my life up there! He was like my little protector. He grew up doing the boat/hunting thing with his parents so he was familiar with boat life and how things really went down in Alaska. He told me how to tie ropes the "real" nautical way, taught me how to drive a boat, fish, build fires, tie a fishing line, and fish for crab, among many different Alaskan adventures.

During the second or third week of March, we were off to Yakutat Alaska. We took off from a small town where they docked their boats and headed on a two-day boat ride on the Prince William Sound. It was the neatest thing I have ever seen. No tour guides, just you versus the Alaskan waters. I saw dolphins, which really looked like mini Killer Whales. They would swim right along with your boat and jump beside the boat to show off. I saw Puffins (a type of bird), mountains, and tons and tons of icebergs. I thought we were going down like the titanic! But obviously we didn't. I was hopped up on Dramamine the first day, but from what I remember it was beautiful. Any picture you see of Alaska does not do it justice.

Hunters came in around the third or fourth week of March. They had to catch a flight from the Lower 48 (The Continental United States) to Anchorage and then a small plane to Yakutat. From Yakutat they had to hire a pilot with a floatplane. So they would arrive every Wednesday and leave the following Tuesday.

I really had no idea how to cook or survive in the wilderness so I learned how to be survivor woman and a cook all in one. I knew basics like frying eggs, bacon and sausage, but my boss taught me the rest. We had seven set meals for the trip. I was taught how to make Spaghetti, Steaks, Crab Legs, Seafood Pasta, Pork Chops, Panko Chicken, and Teriyaki Salmon.

I also had to deal with a shortage of water. We had to rig up five gallon buckets to collect rainwater for our tanks. Needless to say, without the abundance of fresh water, we had to save most of it for hunters, which lead to one shower every three days for Pam. And with the generator situation I also was not allowed to use a blow dryer or straightener. Boo. But I learned how to get by. Laundry was also a pain, but we won't get into that.

It was all very tricky with the generator situation. I had to use the stove, oven and microwave, but could only do one at a time so I didn't short out the generator. I learned really fast what I had to do. I cooked in the Galley (kitchen) on the Alaskan Leader, which was about the same size as an apartment kitchen. I had to cook for 15 people so I found a way to make it all work. Right after I finished with breakfast I had to make lunches before they headed out to the mountains to hunt. They were only allowed one sandwich, a cookie and a granola bar, for their 9-hour hunt. But with the food situation and the nearest town a plane ride away, we had to be careful how we used it all. All the lunch meat had to be frozen so every week when I had to collect all the food to thaw out I had to get the exact amount that I would be using for the hunters and crew. Being off by a little bit could cost a week's worth of food. Very tricky!! So when packing lunches I had to thaw the lunchmeat and clean off the goo that accumulates when you freeze it. I had to defrost the bread and cut the tomatoes and lettuce. This is what happens when you are living in an Alaskan Crabbing boat with no signs of life in sight.

We were docked at a small little secluded bay called Icy Bay, and the hunters would wake up every morning and take a smaller skiff/ski boat about 30 minutes to shore and hunt all day in the Alaskan mountains. When they were hunting, I had to clean the bathrooms and the rest of two boats where both the hunters and the crew stayed. I vacuumed, cleaned showers and shined shower doors. When I would finally get a moment to shower myself I would have to walk across a plank to the adjacent boat, grab clothes and walk the plank again to use the only shower that worked. It had to be military style (turn on water to get wet, turn off when soaping, turn back on to rinse), so sometimes it would even be hot. Then I had to walk back over the plank AGAIN to my hut with a wet head in the frigid Alaskan temperatures, and pray that I didn't fall or get sick from my wet head.

Complications occur in every business, so our yearlong trip was cut short. At the beginning of May we left the boat and decided to just travel. Since Tom lived in Alaska his whole life he decided that we would just travel around Alaska for the next month or so. I went to Homer to visit Ryan in Yakutat for fishing. I went to Girdwood Alaska (my great great uncle founded it!!!) I asked for the key to the city, but unfortunately they didn't even have a chamber of commerce). I traveled to the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak Island, headed over to Cordova to visit 340, and then to Anchorage. Fishing was unbelievable! I fished for King Salmon, Halibut, and Sea Bass.

In Kodiak we got to meet one of the men from Deadliest Catch and offered Tom a stay at his cabin in Colorado for a week...sweet deal! We went to the Annual King Crab Festival and had the freshest crab legs you could ever eat, I saw my first Kodiak brown bear in the wild, and met a bunch of Tom's family.

By the beginning of June our funds were starting to thin out, so we headed back to the Lower 48 and stayed with Tom and his family in Bend Oregon for a week before heading back to Pittsburgh. Tom came to visit once, but that was pretty much the last time I talked to him. Nothing bad happened between us, it just fizzled. That's why I call him my great Alaskan Fling.

I had the most unbelievable experiences up there and even with all the crazy bad things that happened, I would do it all over again. It was just the idea of doing something that I never in a million years thought I would be capable of doing. I sucked it up, and became the Pittsburgh girl who roughed it in Alaska for a couple of months. It was so short lived and time went by so fast. I wish I were still up there doing all of that. Waking up with unpolluted air, can't hear cars passing by, the northern lights were amazing, the never ending daylight, waking up to a view of the mountains, icebergs, crabbing boats, fishing, fishermen, chatting with the locals, wilderness, the bears.

I really found myself there, and learned a lot about who I want to be and that I can really overcome any obstacle. I never wanted to look back at my life and wonder "what-if" about anything. For anyone out there, I recommend going for something or trying something out for the first time. That's all life is about is taking chances and challenging yourself everyday. Yes this was a huge risk not only mentally, but I was risking my life out there! We had no way to get in contact with the lower 48 besides a satellite phone that we weren't allowed to use, and people couldn't call in. It got really scary sometimes. But I came out a better person, knowing who I am and stand firmly with that. I am more apt to take chances and challenge myself with anything. I figure if I roughed it in Alaska, city girl herself, I can really do anything if I put my mind to it.

And it actually changed me in so many more ways than that. For one, I realized I hate cities. I would rather be in the wilderness camping and fishing. That's where I realized that's what makes me happy! But I never really thought that mountains and fresh air could change a person. It changed my whole outlook on life too, and how short and fragile it could be. Trivial dramatic every day dealings of life I just blow off now because they aren't important. It is so strange how one experience can make you look at yourself differently and the ability to open your eyes to greater things in life. Just another reason why I am really happy I did this. I will be able to tell my grandchildren one day that I roughed it in Alaska on a crabbing boat, without cell phones, emails or Facebook, and learned how to cook, fish, boat, hunt, and survive Alaskan style. They probably won't believe me, but I would sure love to do it again someday.

I try not to take anything for granted anymore and take chances and do things that I normally wouldn't do. Advice to anyone else, do the same, you will never know what you are capable of unless you try something new. You will be surprised on what you can accomplish. And if I can do it, anyone can!!!