Katmai National Park and Preserve

Katmai National Park and Preserve

I am getting ready for summer. Its time to return to Katmai's Brooks Camp. There is a great camp ground that is close enough to the lodge for good food and drink every night.

Here is some more stuff from the Katmai site.

The Brooks Camp Campground is the only improved camping area in Katmai National Park. It is located on the shores of Naknek Lake about a quarter mile from the Visitor Center. The campground fills up on a per person basis to a maximum of 60 campers per night sharing 18 sites. Campsites will be shared when the campground is filled to capacity or flooded. The campground tends to near capacity from late June through July each year for prime bear viewing at Brooks River, so make your reservations early at recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. The cost is $8 per camper per night (from June 1 to Sept 17). Facilities in the campground include a food cache, gear cache, fuel storage locker, potable water, cooking shelters, outhouse, and the electric fence. The campground facilities are only available from June 1 to Sept 17 each year. When the campground facilities are unavailable before or after the operating season, plan on providing all of your own equipment including a bear resistant container (BRC) for food storage, water filter, and electric fence (recommended).

Via the web: recreation.gov

Katmai National Monument was created in 1918 to preserve the famed Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a spectacular forty square mile, 100 to 700 foot deep ash flow deposited by Novarupta Volcano. A National Park & Preserve since 1980, today Katmai is still famous for volcanoes, but also for brown bears, pristine waterways with abundant fish, remote wilderness, and a rugged coastline.

Boundary, Alaska

Blurb: Welcome to Alaska!

Location / Coordinates: Boundary, Alaska is the first civilized spot you come to after crossing the border with Canada. Situated just east of Jack Wade Junction on the Alaskan side of the border with Canada on the Alaska Highway coming from Dawson City, Yukon or Chicken, Alaska.

Coordinates: Latitude: 64.08 & Longitude 141.01.

Population / Elevation: Sparce. Elevation, 2,940 feet above sea level.

Description: Boundary, Alaska has just a few rustic buildings, one of them being the Boundary Lodge, one of the first roadhouses in Alaska. Not far from the Top of the World Highway, Boundary is situated on an unpaved portion of the Alaska Highway. It’s a scenic area of Alaska, rolling hills, grasses and shrubs as far as the eye can see.

What to do there: Get gas here, and keep an eye on your tank--the next available gas on the way to Tetlin Junction on the Alaska Highway is in Chicken, Alaska. If you’re headed to Eagle, Alaska, there is gas in Eagle.

History:

How to get there: The road to Boundary, Alaska is only open during the summer season. North of Tok on the Taylor Highway (Alaska 5), and west of Dawson City, Yukon on the top of the World Highway. Driving is how most people arrive in Boundary, and there is a 2,100 foot earth and gravel airstrip for those who wish to fly their private airplanes.

Facilities: Gas, an emergency telephone, food, lodging, and some mechanical help is available in Boundary.

RV info: There are no facilities for RVs in Boundary, Alaska.

My Alaskan Blog

Jim convinced me to visit Alaska for the first time in the fall of 05. I really never thought of visiting the place. The stories of bugs and ice had kept me away. But I wanted to see Jim and it was winter, so the bugs would be of little issue.

Its now a year and a half later and I have made 6 trips north for a total of about 5 months of days. Last summer I even brought a SUV up so I would have a car available. My plan was to move up within the next couple of years. It is still the plan, so I guess I am starting off where Jim was in May of 05 when he said goodbye to all of his friends and loaded up the U-Haul for a little trip.

Now it is my turn. I will be sharing the process of making the change. The move that is more about changing how you think about the work, than about your address. It is about reclaiming self.

I hope you enjoy the adventure. To learn more about Alaska you can visit our site, http://www.myalaksan.com

Ed

Obituary

Obituary

James Allen Chapman age 45, died at his home in Palmer, Alaska on October 23, 2006 of a sudden heart attack. Jim leaves behind his wife, Kenda Chapman, and their son, Morgan Chapman, age 8, as well as his grandmother, Pearl Chapman; father, Philip Chapman; brother and sister-in-law, Carl (Ed) and Amy Chapman; sister and brother-in-law, Kerri and Jim Anderson; and nephews, Eric, Russell, and Bryan Anderson.

Jim began his journey in Fresno, California on May 22, 1961. In the early years of his life, he lived in Yosemite where he enjoyed his “one-room school house;” being a “mountain kid” who got out of school each Wednesday to ski; and being fished out of the river by Ed when he fell in crossing the rapids on the way to school.

At age 12, Jim moved to Parker, Arizona, a move which he initially protested (for about a year) with the passive-aggressive behavior of wearing his “Think Snow” pin. After it became quite evident, that he wasn’t going to return to the snow nor was the snow going to cooperate in Parker, he began to enjoy his new found home and friends. Jim attended Parker High School and enjoyed many activities including Varsity Football; his coveted job at the Tellis Sheds; being one of Mr. Curnutt’s pets; and his best friend, Leroy Eswonia.

After high school, Jim followed his brother to Northern Arizona University where he ultimately obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology. (He took a few years off in between to serve Uncle Sam in the United States Army). After college Jim worked as a geologist for several American and International Exploration and Mineral Companies including Newmont; Phelps Dodge; and Placer Dome in the United States, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile. After returning from South America in 1998 with his wife and infant son in tow, Jim set up states in Tucson, Arizona where he worked as the District Global Information System Administrator (and basketball player) for Southwest Gas Company. Jim ultimately retired from desk duty and began his Internet Entrepreneurial Ventures which ultimately led him to move to Alaska where he coupled his love for Alaska and knowledge of the Internet to create his websites http://www.myalaskan.com and http://www.myalaskanblog.com .

Throughout the years, Jim remained very close to his family. He was not only a son and grandson, but also a friend to his father and grandmother; he remained Ed’s very best friend and playmate; he regularly fulfilled his big brother role to Kerri; he was the big brother Amy never had; he was Uncle Adventure to his nephews; and most of all he cherished the love of his life, Kenda, each and every day and ensured that the sun rose and set with his little boy, Morgan.

While Jim will be missed more than words can say, one thing remains certain - he rode the ride of life to the fullest extent and fulfilled his dreams in their entirety.

Jim's Photo Gallery

Brown Bears

Bears

Saying goodbye to Jim

Died 10/23/2006 in Palmer Alaska

Jim died the morning of October 23 while having morning coffee with his wife Kenda. He was healthy, worked out 5 days a week and did most of the things that lead to a very long life. Maybe God needed an Internet expert.

Over the past years, Jim and I had grown even closer. Talking three times or more each day. Attending Internet conferences and drinking a beer or two. We were scheduled to spend next week in Vegas at the Pubcon, Webmaster Conference. I was really looking forward to the week with Jim.

Last March Jim decided we needed to through caution to the wind and do every adventure in Alaska. We won permits to camp in a grizzly preserve. Each year only 200 in 50,000 entries ever get picked. Jim got us in on the first try. The sky was blue all but one day of our adventure. Not an Alaskan norm.

That was only the start of a summer that I will never forget and will think of daily. We spent time camping with the bears, flying into very remote spots via float plane and taking thousands of pictures.

Jim was able to take his wife and 8 year old son to remote lodge to fly fish for several days. I have put pictures of the event and others of Jim on a website I built for him. It is http://www.wawona.us . Wawona is where Jim and I lived before Parker. It is a small village in Yosemite.

Jim was a member of the local search and rescue group. They helped us arrange a memorial and get together. Even though he had only lived in Alaska a year and a half, over 100 people showed up at this house. He had found his home.

The memorial was simple. Held at Hatcher Pass, Jim's favorite park to snow shoe, ski and walk this dogs. It was only 10 miles from his home and offered views of all of the valley below.

With Glaciers and mountains of the Alaskan Range as the foreground, I took Jim's ashes out into the rocks and spread them into the wind using his gold pan. In the background kids were snow boarding and sledding the hills. A juvenile Bald Eagle few down the canyon over us, off into the Alaska Jim loved.

I will miss him always.

Ed

carl@chapman.tv

Jim's Alaskan Blog

It has been 6 months today sense Jim's death. My phone rang at 9 am while I was having coffee with my father. It was Jim's phone number, one I was use to seeing 3 or 4 times a day. This time it was Kenda, Jim's wife.

Through the crying I knew it was bad. I kept hearing her say it did not make it. I kept wanting to say, let him have a chance. But it was over. Nothing to change. At 6:30 he was having coffee, his computer set to some SEO stuff. Then he was dead. Just that quick.

His Alaskan dream fulfilled. He had been in Alaska for a little over a year. When he headed north he told me it would be where he would live for the rest of his life and he was right.