Tall Tales from the Top of the World

Weekly Greetings Family & Friends!

Headed to Gold Cord Lake

The landscape here is beginning to change yet again -- serving as a vivid reminder that time marches on -- despite our best efforts to hold it at bay.  The snow at Hatcher's Pass has finally melted, leaving luscious greenness everywhere that I think is probably only rivaled in Ireland or Scotland (though I've never seen either).  The birch tree leaves are beginning to yellow, and the fireweed continues to creep toward the upper stalk.  Ethan and I will be harvesting that again this afternoon, and will scout for blueberries, blackberries, and crow berries on the Pass for a future harvesting.

This past Sunday brought the first rain break for us, so we took Ahtna to Independence Mine to alleviate her (and our) cabin fever.  Ethan indicated that so far, that is truly his most favorite place, and I believe we could spend many years here and never hike all of the trails that exist there.  This time we hiked the Gold Cord Lake trail, along with hundreds of other park visitors.  This was the first time that we had seen so many people at one time there, and we have decided that although it did help with Ahtna's human and dog socialization, we prefer to visit there during the week.  I think that means we are officially "locals" and no longer tourists.  The initial climb was primed with gravel and well-worn, but still pretty rough for all of us.  Our adventurous son and his pup found a much easier mud path back down. Of course they did! The dichotomy reminded me so much of Robert Frost: "Two roads diverged within the wood, and I -- I took the road less traveled."

"Mr. Mark Finkleman's" Cabin

At any rate, we enjoyed our time and discovered Mr. Mark Finkleman's original cabin along with a pristine lake hidden among the rocks.  If you have the time, I'll provide a bit of back story...

Mr. Finkleman was a purposeful hermit, originally making his home at Independence Mine in search of gold.  After the initial strike dwindled and a falling out with the other miners, he moved to the interior of Alaska, close to Birch Lake outside of Delta Junction.  His desire was to search for gold and be completely left alone.  For many years, he was able to fulfill this dream until the United States government (the Air Force, specifically) swooped in and scarfed up his land -- to build a recreational area for its airmen, of all things.  To appease him, they paid him a handsome sum (as he wasn't fortunate finding any gold in that area), and they allowed him to keep his small cabin close to the lake.

Inside the Cabin

But the building of other single and family cabins, along with the traffic allowed for sport fishing and small game hunting depleted his natural resources and forced him to come face-to-face with the large numbers of people he had hoped to escape.  Particularly difficult for him were the teenagers, who made it their sole purpose to terrorize and antagonize him on his own property.  Unwilling to take the meddling anymore, he warned the Air Force that terrible things would begin to happen if they continued to operate the Recreation Area.  Ignoring the rantings of the "crazy old Mr. Finkleman," the operators of the recreation area unleashed the horror that is still talked about to this day. The defeated Finkleman retired to his cabin, and was found dead two days later, atop his handmade birch bark bed.  The death was ruled as "natural causes," but most staffers believed he died of a broken heart.

Each subsequent season, as families would arrive for some R & R, personal belongings of one targeted family would begin to disappear.  A backpack the first year, a pair of Chuck T's sneakers the next, then a Swiss army knife.  The "lost" belongings would have been no big deal, if the teens that they belonged to hadn't also disappeared.  Workers recalled Mr. Finkleman's warning, and after three years' of unsolved missing persons' cases, the Air Force mothballed the Birch Lake Recreation Park. That was in 1961.  Then, almost a year to the day 40 years later, the Air Force renovated the cabins and re-opened the park.  The history of the park was memorialized on a plaque outside of the ruins of Mr. Finkleman's cabin.  The opening ceremonies even included a ribbon cutting on birch stanchions that were salvaged from the disintegrating furniture inside the cabin.  With the history of the camp intact, a full day of family fun and lakeside festivities, and all the cabins filled to capacity, the Air Force officials called the reopening one of their "great success stories for Alaska's airmen and their families."  That is, until Mikayla didn't return to cabin 3...

Following the boot tracks outside of cabin 3, Security Forces personnel cut a path through the dense forest to the recently memorialized Finkleman cabin.  As they approached the cabin, they smelled the faint odor of a smoldering fire, but the boot tracks disappeared.  Peering inside, they noticed a hole, freshly dug, in the center of what used to be the cabin.  Inside the hole they found a few ounces of gold; an old, ratty backpack; a pair of Chuck T's; a rusted Swiss army knife; and a brand new tube of lipstick...

GOTCHA! None of that backstory is true...haha...that was one of the camp stories that Officer Mike created during an Alaska Tracks camp at Birch Lake in the summer of 2001.  Imagine the looks on the faces of those youngsters (particularly the more ornery ones), when we "discovered" their belts, backpacks, and headphones in a dirt hole in a dilapidated cabin on the Birch Lake property.  Bahahaha!  Officer Mike, Miss Adina...that's NOT funny!

The Historic Lynch Cabin

But, what is funny and true is that the cabin Ethan and I found atop atop Hatcher Pass is the old "Lynch" cabin; and it was awesome!  I expounded to Ethan his Daddy's sneaky Finkleman ways so he would feel more comfortable about exploring the Lynch cabin.  Even though he laughed about the story, he said he could see how kids his age would be "flipped out" by finding their belongings in a cabin like that.  Further up the mountain, we found the Lake and were surprised to find people actually swimming in it!  Only two, and Ahtna...but she's a dog, and she's a lab...so...

Across the valley and up the other side of the mountain sits the Martin cabin (seriously...). We don't think the Lynch's or the Martin's from then are any relation to the Lynch's and Martin's now, but wouldn't that be something!  Maybe that explains a little of our affinity with the Pass.

Storm Trooper Rex out in Anchorage
for a day of fun, adventure, &
shopping!

Hot Air Balloon outside of Anchorage

Other than that, we are winding down our summer, and beginning to prepare for school starting again.  That includes trips into Anchorage for various items, and an occasional sighting of a storm trooper named Ethan.  Or Rex...I think his name is Captain Rex.  Outdoor enthusiasts continue to try to pack everything in that they can before school starts including fishing derbies, bike races, 5K's, boat races, and even hot air ballooning. We're not doing that...others are doing that.  We are hiking, recreational biking, and we will be eligible for in-state hunting and fishing licenses August 2! So we hope to be filling our freezer soon after that.

Please pray for Alex and Andrew as they prepare to head back to school soon.  Alex is "wedding it up" this week in Ohio as a groomsman for a former Cedarville buddy and beginning his own pre-marital counseling before his December nuptials.  He has another job interview next week for a higher level position within MTA.  Andrew is working hard at CFA and prepping for his return to Lee.  We do appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers that go up for them and us!

Gold Cord Lake Trail
Hatcher Pass
July 2015

Until next week's adventure!

We Love You...and stay away from Mr. Finkleman's Cabin!