Saint Elias Wilderness

Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness

This view towards the Wrangell-Saint Elias Mountain Range across the frozen Tanana River has always been one connected with a judgment in my life. Long ago after my father died, I reached the Last Frontier with all its beauty but erred in a conduct of action that caused me to be cast out of this veritable paradise of natural beauty and earthly purity. I remember boarding a bus to leave Alaska with a feeling of deep regret in my heart. I looked out the window of the bus and remember seeing a view very similar to the one above. Every time I reach this particular part of Alaska I always remember the pain I went through after leaving.

Thirty years have now passed but the memory remains. I have been working at a little school that is simply out in the middle of this vast beauty with nothing else around but wilderness. Each day now for a couple of weeks I have seen this view as I was leaving the school for the long hour drive back to the nearest northern city in Alaska. The view is looking south west and if you look carefully you can see a bit of fog or what looks like steam rising at the lower left side of the image; this fog is created by an opening in the river ice where the freezing water at 32 degrees (0 C) is flowing too fast to allow freezing to occur; as a result, the water at freezing temperatures is relatively warm in comparison to the ambient air temperatures near -20 degrees. The over all temperature difference between the air and water is 50 degrees allowing water that is freezing cold to appears as a hot spring in a place where -30 is considered seasonably normal temperatures.

The mention of judgment has to do with the prospective opportunity to stay at this school teaching with some of the most wonderful children I have met since arriving here from Korea. Yesterday was my last day teaching there unless an opportunity opens which would allows me to continue to teach there; if not, my only other choice is to go back to where I came from. .

The moment of judgment has arrived and He who holds the future is the first and the last, the beginning and the end the ultimate Judge of all mankind and my life is in the balance. I love the children I work with and they are so full of love and warmth as they recognize that I care for them and watch over them and their efforts to study, build snow forts and ski.

.....tbc

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