Lost in Alaskan wilderness for five days

The year was 1970 and the purpose of our trip was to participate in a march from the place called Cooper's Landing through the winding valleys of the Resurrection river all the way to Seward, through some

of the roughest terrain in Alaska. The distance on the map, as the crow flies, was 40 miles but the actual mileage was about double.

The purpose of this walk was to maintain the physical fitness of this unit, the 172nd brigade's mountain rescue team. We were instructed that we will, for the most part, follow the river's course and use the existing animal paths. There were no roads or human trails.

First we were to reach the Russian Lakes, where, every year, the millions of sockeye salmon come to spawn. No surprise that these lakes were are also favorite gathering place of large Alaskan grizzles.

The planners of this trip obviously did not know much about bears. Every member of this fifty-men team had a M-16 assault rifle but only the sergeant in charge had ammunition. Just in case we ran into a problem bear. These bears are lightning quick and since we traveled in dispersed groups of 3-5 men, every man should have had ammo for his protection. I am the first one to admit that I was totally ignorant at that time about the behavior of these animals. I thought of them as slow, lumbering teddy bears that were mostly harmless. Ignorance is bliss, I felt no fear of them. If I knew then what I know now, I would have climbed the tallest tree and stayed there till somebody came to rescue me :-)

Recently the local cinemas were showing the movie "The Grizzly Man" a film about a man who lived with grizzlies and ended up being eaten by them. I highly recommend this flick, it's based on the guy's own film which he recorded among  bears.

Loaded with 70-pound backpacks we were making our way up to the Upper Russian Lake. The next, we would follow a dozen of streams draining out of the lake, which would eventually form the Resurrection river. We were traveling in small groups at fast pace and I always had 2 - 3 men in my field of vision. Making my way through the incredibly thick brush was extremely difficult, it was sometimes easier to walk along the bottom of an ice cold creek.

At one point I look around and I don't see anybody around. Immediately I assumed that I was too slow and that I needed to speed up in order to catch up with the rest of the group. I kept speeding up as much as the terrain would let me. There were some tough hombres in that group, Army Rangers and a couple of Special Froces guys. I thought I was not fast enough to keep up with them. We were given no food, it was to be dropped to us out of helicopters at different points of the march and we were taught survivor techniques. At least there was more than plenty of water around for drinking.

To make it a shorter story, the unit realized quickly that I was missing and began a search party. This took place in a pretty nasty, swampy area. All this time I was convinced that the guys were ahead of me and I continued in an attempt to catch up to them. The result was obvious. The distance between us grew.

Thus I spent four nights in a grizzly infested wilderness, saw at least two sows with cubs and plenty of moose. A lot of meat on the hoof ! At one point I lost my useless M-16 as I was crossing, the deep river. I had to cross this stream a number of times since the terrain frequently prevented me from walking along the bank, a sheer rock or such. It's hard to believe but I did not have matches, relied on the other guy to carry them, I suppose. No fire. Even though the nights were only some two hours long in June, they were very cold. The stream continued to get bigger, till it became a raging river rushing over huge boulders. For a while there were

stretches of calm water, so I tied a couple smaller logs together and used it as a raft. It worked like a charm till I came to a rather vicious bend in the river. It was nice while it lasted, perhaps some four mile.

Early in the morning, on the fifth day, I crossed a dangerous creek when I saw somebody's head pop up behind the huge boulder. The uniformed man was shouting at me, asking my name. When I told him, he

responded: "You are the guy they have been looking for five days! They have two choppers in the air looking for you." Shortly afterwards, I followed this beautiful, paved road all the way to the local US Army R&R camp in Seward. I remember thinking, thanks for civilization, the wilderness isn't exactly what it cracked up to be. There were many places where I had to crawl through the brush on all my fours with the backpack getting caught on branches.

The food never tasted so good as it did that time in the Army mess hall. On the

third day of my hike I hastily killed a porcupine, hoping to cook it. Then I realized I had no way to make a fire and I was not hungry enough yet to eat the raw meat.

As a matter of fact, the hunger was not such a big thing. The fear of drowning was more of an issue than hunger, I had to cross that damn river way too many times. They had aircraft looking for me, once the helicopter was so close to me that I could see the pilot. I was on a sandbar butt naked drying my wet cloths and before I had a chance to wave my shirt, the guy was gone. I still can't believe how unprepared I was for this "adventure". It definitely was a learning experience. When I hear people talking about back to nature wishes, I wonder if they know what they are talking about.

Messing with Texas

As a child born in Europe I grew up with books of cowboys, Texas Rangers, desperados, banditos or Comanches.  The wild West and all that frontier stuff.  There was this fantastic German writer Karl May, who himself has never been to the US, who wrote fabulous adventure stories about American frontier. These stories were incredibly appealing to young people.  During my boyhood, this magical place was crated in my mind where the bad guys met their fate by heroic deeds of brave men.

This place was called Texas. That's where it was all happening and I yearned to go there one day.

I arrived at the US shores in 1967 at the age of 22.  After a few months I made a decision to move to  Houston TX for no other reason other than  it sounded good to me!  Alright, I also had a friend there.   Being practically broke in those early days,  I hopped on an old passenger train in NYC and headed for Texas!  All by my lonesome self.  It was a very long journey which took three long days.  The train was very slow as well as uncomfortable..  To  my dismay, the scenery was getting less and less appealing as we were approaching the Lone Star State.  Getting closer to Houston it was becoming downright depressing.  Where were all those vistas, canyons, green pastures and pine forests?  Where were all those breathtaking veiws that Zane Grey described so vividly?  The Riders of the Purple Sage.  Never mind that Zane Grey didn't write about Texas, he was more at home at Mogollon Rim in Arizona.  But then,  that's how it was fixed in my young mind.

 

As it turned out, the country was nothing but a flatland covered with scrub brush and other thorny things.  Very dry, arid, desert-like.  I was used to lush farm lands and forests of Central Europe.  To add to my growing disappointment, it was getting  hotter as we were approaching Houston, more than I ever experienced before.  Hot and muggy!

Having only 70 bucks in my pocket, an old boarding house in a dubious part of town became my temporary home.  When I turned on the lights during my first night there, the cockroaches almost covered the top of my dresser.  In the adjacent room, separated by thin door, an unknown couple was having a romp of their life.  The roaches and heavy moaning.

 

The long story short, I left Texas in a few months for Chicago.  Years later I realized that I didn't do Texas any justice in those days.  Not owning a car back then, I didn't see much.  I know there are beautiful parts of Texas, like Texas Hill country or the ol' San Antonio.  My expectations of Texas were more like the scenery of Wyoming or Utah.

 

There was one wonderful surprise in Tejas though.  Its people.  I never met such a friendly and helpful people before.  Coming from a communist country where everybody was suspicious of everybody, the Texan openness was so new to me.  Wonderful people, I still remember all those characters I met in those days.  Being new in the country, several people took me under their wing.

Forty years later I have come to Texas again, after having lived for almost fourty years in Alaska.  By now I have crisscrossed the United States in all directions.  How do I find Texas this time around?    I am an American now.  I served in the US Armed Forces, I married and worked 20 years for the US government as a civilian.  Throughout the years I became a staunch patriot who truly loves this land.  This time I entered Texas on my way from Alaska, pulling 37' fifthwheel behind the F350 diesel truck.  We traveled along the Interstate through Dalllas, Fort Worth via San Antonio, Houston into Louisiana.

And I was disappointed again.  Sorry Texans.  I am not picking on your state. I am just sharing my observations.  This time my beef was with large Texas cities.  Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston.  I found these to be sprawling concrete jungles where the landscape is covered by freeways and strip malls. The downtowns are not pedestrian friendly, one sees just concrete parking lots and office skyscrapers.  Not exactly some place where one wants to hang around.  Ugly, I say.  You guys like to live like that?  Have you ever been to Seattle or Vancouver B.C.?  I did like parts of San Antonio minus its outlying areas.  The quality of living is important.  Why don't you use some of your tax dollar to build beautiful parks, greenbelts etc?  Along the highway as well, think how much time you spend in the car.

The Texans are proud of their state and that is great.  I like Texans as I stated before.  They must be a hard breed of people who made such a prosperous place out of this inhospitable land. Don't get me wrong,  there are lovely areas in Texas I have seen, like Austin, San Antonio.  I just haven't seen too many of them.  I know I am not completely fair.  Even though we drove the entire length of the state, I have not seen large portions of it.  Quite often I was told that the Texas Hill country,  the coastal areas, and Big Bend National Park are places to visit.   I do think that Texas is probably a comfortable place to live in, if you have a good air conditioner. (grin).

I better finish this before I get banned from the state of Texas forever!  I do not mean to anger any of you Texans, I hope you know that.  It really doesn't mean diddly what I think as you will readily agree.  I just thought I would share my observations with you. Some people don't like Alaska,  my beloved home for the most of my adult life. 

In any case, Texas,  you have some best public relations people in the world!  Beginning with Western writers such as Max Brand, Louis L'Amour or Larry McMurtry. (chuckle)

I would like to hear people's comments.  What went wrong between me and Texas?  I know, I know, it's a matter of child's fantasy and life's reality. 

Am I missing the good parts?  (very possible).  But I would like to add one thing before I finish this.  Regardless of what one thinks of Texas, it definitely is an area which evokes respect.  Its history and its people, just to name a few:  the Bush Dynasty, LBJ, Mary Richards.  The Lone Star State.  I loved the Lonesome Dove.  but you know what?  I think Texas made me the romantic that I am to this day. 
Thanks Texas.