Posts tagged #Deep Forest

Those Summer Nights in Alaska

Sunset in Denali National Park, Alaska

21.76 Degrees North of Here

The Land of the Midnight Sun

    When I lived in Fairbanks, or Squarebanks as I used to refer to it sometimes, the winters were long, dark and cold. But the darkness and the cold was all forgotten come spring, and when summer arrived with the endless summer nights we never thought about winter again. I used to chase the sunsets and sunrises, but that became harder in the summertime of course. The sky has always amazed me, how it can change so quickly, and how incredible colorful it can be, that along with the backdrop of mountains is so powerful. I never want to live in a world without that feeling, that feeling I get when I stare into the wilderness in awe and think to myself how extremely lucky I am that I get to experience this, right here and right now. Can you imagine that there are people out there who do not appreciate these wild places? 

    Where do you enjoy a sunset the most?

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, The great wide open and tagged Midnight Sun Midnight Summer Adventures summer days Summer Adventures Alaska Life Outdoors North Mountains Spruce Black Spruce Deep Forest Wilderness 2017 Memories Summertime Life in Alaska.

Where it all started

 

Flashback Friday

Sommarstugan aldrig någon ro

    One of my favorite places in the whole world is the summer house in Sweden. It's located in the north of Sweden, right by the Baltic Sea, and I have done countless walks in the forest there. Alone for many parts of it. It is something special about going out into the forest and trust your senses, feeling the nature. I knew I wouldn't get lost, because because I had the ocean behind my back and I could always follow the sound. There is a huge esker that you eventually will reach, kind of conforming you into an area that is almost, yeah almost impossible to get lost within. I don't have any digital pictures of the esker, or the forest behind the house, but I do have some other ones, of the water, this endless supply of water.

 
 

An old Legend

    There is an old legend that talks about a hidden treasure, that was buried somewhere in that area way back in the day, when the vikings came. It was a way to save all the treasures that the village had, and someday they would get it back. Although that never happened. The legend says that they buried it at a certain location where you could see the ocean and also the old village.

 
 

Fire  

     Once there was a boy who ventured out in the forest to find the treasure. He reached the spot and started to dig, and found the treasure. But when he looked up he discovered that his whole village was on fire, so he dropped the treasure and ran back home to help, through the forest as fast as he could, only to discover that everything was normal back at the village, and no fire had ever happened. He never found that treasure again. That is the legend.

 
 

Treasurehunt

    We searched and searched for that treasure too, everyday was a treasure hunt in the forest. This was before everyone got addicted to screens. Screens and screens everywhere. We were allowed to watch the children's show early in the morning during the summer holiday, and watch a movie or family tv show in the evening. But that was it. This was back in the day when people hung out more with each other, children ran around in the forest and played with cones and sticks. Before we knew what a cellphone was and that we someday would become so detached to society as we are now. 

 
 

Fishing

    We fish a lot up there. Dad and I have gone countless times out on the ocean to lay out fishing nets in the evening, and fetch them early the next day before the birds get to the fish. All of these pictures are between 7-11 years old. I have not been to the summer house since 2009, which is very very sad. I really want to go there sometime soon, and bring W and show him all the great places up there. Take him out fishing, go sauna and all other wonderful things you can do up there. 

 
 

Where it all started

    The summer house is also where it all started. This endless supply of raw nature, the forest and oceans. It's quite remarkable how affected you can get by nature. This is where i made up my mind, without knowing it, way back in time, that the environment is what I am going to care about, what I am going to study. That summerhouse is the reason I am where I am today, the reason why I went to Alaska, the reason why I study what I do. The summer house is the reason to why I will try to save the world from people like this country's current president.

 
 

    Do you have a place like that, that shaped your future?

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Sweden, The great wide open, Flashback Friday and tagged Ångermanland fishing net nature rawness Deep Forest Forest Boreal Forest Skog 2017 Elsewhere Family Sweden.

But what about northern Wisconsin and beyond?

 
I do like the UP, there is something about it up there, it's like Alaska or something, I mean, that's the only place I have been in all of the United states that reminds me of all of the UP. It's like a separate kind of place you know, with their own deal. Plus everybody really needs each other up there, you know, there's no joke I mean in the winter up there, you better damn well know your neighbors up there. If you see a car stalled you better stop. That's what it takes to build a community. You got to need each other and they still do in the UP so that's a cool place. - Greg Brown
 
 

Wednesday Thoughts

The Northwoods

    If you drive far enough north you will reach the end of the Wisconsin border and hit the Michigan border, and once you are across the border into Michigan you will be in the UP as they call it. Northern Wisconsin is called the Northwoods, by some people including us. That is where we go to get our snow and deep forest fix. A few weekends ago we went there with a bunch of friends, and of course as always, a snowstorm was coming through right as we started our journey up there. But, we made it, and had a great weekend. Well, we didn't bring our skis which was a bummer since we got tons of snow, but we went for some hikes in the woods. I love walking through snowy forests, it's one of the best things I know.

 
 

A little bit of Sweden?

    Wisconsin does look like Sweden a bit, well a tiny bit. There are lots of small lakes here, and up in the North Woods too. There are many many other tree species and plant species though, that I don't recognize from home, neither Sweden or Alaska. This summer (I know this was the goal last summer but for real, this summer..) I will try my best to learn some more about the plants in this region. I think I did pretty well this past summer though, we hiked in a lot of different state parks and I tried to identify as many flowers and plants as I could along the way. 

    How about you? Are you a fan of walks through the forest? Or would you rather be in the mountains, or maybe on the tundra, or just downtown?

 
Posted on March 8, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Wisconsin, Wednesday Thoughts, The great wide open and tagged Wisconsin2 northern Wisconsin Northern woods North UP Michigan Snow snowscapes Deep Forest Winter Adventures snow 2017 snowfall.