There be bou here.

Even before moving to Alaska, I began studying the area religiously. I wanted to know everything that I could before arriving up here just to help smooth the transition. Surprises can be wonderful, or they can go the other way. I try to avoid the bad ones, when possible.

I also looked at real estate and rentals in the area. i came across one that was pretty unique and right up my alley. It was a cordwood house. Cordwood houses are log houses but with the logs turned endwise. They feature 2 walls with an insulation space between them and tend to be very thick, upwards of 3 feet thick, which makes them highly insulated. A great feature in the wild white north. This particular house sits on 24 acres south of post, away from town but out into the wilderness. The closest house is about 1/2 mile away. The house is smallish but built tight, which means easy to heat and clean. The driveway up to it is probably 1/3 mile long winding through 25 foot tall pines. It's also closer to the mountains with 360 degree views of mountains, not another sign of civilization in sight, but really only minutes to work and town.

The bedrooms are both upstairs with the deck off the master and high enough to have a killer mountain view.

The kicker is, the whole thing is off the grid. It does have both solar panels and a windmill tower plus is wired for a generator for emergencies. There's also an oil heater and a woodstove for heat.

Here's the driveway up, of course right now, its all snowed in and white. It's vacant right now. The realtor gave me permission to check it out, so I drove down and looked at it on the outside. I have to wait until next week to get inside. I took a couple folks from work down to check it out. As we were leaving yesterday, 4 caribou walked out into the back yard and were milling around.

Here they are milling around. I didn't have my camera, just my iphone.

Then they noticed us and got on line, ready to attack or bolt as needed. They stared us down for a few minutes. Then I had to get going, when I started moving the truck, they ran like hell.

If we do end up buying here, I can't hunt caribou out in the backyard, I have to go 1/2 mile east on the other side of the creek. I don't think i'd hunt back here anyway, I'd prefer to watch these guys.

I also saw some giant moose prints here. I've heard that the herd of wild bison move through the area as well when they head to their summer grounds higher up. Pretty neat.