Bears and Bells

Denali Park (5,400 miles traveled). I am so psyched….I was up before dawn. In fact, I was up several times before…going outside my camper, peering into the sky hoping for a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis that the North Country is so famous for. Nothing yet, but I still have several days to go! Today is prep day. I am actually camped just outside the park in sort of a staging area. It’s the last chance to stock up on food, water, propane, and other essentials like wine before heading into the park, which we do tomorrow morning. That’s right, I said we. My son Ben, and my husband Scott, are joining me for the Denali and Alaskan coast portion of the trip. I think they’re going to love it here…hope so. We’re planning to do a lot of hiking….so getting the backpacks organized is key for today. Some of you have emailed me after the Eureka post and asked what’s in the backpack. Here are a few pics and a list. Let me know (soon) if you think I’ve forgotten anything. Don’t know when I’ll be able to post again…but you should expect some great photos of Denali next time.


The stuff in the backpack (minus lunch)



1. Osprey Day Pack – I love this brand. It’s great for my size, distributes the weight well on my hips. Nice airflow against the back. All sorts of pockets, loops, etc. Has a waterproof cover (a must for Alaska).

2. Buck Knife – essential. This brand has been around forever, with good reason

3. Waterproof matches (duh)

4. Flashlight (another duh)

5. CamelBack Water Reservoir. This particular model is great because it has a wide mouth…easy to clean and fill. The hose, is well, convenient. I don’t have to stop and unscrew or flip open a water bottle. Fits well in a compartment on my pack.

4. First Aide stuff – just in case

5. Bug juice. Another essential here. I can honestly say I survived an attack by a swarm of vicious North Country black flies….but only barely! They are truly the thugs of the insect world. Mosquitoes are a mere annoyance compared to these horrors.

6. Chapstick & Sunblock – the sun is pretty intense, even this far north. It’s also light much longer…until about 10PM here

7. Camera, tripod. And binoculars. I have a Canon EOS D20 with a couple of different lenses and filters. One of my favorite pieces of gear on this trip. (not pictured because I’m using it for this photo!). Nikon Prostaff waterproof binocs.

8, SAT phone. Over-priced and poor quality, but better than nothing. It’s the size of a brick.

9. Bear spray. Its bear country. I’ve carried this stuff for the past week every time I go in the woods. More on bear stuff below. Thanks to Des Cika for providing me with the latest in bear spray technology.

Bear Spray, w/safety

10. Trail Mix & Power bars. Now I know people get really religious about what makes a good trail mix. Personally, I like nuts and dried fruit..period. I do NOT like chocolate in my trail mix even though I’m a fiend for the stuff normally. I have never forgotten a trip Scott and I took several years ago and our trail mix debacle. We were getting ready for a weeklong backpacking trip in the Colorado Rockies in the Estes Park. We existed for a week on freeze dried food and trail mix. A huge bag of trail mix. We made the trail mix before leaving. It had nuts, dried fruit, coconut flakes and an ample supply of chocolate chips. It was tasty, and certainly provided energy throughout the day. The problem was that after a day or so the chocolate melted and the whole thing became this giant heavy glop, that was sticky and messy. Chocolate got everywhere, including on us and our cloths…attracting more insects…you get the picture. No chocolate.

11. Walking stick. These are really great for hiking and day climbing. Mine has a couple of different bases for use in different terrain and weather conditions. It also has a built in compass. It has a bell as well (which I’ve put back on for the photo). The idea behind the bell is that it will make noise as you walk as scare off the bear(s). Others consider it a "dinner bell" for the bears.

Bears and bells
I had a conversation some years ago when I was in Montana with a story-telling, tobacco chewing (and spitting) cowboy. It was fall and I’d wanted to go horseback riding on Big Mountain. Turns out you are required to have a guide for this, so I hired one, his name was Cowboy Dave. Cowboy Dave is one of these larger than life, colorful characters who can spin a yarn a minute. He wore a big ten-gallon hat and had a huge Montana belt buckle…nearly the size of the state of Montana! He entertained me all day with one story after another. They were all made up of course. Toward the end of the day I asked about the effectiveness of bells in scaring off bears. I was planning to go hiking the next day in Glacier Park, where there are also grizzlies, and wondered if I should take some bells along. Cowboy Dave leaned back in his saddle and said (with a long drawn out cowboy drawl)…”well, do you know the difference between black bear scat and grizzly bear scat?” I thought about potential answers, and brilliantly surmised that this was not going to be about size and color…so answered, “No Cowboy Dave, I do not know the difference”. His response was simple and straightforward, “the grizzly bear scat has the bells in it” Nuff said. I should add that when I find myself hiking and worried about the bears, I just start singing. Those of you who have heard me sing know that this is enough to scare off anything.

Walking stick w/silly bear bell (bright green). I guess the bright color makes it easier to see in the bear scat.

Eureka! On the Trail of Anton Money

It all starts with a dirt road. Its long, its steep, it twists and turns and it’s a two and a half hour dust storm. Totally fun…now I know what a 4 wheel drive is really for! I arrived at the public boat ramp of Frances Lake and was greeted by Andrea Laternser. She and her husband Martin, own the Frances Lake Wilderness Lodge. After a 40 minutes boat ride, I found myself on the shore of one of the most stunningly beautiful lakes I have ever seen. I should mention that in the 40-minute boat ride, I did not see another boat, another person or any sort of home or structure on the lake…pure wilderness. The campsite is composed of one main cabin or lodge and a handful of unique guest cabins. One of them was completely reconstructed from the remains of one of the Hudson Bay posts on the lake. These are rustic cabins…no electricity and no running water. Even though it is very rustic and remote, I enjoyed some fantastic meals prepared by the camp cook. The owners are great. They are both experienced guides and know quite a bit about the local lore and history.








Hudson Bay Company Cabin

20 Year old Girl's Cabin

During my first full day, the history of the Frances Lake region area of the Yukon really came alive. We boated and hiked to a couple of old Hudson Bay Posts. The original cabins, dating from 1930-40s were in various stages of decay. One of the posts had markers of both Indian and white settlers graves. These particular posts were the second Hudson Bay Company installations. The employees of the first posts (circa 1880’s) either perished or abandoned them due to starvation. The starvation issue puzzles me as the area has an abundant amount of moose, caribou, sheep and fish. No one knows why this happened…but it did. Most believe the people the company sent the first time were ill equipped to exist in the wilderness. We also hiked to the remains of a couple of other cabins, each with a unique story. I could write a book about these people, they are so fascinating. One worth mentioning here is the story of a 20-year-old girl who came to this very remote part of the Yukon in 1970 all alone. On her own, she built a cabin and managed to sustain herself for 1-2 years. No heat, no electricity, no running water, and no grocery store! The winters are quite cold here, sometimes reaching temperatures of -80F. Bears outnumber people by a substantial margin…and they are higher on the food chain. On one of the posts of the cabin, she carved her name and the period of time she lived in the cabin. I ran my fingers over it again and again…both intensely curious about her and impressed by her grit. This is truly an amazing account on a number of levels. I should mention that she is still alive today and has been in contact with the owners of the Wilderness Lodge. I hope to be able to contact her one day.

In preparation for the second day, which was devoted to searching for Anton Money’s cabin, Martin, Andrea and I poured over maps, re-read parts of the book and compared the pictures of Money’s hand-drawn maps and written accounts of the location of his gold strike and his cabin. Money’s autobiographical account states that he would hike +/- 3 miles from his strike on Finlayson River to the cabin. He also writes that his cabin is about 5 miles north of what is now called “Money” creek. We ended up with a reasonably tight radius in which to search. The other helpful information we had were the photographs in the book. The photos show a rock outcropping upon which he built a second larger cabin, the original cabin and outbuildings were below this on more level ground. The area at the time of the photos had been completely cleared of the original cypress timber, and you could see that the cabin faced the lake.

It took us quite a while to get from the Wilderness Lodge to the end of the lake where we intended to search. I didn’t mind however. It was a sunny, brisk day and the lake was as smooth as glass…beautifully reflecting the sky and the mountains. As we neared the Finlayson delta I looked for something that would resemble the photo. The shoreline on both sides was completely wooded…not a clearing to be had. We asked ourselves…where in this vicinity would you build a cabin if you had a choice. Someplace sunny, someplace with a good view of the lake, all came to mind. Most certainly you’d want it to be a reasonable distance from where you were working each day. We eventually focused on an area that curved a bit from the river delta and faced down the lake…and into the sun. It had an obvious rise and it also was covered with very different timber…new growth timber, which included poplar and birch. We beached the boat and began hiking. Not very far into the hike we came upon decaying building remnants, which included a cabin and some out buildings. This was exciting…my heart raced with the prospect of having found the very thing I’d been dreaming about for some time..and certainly for over 3,000 miles. The cabin was completely dilapidated, so there was really no way to identify it.
Money's Cabin remains (?)







Further, there was evidence at the site of items that most likely would have post-dated Money’s time there (80 years ago). For instance, there was a large iron stove still standing. It is unlikely that Money would have had anything like this as transport of something this size would probably have necessitated an overland trip…the dirt road I traveled down was not build until 30 years after Money left Lake Frances! However, Martin explained to me that it was common practice to re-use abandoned cabins…particularly among the First Nation people. We then hiked up higher in search of the second cabin. We covered the entire area, but could not find any remains of a second cabin. From the location of the ruins I gazed out onto the expanse of the Yukon wilderness. This view has not changed since the time Money was here. Its rugged beauty inspires as much today, as it did 80 years ago.





I do not know, and perhaps never will if the cabin we found was Money’s. It certainly fits the area described. One thing that is for certain however… I’ve learned that people love a quest. Everyone I told about this wanted to know more, wanted the title of the book, wanted me to tell them how it all turned out. I got all sorts of advice from the local Canadians on how to manage the logistical problems of getting to the site, including an offer to drive me to at least the boat ramp and pick me up a few days later. Martin and Andrea turned out to be great quest partners. They really engaged in the search and now have another colorful character to add to the Frances Lake Yukon lore. I gifted them the book. It seemed the rightful home for Money’s story….back to where it all began. As for me, I found much more than the ruins of an old cabin. My reward for this quest is, I think, the same as every other person who embarks on such an endeavor. It’s the priceless experience of making new friends along the way, living your goals, and the enlightenment that comes from the journey.

Cabin at the Camp


Bob, if you are reading this, thanks for the inspiration. I gave it my very best shot.

PS. A fantastic, pristine wilderness adventure spot: www.franceslake.ca