The light in winter

I am writing this blog to introduce you to one of the most beautiful places in the world. My name is Patrick Chandler, and I am a guide, caretaker and reservationist for the Kachemak Bay Wilderness Lodge. As caretakers, my wife and I are spending the winter at the Lodge to guard it against winter weather, prepare for the coming year, and enjoy the beautiful remote wilderness of China Poot Bay.

                                                        My wife, Jenni, and I                  

                                  Cliff House, one of the Lodge cabins, covered in snow

Today I spent most of the afternoon looking at the sky and reading on the deck. Often, when I talk with people about Alaska in the winter, they ask how I deal with the darkness. I usually reply a bit defensively, “Even during the winter solstice the sun comes up for about six hours, and we have eight hours of light.” Although this is true, it doesn’t really paint the picture of what an Alaskan winter day at the lodge looks like.

                            

                                   View from the deck looking back into China Poot Bay

Many people who hear this statement picture sunlight as they know it where they are from, but here the sun is different. In the winter, it runs almost parallel to the horizon working its way just above the mountains for a few hours each day. If it’s a clear day, the sun does light up the landscape, but everything still casts a long shadow. High noon does not exist.

                                        Looking across the bay from the dock, 1 p.m.

Today, sitting on the deck, I contemplated how the low rising sun makes the world glow. There are few hours during the day when the sun doesn’t cast the colors of sunset into the sky. My father, who just visited the lodge for a week, hurriedly grabbed his camera one day to “catch” the sunset. As I watched him do so, I thought to myself, “What’s the rush?” Sunset and sunrise in the winter last hours here. 

                             

                                 Sunset from Sandy Beach, looking through the Beach Rye

This is not to say that it’s not valuable to watch every minute of the sunset. To the contrary, the long sunsets enable the viewer to see every subtle color as it makes its appearance and fades away. Sometimes I miss the Colorado sun that I grew up with, but I truly love the glow of winter in Kachemak Bay.