with the road crew. In fact, the road crew inadvertently helped the Pilgrims obtain a birth certificate for Lamb, which they desperately needed to get into Alaska, their final destination. One of the guys anonymously and unbeknownst to the Pilgrims called for emergency medical services in Whitehorse to travel out to this secluded lake because a woman had just given birth. An ambulance makes the arduous drive to the Pilgrim camp to find baby Lamb and Country Rose happy and healthy and not in need of medical services. But since the professionals from Whitehorse arrived, they went ahead and recorded the birth. Birth certificate in hand, onward went the Pilgrims.

In 1998 they arrived in Alaska, first in Fairbanks with the idea to live out on the Yukon River. While in Homer looking for a boat to bring back to the Yukon River they met some folks, found work (they had never worked for a living) and stayed. They spent some time around Homer, Kenai, and Soldotna, looking for land, searching for a home. They had some tough times with an employer who cheated them out of hard-earned wages, their first big lesson in realizing that the world is not just made up of hardworking, peaceloving folks like them¬selves. Then a friend told them about this place called McCarthy. And the Pilgrims said “Well, can you drive there?” The Pilgrims found McCarthy on a map, loaded up the trucks, some of the family and headed off once again.

And so in the dead of winter, last year, when the temps were hovering at about 30 below, trucks full of Pilgrims headed down the McCarthy road. Papa and the children said “when we got to the rock walls in Chitina, we knew we were home.” The sleepy little town of McCarthy woke up when they arrived, especially after their search for land led them to purchase 400 acres up McCarthy Creek, nearly doubling the winter population. Face it, we were all curious about how they might fair in this often tough bushliving environment, especially living way off the grid 15 or so miles from McCarthy with a big family and Country Rose preparing to birth another child. With some trials, tribulations, (one of their cabins burned to the ground last month), a bit of time under the community microscope, lots of love and support from family and neighbors, the Pilgrims made it through their first year in McCarthy. So what’s in the cards for the hillbilly, Jesus loving family up on the mountain? Probably some more hard work, following the voice of God, praising their calling through music, and trying to build a home and life like the rest of us living in the bush.

(Dorothy Adler is a year-round resident. She and husband Kevin are part owners of Kennecott Wilderness Guides.)