Mark Figelski

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since Aug 08, 2019
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Biography
Greetings..
Name is Mark. I live pretty remote on an island in SE Alaska. Been an Alaskan for about 25 years. I make my Black P,owder and cast my own bullets. Been a general reloader for about 45 years now. Been doing BP for about the same amount of time and started with a 50 cal cannon that an old timer helped me make. I would have steered clear of that guy had I known the lifetime addiction he was passing to me..
I don’t do competitions, or rondy’s As there are no such things around here. I do BP as a functional tool, as smokeless is really hard to come by at times. Durring the last shortage, it was impossible to get as there are no roads from the mainland, and everything comes via boat or plane.
Mail comes via floatplane to our boat dock when the weather is good. Nearest real store is a full day journey there and back, and Ketchikan is a 2 day run for the most part, unless you own a float plane.
I live a subsistence lifestyle, no cellphone service, satellite internet and communications, and grow any fresh veggies, hunt bear, deer, for food, trap some, fish salmon, shrimp and halibut, and so on. Prince of Wales Island is big, about the size of Puerto Rico. Approx 800 miles of old logging roads, lots of old growth timber, and one main road that is partially paved that runs north and south on the island. Many folks around here are completely off grid with no power. There are no water wells, and folks catch rainwater and store it in large tanks for use.
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Remote Island village in SE Alaska
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Recent posts by Mark Figelski

wow.. thanks Deb.. I was wondering if I posted this in the wrong forum...
5 years ago
hiked up to the fabled Upper Sarkar lake falls. the journey begins at the southern end of sarkar lake. grab a canoe or paddle boat and paddle to the top of the lake about 5 mile paddle, then from the top end of the lake, you follow the stream to the falls... another couple miles through thick stuff. lots of climing and ducking.... here is the end result.



Enjoy...

AlaskanGuy
5 years ago
"If there is a cure for these fevers,  I don't think I want it.
Let us die, not of our feverish obsessions, but with them still intact, uncured and raging till the end."

Amen William!!!
5 years ago
Ok Here Goes...

I am a mid 50's fairly rugged simple man that has a simple place a long ways from town.. A real long ways.. I live a subsistance lifestyle. I own my own place, am retired, and have an adult autistic semi high functioning son that lives around me. I basically just manage some aspects of his life like finances and so on, but he has his own awesome life. Money is not excess, but have all I need.  i live on an Island about 200 miles west of ketchikan. there is no real store here, but I do go to town at least once a month. I am very involved in my community and helping others that live here. I am active in our tiny church, and lead worship there. i am in Ok shape and spend part of every day foraging, fishing, hunting, working on various projects. I like to tinker and such, am a reloader, and a gun person, but I dont have a gun collection, as they are just tools to me. I do not kill for horns, or skull sizes, but eat what I take. I pick berries, mushrooms, and teach a class every year on doing those sorts of things. i believe in serving my God, and living an honorable life. I have no drug or drinking problems. i am kind and have learned patience through working with folks with special needs. i love animals and they like me. I have a dog, and a cat, and they both have jobs.. i dont have a lot of close by friends cuz there just are not a lot of people in our village of 80 or so. people count on me and I cound on them. i do my very best to love my neighbor as I love myself, even when they are hard to love. i am surely a people person. i forgive easily, and hope I am slow to anger.  I have been alone for several years now, and dont like it much. I do love to cultivate relationship's and would love to have a special someone to do things with, share things with, and to love. i am passionate in the things I do and that includes love. there is just very little chance of me meeting a single female in my neck of the woods. i dont like the idea of never loving a woman again, but I am comfortable with myself and being alone. I dont needs a woman, but would love to have one, and am able. i consider myself a spiritual guy, and Love God and know I am never truely alome. i cook, clean and so forth like a typical male of my species, and clean up after myself. i dont live in a mansion by any means, and have a simple home with a real bathroom, real running water, real electrical power, and internet. I even have a land line telephone. these things are faiirly rare around my neck of the woods and there are many many folks in this community that dont have these things.. I dont have TV reception or satelite but I do enjoy movies. there is no cell service,  but I do use messenger. I am retired from the I.T. and hospital managment, and fix most folks computers and other electronics that live here. I used to be a fitness type, but a spinal injury keeps me from running the mountain runs anymore. it dont keep me from the forest though.

this is me in my mid 40's on mountain tops..



and in the valleys of the arctic circle...



and me now this year...





I am the guy on the left in this pic...


ok... enough about me.. i am hoping, and praying, that there is a woman out there that...

loves God, hates Drama, like to do similar things, is kind, sweet, forgiving, smart, funny, fairly confident, is not stoned or drunk all the time, is interested in helping others, and genuinely loves easily. Also knows how to clean fish and has thier own boat is a plus but not required. he he. should also be wash and wear, not obsessive about nails and makeup, and be healthy enough to get lost in the woods with me. Also, it would be nice if the gal was not completely wrapped around past life pain, but has learned from it, and can learn to trust in something other then herself again.

is that asking too much?? most of the above is optional, but no drunk stoners with issues to resolve.. All children are a blessing.

have a blessed day and think about it. if any of this interests you, please drop me a purple message.

AlaskanGuy




5 years ago
well got my order in.... yes, over 300 bucks in shipping alone for 8lbs of shotgun powder for duck hunting is nutz. no airmail shipping for powder so it has to be put on a boat to my island in SE Alaska. Borderline insanity! . not to mention the cost for the special wads I use and saturn steel shot. then lets talk about the walk to get to my duck hunting area... its a 5 mile plus walk round trip to get here... my blind is in the middle of a remote marsh.





and then here is the fact that I dont even like the taste of geese. Mallard is really the only thing i really kinda like, and I dont go out of my way to cook that either... and there is only so much you can do with Ketchup....

so, why do i put myself through it? with my screwed/pinned together spine and the amount of pain i go through when I get home for the evening?



Not to mention when I misjudge the ocean tide change and find myself standing on the top of my blind for 4-5 hours waiting for the tide to go out enough for me to be able to start the long trek home??? why do I do it???

i guesss its like what one of my friends says.. I have the fever. i have always had the fever, and i see no cure in sight. every year I hear the ducks and geese fly over long before I see them, and I just know where they are going to stop over... i just cant help myself.. i tried curing it with clay birds and a thrower, but its just not the same "High"... what is it about flying ducks and geese that fouls all sense of reason, causing me to endure much pain, do without financially, and basically turn ga ga???

is this a sin??? an obsession??? please tell me, is there any Hope for me?

AlaskanGuy
5 years ago
i been swooped, when I got too close to a nest tree.. the noise of the bird swooping was enough to make me vacate..
5 years ago
@Marco

is it true you guys down here in your neck of the asphalt woods are not allowed to harvest rainwater if it was to rain?
5 years ago
lol.. it was good contrast for he picture... lol

5 years ago
Went out to my usual Gypsy party places, and sure enough, there was a party going on!!!











when its the right time of year, there are just so many different types of mushrooms out there.. my dryer runs non stop starting about now all the way through october and into november. SE Alaska has perfect conditions for just about every type of mushroom group.

i try to teach a simple Local edibles class here on Prince of wales Island every year....  just the basics and identifying local versions of yummies...
My group..



AlaskanGuy
5 years ago
i loved Jeff and Roses version... cute and funny!!! Plus we are almost neighbors, Me SE Alaska, them Northern BC.. only 1 country apart
5 years ago