Two Carsonites at 'Alaska: The Last Frontier'
Elaine and I just returned from an unforgettable trip to the Kilcher Homestead near Homer, Alaska. The Kilcher Family has been featured for many years on the Discovery Channel, TV series "Alaska: The Last Frontier."
They have maintained a presence at that location for many years, following the arrival of Yul Kilcher from Switzerland in the 1940s.
The current Kilcher family consists of two brothers, six sisters, children and lots of grandchildren. The two brothers are Otto and Atz, and the six sisters are Catkin, Fay, Mossy, Stellavera, Sunrise and Wurtilla.
Otto has four children: August, Eivin, Levin and Torray. Atz has four children: Atz Lee, Jewel, Nikos and Shane.
While browsing on the Internet, Elaine discovered that you can rent cabins at the Kilcher Homestead, and she booked a three-day, two night stay in the Glacier View Cabin on the homestead.
Our stay there was awesome, to say the least.
The Glacier View Cabin has all of today's modern conveniences with a bonus of spectacular views of Kachemak Bay and the snow-covered mountains with their glaciers on the opposite side of the bay. Lots of great photo-ops from the deck!
While staying at the cabin, we had the opportunity to have a private, guided tour of the homestead, led by Mike (Stellavera's husband), who was very friendly and informative.
In addition, we had the opportunity to meet Otto, Shane, Kelly, and Eivin (who are featured on the TV show), plus Davin (Sunrise's son) and Anna (Fay's daughter) who lives alone in a cabin with no modern conveniences in the winter in the Brooks Range, with her nearest neighbors (a small village of 29 people) roughly 14 miles away.
Would we ever return to the homestead? Heck yes!
We have already booked a four-night stay for next year.