our story
Ok, obviously, this family picture is The Matterhorn, not Sheep Mountain…but hey, we love mountains and we love travel! The Matterhorn is enchanting, and we are equally smitten with Sheep Mountain and the surrounding area, so if you, too, love mountains and travel, we can guarantee you’ll love what this part of Alaska has to offer! We are excited to meet you!
The Scarola's came from out'a the Bush to welcome you to Sheep Mountain, Alaska
Your hosts (us), Luke and Kaydee Scarola, and our three kids, Simm (18), Sabin (16), and Shaphin (13), are lifelong Alaskans from Beluga, Alaska, a fly-in only bush community of about 20 people on the west side of Cook Inlet, hours of travel time away from Sheep Mountain. The abundance of those Beluga lowlands, with her rivers brimming with salmon, forests filled with moose, and skies speckled with ducks and geese, have provided sustenance since Kaydee was a small child herself growing up there. Simm, Sabin, and Shaphin have likewise grown up in our hand-built log cabin, running a trapline, living the subsistence lifestyle as Kaydee did.
But in 2015, we began to travel more extensively, starting with a winter in Hawaii, followed by three (seasonal) years of seeing the Lower 48 in a travel trailer and traveling overseas. As the kids got older, perhaps Beluga was too small, we thought. Perhaps we would stumble upon a place we were meant to move to. The line between homeschool and life blurred as we explored. Since nothing in the Lower 48 felt like eureka, we returned to Alaska with the trailer in 2019, but still thought a place on the road system would sure be nice.
Feeling a little lost in not having found a place “better” than Beluga, we camped one last time near the Matanuska Glacier; it was this very last camp spot that would change the course of everything. To us, it was the single most impressive place we had camped in our travels. We never needed to look outside Alaska in the first place. The energy of jagged peaks 360 degrees around us, silty white water, and ancient, cracking blue ice sang a song that charged our life essence. We breathed differently there.
We moved as fast as we could, which, as “luck” would have it, was within weeks. Now, we invite you to feel the energy for yourself.
Meet The Crew
It’s a family affair around here, and the kids are an integral part of the operations!
Luke Scarola
CEO of the chaos (he loves the title but not the responsibilities)
J. Simm Scarola
Maintenance Man Extraordinaire
Sabin Scarola
Sheperdess and glacier guide
Shaphin "Finn" Scarola
With a knife on his hip and a small parrot on his head
Meet Kaydee and Her Wild Ways
Although obtaining her degree in Family Studies from Central Washington University with a minor in Recreation and Tourism, traditional self sufficiency skills have served as the anchor point while she and Luke raise their three kids, Simm, Sabin, and Shaphin. Their shared joys are in hunting, fishing, trapping, gardening, wild foraging, running sled dogs; seasonal activities like making birch syrup on the stove; and discovering just how long it takes for moose hair to slip off the skin to make rawhide when submerged in a creek.
Herbal and homeopathy studies, keeping bees, and artwork (SEE EXAMPLES) easily consume Kaydee’s time outside of homeschooling, and credits one of her childrens’ health challenges with forcing her to go rogue into alternative health. She started practicing Biofield Tuning in 2019 and became certified in early 2022 in her constant search for effective modalities to treat a wide range of conditions. Flying to town for every little malady is just not feasible, so living circumstances also spurred on her explorations in “woo-woo hippie” medicine; but all joking aside, reconnecting to ancestral wisdom has become a passion.
She is Yin Yoga, Breathwork, and Meditation Teacher certified(from Loka Yoga School), being fascinated by the power of mindset (one of the reasons you’ll find her doing the Wim Hof Method, chillin’ in a snowbank). She may, however, credit her years as a high school Rifle Coach as the most formative and rewarding for practicing mental training, as her team were multi-year Champions after just their first season; it was a perhaps even more fun than her own personal Championship title.
Kaydee has traveled to her Ayurvedic doctor, Sunita Tarkunde, in Houston, Texas, since about 2008 for Panchakarma cleanses, which we soon plan to offer here in Alaska with her oversight. For Kaydee, the wisdom of Ayurvedic medicine reigns supreme in explaining the forces of nature and healing. Merging the science of sound, such as with Biofield Tuning, and Ayurveda for better health is a thrill. Ayurveda even sheds light on art, and why humans need to paint, and draw, and sculpt, and spin and knit, and…
Kaydee’s art has always been just a personal hobby, and talent seems to have been innate rather than learned, with technical skill being demonstrated very early in life. However, as decades roll by, Kaydee has begun to understand the deep connections between healing, personal development, and artistic expression. Quantum leaps in artistic skill have happened overnight, only attributable to personal healing and times of accelerated spiritual growth.
It would be Kaydee’s highest honor to serve you in your own process of Awakening, honing your gifts, and listening again to your instincts