Dan Gillikin surveyed the view from his front window and didn’t like what he saw.
Dan Gillikin surveyed the view from his front window and didn’t like what he saw.
The Aniak River, which runs alongside his house, was a jumble of car-sized chunks of ice. Breakup on the nearby Kuskokwim River had pushed a frozen snarl down the Aniak, making it impassable.
“I’m basically looking at Armageddon right now,” he said, describing the scene by phone in early May.
Before Gillikin bought an old homestead at the mouth of the Aniak River about 15 years ago, he wondered how isolated the property would become each spring from the nearby village of Aniak. Locals said he could count on being stranded for 3-5 days while the river transitioned from ice to water.
Read More: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Image: The Aniak River outside Dan Gillikin’s house is choked with chunks of ice during a slow breakup on May 10, 2026. (Photo by Dan Gillikin)
