Lake Minchumina is considered a small retirement community that rests a few miles outside Denali National Park. The population fluctuates between 15 and 25 people.
"I can't imagine living a normal life," said T.J. while climbing up a snowdrift with the help of a rope.
Hytry only thinks about a normal life when bored, which happens less often then you'd think, considering she and her brother Tyler are the only kids who live on the lake.
"We do everything together," T.J. said.
If they ever leave this place, T.J. and Tyler plan to join the military together.
Hytry started home school early to be in the same grade as Tyler. She'll graduate at 16.
Her mother says that's too early to go to college, so the small-town kids plan to get their degrees online.
"I don't know that's the worst thing, but I think in a sense it cheated them out of some of their childhood," their father, Dan, said about growing up in Minchumina.
T.J.’s mother Shawna says there are a lot of positives to a small town, "They don't have other kids, they don't have the peer pressure, and they are able to use their imaginations."
Two years ago, doctors diagnosed T.J.’s dad with stage three colon cancer, which makes her reluctant to leave home.
"I was very seriously disabled for a great number of months and the kids really had to step up and take care of the fires and the firewood and all of that kind of stuff and they did it without a hiccup," Dan Hytry said.
It seems trouble is mostly behind them with their dad in remission, but they'd rather keep the family together just in case.
