Last time you heard from me, we were at the Russian River. From there, we went into Anchorage and checked out Bird Creek the home of Combat Fishing and got to see what that was like. Wow! Shoulder to shoulder, and don’t you dare step or throw into my space. Not a fun way to fish in my book, but a very popular sport here when the Salmon are running.
After this experience, we were ready to head to the North side of town and check out the Native Heritage Center. Well worth the visit. This is one of the best places of its kind in Alaska we have visited. Completely run by native people, it contains replicas of all of the tribal housing along with a very complete museum explaining who the tribes are and were they live, topped off with Native Dancers, and Athletes giving marvelous demonstrations of their talents.
From there, we headed for Sheep Mountain and an overnight stay so I could catch my breath and Randy could Ice Climb the Mantanuska Glacier. He came back with great footage of the Glacier and his experience of rope axe and cramp on climbing its slab ice sides.
That night we were on our way toward Tok to have at least Sunday to catch up before our meetings with the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge Staff on Monday. It was a good thing we did. We spent three intense days in Tetlin, doing interviews, going into the field to experience how they do the netting and bird counts of migratory birds, and finally having the opportunity to get a fantastic video record of an Athabaskan woman’s life from childhood to widowhood; completed with her singing the song she wrote about the island her husband hunted when he was alive, accapella. drumming on the underside of a slim book she held in her hand. It was incredible!
It took us two days to get to Haines, our last stop in Alaska. Along the way, we stumbled onto a large pond with a pair of white Trumpeter Swans who fished, bathed, swam, and finally flew off. If we had written a script and told them what to do they couldn’t have performed better for our cameras. Coming into Haines, Randy and I both voiced our feelings about this place and why we decided to come here.
The ferry stopped in Haines when Ken and I went to Juno the very first part of the trip. It was love a first sight for me. A charming little town with the rows of beautiful white Victorian houses that were once part of the Navy Post here nestled under tall black craggy peaks filled with Glacier Ice shining white in the sun. Along the way, we learned that this is the home of the Chilkoot River Salmon Run famous for its Bears and Sarah Jennings sent me an email telling me about an animal compound that would have my Lynx and possibly the Black Timber Wolf I’m looking for as well.
We came in along the Eagle preserve, and while we saw plenty of Eagles, it’s November when they migrate through here from all over the state that makes this place famous for its Bald Eagles. Coming into town and finding a quaint campground with lovely gardens had us looking happily at each other. We had made the right choice.
Our first evening, we went to look for the Bears on the Chilkoot River and there they were. Grizzlies of all sizes cruising the river looking for Salmon. It was quite a sight! We went all the way to the lake. While we were watching a fisherman playing cat and mouse with a young Grizzly as he cleaned his Salmon; Randy struck up a conversation with one of the Guides for the Chilkoot River Kayak Service who were pulling Kayaks out of the lake and loading them up to take back to the shed. It turned out to be someone from home. Rod Henson from Goshen, AR, who had been a policeman in Huntsville. When I walked up, he pointed his finger at me and laughed, “I know you! I’ve got one of your Raccoons. I bought it at an art show years ago!” Little did we know, at the time, how much this happenstance meeting would mean to Randy and I. Rod, and his wife, Rhonda (a native Alaskan), have proven to be excellent guides and better companions. Both posses a wealth of knowledge about this area and both have been very generous. But, I must say, that being invited to join them at their little Bible Church high on the mountain amidst the Beautiful Victorian Homes of the Post and being privileged to listen to their minister share his great wisdom, meant more to me than they could ever have imagined.
That first day, we also found the campground of our dreams, put our chairs out to hold it and moved in the next day. Since then, we have been nestled deep in a Sitka Pine and Hemlock Forest in a site that borders the Chilkoot Lake, in walking distance of the river, with Rod’s two man Kayak and his flat bottom boat parked practically at our doorstep. What a spot!!
Here, we have tied up our loose ends. The Animal Compound, Sarah told me about, turned out to be run by two men who were videographers for Marty Stopher’s wildlife films. They had the Lynx and the Black Wolf, but more than that they had generous hearts and promised to provide any stock footage of animals I might need. These guys are two of the best in the world! Wow! Their animals were the healthiest and most well adjusted I have ever seen. Sleek, silky coated, kept in perfect compounds, combined with loving relationships with their handlers, make these movie stars as pampered as any you will see in Hollywood. Mario had just come back from a trip into the artic to film the Eskimos hunting Whale and Polar Bears. He spent weeks at forty below zero temperatures, risked his life going after a wounded Polar Bear, and was given one of that Bear’s claws to wear around his neck by the Chief. What a documentary that will be, and all created by a man who deeply respects and loves the animals and people involved in this centuries old tradition. When we talked of the plight of the Polar Bear, he, in a very matter of fact way said, “Climate change is killing the Polar Bear. Placing it on the Endangered Species List won’t save it. It will just bring more hardship to the tribes of the North, who already resent our interference in practices that have been highly sustainable for centuries.” He’s right. This is about our world community finding ways to fix what we are doing globally to save this animal, not about trying to put a band aid on a hemorrhage.
Randy and I have been trying our hand at Subsistence Fishing, by going after the Salmon here on the River. We find ourselves fishing with the Bears every time. Randy is breaking records out there and often has an audience. I have done well and enjoy the break from my work. We have harvested our allotment and will have enough fresh Salmon to see us through this winter. Rod says, we are doing quite well, but we need to harvest a Bear, Moose and Mountain Goat if we are going to make it through an Alaskan Winter, and he is not kidding. He will do all of the above before the deep snow. They are harvesting the abundant berries, mushrooms and giant rosehips as well. They dry them and reconstitute them for winter cooking. I was privileged to be there to film him harvesting a giant Chicken of the Forest Mushroom nearby and he talked about subsistence harvesting for me while he worked. Then we went down and he gave me more information while we watched Randy clean his Salmon catch of the day. This is good stuff. He knows first hand about all of it, and he knows first hand how different it is from the lower forty eight.
Today, I finally found my thoughts on Alaska coming together and wrote the theme poem for all of this work. I am very pleased with the results. Then, Randy and I had a long afternoon paddle around the Chilkoot Glacier Lake, the only problem was we were in a flat bottom boat that ran out of gas! Oh well, as I told Randy, if I was going to have to paddle home I couldn’t have asked for a better view. We had waterfalls cascading down sheer rock cliffs into deep Sitka Pine forest before slipping into the lakes edge. You could hear their roar bouncing from mountain to mountain. At the far end, we had rain, at this end, we had sun, and that’s Alaska for you.
Tomorrow, we will be leaving this campground to spend the night in town charging up to spend the next night in the Ferry to Skagway parking lot, as we will be leaving here at 4:35 am to arrive in Skagway 5:35 am. After spending some time there, we will be on our way to the Alaska Highway and points south. I felt the deep desolation and savagery of this land slap me hard in the face when I arrived. It has taken courage to go to many of the places we have been, for they are fraught with danger and unpredictability. But, after this much time here I have learned to look deeper and find the appeal it has for the few who are strong enough to want to call it home. I think my poems will help express all of my impressions of this place, this Northern State that is much larger than Texas and California combined, and wilder than any land I have ever experienced. This Alaska.
Good Bye and God Bless,
Susan
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