Grizzlies on the Chilkoot River

On Friday, just before leaving Klukwan on Saturday, we drove to Haines for dinner and errands and detoured to the Chilkoot River where it feeds into Chilkoot Lake, a common playing and fishing ground for Grizzly bears.  We saw two mamas with their nearly year-old now babies, and I wanted to share some of their playful pictures with you in the beautiful river.

Klukwan, "An Ancient Village"

I spent a week in Klukwan, mile 22 on the Haines Highway and the only Alaska Native village accessible on the highway system.  Klukwan is on the Chilkat River and home to the Tlingit Indians; the population of the village is only 95 in last Census.  I was able to come courtesy of the Rose Rural Exchange Program, sponsored by the Alaska Humanities Forum and hosted in Klukwan by Kimberly Strong and Lani Jones.  Kimberly's house is a bed and breakfast, and she is the Tribal Council President.

We flew from Anchorage to Juneau and then on Wings of Alaska from Juneau to Haines on a prop 8-seater -- only at 1500 feet.  Mostly we were there to learn traditional ways of preserving salmon, and from Monday to Friday we learned to cut up salmon (Sockeyes or Reds) and then dried fish, smoked fish, canned fresh-pack, and prepared naayadi, half-smoked squares of fish that you then boil or bake and serve with red potatoes!  We came home with lots of examples of all to eat and learned a lot in the process.  We also had baked fish heads one day, and I did actually try a fish eye -- which I was told is similar in texture to a raw oyster, which I also don't like!

I hope you enjoy the pictures of us working together in Klukwan and the view from my bedroom overlooking the Chilkat River and Takshanuk Mts.  They were socked in much of the week with gray clouds and drizzle but still beautiful!  We had fish hash for breakfast this morning with some of our fresh-pak!

  

Going to Klukwan

View from my front door - mountains are hazy in the background - flowers are glorious!

I'm back in Alaska, as of Sunday, and I'm so glad to have cooler weather than we were having on the east coast.  The last few days have been sunny and pleasant and only about 60 degrees.  It's felt warm though, and I wish I'd taken pictures of people lying in the grass, running in jog bras, everyone out walking around in shorts, just like we're in southern California!  Everything's relative, and in Alaska, this is summer!

Xtra Tufs - my new Alaska boots!

I'm back at work a week and getting ready for the fall semester, but I'm also getting ready for my week-long trip to Klukwan, a rural Alaskan village, for a cross-cultural immersion experience sponsored by Take Wing Alaska and the Alaska Humanities Forum in partnership with UAA and the Anchorage School District.  I'll be going to a Traditional Fish Camp, which educates younger people in traditional Alaskan ways (as well as me!)  My new "Alaska" boots, appropriate for everything except formal dinners, are going with me - it's rainy, and I'll be cleaning fish, and learning to smoke, can, and dry fish the traditional way.

Klukwan 1997 

 The following is heavily plagarized from State of Alaska Community Information Summaries to tell you more about Klukwan.  I'll give you my own version when I return! Klukwan is pronounced CLUCK-wahn, and has a population in the 2010 Census of 95.

It's located on the north bank of the Chilkat River, about 22 miles north of Haines, off the Haines Highway and lies at the junction of the Kleheni and Tsirku Rivers, 100 miles northeast of Juneau. It is the only inland settlement in Southeast Alaska. I'll take two planes to get there on Sunday, Anchorage to Juneau, then Juneau to Haines on a much smaller plane.  Coming back on Saturday, I'll take the ferry from Haines to Juneau and then fly from Juneau to Anchorage. 


Klukwan has a maritime climate characterized by cool summers and mild winters. Average summer temperatures range from 42 to 66 °F; winter temperatures average from 4 to 31 °F. They receive much less precipitation than is typical of Southeast Alaska. Total precipitation averages 23 inches a year, with 104 inches of snow.

In 1880, the U.S. Navy reported the name of the village as "Chilcat of Klukquan," which is said to mean  "the old town." The Chilkat tightly controlled the trails to trade with Interior Indians. At that time, the  Chilkat numbered approximately 1,000 among five area villages. In 1881, the Willard Mission and  School was constructed in Haines. Four canneries were built in the area by the turn of the century.  In the late 1890s, the Dalton Trail from Chilkat Inlet to Whitehorse offered an easier route for wagons  and cattle to the Klondike gold fields. However, the Chilkoot Trail out of Skagway was used by most prospectors. By the early 1900s, Klukwan was the last remaining Chilkat village in the area.  A federally-recognized tribe is located in the community -- the Chilkat Indian Village. The Klukwan Whale House - circa 1895 Klukwan is a traditional Tlingit village, well known for its Chilkat blankets and dance robes woven from mountain goat hair and cedar bark. Fishing, logging, and subsistence activities support the community,  and it has the largest concentration of bald eagles in the world, at the Chilkat Bald Eagle Reserve.  Population is 80 percent American Indian or Alaska Native. Logging on village corporation lands on  Prince of Wales Island provides seasonal jobs, and the community is also dependent on subsistence.  Salmon, halibut, shellfish, deer, mountain sheep, bear, and berries are harvested in season. Several  residents participate in blanket weaving, jewelry making, and moccasin sewing.

See you when I return!