Tuesday, September 7, 2021

 Tuesday, September 7, 2021

It is the last full day at camp.  I actually slept warmly last night! Every inch of my body was covered in clothing except for my eyeballs.  I used the gaitor over my face and started the night with two pairs of socks and leggings on.  I shed one pair of leggings and socks and slept pretty soundly.  We woke up this morning about 8:00 in hopes of getting a little earlier start. The wind is whipping this morning; I thought it was raining, but just windy. I pulled my hair back today and boy does it look greasy. I got a whiff of myself as I changed my bra this morning and I think a shower in two days will do me well.  

After a yummy breakfast we loaded the truck to head out for the day. Dead battery.  They started it earlier in the morning so I’m not sure what is causing it to die,  but it wasn’t helping us start our day. Luckily, we got new neighbors who were just pulling in and they had jumper cables.  So it only slowed us down a tad bit. Within 20 minutes we were on our way.

We got a few miles away from camp and Dad realized he wasn’t wearing his muck boots and so he and Jeff drove back while Taunie and I walked out to the pipeline and the service road.  We took some pictures and then started walking the road.  Two ravens flew really close to us and then turned quickly to sit on top of the pipeline.  They watched us while we watched them.  One liked jumping on the pipeline to make a tink noise.

Our first stop was to fish.  We went to the service road around pipeline marker 442–around mile marker 374ish.  Taunie and Jeff went right and Dad and I went left.  We walked up and down the river but had absolutely no luck.  When we got back to the truck we met Jeff and Taunie and they had tremendous luck.  They caught about 20 fish and at times had fish on each of their poles.  

Our next goal was to find some ptarmigan.  I am not a hunter, I will never call myself a hunter, but I practiced with the bow and I wanted to see if I could do it.  We hadn’t seen any ptarmigan yesterday so our mission was to spot them.  I saw what I thought was ptarmigan out by the service road, about 200 yards away, but it was geese.  We kept driving and I saw a little head move.  Sure enough, it was ptarmigan.  

We got ourselves ready with our range finders, release and bows.  The weather was absolutely beautiful. There was little wind and the sun was shining.  Ptarmigan aren’t the smartest so we could get relatively close.  This was a flock of about 20. Everyone wanted me to take the first shot because I was the rookie and I think they really wanted to see me get one.  I shot my 5 arrows and missed every time.  They didn’t get spooked so it was Taunie’s turn.  She had gotten frustrated when she was shooting last time so we were all hoping she’d get one. She missed her first shot but nailed her second one.  Then it was Dad and Jeff’s turn. Dad and Jeff think alike because they were both going for the same ptarmigan when Dad shot.  The birds then got spooked and flew to the other side of the service road.  

On the other side of the road I had my opportunity and shot my first ptarmigan, we kept following them and in all I got 3, Taunie got 3 and Dad got 1. I felt sad for shooting it but was also excited to be able to eat it and that my practice shooting the bow worked. 

We decided to drive down a bit further and Taunie spotted another ptarmigan so out we got.  This flock was split into smaller groups but as we went joined into one larger flock. We followed this flock of about 75 for almost a mile throughout the field. I got two more ptarmigan and Jeff got 2.  

We decided to head back to the little greyling honey hole that Jeff and Taunie found so I could catch a fish.  On our way we spotted Ryan and Ryan carrying out a caribou.  We went out to congratulate him and help him get it loaded in the truck.  

The fishing spot they found was perfect.  Jeff gave me a few tips for casting and reeling and I became successful. Dad and I both caught fish really quickly. I caught 4! We didn’t stay long because we wanted to get back to camp to help Ryan and Ryan and eat some ptarmigan!

When we got back we started organizing our stuff in hopes of a quick packing of camp tomorrow.  Taunie started cleaning the ptarmigan. Dad and I joined her and I cleaned one ptarmigan but didn’t have a very good knife so I was put myself on feather removal.  Ryan, Ryan and Jeff were all working diligently on the caribou so I used a pot of water to help remove feathers. 

We invited all our neighbors down tonight for burgers and ptarmigan.  Boy, was it a sight.  There were 13 of us all hanging out, having good conversations and enjoying each other’s company.  Dad said this never used to happen until Taunie came.  He said it seemed weird for grown men to ask their neighbors to join them for dinner, but when a young girl comes and asks, you happily accept. We joked that this was probably the biggest party the North Slope had ever seen.  We had people from Alaska, South Dakota, Kansas City and Iowa.

After a bit of Dad trying to pull Jeff away from the group to cook the ptarmigan he retreated to the kitchen to show Dad and I what to do.  Them we were on ptarmigan duty. It’s really healthy for you....not.  Take a crap ton of butter and melt it.  Bread the ptarmigan and cook it in the butter.  It was really good. I liked the thinner, well done pieces. I kept trying to find something to compare it to, but it really had its own taste. I would eat it again.  Ryan cut the loins off the caribou and cooked that up also.  That was like a sweet pot roast,  it too was good.  Seth and Sam stayed and hung out after the others left. The other two groups were going to do big hunts the next day and wanted rest.  Ryan and I cooked and dished up burgers with chips while everyone sat around the camp fire and talked.  

The sky was starting to look clear and I was not giving up on the opportunity to see the northern lights.  I had brought up some Revelton Creamed Whisky for a special treat with the northern lights, but when we began questioning if we would see them I pulled it out.  

Had I known all I needed to do was pull out the Revelton I would have done that a long time ago.  The sky began to dance.  It was absolutely breathtaking. People stopped all conversations and just watched it amazement.  Dad played “It’s a Wonderful World” which is what he played two years ago when Taunie first saw the northern lights; it is also the song we danced to at my wedding.  So under the northern lights we danced again. 

The lights would shine and then would disappear, then reappear.  There were 3 good shows before we decided to call it a night.  I stayed up just a hair longer to see if they’d show a fourth time, but decided I should head to bed at about 2:30am.

What an incredible day. I had asked before we came “what is a typical day in Alaska like?” I was told ptarmigan hunting, fishing, a campfire and maybe some northern lights.  Check. Check. Check. Check.