Fish Camp

On Labor Day weekend, we were invited out to fish camp by my principal and her husband. They were going for the whole weekend to camp...we only stayed for the day. Their fish camp is about 25 minutes up river from Bethel. So what is fish camp? Basically, it is a place you go to clean and prepare your fish because you dont want all that mess at home. Only native people are allowed a plot of land to use as fish camp. The fish camp we went to belongs to a native friend of theirs, and they let our friends use it too. Our friends mostly use it for camping and a getaway. Some of the land used for fish camps is owned by the people and some of it is leased from the Native Coorporation. The Bethel Native Coorporation is the name of the agency that holds land near Bethel.

This is the boat parked at the harbor waiting to leave Bethel. I was happy that their boat was covered because it was pretty chilly out...in the high 50's...and it was sprinkling too. Most of the other boats we saw out on the river that day were not covered. When they first called to invite us out, I asked, "What should we wear?" He said, "Oh, you know, just your basic polar fleece, it is kind of cold today." I guess I'm going to have to buy some polar fleece!

Here is Avery and my principals two boys. The three of them get along extremely well. They had a good time at fish camp. This is Avery's second time going out with them. I had to skip the first trip because I was just getting over being sick and did not want to risk getting sick again.

If you look closely you can see that this sign is the BNC (Bethel Native Corporation) Fishcamp Permit sign. You can click on the picture to see it enlarged. There were several of these signs stapled to trees near the fish camp.

This is a view of the Kuskokwim tributary that their fish camp is on. You can see another fish camp set of on the bank of the river across the way. The fish camp we were on would be down the beach about 200 meters or so behind me.

In this picture you can see the amount of erosion that takes place on the banks of the river. The boys are playing on the bank for scale.

I am walking along the beach back to the fish camp. If you took a left when you got up to the boat and walked inland about 25 meters, you would find their fish camp. You can see that there are actually trees in this area as opposed to plain tundra.

This is the actual fish camp. We sat around the fire all day and just hung out. This was wehn we first got there so we hadnt set up chairs yet. It was wonderful to sit around a fire and drink a couple beers. They were the first beers I had had since leaving the lower 48. All my clothes smelled like fire when I got home...oh, good stuff. They are not allowed to build permanent structures at fish camp. The space under the tarp has a large wood table were they would cut, clean, and prepare their fish; mostly salmon.

This was an open space that the boys took me to. They called it Seven Hump Lump. I dont know why.

Yes, Avery in a tree. Shocking, I know!

Later in the day, when it warmed up a bit and had stopped raining. The boys decided to play wild indian tribe. They painted their chests and faces with mud. They used sticks shaped like swords and rifles and ran around screaming IIEEE YIIIEE YIIEE, like wild indians. It reminded us of something from Lord of the Flies. It was very fun! I even got my throat slit by one of those renegades!