Umkumiut - part duex

A couple of weeks ago, I ran back to the smalling village of Umkumiut with Katja. This time, I brought a camera and took some photos along the way and of the village itself. The weather was beautiful on this day and the wind was a little calmer. The tide, however, was not as low, so I had to keep the pace up so that I didn't get stuck on one of the points.

As you can see the coast in parts isn't so nice and sandy. Some parts are actually rougher than this, so it's good to slow down a little in order to not sprain an ankle or just break your leg in two. Katja is good about taking her time and sometimes she is actually being more cautious than I. This particular point is one that is impassable at higher tides.

Along the way there are also little streams that trickle out of the hills. Some of them braid out into minuature deltas as they enter the sea and this one had a small school of sea stars scattered around on the beach. Watch your step.















Along the way, there were many skeletons that Katja loved to sniff and puruse.










Skeletons of all kinds. I think this was a Ski - Doo 550x.











The actual village of Umkumiut is not inhabited all year round and recently is barely used at all. The highschool does a 3 - day overnight there at the beginning of the year for all high school students. There are some families that have homes there and stay there for part of the summer. I took a peek in some of the windows and saw food scraps spread out on tables and some food wrappers still on the floor. The homes are very basic: kitchen, table, a few chairs, wood stove, and beds. I don't think there is running water, but some homes have electricity and heat.



This path acts as main street through Umkumiut. There are also many paths that connect to the beach where fishing boats are stored.

It is so mind boggling to think that people actually stayed out here for months at a time long ago. As I walked around, I took way more photos than I could ever put into a blog posting. And as luck would have it, when I made the return run back to Toksook, I had to wade through the water around those points because the tide had already covered the rocks that I ran across on the way out. It was worth getting a little wet and the wade only added to the whole experience.







This is the view you get as you approach the village from Toksook. The cliffs behind are very rugged and the coastline on past Umkumiut is very steep and unforgiving.


Well, it's not exactly a place that you would make reservations to see, but if you ever get to the west coast of Nelson Island, I strongly suggest that you check it out.


Thanks for reading.

Dirk

Trip to Umqumiut

I got home from work absolutely exhausted today. I let Katja out and them we laid on the couch where I tried to get a quick power nap. Katja had other plans however. It only took about 90 seconds before she was at my face licking and nudging me awake. I rose and put on my light rain gear and running shoes and we headed to the beach. I didn't think of bringing my camera, because I wasn't aware of the adventure that I was about to embark on. I'll try to get some pictures some other time. Upon arriving at the beach, I noticed that the tide was really out. Normally, I can only run up the coast around a couple of points (about 1 1/2 miles) because the high water, but today I decided to see how far I could go. I was filled with excitement as I rounded the farthest point I had been to since. I skipped over the rock strewn sections of beach and around the rockweed until I found smoother beach and headed to the next point. Eventually, I rounded a point and saw small buildings in the distance. Again, I was filled with new energy despite the almost constant head wind that I was bucking the whole way.
The beach leading to Umkumiut, the small fish camp just south of Toksook, was almost stone free. We continued to pushed the wind, but it didn’t bother me. I almost decided to turn around once I was in sight of the village, but my sense of adventure urged for onward. As I ran along the village, I passed fish drying racks, small smoke houses, and slightly larger houses. Only a couple houses, out of the 15 total, had heaters or electricity. We made it to the other end of the village and stood up on some boulders to celebrate our arrival.
Before we turned back, I decided to find a nice skipping rock to bounce of the breaking waves that hit the coast. Katja had wandered out in the smaller waves and got a little taste of salt water. As I skipped my rock, Katja followed it out into deeper water. Pretty soon after that, she took a five foot breaker right on top of the head, which I’m sure surprised the shit out of her. I just about fell over laughing as she bounded out of the water seemingly on her hind legs trying to get her head as high as possible. After we recovered, we let the strong wind push us back to Toksook. With the tide coming in, I had to pick it up and the tail wind helped a lot. I still had to play spider man a couple of times and race some small breakers into the high spots on the cliffs. Katja just splashed through the shin deep water with out regard.
We eventually made it back to the house, worn out but wearing smiles. Once again, I am thankful to have a companion to get me off my ass and outside exercising. As we ran the smooth section of beach from Umqumiut, Katja found a burst of energy and started running circles, literally circles around me. It was fun watching her race in circles and then turn and scream down the beach at full tilt. By the end of the run, we were side by side and sometimes Katja was trailing me, which means she had a good workout. It was the perfect way to end the day.

Visions of Berry Fest

Although it's been over a week ago, I thought I would give you a few highlights of the Blackberry festival that occured here in Toksook this year. I actually can't give you highlights that occured in the village, just highlights of my weekend in particular.

Thanks to having a dog now, I have been forcing myself outside more often to explore and exercise my furry ball of energy. I've been hiking up the hill more times than I can count and recently been exploring more areas off the beaten path. I've been amazed at the number of berry patches that I have discovered by walking off the trail system. I have over a gallon of blueberries frozen in my freezer this year and last year I had less than a quart.

It's also been a great year for cranberries and red berries. The cranberries are darker red and the red berries are, of course, bright red. I haven't tried the red berries yet, but supposedly you can eat them.







And of course, you can't mistake these for berries. I haven't seen a live Musk Ox in the wild yet, but they leave signs all around the island. My 4th grade friend Coby said that he saw some just over the hill a couple of weeks ago. He's such a lier. Can you tell I'm jealous?











This picture is actually taken just a couple of days ago and long after blackberry fest. This is my friend Erin from Oscarville with her little dog, Macey and Coby, the 4th grader, giving Katja a little hug. Judging from the picture, I think that Coby will make an excellent dog sitter some day.

Well, that is all for now. I hope this doesn't seem like a desperate and random post. Stay healthy and live it up!

Dirk

My humble abode

Well, many of you are probably wondering what my home life is like up here in the most rural setting I've ever lived in. So I've finally gotten around to taking some pictures of my most humble abode. This building actually houses my boss/principal and family on the left side and me and Katja live on the right side. Yes, the walls are thin. As you can see, I also have a lawn, if you want to call it that. The landlord doesn't make me mow, which is fine by me. The big black drum outside is my oil tank for my heater. I have a board walk that goes right up to my front door which is kind of nice. Step off the board walk and you will most likely be in mud. Supposedly there is a small river that flows under my house when it rains alot, which it does because I live on the west coast of Alaska.

The house is quite a bit smaller than my old home. It is also quite a bit more rustic and closer to the center of the village. I did have a little fly problem, but that is slowly being taken care of with the coming of colder weather and my dog is a master fly catcher, although she leaves dead fly carcasses scattered around the floor. Good dog! Living closer to the center of "town" poses another problem that I didn't have last year. I get a lot of visitors. I think this is mostly due to my proximity to other families and their kids and also that Katja is such a friendly and sociable dog, kids just love her. I guess that isn't a bad thing. Almost everyone knows her name by now, so I just have to ask kids to hold her leash while I duck into the school quickly for something or they can tell me which way she ran off towards if she sneaks out of my sight. I like kids and I like my job, but usually, whatever you do for work is the last thing you feel like doing when you're not at work. (a.k.a. entertain kids) I rarely invite kids in for visits, but they are always asking to come in. Sometimes you just gotta be stern.

Anyway, back to the house. It's cozy for Katja and me. It does have lots of storage space, which is nice because I'm such a gear head. I don't have a real good place for a TV/VCR and such besides my bedroom, but I can drag the computer out to the living room to watch movies with Katja.

I have three windows in the house, but the screens are all torn out. Luckily there aren't bad mosquitos in town. Actually, I haven't seen any in or around my house despite the grass/swamp outside.

I am using every square inch of my house. One nice thing about the size is that it will heat up quickly, which I will be doing in another few weeks. I haven't turned on my heat at all yet, but it is noticably colder in the morning when I wake up and Katja is almost always cuddled in her crate instead of sprawled out on the floor next to my bed.

I have recently purchased some hardware to make Katja a little tether outside so that she can spend time outside when I am at work. Hopefully she will grow used to it quickly. Here you can see her little dog house, which my friend Brett left for me. She is a little co-dependent yet, so we will see if she tries to break her neck to get off the tether or not. She already climbs right into the dog house without hesitation. We will have to work up to spending long periods of time left alone outside.

That is pretty much it though. So when you are kicked back on your couch with an ice cold beverage of your choice, watching the football game on your wide screen, listening to the fire in the wood stove crackle in the background, just think of me in my humble abode and remember, I live in Alaska.

Thanks for reading.
Dirk

Back in the village

Well once again, I had written out an elaborate summary of my summer travels, my return to Alaska, and finally my return to Toksook Bay, but the internet went down just as I was posting it and it never made it. So now, I will try to pick my brain from two days ago, when I wrote it, and come up with something similar and likewise, worth reading.

Indeed, I am back in Toksook Bay, work has started, and my neck already hurts. I arrived in Bethel on Aug. 1st after a lovely stay with some friends in Anchorage. Bethel involved 10 days of training and a couple of down days that I got to sit around and watch movies in the Bed and Breakfast/hostel that I was staying in.

Some rather big news involves a new female companion that met while staying in Bethel. She is pretty young, very energetic and outdoorsy, a great cuddle bug, and absolutely beautiful. She listens to almost everything I say, she is gets along great with everyone in the village. Yes, Katja, my new friend, moved to Toksook with me. The best part is that she is also house broken, has had all her shots, and responds well to a shock collar. Some of you might be thinking that I went ahead with the mail order bride from Russia. Sorry to disappoint you. Indeed, she is a very athletic Husky/Yellow Lab mix. She weighs about 35 - 40 pounds and is roughly between one and a half to two years old. She is the perfect dog for me right now.














I also had to move to another house. We received two new teachers from Michigan, Jimmy and Kerri Dunn. They are enjoying the comforts of my old house and I get to move in next to the Principal and his family. His wife is the high school science teacher. Katja seems to enjoy the house. Even more, Katja enjoys long jaunts out on the tundra, eating berries, tripping over tussocks, and stretching her legs. She is incredibly fast and loves to chase birds. Sometimes I will look down for 5 seconds and look up to find that she is completely over the next hill hauling tail after some bird. She comes back eventually, but the shock collar helps bring her back a little faster. Just so you know, the collar has a tone that reminds her. If she doesn't respond to the tone after I call her, then I give her a gentle buzz.


Well, speaking of Katja. I better see how she is doing in the house alone. Thanks for not giving up on me and my blog. More to come soon. Stay tuned.

Dirk

Breaking the Ice

The weather has been warming up some recently and it's actually been in the high 40's and low 50's lately. Still it takes a long time for 5 - 6 feet of ice to melt and clear out of the bay. Well this week, the firm ice pack that I so comfortably rode my bike on to go ice fishing, finally broke up and started clearing out of the bay. I didn't realize how much I missed open water until I saw the frigid blue water and the ripping outgoing tide pushing all the mini icebergs out to sea.

Jamie and I hiked up to an overlook where we could see out to the mouth of the bay as well as the ice still packed pretty tightly around the head of the bay. It was about 45 degrees and around 10 pm when these pictures were taken.

Many of the men and boys have been going out seal hunting for the past couple of weeks. Students actually get excused absences, called traditional leave, to go out and seal hunt to contribute towards part of their subsistence lifestyle. Apparently there is the possibility of seeing a seal or beluga whale in the small bay during this time of year as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.












It is so nice to see water again!










This picture has an old cemetary from the village in the fore ground with one of the wind powered generators in the back ground. Kind of mixing a little old with the new. Apparently there are human skulls that can be seen in this graveyard, but I didn't want to go digging to find them. I was worried about being haunted just for taking this picture.





This is a picture of fish drying racks that they make to hang their herring, Salmon, and other fish from to dry them for later use. I recently had a chance to try some cooked dried herring and it was the strongest fishy tasting fish I have ever eaten. I couldn't even finish it, but I ate enough to let people know that I really tried to like it.



Here is Jamie, enjoying a cool north wind on top of the bluff just outside of town.




Well, that is all for now. I have almost survived my first year of teaching out here. I have only 5 more days of teaching to go. It's definitely been a challenging year for me, but I have also had many rewards that have helped me to decide to teach here next year as well.

I'm excited to see many friends down in the lower 48 over the summer.
Thanks for reading.
Dirk

The Prom

You would not have know that you were in a remote fishing village in Western Alaska if you were at the Nelson Island High School prom last week. Of course once you stepped outside the gym, you would slapped back to reality pretty quickly.

Our prom was held for all students in grades 7 - 12. About 65 people attended, which included a lot of people from other villages. For many people, it became a reunion of familiar faces that used to attend Nelson Island School and other people that were from the community.

The students were totally decked out from head to toe. Gents had all their bling bling out on display with a nice button down shirt or vest. A couple of guys even sported a penguin suit. The girls were all dressed up as well, wearing their fancy and elegant dresses.

Jamie and I attended even though I was feeling very sick that day and was tempted to stay home, but I caught a quick 3 hour nap and popped a couple of Alkaseltzer Cold Plus tablets and was good to go until about 2 am. After everyone left, I hung out with the DJ and the two site administrators for some good laughs about how everyone in the village drinks and that if anyone should be allowed to drink, it should be the teachers. That day is a tiny speck far, far down the road of possibilities. Anyway, a good time was had by all.

Thanks for reading,
Dirk