Me and You and a Dog Named Boo: North to Alaska: Copper River to Anchorage

We decided to go off the highway onto the road which leads into the Wrangell-St. Elias Wilderness and see what we could see. We ended up in Chitina, which is a sweet LITTLE town on the way to the end of the road in McCarthy. The McCarthy road seemed a little too much for Maxine so we shopped at a delightful art gallery, Spirit Mountain, bought nothing but had a grand time looking and hearing the owner's stories.

We decided to go down the road and camp along the Copper River, which is where the Chugach Mountains meet the confluence of the Gulf of Alaska and the Prince William Sound. It is known for its incredible wild sockeye salmon, which is prized throughout the world. Amazingly, it turns out that we were there on the opening day of the First Nations' Dipnetting event.

A more than impressive sight

Our campsite
We are paying the Ahtna Tribe for our site along the river. They are
the first peoples in North America to master working with metal. They
are Athabaskan and are known for their arrowheads, bowls, spears, art and
copper bullets.

A short walk along the river

We awakened the first morning to the sound of a helicopter. We later
found out that some fishermen were high centered on a gravel bar and one
of the fishermen drowned, trying to swim to shore. The Coast Guard
rescued the other men. The current is pretty darned strong here.

We were told that this area was completely flooded last year.

We wondered what all these cars were doing here on the side of the road.
Dipnetting began for locals at noon. This is quite an event! Native Alaskans
make this an interesting family event. They all camp along the roads and
beaches where they have access to fishing.

This is the camping set up of one family. Makeshift tents on the back of pickups
were the preferred camping method. They all have cookstoves and
one even had a portapotty.

Henry, our favorite of the native fishermen, explained the process and said
he would give us some of what he caught. We couldn't stay long enough
to take him up on it.

All different kinds of nets are used.

This was one of the biggest nets!

This guy probably got here very early and is waiting until noon.

Lots of gravel bars where fishermen can wade out to and catch salmon in
the deeper parts of the river. It doesn't look like it in this picture, but
the main part of the river is incredibly dangerous, as the current runs very fast.

This is an old fashioned fish wheel that was beside our campsite. Some
still are used in some Alaskan rivers today.

The competition!!

Regretfully, we had to move on to get to Athena and Josh in Anchorage on time. Poor babies have had a bunch of guests all summer. We are going to try to get away on the week days and be with them on the weekends. We were so incredibly thrilled with the beauty and wildness of the Glenn Highway into Anchorage-so many glaciers and lakes-just gorgeous!

We camped at King Mountain along the Matanuska River-swift current, milky white from glacier powder. We sat along the river the first night, just drinking in the power and beauty of it. We hiked a trail along the river, read, took showers and cooked gumbo.