The ice in front of the village has stopped flowing and jammed early last week. With the colder temps the river is now locked under hard water until mid May when it breaks up again. It will be our highway, our grocery store, and from its banks we will utilize the driftwood to heat our homes through out the long winter. The women will gather down on the ice in front of the village and jig for pike through the ice. They will catch them to be freeze-dried on fish racks out in there yards so they can keep a close eye on them and keep the ever hungry ravens at bay.
The men will be busy with their nets and fish traps out on the ice, so there is a social atmosphere about it. There is always someone doing somthing out on the ice.
The ice quickly thickens with the colder weather and by spring it will be as much as four feet thick in some places.
The water is low during the fall freeze-up so the tops of sandbars are sticking out and can blow sand during storms much like a desert dust storm.
The men are eager to cross and usually one man will walk on the jumbled broken ice (that looks like broken glass pushed into piles and ridges) testing with an ice pick ahead of each step to see if it's safe enough to drive a snowmobile (snowmachine) across.
If he succeeds and makes it, he will return with his snowmachine and get his sled. Then he will gather driftwood poles and stand them up in small holes chipped in the ice with his ice pick to mark the trail. These will be used so when it snows folks can find the marked trail and make it across safely. Some places are still open so we must not deviate from the trail for fear of going through a thin spot on the ice until everything is solidly froze over in a month or so.
On the far side of the river is a mud cutbank that's ten feet high and must be climbed with the snowmachine to access a network of trails called portages cut through the thick willow and alder brush with stands of cottonwood mixed in.
These trails are arteries that lead to sloughs that we can travel on. They lead to lakes and that's where the country opens up and travel is uninhibited by lack of trees so we can go most anywhere.
The men will busy once they get across the river. Some will be hauling driftwood logs and loading sledloads of firewood before the snow gets deep and the wood is burried. Others will be setting blackfish traps in the marshes. And many will be setting out and tending their traplines to catch meat and fur- the latter for much needed winter income to buy gas and everyday needs.
It will be the beginning of the long Alaskan winter. A time to slow down and enjoy the peace and tranquility only the winter snow seems to bring.
I will be out there almost daily doing my thing. It is my favorite time of the year.
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