At the SeaTac airport, I awaited patiently to meet, Laura, another BBNA intern I'd be working with ... I sat at the gate searching for her, but I had no idea what she looked like. No one seemed to fit the bill when I first sat down. Then a young woman with blonde hair and rectangular glasses approached me with a friendly smile and started talking to me about camp life. She wanted to be sure I had packed plenty of non-cotton socks...The previous summer she only brought cotton clothing and had to borrow warm clothes from many of the guys out at camp...I remember thinking: this girl is very nice and so funny. She'll be great to work with and I was right.
We arrived in Anchorage and had a 5 hour layover. Our original plan was to rent bikes and go see Anchorage on one of the scenic trails, but we ended up staying at the airport and eating lunch. Soon after calling our loved ones, our flight to Dillingham was set to take off. An hour later, we were in Laura's hometown of Dillingham, which is quite small and has a large population of fisherman. We caught a ride from the airport to her mom's bed and breakfast, which was just 2 doors down from the USFWS bunkhouse where I would be staying during our week of training. I met Stacey who lives at the bunkhouse and works for the USFWS Togiak Wildlife Refuge. She was a great bunkmate -- we made spicy bbq chicken and blue cheese pizza. It was fabulous! We bonded and quickly became friends.
Once we were settled, Laura took me to meet our boss, Courtenay who supplied us with our gear and gave me a money for food. I remember being stunned by how much they gave me for the week. Could food really be that expensive? No! Laura drove me to the grocery store that night and I was taken aback by the $10 gallons of milk. I'm used to expensive groceries -- Seattle is not a cheap city, but this was ridiculous! The next week was spent training with Allen Miller and Dugan Nielson. We covered the ARPA Act, gun training (I have a picture with my moving bear target), MOCC boat training, which included boat safety, operation and maintenance, trailering and knot tying (I'm pretty good at making a bowline). It was a busy, but fun week. Laura showed me around Dillingham -- we got coffee at Bristol Express often where she once was a barista, talked to most of the residents in town (Laura knew everyone we ran into -- something I'm not used to coming from the city. It was neat).
The week concluded with final examinations and then we flew to Togiak on Saturday....This was it! We hauled all of our gear to Alaska Island Air and waited patiently for our trip. We rode in a tiny bush plane -- It was incredible. We saw moose and SO MANY LAKES! I was drooling. About 45 minutes later we arrived in the village of Togiak.
Oh goodness! I was so glad to be going with Laura. We hopped off the plane and my eyes started wandering. Hmm, people are driving ATVs, there are unpaved roads everywhere, there's a cute cabin ... hmm, there are two men driving toward us with a trailer. Could that be who is picking us up?
"Laura! Give me a hug."
"JEREMY! How ya' doin' homeslice?" -- or something to that effect.
We were greeted by Chris and Jeremy -- I thought both seemed nice and looked forward to getting to know them better over the summer. After unloading our gear, we ate some lunch, I had to jump into my waders and then we loaded up the jet boats. Oh jeez! We were headed up river -- oh man! Was this really happening? How did I get here? Unreal -- shit! (the good kind) Let's hit the water!
We had so much gear, we each had our own boat and driver. Laura rode with Jeremy and I rode with Chris. Enamored by the scenery, I ignored how cold and wet it was.
My tummy was in tangles -- I didn't know how long of a boat ride it would be before we arrived at camp. What would camp be like? I hope everyone likes me...I was nervous.
After about 40 minutes on the mainstem, we veered up a tributary called Gechiak Creek, where our camp is located. The channel was a skinny and shallow obstacle course -- one that constantly changed with rising and falling water levels. As we came around the final bend, we came up to a tall bluff where our camp sat. This was it! We were here! I made it -- Now it's time to meet everybody.
Deep breath -- we slowly ferried toward the post to tie up our boat. People came down the stairs to meet, greet and help unload.
The first person I saw was a tall, bearded, mountain-looking man. He was the first to say hello and I remember being surprised that he already knew my name. I hadn't introduced myself yet.
"Hello Sydney -- I'm Dan."
"Hi Dan -- It's nice to meet you."
whew -- that wasn't so bad.
Soon after, I met the rest of the crew and couldn't wait to learn all about them ... I could tell I was in for a great summer.
Hello Togiak -- I'm Sydney!
Laura and me
Camp from Gechiak Hill
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