Church youth camp in bush Alaska

A man that comes to church offered to let the youth that attend use his native allotment land for a camp 3 years ago. It is 45 miles downriver by boat. After accumulating some wall tents, modifying the church boat (Replaces the Lower 48 church bus out here in the bush.) To keep the youger kids and women folk out of the elements, among other preparations the last two years, and getting enough camping gear together, we made a test run this year. Some friends of mine from Texas helped clear land. They were like having a manually powered bulldozer, their labor was much appreciated. Once you walked in from the river about 30 yards, it went from a tangle of young willows to an older willow grove, with the older trees about 10 feet or so apart, and mostly tall grass and plants between them. I was told by an elder it was some of the first willows to grow in that part of the river about 30 to 40 years ago. Pretty easy clearing for Alaska.

At least there were no bugs !!

After clearing enough land for some tents and a small feild for games (No cell phones allowed for the kids, no reception anyway, and we didn't go there to play downloaded games or videos!), we set up a 14x16 Alaska Tent and Tarp wall tent a family in the village of Bethel purchased for the girls and ladies to use, we named it the Taj Mahal, had two ladies and 10 girls in there, could easily have fit a few more, it was very spacious. Set up my six man Cabelas Guide tent and my trapping partner's and my 10×12 old Alaska Tent and Tarp wall tent we use on our marten line for the men and boys, had 2 men and 4 boys in each one. A 79 year old sourdough, who's lived in various and sundry villages around Alaska, and can still outwork men 1/4 his age, set up his own pup tent a ways off, due to snoring like a grizzly, which was appreciated.

Yes, I kept telling the fellers from Texas they weren't getting the real Alaskan experience, I never saw a noseeum or whitesox the whole week we were there, worked in a t shirt half the time, and never put bug dope or headnets on once.

We did one 90 mile round trip to clear land, came back to the village and washed and rested up over the weekend, and then did two trips downriver to get everyone there. After camp was over, took two trips to get everyone back, and another trip to get the camp gear. My Garmin Inreach said 540 miles total on the river. No boat trouble, thank God.

The 26 foot SeaArk with flotation pods welded on the stern did a good job hauling kids and supplies, with the removable cabin bolted on, it sure did go slower than normal, glad I don't have it on there all the time, but it served it's purpose. If I had had more time, I could have taken 32 kids, but just didn't have the time to haul them, will have to get another church boat before next year.

Used an old 55 gallon drum we found washed up on shore for a pulpit. Notice the old 12 Gauge leaned up against the tree beside it... have to be ready for bears. Had a paramedic friend of mine from a church in Bethel fly over in case of accidents, thankfully no one got seriously hurt during all of the feild games we played. He is preaching one of the devotions here.

We had a good camp, 7 kids received Christ as Saviour, all took a break from electronics, played a ton of old fashioned feild games, the old sour dough was a walking library to show the kids edible and medicinal plants, how to use plants for soap, toothbrushes, seasoning, etc. Berry picking was phenomenal on the way back from camp. Praise God.

All meals were cooked over the fire but one, that one was BBQ burgers on a grill.

We saw several cow and calf moose, but only had one cow and calf run through camp, they worry me as much as the bears do. Only saw on bull. Had some trail cameras up around the tents, but never had any intruders in the night, as a side benefit, the trail cams kept the kids from trying to sneak out at night, knowing their faces would be on camera the next morning... not that they would ever do anything like that.

The outhouses were fancy affairs, a log tied between two trees with a slit trench. A shovel was available beside the pile of dirt, and after explaining that if they didn't cover up their nuber two, the flies that were crawling on it would land on their food, the kids did a good job keeping the latrines clean. One for the boys 100 yards to one side of the camp, another for the girls 100 from the opposite side of camp. There is even verses in the Bible about keeping a clean camp.

We made a wall of brush between the camp and each latrine, just can't see it in the picture.

This is fantastic! Would have loved to have been there.

When I was a kid, I didn't have much encouragement from adults to have good clean fun till I was 15, want to make sure the kids God puts in my life have a different experience than I did. I take a lot of the boys out fishing, hunting, and trapping with my son. My wife does a lot with the girls, like berry picking and different arts.

When I was at Galena I hauled a 55 gal drum of gas, to youth Bible Camp at the Kokrine Hills. It was an all day run. It seems like it was 110 miles. Ruby was not quite half way. I was in a 16 foot V hull with a 30 hp motor. I didn't break any speed records. It was just after ice out and there was a thick stream of wood headed down stream. Crossing it was hard at time to stay in the main channel. We spent one night and headed back to Galena. Looks like you had a great trip to me.

Very cool!

Yes MJM, fuel is $8.53 a gallon here, spent almost $2,800.00 in gas, but well worth it. Nothing is cheap in the bush off of the road system.

Cool I remember seeing your flotilla going past the house a few times.

Is that Fish Village where your camp is ? Looks like berry picking on the high bank. Looks like my old fishing grounds.

Good moose hunting area as well as waterfowl heaven. Seals on occasion in the fall too.

Good luck.

Hey Jeff. The land we were able to use was near Fish Village, and the good berries were at high banks. Saw one seal at high banks. Prayed for you every time we passed your house.

Awesome I thought it looked familiar. Thats neat country right out of the ice age with all the permafrost dripping, and no villages for about 30+ miles in either direction. It used to be a busy place years ago when the Kings were King. I have close friends that were born and raised down there.

And yes, it's getting about that time of year when the Mukluks start showing up.

Thanks for the prayers. I can use all I can get.

All the kids were excited about looking for ice age animal bones sticking out of the banks as we went by the permafrost newly exposed by the high water, but no luck. The man letting us use his land inherited it from his dad, who used to fish for kings down there.

Is there a barge system on the Kuskokwim river? Galena had a barge come in pretty regular in the summer. I always thought about hoping it just to see the country along the river.

Kudos to you sir!!

Yes Sir MJM, there are a ton of barges on the Kuskokwim. Saint Mary's being on the Yukon, the main barge company is Ruby Marine, the same one that would go to Galena.

We only see two boats a year here.......maybe..... depends on the water level

Not sure how much traffic there is on the lower river

I figure there would be barges run there looking at a map and the size of the river. Fuel can get a little spendy in remote areas. But peace of mind is cheaper.

There used to be a lot more traffic 30 years ago. Fuel costs have made it prohibitive to even run the barge this far upriver.

Most of the freight on the Yukon is hauling downstream from Nenana.....and back upstream empty

Thank you for the pictures, FL cracker.

With as many kids as want to come next year, I may have to get a small barge! Seriously though, with 4 bathroom breaks included, each round trip took about 6 hours, did 6 trips, that's 42 hours I did on the water. I may have to get an additional boat just to cut down on the time I expend. When a 26 foot SeaArk is too small, wow. I never considered the church's boat too small until youth camp this year.