Fishwheel at the Wrangell Park compound.There are several new buildings... nicely manicured
lawns and a hiking trail to "observe" the Park from afar...
Federal "office" looks like a hunting lodge.
Display of hides at the Park office
This is a topo map at the Park office.Where the hell is Kenny Lake?
When I asked why Kenny Lake wasn't on the map
to show people where they ARE, their answer was:
"This is about the mountains, not Kenny Lake."
Tim at the counter of the Wrangell Park office.Why is the "entrance" to the Park 20 miles north
of the entrance to the park (in Copper Center)
and not on the actual road that leads into the park?
If you come up the Richardson from Valdez you
have to drive 20 miles PAST Kenny Lake
(the entrance road is the Edgerton Highway)
to "learn" about the park and then drive 20 miles
back to actually enter the park?
What can you possibly "need to know" about the park?Here's a clue how communitarianism is introduced.
"Through the collective recognition of the community of nations..."Sorry parkies, but there's NO SUCH THING!
Real display of hides at Camp Redington
Me posing as if I have a clue
4 comments:
Hi Niki
Interesting place.
What are the bears used for?
John
Our black bears are tiny compared. Which one did you harvest?
Hide tanning is nasty business. Do you plan on giving it a try?
Jeff
Hi John - These are trophy bears killed by friends of Tim's. We can eat the blacks but I don't know if the hunters ate this one or not. There are too many bears around here and twice this summer we had alerts from neighbors to keep Fred inside because there were roving bears. One was shot right behind our property by the gardeners and the other one was shot over at the Merc by Robbie, the owner's husband. Lisa put the pics on her facebook page, I'll post them here later on. It's a scary place when you have to worry about seeing a bear on the way to the outhouse.
Hi Jeff - I didn't harvest either bear, so far I've just been a stalker and a helper (pulled a 400 lb griz out of a pond with a winch in a very creepy place). Tim says it's way too much work to tan a bear hide and recommends sending them to Canada to have it tanned. I was going to try a moose or a caribou but they're so heavy I can't even pick them up. Tanning these huge hides is for a team of workers, seems pretty much like the hunts. I helped hang 1 moose and 2 caribou in quarters and it took three of us an hour to get em up there. So much to learn and yeah, I think I'll stick with learning to tan foxes, martin and ermine, and maybe wolves. :)
Niki,
It's so good to see that you are doing so well this year! And thanks for including pictures of yourself in your blog...I like seeing them, and I'm sure that it helps to personalize you in your quest to wake people up.
Large hides like those are usually staked out (Stretched) on the ground, hair down to scrape and tan. Tanning can be done with a mixture of brains and water to make a paste that is smeared over the hide, the different acids in the brain do the tanning. Once it dries a little, it gets lighter, but one may still need a block and tackle to lift it. The hard part would be the softening of the hide after tanning. A stick with a rounded end is pressed into the hide and drug across to flex and soften the leather. It would take more than a month to do one of those big griz, start to finish, I think.
Pete
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