Fantasy Caravan Day 26 - Fairbanks - part 1 - Riverboat Discovery

On Wednesday, Fantasy had arranged a full day for us -- we were honestly dragging a little in the morning when we needed to catch the bus at the campground at 7:45am, but thoroughly enjoyed the day!

It was chilly and rainy -- yeah, just the kind of day when you want to take a boatride on a river! We boarded the riverboat Discovery III (https://www.riverboatdiscovery.com/)...

... and found comfortable seats inside. There we enjoyed narration for our day from a local news anchor who kept us informed and engaged.

Seating on the second deck -- there was inside seating on the first deck too, as well as some on the third deck, and outside seating on the third deck (and some on second too).

We didn't get pictures, but a bush pilot was on the river, preparing to take off. He took off and then landed next to our boat, and shared some stories of transporting people, summer and winter, to lakes and rivers further out and inaccessible by cars and trucks.

A little further down the river, we came to Trail Break Kennels (https://trailbreakerkennel.com/)...

... where David Monson and some of his apprentice trainers gave us demonstrations. David's wife was Susan Butcher, who was the Iditarod champion 3 years in a row and 4 years in total, while competing 17 times (finishing in the top-10 a total of 15 times). She lost her fight against leukemia in 2006.

 A video of our "visit" with them: https://youtu.be/JBDqBFZAXms  You'll see the puppy in training, and the team "mushing" around the property!

Some info about Susan Butcher and her dog, Granite: https://iditarod.com/zuma/granite-susan-butcher-hero-heroine-by-sanka-w-dog/

The paddle wheel on the back of Discovery III

The rain had stopped and it was warm enough for some folks to head outside.

A group of reindeer along the river! These were part of the riverboat's show -- to introduce us to the Chena village which we would soon visit.

Video of the reindeer:

In the audio, you may hear some of what we learned -- the reindeer and caribou are very closely related -- the caribou migrate, and the reindeer are "domesticated" (stay in place). When missionaries came to Alaska from Russia, they observed that the Alaska Native people did not have caribou to eat, so they brought reindeer. The Alaska Native people hunted caribou, but the season when the missionaries visited was not the season that the caribou were in the area.

Approaching the Chena Village

The paddlewheel keeping the riverboat relatively stable while we heard from Leo on shore:

Leo sharing some about her native heritage:

Leo sharing about Native Alaskan fish camps:

The subsistence hunters/fishers can use the salmon wheel trap to trap salmon to preserve for winter stores.

We all got off the paddleboat and entered the re-created native village. Our understanding is that there was a native village that had been flooded and Captain Jim (the founder of the Riverboat Discovery Tours) assisted the native people to relocate the village homes to this location which could be used to share information about their local culture.

We went to three different "stops" within the village where we learned about "Ancient and Reindeer", "Garments and Hides", and "Cabin and Cache".

In "Garments and Hides",

Leo modeled a parka made by her mother...

... with the beautiful hood up. The furs around the face were chosen because they will not hold moisture so won't frost up around the face. Each fur has specific properties to add to the comfort or meaning of the parka. I think they indicated that it took her mother 8 months to complete the garment.

At "Cabins and Cache", we learned about the hunting and trapping cabins that the native peoples would use, and some of the hides...

... a wolverine hide...

...three kinds of fox hides...

... a white fox hide...

... I think this is an ermine hide - which our guide indicated would not be highly prized by the native peoples as it was so small, but had high trade value with the white people.

Beaver hide

Some of the dogs and one of the trainers came from Trail Breakers Kennels...

... and the dogs enjoyed interacting with some of the guests.

I didn't take a very good picture, but this shows the sod growing on top of the summer cabin -- our guide indicated that his grandmother liked planting her vegetables on the roof so the deer and moose couldn't get them!

"Locked to the End" -- a taxidermist recreation from found carcasses...

The story of "Locked to the End":

Reindeer in the village

Then we walked around to the fishing camp...

Salmon in the fish camp smoke house

When the salmon is first filleted, it is hung outside the smokehouse until it starts getting dry (we were told that you don't want drippy meat inside the smoke house).

The salmon trap from on-shore

Accommodations that would be used while at fish camp

Selfie in front of the riverboat

Once we finished our visit at the Chena village, the riverboat took us back to the dock where we started...

... and we joined others in the dining hall for lunch of meat stew, veggies and couscous, and kale salad.

I saw this in the gift shop... I don't think I want to wear it in Texas...

Even though the day seemed to start awfully early and the weather was threatening in the beginning, it turned out to be a nice trip on the Riverboat Discovery!