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Monday, May 25, 2009

Karluk Lake Camp Life





Camp life while on survey is generally pretty good. We have a huge Kifaru teepee where we hang out in the evenings or when it is raining, and best of all it comes equipped with a wood stove. Pretty amazing that the teepee and wood stove weigh less than 15 pounds. Nothing like a wood stove to maintain camp moral!

This year we used the wood stove to cook more than we have in the past - mostly to heat water. But we found that it also worked great for toasting corn tortillas. Add a little old bay, baby bell cheese, oil and 'big boy' beef stick and you got a meal. It's funny but when you use a stove you suddenly have new eyes for wood opportunities. Most people will tell you that there are no trees on Kodiak's South end. I know that there are plenty of alder, willow, black birch and cottonwood trees. And cottonwood and willow are surprisingly under rated as fire wood. Anything dry works great.

Sometimes in the evenings we caught a few fish. Not sure if this one pictured is an arctic char or dolly varden trout. Both species make Karluk Lake their home, and both make great eating! Patrick

3 comments:

The Yellow Porcupine said...

I think you caught and ate the last steelhead in the Karluk drainage.

Zoya said...

Actually our favorite food was king salmon smolt. ... ..
Quickly fried in the cast iron pan with a touch of garlic and a side of nettles. Tasty! No more than 10 kings under 20 inches allowed a day - and of course I AM JUST KIDDING. The karluk has had an issue of late with returning King salmon. I gather they could not even find any smolts. Patrick

Katie said...

Hi Patrick, I spent a summer at Karluk lake, well a little down-river, about eight years ago monitoring smolt for fish and game. We were made aware of the archaeological sites in the area, and the erosion issues. It was a fabulous job and your photos bring back great memories. I caught dollies there, too - good eating. Does Koniag still have a fella in the summer at the cabin there (More Bears, picture 2)?