Before the hurricane

Days 2 and 3 at Nauyuk


Day 2 at Nauyuk Lake dawned clear-ish and calm-ish, and the extremely leaky red boat arrived at approximately 1 pm. By 5, we were setting nets. True, we could see air bubbles coming out of the pontoons, but this was not a problem as long as we kept on top of the pump situation. Which, thanks to Mike Braeuer, we could. The pump deserves its own post, but that will come later. ☺

So, after catching some fish, we put them on strings on processing island (along with the nets – to avoid attracting bears), and headed back to camp. The next morning dawned hurricaney. Winds were gusting to 50 knots, and Doris Camp reported that they were getting blown off of the mountain. After hemming and hawing, we decided that we could get the nets and fish from the island (it’s quite close to the cabin), but we could not set any nets. So, processing began! First challenge: how to weigh fish parts on a sensitive digital scale in a hurricane.

Hank: “Well, Jim, I think the only way around this is to set up the tent. I’d rather not do this because it’s my own personal tent and is likely to become completely covered in fish guts, but I think it’s our only option.”

Jim: “Hmmmm. I think you might be right. Is that the lake blowing off the lake?”

Hank: “Yes.”

So, we took Mark down to American beach where there are drums and a giant piece of wood (rare commodities) to cut fish on, and asked him to scope out a slightly more sheltered spot to set up the tent. We saw him shake the tent out of the bag, and we were a tad concerned. But hey, Mark camps all the time. What could possibly go wrong?

Approximately halfway to the island to get the nets and fish, Nancy’s eyes got REALLY wide.

“HOLY SHIT!!”

Expecting to see a bear and preparing herself for it, Heidi turned toward shore. Whereupon she witnessed her $400 Nunatuk 4-season MEC tent cartwheeling across the tundra and cliffs and headed for the drink. Revving the ELRB as high as possible, she beat it toward shore at an angle of interception. Nancy, oblivious to her personal safety, launched herself out of the boat in an attempt to tackle the tent. Unfortunately, the water was over her waders. However, she avoided the abyss by somehow grabbing onto a boat handle and literally catapulting herself toward shore.

Heidi: “NANCY!!! Look BEFORE you leap!!!”

Nancy: “It’s the raft guide in me!!!!”

After successfully tacking the tent and surveying the damage (one large rip in the nylon, one medium rip in the nylon, and one damaged pole), we looked up to see Mark beating it over the cliffs.

“Windy.”

Good grief.

Let’s take stock. One ELRB, one plug in cooler that is a box, one bag of cookies and danishes from the kind people at camp, one bag of emergency jelly beans from Jill, 10 L of kerosene, two sooty stoves, a hurricane, and one damaged tent.

But no bears!! And no bugs, either.