We pass by slowly along the riverbank just past the stunning sand cliffs where the village of Rampart is, not seeing anyone nor stopping. There is a gravel airstrip visible and of course half a dozen boats tied up on the gravel shore, a couple pickup trucks on shore, a skidsteer hauling construction materials up the hill, log houses, satellite dishes and power lines. All the villages along the river have their own electricity generation system and the houses are connected by a local grid. Lots of fish camps on this stretch of river and we are starting to see fishwheels in the water and short gill nets tied to shore, many fish camps look run down and possibly unused, many also are just shacks built with used tin and blue tarps and driftwood and logs.
A boat with three people pass us going the other way and smile and wave, half an hour later they come up from behind slowly and we talk for a while. They are working for the tribe in Tanana fixing up a village owned fish camp so that the local kids can learn some traditional skills. They invite us to stop at the camp and we do.
Fourteen people were working clearing brush, building tent frames, digging a new outhouse, and making a couple new cabins. Spirit Camp sits on the tail end of the narrow Sixteen Mile Island with views off both sides. Nirvana was playing on the sound system that sat on the roots of a driftwood log. Mostly young guys, they showed us around the smokehouse, the cabins for the elders, the cookhouse, the cold hole which served as a fridge, and the tents that were going to be put up so that kids from all up and down the river could come and spend a few weeks. They offered us some fish they had caught earlier and some coffee. They give the dog a hot dog. It was a great stop and good to see the work and energy being put into reviving the old fishcamp.
Talk has been lately of a road being built to the pretty large village of Tanana. It is built, but stops 6 miles away from the village on the opposite side of the river. Still it is a big deal to be able to drive the three hours from Fairbanks, get into a boat to go six miles across the river and be in Tanana. We stopped in for fuel and to pick up a little beer. Fuel was just up the riverbank, pay for it in the store across the street in the store. A sign in the store window says if you are drinking and driving we will not sell you any gas. Beer was sold only by the village owned liquor store that was open from 5 PM to 7 PM and saw a brisk two hour sales window. The thunder storms that we had outrun up until then caught up to us so we closed up the tent and had an early dinner there tied up in town. A nutty older German man in a kayak was staying in some sort of guesthouse in town but mostly we were surrounded by the boats of choice in these villages, 16-20 long light aluminum "sleds" they call them. Flat bottomed, usually 75-150 horsepower outboards, and all with either a homemade plywood house built aft of center or the same look in either aluminum or a sunbrella-type of cloth. Gone were the oversized fuel tanks that we saw upriver as gas is readily available every 100 miles or so in this area. Everyone is super friendly if not outgoing, people are more surprised now of where we have come from than where we are going. We get advice on which bank of the river to travel on and where to watch out for the wind and lots of folks saying that the river starts to get real big soon and to be careful of the waves. Around here the river is about 1/2 to 3/4 mile wide but just below us the Tanana River joins from the south and by tomorrow the river will be a mile wide.
The rain lets up after 8 and we run until 10:30 in the sun passing a solo canoer on a treed point and finally finding our own sandy island to tie up to for the night. We both roll out our sleeping pads and bags, clip up the mosquito nets and lay down on the parallel plywood bunks for the night.
Spirit Camp