Whoooogh man, this place is incredible! There are muskox, hundreds of reindeer, and a friendly fox nearby. So far I’ve seen eight musk ox, videoed them for a few seconds. and took a couple of pictures. The reindeer are here roaming around every where. I saw maybe a thousand reindeer being herded together by a chopper. There is a fox that has showed up a couple of times, eating the fish that we cut up. Speaking of fish, I’ve been fishing here, and catching fish after fish. So far I have caught about 12 fish. Daniel has got the record for the biggest fish, and I have the second, Ben the third and Dimitri the fourth (Editors note: the fish size opinions of the author are unverified and do not necessarily reflect the views of the other fishermen involved). Boy do I love fishing here!

These last few days, we have participated in many activities, things like a day long hike, lots of archaeological digging, and a midterm test for anthropology. The hike was awesome. We walked along the tops of the bluffs for three miles. The view was incredible, you could see for miles. Our turn around point was another inlet that had a nice beach. We made a fire and cooked dinner. After eating a few of us had fun skipping rocks, just having fun. The hike back was killer. We were all full from lunch, making the hike feel especially long. We got back to camp and were really tired so we went to bed.
The digging is becoming more and more interesting. As we continue scraping and shoveling, we are finding older and “cooler” artifacts. We dug for almost 3 hours the other day, and found the following: bones from all kinds of animals, metal drums, old knives, bottles, marbles, and beads. There’s a lot more to archaeology than I thought. After digging, you have to sift the dirt, and then wash the artifacts you find with toothbrushes. Altogether its been really interesting.

The midterm wasn’t too bad. It was before that made it stressful. I felt like I was back in school studying at the end of the year. I had to read many pages from the text and take many pages of notes. The night before, I looked over them and did some last minute reading. I’m glad it’s over with. I’m looking forward to this last week of camp. We’re supposed to go kayaking and participate in some over night hikes. We’ll keep you posted!

Kyle Chavez

Since we are at Nash Harbor, there is a fresh water that goes into a lagoon then into the salty ocean. Fish traffic occurs at high tide; there are at least four people who want to fish to see who can catch the most. It is kind of tough to cast out here because the hooks can get caught on rocks, which happened several times. We have already lost four or five lures! We also have a problem with pulling in and catching algae. Fishing is enjoyable when the weather is beautiful. The funny part is, Dimitri and T.J. love to compete. So far Dimitri has caught four fish, T.J. has caught eight fish and I cast for fun.

Dimitri and I trying to catch fish at high tide, which usually happens at 5 in the evening. (I caught a lot of algae so far!) Dimitri also has managed to lose 4 hooks and myself one!

Here is the student fisherman champ so far; T.J. has caught eight fish.

I have been having fun watching TJ, Dimitri, and some others fishing. Having classes with Rick, Nicola, Eva, and Ben and going out to take some field notes is a whole lot of fun. Learning more about Science is really great and cool. I have been talking with the cook, Elena. We have been talking about how she likes it here and what she has been doing here. She has been cooking and cleaning for the students, and what does she get? Nothing but a “thank you”, a Mountain HardWear jacket and two pairs of wool socks. I joke! But here at Nash Harbor it is totally fun! I like it here.

Felicia Olson

During these long summer days, bird life animates the landscape of Nunivak Island. They inhabit almost every possible glimpse of tundra, ocean, beach, or cliff, and on our hikes we have to careful or we will literally step on them. Black-legged kittiwakes, arctic terns, and cormorants wheel and dive for smelt just offshore from our camp, while flocks of geese and sea ducks veer inland over our camp, following the river. Nesting shorebirds and songbirds leap up from under our feet as we hike, sometimes dragging wings in fake injury to lead us away from their nests or chicks. Many hikes lead to the clifftops, where soaring raptors trace the edges of the cliffs while flocks of seabirds bob on the waves below. Though the island’s muskox, reindeer, and sea mammals make impressive appearances every now and then, birds are the dominant presence of animal life here.

For any dedicated birders, here is a list of the species we have seen so far, courtesy of resident birder Melia Knecht:

Pelagic cormorant, red-throated loon, Pacific loon, murre (sp), horned puffin, tufted puffin, common eider, long-tailed duck, northern pintail, harlequin duck, green-winged teal (American), red-breasted merganser, scoter (sp), scaup (sp), tundra swan, cackling goose, greater white-fronted goose, emperor goose, glaucous gull, glaucous-winged gull, black legged kittiwake, arctic tern, long-tailed jaeger, parasitic jaeger, sandhill crane, whimbrel, Wilson’s snipe, red-necked phalarope, semi-palmated plover, black-bellied plover, dunlin, western sandpiper, rock sandpiper, common redpoll, American pipit, snow bunting, Lapland longspur, gray-crowned rosy finch, savannah sparrow, rough-legged hawk (dark morph), and tree swallow.

Some species we saw last year and hope to see again include parakeet auklet, crested auklet, gyrfalcon (grey), dowitcher (sp), goldeneye (sp), Sabine’s gull, Steller’s eider, and slaty-backed gull.

Ben

Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve been learning a lot about fish and about culture, including how the people on this island once lived. I haven’t ever been so academically focused in my life. I’ve been reading about fish, studying them, and even dissecting them. Before I ever came to this camp, I never knew what all the fish fin names were, or even how to determine if they were salmon or something else. When I’m not socializing during free time, I’m taking notes from the Anthropology book, reading about different cultures, or taking a nap from being tired from our long hiking. One place we hiked to was up along the stream to set minnow traps. We learned how to record hand-written data about when we set the trap, if, when, and where we caught the fish, what time we caught it, and more. We even hiked up the side of the camp and saw evidence of muskox. This camping trip is really interesting, because everyday we learn something new. I’m excited to see what the next two weeks have waiting for our learning adventure. –Yvonne

Cold. That is what describes my first impression of the island the most. There is still snow on the ground here in certain areas. We all soon learned how to keep warm though, dressing better and insulating against the constant moisture that seeps into your skin. The cold was hardly noticed however in the following days as we started doing the activities that we came to the camp to do. We soon began our fisheries class, getting down and dirty with four dead fish by cutting them into several pieces to further our knowledge of their internal and external systems. Anthropology ended up being my favorite subject because it relates to how humans interact with one another. Soon we were hiking all over the place getting wet and yucky, though for a good purpose: saving the world one fish scale at a time. This involved taking scale samples of the dolly varden for further study. For the most part I have ended up being wet. On one of the first days I decided to go swimming and that was mildly cold, though I do not think it was as cold as others think it is. I then got wet in my hip waders and randomly at other times. It is really hard to get your clothes dry at times. Other then that I have been going through my classes and getting everything done. Then I finish out my day and go to bed. That is the island life for you.:p

Birdica

When we arrived here at Nash Harbor the first couple of days were sunny. Since then the weather has been cloudy, windy, rainy, and cold. Nash Harbor is like Hawaii with cold weather and different kinds of animals. But the beach, ocean, hills and streams would remind you of Hawaii. Since we have been here the activities have been great. We have been hiking a lot, checking our fish traps and recording the data, putting on our wet suits and walking beside the lake, taking a lot of pictures, making videos, having our classes outside, and supplying wood for our steam bath. I enjoyed setting our fish traps by the lake, recording data and measuring the different kinds of fish that each of us had or didn’t have. I liked this part because I had not set fish traps before or measured fish on a ruler and recorded data about them. Also, since we left Bethel I have learned more about my friends from school and two more other people from Hooper Bay.

-mary moe

Here at Nunivak so far we have hiked, found bird eggs, put together minnow traps, checked minnow traps, and started to clear out the area where we are going to be looking for artifacts. I think that by far the best part of the camp for me was when we went out to check the sample fish traps. I was one of the only people wearing waders that day so I was selected to go and get the minnow traps out, and in the process of doing so I stepped into a drop off unexpectedly. The water was up to my chest just below where my waders stopped. Then the drop off was so large that I couldn’t get back up to shore! Eva ( one of the instructors) had to help me get out. It was scary but at the same time awesome. I really liked setting out the minnow traps, even though it was a little bit cold out. The only part that I didn’t like was when I had to put fish eggs in my minnow trap for bait. It was really gross because we had to squish them all up so that the fish would be able to smell them. The fish traps are about a mile away from us so we have to hike there. I like that part a lot too because it’s really beautiful out here. We also saw a fox! It was really close to us and that was pretty cool. –Jenny

Jenny

Sitting on the side of the Naparyarak River, which is just up river from Hooper Bay, filleting fish after fish for the winter is a joy and hard work! It also leaves a sore back the next day, but the job gets done. After removing the head with an ulu, we cut open the ventral side of the fish, remove the fish’s organs, flip it on the other side, cut the back and separate it from the backbone, and then finally make the fish lines in the fish. I have had quite a bit of experience working with fish and each time I am going to remove the organs I am always wondering what part of the fish it is, or what fins are located where on the fish. Here at the Ellikarmiut Summer Science Camp we currently are taking the following classes: Anthropology 100x, University Communications, and Introduction to Fish Biology and Fish Techniques. In the Fisheries Class I am learning a lot of where and what parts of the fish are where and what they are used for, which is why I am highly interested in identifying both external and internal anatomy of a fish. I am especially interested in salmon in particular because I have continuously seen basically the same ventral and dorsal sides of the fish both externally and internally. My curious longing to identify what I have repeatedly seen has now become a base of my knowledge.

Shown here the body cavity is open, and the swim bladder is exposed and looks silver along the spine. Also shown is the isthmus which is the V-Shaped opening on the chin of the fish.

Florence Nukusuk

Since arriving to Nash Harbor, we have hiked, swam, fished, steamed, prepared an excavation site, set fish traps for research, and witnessed incredible scenery only found in this majestic area. Being here, we never really know what to expect; a sudden weather change or a red fox burrowing nearby camp. Other surprises are really unexpected considering the isolation that encompasses our camp. Just hours ago, entering the peaceful waters of our vast natural harbor, the Iver Foss emerged through the fog wall marking the ocean line. The ship, on its way from Seattle ferrying supplies for the Red Dog mine above Kotzebue, slowly made its way farther into the harbor. It

finally came to a stop just a half a mile from our shoreline campsite. Three of the six crew members made their way to shore in a launch for a chance to walk on solid ground. Most of the campers visited with the crew members and listened to the stories they shared about their voyage. The crew members took the rare chance to go hiking around the lands and ancient ruins of Nash Harbor as we went to our evening class. We took a break from class when the crew members returned and snapped a group photo. With two weeks remaining of camp, who knows what other ships may make their way into Nash Harbor, and add to the list of incredible possibilities this program has to offer us all. –Daniel

Hello my name is Felicia, and I am from Hooper Bay on the west coast of Alaska. I live with my mom and two younger brothers, who are 15, and 8. My parents separated two years ago, and it was really hard! But I moved on and lived without my dad ever since then. I was at school and I heard about this camp from a teacher of mine. It was kind of interesting so I filled an application out and a couple of weeks later, I heard that I got picked. I was really excited, and my mom didn’t really believe me at first until she heard the message. I wanted to see how it was. Well, what I really enjoy is watching other students fish, and taking pictures of them fishing. I have been taking walks on the beach, reading my Bible and kind of doing homework, helping out the cook, washing some dishes for her, going to my classes, and taking some notes on Fisheries and Anthropology. And just having fun out here. That is the best part of Nunivak Island.

Traveling to Nash Harbor was an adventure in itself. We left Bethel on a small plane, flying for roughly 40 minutes to almost the furthest point west in the U.S. Upon landing I realized what I had gotten myself into. It was like stepping back into May. The temperature was at least 10 degrees colder and it was raining. We drove from the airport to the dock where we loaded all our gear onto a boat. The boat was to take us 40 miles or so to Nash Harbor. The ride was very similar to a roller coaster. For almost an hour we bobbed up and down. Many got sea sick, but I enjoyed it.

When we first arrived at Nash Harbor, my thought was how beautiful it was. We’re located at the farthest inland point in the bay, giving us a view of the whole harbor. Right next to our camp is a fresh water stream that flows into the ocean. On both sides of us are huge bluffs that have almost sheer drops into the ocean. There is still snow located at the top of these bluffs. We have participated in many outdoor activities in the few days we’ve been here, including hiking, setting fish traps, fishing, fish dissecting, and my favorite…swimming.

Upon returning from a hike, my friends and I were burning up. It was actually hot! So I sarcastically suggested that we go swimming. Doug and Daniel surprisingly agreed to enter the freezing water. So we changed and forced ourselves to enter the water. It wasn’t bad after your feet and legs went numb. The water was only up to your thighs throughout the lake. After playing for what felt like 20 minutes we decided to head back. We left the initial lake, and had to cross the last stream to get home. Even though the stream was only knee deep we thought, to make it worth while, we would dive in. So I went first and dove. As soon as I dove in, my boxers came off! I struggled to stay submerged enough that no one could see my family jewels while also trying to pull my underwear up! I regained my posture but now I was freezing after being under ice cold water for at least 5 seconds. So I took off towards shore. Not aware of the rocks underneath, I tripped and once again engulfed in the freezing water. While this was going on, my friends could not stop laughing! I admit, it was funny.   –Kyle

When I arrived in Nash Harbor, I noticed the immense beauty that surrounded the place. Since I have been here I have hiked, fished, listened to lectures, set fish traps, eaten, read text for homework, slept, sung songs in the tent, fantasized about the arrival of Martin, caught fish, not caught fish, drank homemade mocha, and steamed. When I first arrived in the village of Mekoryuk, I found out that my bottle of shampoo had exploded inside of my bag, so I spent a good time wiping it out, and cleaning my stuff off. An extremely oceanic boat ride followed, during which I fell asleep more than once . Today, right before we went out to check the fish traps, we all got dressed in our “neck” waders. Posing for one final picture, I finished tying my water shoes and headed out the class tent door. Noticing the rest of the group about 500 feet ahead, I ran into the water and follow my “neck” wader-wearing cohorts, thinking it’d be faster than walking on land. As my legs submersed in the chilling water, the waders scrunched up around my legs as the water transfered its pressure. The waders, a refrigerator, with water as its freon. I noticed the blood freezing in my veins, as circulation slowly ceased in my legs. I slowly walked out of the water, following Douglas. Douglas started running ahead, and I did the same, feeling the rushing feeling of life flowing back into my legs. As we crossed a small stream filled with natural gas, we arrived at our final destination. Dispersing about, everyone pulled their fish trap out of the water to check the amount of fish trapped within. To my dismay, my trap contained no fish, and neither did about half of the other peoples. Two traps contained 1 fish, which we had to identify. The identification process ended up taking about 30 minutes for one fish, which ended up being a plain old Dolly Varden. The other fish was a blackfish, so it was easy identifiable. After about 40 minutes of identifying the only two fish caught out of the 11 fish traps that we had set, the group departed. Ben, T.J. and I stayed behind, fishing. I am proud to declare myself as being the first student to have caught a fish thus far(not the first fish caught, I have to give Ben© that achievement). After about 30 minutes of fishing once the group had departed, Ben declared we should leave, besides my hands were dead cold. Once we had arrived back at the camp, I took off the Size Large Hip Waders that I had been wearing the whole time, and basically stuck my hands into the stove. –Dimitri

We have been here for a few days now and it is pretty cool, literally. I have noticed that it is about 15-20 degrees colder here than in Bethel. You can see your breath for a large portion of the day. The wind doesn’t help either. It reminds me of winter, how we are all dressed up. Every hike we go on we need to wear our hats and gloves, or realize that we should have. There is even still snow here! With all the fog, rain, and cold it is hard to dry our gear. I really hope that it warms up a bit.

Today during our free time Kyle and I walked down to the beach. Having never explored the cliffs that are just around 100 yards from our camp we decided to take a look. When we got there we found that we could, with timing between the waves of course, slowly make our way along the bottom of the cliffs. After shedding a couple of coats and a rest to watch the Sea Gulls dive bombing fish just a few feet away, we made it to the end of the cliffs. We took another rest and started heading back. We came back at the end of the day and found that the low tide had uncovered an entire beach where we had previously been hopping from rock to rock and getting wet. I thought that it was funny that a couple of hours ago we had been clinging to the rock face and hoping not to fall in, and now we were walking on a huge beach. I hope that we can find more fun places to explore. –Doug

I think this is an amazing place. I never thought Nash Harbor would be so hilly, and so rocky on the tundra. I like it here, there are a lot of activities to do. We hiked on the tundra and fished in the streams for Dolly Varden. Well, that is the only kind of fish that we caught. We also took a steam during the evening. I thought it was OK, one of the science camp students really liked it. I took pictures and videos of a fox that recently came by. The second time I recorded it I told the fox to head back to its food and eat, and because I scared it a bit it happened to listen to me. Recording a fox was a great experience. I also had an incident with the outhouse bathroom. I was locked in there by someone or something for about twenty minutes. While I was trying to call for help, the smell in there was horrible. Finally, another student from the camp saved me from the nightmare in the outhouse.

Mary and I were wearing our waders, walking back and forth across the stream, bringing firewood to the campsite. Once we finished loading the wood, we decided to check out the old village of Ellikarrmiut. The village was wiped out around the turn of the century, then after that, everyone moved onto the other side of the stream which was then called Qimugglugpagmiut. Walking along the beach we found an easy way to climb up to where all the mud houses once were. We stopped at a mud house that seemed as if it had belonged to a big family. Walking a few steps at a time, we noticed more and more houses in different shapes and sizes. It has been said that these mud houses were built over one hundred years ago with a village population ranging from two to seven houses in a period of 30 years. It was quite amazing to see how the ancestors from the people of Mekoryuk once lived. It was almost as though I was walking back one hundred years in time. Mary and I were able to tell that some families were big, while some were small, just by the shape of the house. We even walked into the “Qasgi” house, which is known as the mens’ house. The mens’ house was where a lot of the meetings took place along with the village feasts and celebrations. It was the biggest house of all. We even pretended we were there, imagining the chief of the village in the back of the room facing the entry way, watching the people of the village dance and celebrate something big. For instance, celebrating a young boy turning into a man after his first catch of a bearded seal. We were dancing and singing, and later pretended to crawl out the entry way, just like they did back 100 years ago. It was a very fascinating adventure. I really did feel as though I walked almost one hundred years back in time.   –Yvonne

My name is Daniel and I was born and raised in Bethel, Alaska. I was among the first students in the start up of the Yup’ik Immersion Program. I was taught and “raised” in the Yup’ik culture for seven years. My bilingual upbringing helped me to advance quickly through high school, where I am a senior. I have been taking college courses at the Kuskokwim Campus for the past two years. My academic interests are in the Math and Science fields and have led me to contemplate engineering as a career choice. I want to go to Nunivak Island not just for the amazing experience, but also to further my scientific knowledge and to be able to apply it through the well-planned program they have established. I look forward to an immensely exciting three weeks filled with interesting classes, kayaking, and hiking trips and am grateful for the opportunity.

I’m Thaddeus J. (Tee Jay) from Bethel AK, a person that loves to play basketball about, every day at Owls Park located in Bethel. I have a bike to ride everywhere I go, trying to stay in shape. Sometimes I stay at fish camp with my parents to help cut fish and wood or do other jobs. This year we get to pick berries there, I usually eat more than I pick. I’m hoping I get into college later on in the future, after I get a little smarter. I’m really not there yet, but I’m willing to be. I really am excited to be in the summer science camp. I want to know a lot of things about science on Nunivak Island, a place I have never been before. I like the free gear that we get to keep if we do well in the classes. I’m excited to go hiking and see the muskox and reindeer. I like the outdoors and the cool air in the mornings; it’s refreshing and it wakes me up. I know I’ll have fun on the Island.

Hi I’m Jenny from Bethel,and I am attending the Nunivak Summer Science program. I am fifteen and I love everything about the outdoors. My favorite thing about the outdoors is observing the wildlife and listening to the ocean. I am very excited about attending this camp because it will be a great experience and it is a fun way to earn college credits. The things that I’m am looking forward to the most about this summer science program are hiking, kayaking and learning about anthropology.I think that you can never learn too much. I have a lot interests that want to explore, most of which have to do with the medical field. I am thinking about becoming a physical therapist. I think that this is a great experience and I am looking forward to spending the next three weeks out here.