Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
After Solomon we turn inland and up over the glorious Skookum Pass, on a gravel road
that is in better shape than most interstates I have driven on and through countryside that
leaves me in momentary expectation of seeing Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen ride up
over the next hill. Well, that is until we see a herd of reindeer cuddled up together on a ri-
verbank, and without earrings. Earrings? Peggy clarifies. Most of the reindeer herds are
privately owned, and they wear brightly colored earrings to identify whose herd they be-
long to. Remember that when you order the reindeer stew at the Downtown Deli in An-
chorage.
Farther along Peggy points out a sagging cabin beneath an even saggier roof. “That's
where Rex Beach wrote
The Spoilers
.”
In Council Peggy introduces us to John and Mathilda Davena, both retired and dividing
their time between grandchildren in Anchorage and their cabin in Council, which is across
the Niukluk River and a little bit down from the tottering remains of the Kane House,
once a combination bordello and bait shop. “In its heyday,” says my 1941
WPA
guidebook,
“Council had fourteen big saloons with connected gambling places and brothels.”
Nowadays, it's a mostly summer retirement community.
John and Matilda regale us with red salmon fresh out of the smokehouse and then, after
terrifying us with stories about the weird and wonderful people who live between the
Ophir mine and White Mountain, turn us loose on their four-wheelers.
I climb on behind Peggy, innocently unaware that beneath her modest exterior beats the
heart of a daredevil speed demon, and we ford the river at a speed approximating that of
the space shuttle at escape velocity. There's a bow wave on this four-wheeler the likes of
which I haven't seen since I was on board the
USCGC
Alex Haley
and a wake that
threatens the seat of my pants. There is no attempt made to avoid the aromatic carcasses
of hundreds of spawned-out humpies (it's been a good year for fishing), either. Rhonda re-
marks later, “After watching Dana's butt going up and down across the river, I decided I
didn't want to be on board a four-wheeler when it stalls out and rolls over,” and elects to
get out and wade, which she does through every river and creek we cross. In the mean-
time, I'm laughing so hard I nearly roll off the back in mid-stream.
We arrive safely if damp on the other side, and Peggy treats us to a drive-by of beautiful
downtown Council, where I believe I spy the corpse of a Model-T Ford hiding shame-
