Denali National Park - Alaska and Points North: Tips and Tales from the Road - page 139

Nenana
About 100 km /60 mi miles up the Parks Hwy we came to Nenana, located at the confluence
of the Kantishna and Tanana Rivers. It's a little old town that is really struggling to survive
so if you are going that way, stop for coffee and buy something. At the highway, they've
erected this little village of cabins that they call a cultural center. It's mostly just a market
for their crafts and such. The “such” included racks of antlers for sale. We were so tempted
to buy a set to hang off the front of the van but the prices were in the hundreds of dollars.
Antlers, by the way, are shed each winter/spring. Most of these would have been scavenged
in the wilderness, not cut off carcasses. They said.
Rows of salmon were hung on racks to dry. I was thinking they looked pretty unpalatable.
A local interrupted my musing to offer, “We dry them to feed the dogs when they are out
mushing in the winter.” Mushing dogs is a big hobby/sport up here.