"This summer a group of us women and my husband, Larry, went upriver above Russian Mission and set up camp across from Peteroff's dogfish camp. We had a magnificent view of the steep mountain from there. At 6:00 P.M. we went to check for berries inside Tucker Slough. We spotted a boat and knew some people were berrypicking there. So we decided to climb Nutschaaq Mountain and pick berries up on the slope. I had been there once before with my son, Ronnie, and some Russian Mission friends. But the slope was so steep and treacherous that I almost gave up. By climbing on all fours, though, I made it and felt so relieved. Up there it was like reliving the sights and sounds of the past.

After an hour of climbing, I picked one gallon of blackberries. But the gnats attacked us by the millions because the breeze was on the opposite side of us, on the other slope of the hill.

The next morning it was drizzling out so we stayed in camp and rested. As we were snacking near our campfire I spotted three dark black objects in the open tundra on the mountainside above Peteroff's camphouse. We checked with binoculars to see a mother Black bear with two cubs. They all looked huge, and the young cubs chased each other and climbed up the hill and ran out of sight among the trees. Their mother

trailed after them slowly, stopping to eat berries along the way.

On our way home we toured most of the moose camp spots and stopped to check the tundra for berries as we got closer to Marshall."

By: Annie Hunter