"Near the end of July my mom and Fran Evan decided to go salmon berry picking in Cugarqtaleq, which is a slough across from Pilot Station. A few days later we packed our food and supplies. In Fran's boat there were Daisy Coffee, Daisy's kids, Martha Evan, Myra Evan, Little Legs(their dog) and their driver Garrett. In our boat there were Pete, my mom and I. We took off at about 3:30 in the afternoon and got to Pilot Station at about 5:00 p.m. We stopped there and ate a little before taking off to Cugarqtaleq. While we were traveling inside the slough Little Legs jumped out of the boat after a loon. It took us four and a half hours to reach our camping spot. Then we set up our tents and brought our things up from the boats and set them near our tents."

"Everyone except Garrett, Richard Boots and I then went up to the tundra to pick berries. While they were gone we rod and reeled, but there were no fish where we were. Garrett saw a tree branch drifting down the slough and snagged it with his rod. He tried to pull it in, but it was pulling out his line. Then I snagged it to help him. We still couldn't pull it in until Richard got his hook stuck on it, and at last we pulled it in. By that time the berry pickers were back."

"Later that evening Garrett and I were shooting at a beaver with our rifles when we saw four ducks land downstream from us. We took Fran's Boat and went to hunt them. Garrett wounded one, and we ended up trying to catch it for fifteen minutes. When we finally caught it we went back to the camp, ate, and went to bed."

"The next day we went to a different spot to pick berries. While the others were picking, Garrett, Richard, and I did some rod and reeling. A little while later the berry pickers came down because they saw two bears. So we moved to a different spot where they picked until they filled their buckets. Then we went back to our camp and slept another night. Around noon the next day we put our supplies back in our boats and came home."

By: Ben Peteroff

Interviewed By: Chris Fitka