Any attempt by the teens not to play her game was greeting by a smile and yet another question in their face. Carol had us looking down on the ground for tracks, pointing out edible plants, and looking out across the landscape to think about where each of us might find ourselves hiding or eating or hunting. Regardless of which animal we chose, we spent most of our time on our hands and knees like bears, stuffing ourselves with wild blueberries and cranberries. We picked an additional 3 cups and left them in the kitchen refrigerator to add to our pancakes the next morning. The next day on our hike to McKinley Bar Carol turned us all into a nomadic band of aboriginal Athabascans.
Hunters take the lead and look for tracks or other signs of game.
The rest of you gatherers come with me so we can think about how we are going to preserve our food. We have to Get Ready . Get ready for what, we thought. Everything I do in the summer and fall when I'm not guiding here at Kantishna, I am getting ready for winter. Carol lives in a one room log cabin in the bush with her 12 Alaskan Husky sled dogs.