Here We Are Again

 It's that time of year again.  I'm traveling to villages; the goal is 9 or 10 within the school year.  I've done 2 so far and will have 3 more before Christmas.  This is my 3rd year, and I'm getting more and more requests.  My first visit this year was to Kiana, which also happened to be one of the later visits last school year, so I was just there this spring.  It was nice to get to see the village during different seasons.

On this visit, the teachers asked me to stay the whole week.  I arrived Monday, at a very busy time as you can see from the crowded airport picture below, and stayed through Friday evening.

I had probably missed the really pretty fall colors by several weeks, but there was plenty of pretty green and gold contrast with the spruce and paper birch.

Kiana has an interesting history.  It's situated where the Squirrel and Kobuk rivers come together.  The name came from the Inupiaq word Qayaana, which to my best understanding refers to a point of land across the river from the village.  The natives tended to call the place Katyaak which means where the rivers meet, but English speaking folks around 1900 heard them saying, "qayaana katyaak," and called it Kiana.  There's a neat website with lots of cultural info about Kiana.  Go to Kiana Jukebox to learn more about Kiana.

The reason there were lots of English-speaking people in Kiana around 1900 is a story in itself.  You might know that was during the time of gold rushes all around Alaska, the biggest being the Klondike (in Canada but accessed through AK).  Shortly after the Klondike rush, it was reported that gold was found on the Kobuk, and about 2000 prospectors arrived to Kotzebue in July, 1898.  When they arrived, locals informed them that the rumors were lies, and over half turned around and went home.  About 800, however, made their way upriver and spent the winter.  They didn't find anything, but eventually there was some gold found over the next 10 years in a few tributaries of the Kobuk, including Squirrel River, which joins the Kobuk right at Kiana.  To read more, start at this NPS website.

Here are a few more pictures to enjoy:

Kiana Lynx gym