Telaquana Trail

At the Annual Igiugig Native Corp meeting on November 15, we had the privilege of hearing two presentations from Park Service Historian and Local Legend, John Branson. For those of you reading this from the outside, John is a venerated resident of Bristol Bay, and has published 11 books documenting the history of our region. In his nearly fifty years in the area he has traveled to corners of Bristol Bay few of us will ever get to experience, and has spent a great deal of time in the homes and on the land with so many of the old salts of our region.

His love for history and his obvious reverence for the land make him a man after my own heart. But what really gets me excited is when he talks about hiking. I’ve never hiked with John, but my wife has, as have several adults in our village and the surrounding ones. He never tired they said, and he pushed the students he took out to the limits of their endurance, telling stories all the way. I’m envious of those who went out with him, and envious of John and the experiences he got to have in learning the land and sharing stories with the people who lived on it.

Our hike to Big Mountain this fall was mostly inspired by this kind of learning. While we undertook our Local Foods Challenge, we wanted to connect ourselves a little deeper to the way people used to live (and travel), and although we knew it would be a challenge, we wanted to take even our young ones for a more collective and authentic experience. That said, I did not encourage Christina, seven months pregnant, to make the whole journey, but she would not be dissuaded, citing the strength of her grandmother, Mary Olympic, as her inspiration. I could not be any prouder than to arrive first to Big Mountain, with my 8 year old daughter Danni by my side, and my wife and boys just minutes behind.

Now John has captured my imagination of where I hope we will have our next outing together, the Telaquana Trail in Lake Clark National Park. This historic route connected its users between the old villages of Telaquana, Kijik, and Nondalton. It is roughly fifty miles, through drainages leading to three major waterways, the Kuskokwim, the Nushagak, and the Kvichak. We’d be crossing the upper reaches of the Mulchatna, the Chilikadrotna, and the Kijik rivers along the way. And while John didn’t sugar coat these crossings, after our frigid swim of Belinda Creek, I am sure we will find our way across.

Now I know I’m not our logistics guy, but can we please make this happen? Come May, can we touch floats down on Lake Telaquana, lace up our boots and get walking? John, its my sincere hope you’ll be there to show us the way. But I also want to extend an invitation to my own John – the dad who led me down countless trails as a boy, and instilled in me my own love for wilderness. How about it Pop? Ready for a new fifty miler?

Cover Photo: Telaquana Mountain, looking East. Photo courtesy of John Branson