One Tree

Charlie Mayo, retired pediatrician, 82 years young and master birch weaver.

Bucky and I spent the past weekend traveling north on the Parks Highway.  This is the only direct route north connecting Anchorage to Fairbanks.  The Parks Highway, named for George Parks and not for Denali Park, takes all tourists to Denali State Park and Denali National Park and Preserve.  It is heavily traveled by tour buses, RVs, semis and local traffic traveling at the allowed 65 or faster.  At times it can be pretty scary.  We traveled along at our customary 55 mph feeling smug that we had dressed our belts while in Talkeetna and now no longer heard the start-up squeal.  It must be that they liked the outfits Bucky had chosen for them.  We traveled North through drizzle and low clouds making it impossible to see Denali or for that matter any of the dramatic mountains in this area.  We're thankful that we have seen them in the past.  We took a lunch stop in Nenana where we had spent July 4th in 2008.  It's a well kept small village on the banks of the Tanana River at the confluence of the Nenana River.  The town is most well known for the Nenana Ice Classic their annual  ice break-up festival.  Nenana was quiet on this day and we were happy to experience relief from the drizzle and have the sunshine of Alaska's interior shine down on us.  We've learned that when in Alaska you need a parka one minute and shorts the next.  As we neared Fairbanks, we could see the wild fires burning to the west of the city.  This Willow Creek fire has been burning for over a month in a huge expanse of wilderness.  We crossed the Chena River running through the center of Fairbanks and headed east on the Chena Hot Springs Road.  This 58 mile road ending at the Chena Resort follows the North Branch of the Chena and provided us with some beautiful mountain and stream scenery dotted with moose. We spent the night camped beside a small pond called 48 mile.  Fisher enjoyed smelling the scent of bear who had obviously been into some food items left behind by former campers.  Despite her desire to take a walk in the woods, we stuck to the open area around the pond.  We arrived at the Chena Resort the next morning looking forward to our soak in the hot spring.  It was a simple procedure to pay our fee and choose between the indoor pool or outdoor rock lake.  The water temperature was a hot 107.  We found it to be most relaxing and aerobic when running from some hot spots well over 107 degrees. Chena uses geothermal energy to heat large greenhouses, has a hydrogen generating plant and is stretching the lodge concept in new directions.  This property consisting of over 400 wilderness acres has survived as a commercial venture for over one hundred years.  As we left Chena, we received a phone call from our friend Karen Mannix directing us to the botanical gardens at UAF (the U of AK Fairbanks).  Here we met an enthusiastic group of birch weavers being taught by a master weaver from Minnesota.  Karen was enrolled in this course called "one tree" and had arranged for the instructor to teach a similar course in Talkeetna.  She was anxious for us to see this craft which at one time was a necessity for native people. It was impressive to see how the birch bark could be cut into strips, separated into layers and woven into functional pieces.  The decorative white paper outer bark was not used. The crafted pieces were then made strong with a coating of beeswax.  We'll learn more about birch weaving when it comes Talkeetna.