Column: Alaska Native guides offered lessons in rural living

On the morning of Feb. 11, 1861, eight Dena'ina men guided Father Nikolai, the Orthodox priest at Kenai, 90 miles into the interior of the Kenai Peninsula. There he would conduct the business of the church among the interior Dena'ina villages.

Off they went to do God's work. Each man was on snowshoes with a backpack, and each carried a walking stick useful for going through brush and getting over downed trees.

They set out across a swamp, probably the flats behind the Kenai airport the Dena'ina call Ken Ka'a, "Big Flats." As they traveled, the worst happened: The weather turned warm. Father Nikolai wrote their snowshoes "drowned in the deep snow," and "I felt as if I could go no further." But they pushed on until nine o'clock that night, well past dark, and made camp.

The Dena'ina dug a snow cave, lined it on the inside with alder branches and built a fire outside the entrance. They ate salted fish and the equivalent of Pilot Bread and drank tea. Father Nikolai wrote that "such a humble meal is more pleasant than the most luxurious dinner." Amen to that.

Traditionally, the Dena'ina made a sleeping bag of Dall sheepskin with the wool on the inside. We can hope someone made one for the priest as well. They slept in the snow cave that night.