M.O.P.P.

I got to attend a Paper Making class the other day and had such good fun. It’s something I’ve been interested in doing for quite a while now, so I was very happy when I found that our local Art Café was going to offer up a class. The class was small enough that we all got some one-on-one time with the instructor, and each of us got to make several sheets of paper together.

The instructor was very good at explaining all of the steps, even though we didn’t have time to actually do them in the classroom. It’s a 2- or 3-day process, so she had all the steps made ahead of time, letting us do the work, then set aside our results in order to continue on with her steps as if we had waited the time required. She even had some botanicals that we could sprinkle into our papers: I chose to work with some lavender, some tea, and clover leaves. I’m quite pleased with the results and think perhaps I can do something with them in my card making efforts.

A couple of days after my class, I was at work talking to my supervisor about this & that while waiting for some tourists to decide if they wanted a tour or not, when suddenly, I had an idea! I could make paper out of MUSK OX POOP!

Dani was excited about the idea, so once I got home, I started doing some research to see what I’d need in order to give it a try. All of the articles I found said that poop from any herbivore could be used, so why not!

First, I made a list of the tools I’d need:

• A big tub for water
• A pot to boil things in
• Some pillowcases to filter the fiber out of the poop
• A blender
• The frames, sponges, and felt pieces to make the paper
• Botanicals to add in for color
• Towels to dry the paper on

I’ve been gathering flowers and dehydrating them to use as a splash of color:

• Chives gave me a soft purple
• Vetch gave me a pretty blue
• Rose petals gave me a nice deep red

I have plans to pick some dandelions for yellow and will use some of their leaves for green. I’m having some difficulty finding dandelions, however – everyone keeps mowing their lawns and cutting them all down before I can harvest any!

I went to Bishop’s Attic and Facebook Marketplace to get most of the other items I need. My partner sacrificed one of his totes for me and swears that he doesn’t mind if I boil musk ox poop in one of our kitchen pans (I’m hesitant about that one) so I think I’m ready to begin my experiment. I even came up for a name for my end product: M.O.P.P. (Musk Ox Poop Paper) !!

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Hiking the Muktuk Marston Trail Again

Last year I had the opportunity to join a group of ladies on a 5-hour hike along the Muktuk Marston Trail up at the Arctic Valley Ski Area near Anchorage. At that time, we got dropped off at the parking lot and picked up at the other end, at the South Fork Eagle River Trailhead.

It was a spectacular hike with a million wildflowers and amazing views. Truly a beautiful trail, and I loved it so much. The group I was with were all about the same level of fitness, so no one felt like they were slowing anybody down. We all packed our lunches and ate together at the midway point, up in Hunter Pass.

I have been wanting to get my family up there ever since but really couldn’t figure out the logistics of it. Who would drop us off and/or pick us up? How would we shuffle cars with a minimal amount of driving?

Just the other day I found out that the ski lodge at the trailhead offers their ski lift to hikers occasionally and I thought maybe that would be an equivalent option to hiking without needing to shuffle cars around. So, I put the call out to my family to see who would join me!

The plan was to either meet at my house to carpool (sister Noel chose that option) or meet at the parking lot (niece Katy chose that option) to begin our adventure. We would take the ski lift up to the top of the mountain (the blue line). Then take the Rendezvous Ridge trail along the top until it meets up with the Muktuk Marston trail at Hunter Pass and head on back down to the parking lot (the red line) – a total of roughly 6 miles.

Unfortunately, the ski lift doesn’t run in the rain, and it was pouring down rain when we all got there. So, we opted for Plan B: hike up the Muktuk Marston trail until we got tired, then turn around and head back to the car.

Even sopping wet, the trail was truly spectacular. So many wildflowers everywhere we looked! We had fun trying to identify them all, only occasionally having to look them up on the picture we had taken of the signage at the beginning of the trail that had most of them listed.

When we stopped for lunch, we laughed because each of us had packed PPJs to snack on. They’re easy, nutritious, and give a quick punch of energy to continue hiking - so yay for PBJs!

By the time we made it back to our cars, we were thoroughly wet but super pleased with our hike. We had such a great time together – although I really do want to take that ski lift someday. I plan to keep that one on the back burner for a while to try again on a later date.

The drive back down the hill to the highway brought us alongside this handsome fellow: look at that belly! He’s HUGE!

And a little further down, we came across this little lady and her cub! I was a little concerned at how scrawny she is – but then I remembered that she only just came out of hibernation. She’ll fatten up as summer progresses, never fear. Her cub was very healthy and energetic, so she’s doing just fine.