The Nushagak Chronicles Part 1: The Mud Walk

The Mud Walk

    “This shit sucks!”  The guy was carrying a filthy raincoat and a bucket. He was a twenty-something crewman and was caked in mud from the thigh down. His Grunden’s rain pants had gained twenty pounds as he slopped his way through the mud.  “It gets worse every fucking time!”  Cussing like a sailor means nothing to a commercial fisherman and typically there is little restraint in this regard.  We were all slogging through the mud trying to get back to camp.  We all agreed with the guy to one degree or another and it was funny to hear someone vocalize it so bluntly.

    The walk-in from the anchored boats to the nice gravel beach is about 400 meters, half-of-which is ladened with the gloopiest of mud.  Maybe it should be called the Forest Gump walk.  Each step is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.  If you are lucky you’ll sink-in a mere six inches.  More common though are the foot to foot-and-a-half deep steps.  “These must be the steps that build character”-I kept telling myself.  Already I had seen the mud suck the footwear off of three different people’s feet.

    We were returning from a six hour setnet opener.  Among our catch were 91 king salmon...not bad.  There has been a recent decline in kings around the state and it has been a long time since I’ve seen so many at once.  I was on cloud nine!

   As I labored through the brown slop I noticed the picked over remains of another king, eyeballs missing no-doubt from an opportunistic seagull.  I could tell that it had been there for several tides because the mud had already caked its layers over top.  Soon it would become one with the mud.  

   Finally we reached the gravel beach and the pebbles clung to our muddy boots as we walked.  “Well dip me in shit and roll me in Wheaties.” I pronounced.   My off-handed commentary produced only the mildest of chuckles but I was okay with it.   We would return to the cabin for about three hours of rest.  There was a hot meal waiting for us followed by a short nap.  It wouldn’t be long before we would be heading back down the beach and back onto the mud to do it all over again.