Salmonchaser
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I’ve been in and out of Alaska since 1958, guided up there for 20 years; have never equaled your adventure. Well done and thank you for sharing.
Go North, young man (or not so young man)
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YukonGold
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Agreed. I have questions though. What work do you do that lets you take these kinds of trips? And, more important...are they hiring? *wink*
Dan O
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Incredible pictures and story, Thanks for sharing your adventure!!!
D
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TheNorthStar
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Incredible.
D
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@theat had a accident bear spray discharge as well this fall, similarly no one got hit. Did learn that you should carry powdered milk in your med kit as that's the only thing that is really going to help someone in the field.
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theat
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We started day 4 with high hopes that we would get our gear delivered and be able to start our float down the river. The weather was looking somewhat promising, but the air transporter said that it was fogged in on their side of the mountains. At about noon a couple of us began to haul some of our gear the 1/2 mile to where we had decided to start our float. While on the way I found a spot where it looked like a bear had buried a dead sheep the previous year. Later in the day and about 100 yards closer to the river I found the rams head. Can't take deadheads or sheds from where we were, but it stunk so bad that I wouldn't have brought it along anyway.
As I was unloading my pack on the riverbank, I heard the sound of a small plane headed our way. Just then the inReach went off with a message letting us know that our gear was on the way. We all quickly dashed around the lake to where the plane had beached.
By some miracle everything made it to us
After parting ways with the pilot and watching the cessna zoom off over our heads, we quickly headed back to the river and began the process of rigging our boats. From what we had seen of the river downstream on our hike the previous day we knew that we had some tricky water ahead of us. The river was swollen from recent rains and in many places there were willow bushes hanging over the banks into the river. The river was also highly channelized in places and picking the "right" channel was very important. Once again the Brooks drew us onto the river with some decent weather, but quickly turned to rain and wind.
I took this picture right after putting on, but wasn't able to use my phone or camera for the rest of our time on the water that day. Turned out that the upper section of this river was very busy and fairly challenging water at these flows. A few of us had some close calls in the rapids but the biggest concern were the willow brush sweepers and log jams in the river. After about 10 very cold miles we decided to look for a campsite. During that process one of the group got swept into an overhanging bush and flipped her boat. I had somewhat anticipated it happening and had pulled off on a gravel bar just across and downriver. I quickly grabbed my throw bag and threw it our to her as she bobbed by. Unfortunately, my rope had become tangled and landed a few feet short. I gathered up the rope and jumped back in my boat to try and chase her down. Around the next corner I found her holding onto a bush dangling over the river. There was no way for me to help her without ending up in the same situation, so I yelled that she should let go of the bush and swim to my boat. Her head was periodically going under water so I wasn't sure if she had heard me, but she didn't let go by the time I was around the next corner. I had planned to pull over again and possible run back up there, but I saw another of the group trying to rescue the loose raft and ending up pinned against another bush at the next corner. I saw a good spot to pull over just downstream from her and could see that she was struggling with two rafts quickly filling with water so decided to help with that situation. She lost her grip on her boat but I was able to grab it and pull it to shore. Another in the group ran up and helped her get out of the bush and secure the other raft. By that point the first person had let go of the bush and had been able to get out on a gravel bar across from us. By this point, I was pretty wet in my old quite leaky "dry suit" and everyone was a bit worked up and ready to get off the river so we decided to camp at the first halfway decent spot.
There was a caribou deadhead right where we setup our tents and fresh caribou and moose tracks nearby. My friend had his little teepee and titanium stove flown in. I had been a bit skeptical about having the extra weight for our hike out at the end of the trip, but it turned out to be a big hit for drying clothes and everyone taking shifts to get warm before bed.
As I was unloading my pack on the riverbank, I heard the sound of a small plane headed our way. Just then the inReach went off with a message letting us know that our gear was on the way. We all quickly dashed around the lake to where the plane had beached.
By some miracle everything made it to us
After parting ways with the pilot and watching the cessna zoom off over our heads, we quickly headed back to the river and began the process of rigging our boats. From what we had seen of the river downstream on our hike the previous day we knew that we had some tricky water ahead of us. The river was swollen from recent rains and in many places there were willow bushes hanging over the banks into the river. The river was also highly channelized in places and picking the "right" channel was very important. Once again the Brooks drew us onto the river with some decent weather, but quickly turned to rain and wind.
I took this picture right after putting on, but wasn't able to use my phone or camera for the rest of our time on the water that day. Turned out that the upper section of this river was very busy and fairly challenging water at these flows. A few of us had some close calls in the rapids but the biggest concern were the willow brush sweepers and log jams in the river. After about 10 very cold miles we decided to look for a campsite. During that process one of the group got swept into an overhanging bush and flipped her boat. I had somewhat anticipated it happening and had pulled off on a gravel bar just across and downriver. I quickly grabbed my throw bag and threw it our to her as she bobbed by. Unfortunately, my rope had become tangled and landed a few feet short. I gathered up the rope and jumped back in my boat to try and chase her down. Around the next corner I found her holding onto a bush dangling over the river. There was no way for me to help her without ending up in the same situation, so I yelled that she should let go of the bush and swim to my boat. Her head was periodically going under water so I wasn't sure if she had heard me, but she didn't let go by the time I was around the next corner. I had planned to pull over again and possible run back up there, but I saw another of the group trying to rescue the loose raft and ending up pinned against another bush at the next corner. I saw a good spot to pull over just downstream from her and could see that she was struggling with two rafts quickly filling with water so decided to help with that situation. She lost her grip on her boat but I was able to grab it and pull it to shore. Another in the group ran up and helped her get out of the bush and secure the other raft. By that point the first person had let go of the bush and had been able to get out on a gravel bar across from us. By this point, I was pretty wet in my old quite leaky "dry suit" and everyone was a bit worked up and ready to get off the river so we decided to camp at the first halfway decent spot.
There was a caribou deadhead right where we setup our tents and fresh caribou and moose tracks nearby. My friend had his little teepee and titanium stove flown in. I had been a bit skeptical about having the extra weight for our hike out at the end of the trip, but it turned out to be a big hit for drying clothes and everyone taking shifts to get warm before bed.
theat
Well-known member
Day 5 started off with light rain and dense fog. I spent most of the morning feeding the stove in the teepee to finish drying out my wet clothes. By late morning the fog was burning off and we started packing up for anther day on the water. While we were packing the visibility was improving and I spotted a wolverine across and way back up the canyon.
It was another cold day on the water with a light wind and drizzling rain for the majority of it. The river was mellowing out the further we went downstream and we were all glad for it after the previous days misadventure. We made several stops to glass along the way but only saw more bears. I'm pretty sure that glassing was only an excuse to pull over and warm up with some running in place, pushups and squats.
After another ten miles on the river we pulled over and set up our camp for the night
I spotted this fox across the river while we were eating dinner. He was on the move and ran for a couple miles until disappearing downstream. After a few of the group had gone to bed and the light was starting to fade, I got out of the hot tent and glassed for a couple minutes before heading to my tent. When I pulled my binos down I glanced over a small hill right in front of me and spotted 3 nice caribou bulls about 150 yards away. One of the guys with a tag was walking in that direction to fertilize the tundra so I tried to get his attention before the caribou saw him. He didn't hear my low calls so I ducked and began to run in his direction. Unfortunately, I didn't see the dark colored guy out line that my buddy had rigged up running 15 feet out from the teepee and tripped on it. That made a loud noise that startled the dog and the dog startled the caribou and caribou ran off before anyone could get a clean shot at them. Damn!
It was another cold day on the water with a light wind and drizzling rain for the majority of it. The river was mellowing out the further we went downstream and we were all glad for it after the previous days misadventure. We made several stops to glass along the way but only saw more bears. I'm pretty sure that glassing was only an excuse to pull over and warm up with some running in place, pushups and squats.
After another ten miles on the river we pulled over and set up our camp for the night
I spotted this fox across the river while we were eating dinner. He was on the move and ran for a couple miles until disappearing downstream. After a few of the group had gone to bed and the light was starting to fade, I got out of the hot tent and glassed for a couple minutes before heading to my tent. When I pulled my binos down I glanced over a small hill right in front of me and spotted 3 nice caribou bulls about 150 yards away. One of the guys with a tag was walking in that direction to fertilize the tundra so I tried to get his attention before the caribou saw him. He didn't hear my low calls so I ducked and began to run in his direction. Unfortunately, I didn't see the dark colored guy out line that my buddy had rigged up running 15 feet out from the teepee and tripped on it. That made a loud noise that startled the dog and the dog startled the caribou and caribou ran off before anyone could get a clean shot at them. Damn!
EYJONAS!
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Unbelievable trips you do man thanks for sharing this is great!
theat
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Day 6 started off with fog again. By mid morning it was burning off a bit so we packed up and hit the river.
We had picked this time period for the trip to hopefully avoid the bug fest that is summer in the Brooks and hopefully avoid the onset of winter. Luck was on our side and the bugs were pretty minimal but got worse the further north and out of the mountain that we traveled. Any time that we had the stove going in the teepee, an assortment of bugs would crawl up out of the tundra apparently confused by the 80 degree temps they just found themselves in
We made a handful of stops to hike up to glassing spots to look for caribou, but once again despite plenty of new and old sign, none were spotted on the hoof
This spot provided some excitement when I spotted a couple of wolves in the willows directly across the river watching the part of the group that stayed on the gravel bar. They eventually ran up to the short ridge behind them and joint up with several more wolves. They were at least one or two adults and 5-6 pups of the year. One of the adults barked and howled at us for about an hour. A couple of the guys paddled across and snuck up on the den site, but despite getting close to some of the pups couldn't ever get a good shot at one of the adults.
We floated a few more miles down the river until finding a nice spot to camp with a good glassing mountain not too far from the river.
Keeping gear dry was a top priority, so any time the rain stopped we decorated the nearby willow bushes like Christmas trees
On the way up the mountain my buddy found this dead ram. There have been some rough winters in this area lately resulting in several die offs of the sheep population. We found several other dead sheep on the trip other than the two I posted. Also saw quite a few live sheep but very few rams. The sheep season was closed in the area this fall and for the next couple to hopefully allow the ram population to bounce back a bit.
The glassing was excellent from up high, but all we saw were more bears
On the way back down I found this bird nest made of sheep fur not too far from the dead ram. Sounds cheesy, but it warmed my heart to think that his death helped bring new life into the world
We had picked this time period for the trip to hopefully avoid the bug fest that is summer in the Brooks and hopefully avoid the onset of winter. Luck was on our side and the bugs were pretty minimal but got worse the further north and out of the mountain that we traveled. Any time that we had the stove going in the teepee, an assortment of bugs would crawl up out of the tundra apparently confused by the 80 degree temps they just found themselves in
We made a handful of stops to hike up to glassing spots to look for caribou, but once again despite plenty of new and old sign, none were spotted on the hoof
This spot provided some excitement when I spotted a couple of wolves in the willows directly across the river watching the part of the group that stayed on the gravel bar. They eventually ran up to the short ridge behind them and joint up with several more wolves. They were at least one or two adults and 5-6 pups of the year. One of the adults barked and howled at us for about an hour. A couple of the guys paddled across and snuck up on the den site, but despite getting close to some of the pups couldn't ever get a good shot at one of the adults.
We floated a few more miles down the river until finding a nice spot to camp with a good glassing mountain not too far from the river.
Keeping gear dry was a top priority, so any time the rain stopped we decorated the nearby willow bushes like Christmas trees
On the way up the mountain my buddy found this dead ram. There have been some rough winters in this area lately resulting in several die offs of the sheep population. We found several other dead sheep on the trip other than the two I posted. Also saw quite a few live sheep but very few rams. The sheep season was closed in the area this fall and for the next couple to hopefully allow the ram population to bounce back a bit.
The glassing was excellent from up high, but all we saw were more bears
On the way back down I found this bird nest made of sheep fur not too far from the dead ram. Sounds cheesy, but it warmed my heart to think that his death helped bring new life into the world
ChaosOneZero
Well-known member
Awesome story and pics, @theat. You never disappoint. Loved the pic of the dark colored fox early on in the trip. Looking forward to the rest of the story.
theat
Well-known member
Day 7 started like most of the rest with low level fog. It burned off just in time for a quick run back up the mountain for some more glassing. Of course, no caribou and lots of bears.
Back to the river for a fairly pleasant day of floating.
No caribou spotted this day, but between the ones we saw while glassing and the 4 we floated by on the river, it was a 9 bear day.
This was a fairly large bear not too far from the river. We had seen so many already that we didn't stop and just floated on by.
Back to the river for a fairly pleasant day of floating.
No caribou spotted this day, but between the ones we saw while glassing and the 4 we floated by on the river, it was a 9 bear day.
This was a fairly large bear not too far from the river. We had seen so many already that we didn't stop and just floated on by.
theat
Well-known member
Day 8 dawned clear and partly sunny! What a nice change of pace. While packing up camp a helicopter flew right at us but banked away and landed a couple hundred yards downriver. We couldn't figure out what that was all about until we saw a couple of guys packrafting away about an hour later. Ran into them later that day just before the chopper came to pick them back up. They were just out for a day float doing some arctic "research". Sounded more like a free helicopter supported float trip to me!
Seeing caribou sheds buried under almost a foot of slow growing tundra has to make you wonder how long it has been sitting out there. Some things fade fast in the arctic, but others persist for decades.
With the great weather and a good tailwind we decided to cover some miles on the river. After about 18 miles we finally spotted what looked a lot like a caribou about 4 miles away across the tundra. We spent about 20 minutes debating on whether or not it really was our sought after quarry. Since we had yet to see any while glassing it was almost too good to be true. Finally it stood up and we confirmed it was what we were looking for. After a bit of map reading, it was decided to float a couple more miles down the river and approach it from a different angle. This got us downwind and let us find a good camp spot to base out of for a couple days.
After some furious paddling we found a nice sandy beach for camp and 4 of us took off across the tundra while the other two set up camp. It took a few miles of hiking across wet tundra and around several of the many lakes in the area, but we finally found the caribou again. While giving it a look, another caribou was spotted about 90 degrees away from the first. With only about 45 minutes of light left, we decided to split into two groups to get a better look at both caribou. I went for a look at the first caribou and we were able to get less than 200 yards from it before deciding that it was a cow. Right about then we heard a shot and ran back around the lake to find our other group standing next to a dead young bull.
After a bit of celebrating, we gutted and drug the bull over to some drier ground. We had been too lazy to set up our bear fence around our camps so far on the trip, but were glad to have it now that we had an animal on the ground. Took a bit of figuring but we got it up and turned on before a 4 mile hike back to camp. If you think walking across the tussocky tundra in the day time is bad, doing it at night was way worse.
That night was our latest of the trip. We celebrated our success with some caribou heart and tenderloin roasted on sticks over the fire. At one point someone said that the only thing that could make the day better would be to see the northern lights. About 2 seconds later we looked up and there they were.
Seeing caribou sheds buried under almost a foot of slow growing tundra has to make you wonder how long it has been sitting out there. Some things fade fast in the arctic, but others persist for decades.
With the great weather and a good tailwind we decided to cover some miles on the river. After about 18 miles we finally spotted what looked a lot like a caribou about 4 miles away across the tundra. We spent about 20 minutes debating on whether or not it really was our sought after quarry. Since we had yet to see any while glassing it was almost too good to be true. Finally it stood up and we confirmed it was what we were looking for. After a bit of map reading, it was decided to float a couple more miles down the river and approach it from a different angle. This got us downwind and let us find a good camp spot to base out of for a couple days.
After some furious paddling we found a nice sandy beach for camp and 4 of us took off across the tundra while the other two set up camp. It took a few miles of hiking across wet tundra and around several of the many lakes in the area, but we finally found the caribou again. While giving it a look, another caribou was spotted about 90 degrees away from the first. With only about 45 minutes of light left, we decided to split into two groups to get a better look at both caribou. I went for a look at the first caribou and we were able to get less than 200 yards from it before deciding that it was a cow. Right about then we heard a shot and ran back around the lake to find our other group standing next to a dead young bull.
After a bit of celebrating, we gutted and drug the bull over to some drier ground. We had been too lazy to set up our bear fence around our camps so far on the trip, but were glad to have it now that we had an animal on the ground. Took a bit of figuring but we got it up and turned on before a 4 mile hike back to camp. If you think walking across the tussocky tundra in the day time is bad, doing it at night was way worse.
That night was our latest of the trip. We celebrated our success with some caribou heart and tenderloin roasted on sticks over the fire. At one point someone said that the only thing that could make the day better would be to see the northern lights. About 2 seconds later we looked up and there they were.
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Southern Elk
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Always enjoy your threads @theat . Thanks for taking us along.
Nick87
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Pictures are nothing short of jaw dropping..Thanks for sharing.
Scott85
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- Nov 22, 2018
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Amazing!!
