Alaska 2026 8/26-9/9 Starts now

[Bluffgruff]

There is only one filter you can rely on 100% up there:

MSR Guardian

We pumped from muddy tarns and tundra-tea creeks for days (~100L of water filtered) and it still pushed out 100% clear at 1-2L/minute

 

[Nuts]

Just out of curiosity, do you have a picture of how you were having issues with space on the EXO? I've packed 3 caribou out with mine and not had an issue, but I did do it in two trips per, bone in.

I do not have any pictures. I carried a shoulder and hind quarter along with rack and skull plus my gear. I was out of straps and struggled with it shifting as I navigated tundra. When turning to get up from taking sitting breaks velcro was pulling loose. Lashed it with paracord. Definitely could feel it pulling uneven in shoulder straps.
The guy with the K4. He had shoulder, hind quarter and misc meat (rib and neck) plus gear. More meat. Less gear. The misc bag with no meat fell out. Everything kept shifting for him as well.

When sitting on a tundra hump with a heavy pack we would turn around and walk out hands up hump to help us get up. That turn around would tilt the pack. Things kept shifting.

The Alp guys. Shelf and bungy straps. Every was solid. Probally could have hung it upside down with no movement.

 

[Deez Nutz]

Yep. Thats the one. Ended up in Deadhorse to meet a friend and get some intell after all are other plans were hampered by fires, bears, weather and the state. Met with a friend. Met the hunting partners of the guys attacked. Dried our clothes and ate a good meal. Got our Intel and off we went. (For whatever reason my Starlink service did not work this entire trip. Weird) Headed down the road. Went to our new spot. Had 3 guys actually wanting to fill a Caribou tag. Ended up with 2 Caribou. Saw tons of Caribou as well as Musk ox, artic fox, wolverine, lots of waterfowl amd luckily only 1 grizzly. And that was sitting in the town of deadhorse. Caught some Grayling. Had fish tacos. I love cold. This is cold hits different with so much moisture in the air. Saw lots of snow squats. And below freezing temperatures. Glad we made the best of it. For the future we will stick to the raft trips. View attachment 416376View attachment 416377View attachment 416378View attachment 416379View attachment 416380View attachment 416381

Thats Nuts.

 

[Jofes]

I do not have any pictures. I carried a shoulder and hind quarter along with rack and skull plus my gear. I was out of straps and struggled with it shifting as I navigated tundra. When turning to get up from taking sitting breaks velcro was pulling loose. Lashed it with paracord. Definitely could feel it pulling uneven in shoulder straps.
The guy with the K4. He had shoulder, hind quarter and misc meat (rib and neck) plus gear. More meat. Less gear. The misc bag with no meat fell out. Everything kept shifting for him as well.

When sitting on a tundra hump with a heavy pack we would turn around and walk out hands up hump to help us get up. That turn around would tilt the pack. Things kept shifting.

The Alp guys. Shelf and bungy straps. Every was solid. Probally could have hung it upside down with no movement.

Interesting, I've had issues with a k3 that was coming undone at the top Velcro also, I figured too much blood got into it but idk, they resowed it and now it seams fine. My k4 was rock solid with 120 lbls.

 

[Nuts]

The one that got away. Came to 81yds and took off. One of our guys with a bow was on him. Exceptional bull IMO. 80yds was his max distance. The bull never slowed down or stopped moving

 

[Nuts]

Memorable moments of the trip;

• 1 of the guys had something audibly sniffing around his tent loud enough to wake him up. It was at his head and physically bumped into his head before running off. We are thinking fox. But who knows. Didn't sound big enough to be a bear
• Local guy from a village I had a good chat with. When finding out I was from PA. "Thats where all the Bigfoot sightings are"
• While gearing up at and air bnb I noticed a box of ammo on the counter. 380ammo? I looked at another buddy and nodded toward it. We were both puzzled. We got side tracked and only in the truck asked about who/why is someone carrying a 380. There was confusion. Nobody in the truck owned a 380. After some discussion it was figured out that the 1 guy had grabbed ammo belonging to a roommate. Somehow grabbed it. Loaded it in the clip and put the clip in his 10mm. Didn't rack a shell. Mental note. Keep and I on him. Lol. Didn't know him prior to the trip. He was a buddy of the guy who canceled.
• Grizzly in Deadhorse in town/parking lot was no cause for alarm
• Ptarmigin sitting 10' away laughing at me. I was going to try a head shot with a rifle. But finding it in the scope with a rifle scope that only goes down to 4x proved difficult. And it just kept cackling and sitting there. Would have been a nice change from mtm house.
• Wolverine running through the tundra fairly close
• Artic fox bouncing like a muley as it ran away. With its head looking back at me
• The noise a Musk ox makes at its young when it dont keep up. From 40yds away from me
• How loud the tundra is at night. Geese and other birds. 1 rather disturbing sounding. We thought loons. Not sure. Sounded like a jack rabbit on my predator call. new saying came about: Noises I dont care to hear from my tent at night for $600 Alex