It's been almost 2 weeks since I got home from the trip and I'm still processing it all. When people ask me what I liked best, it's really hard to answer--I loved Homer and Denali was unbelievable, as was the Cassiar Highway and seeing bears and and the Frasar River Canyon and Hope and.......the list is endless. But I think what I liked the best were the little moments that make a road trip a road trip--and family, family. I had planned to give you a play-by-play, day-by-day update, but that's not going to happen. Instead, I'm going to share some of the on-the-road tidbits, maybe as they happened, maybe as I remember them. Ken will have to read this to defend himself---Ha!!!
At the junction for the Cassiar Highway, we decided we better gas up before heading down the road. Ken turned into the station and had to manuever a bit to get up to the pumps--and when he did, the diesel wasn't working. The attendant directed us to another set of pumps that the big trucks use--again it took a little manuevering. Okay, lined up and ready to go, except the nozzle was really big for our tank. Ken had to hold it very carefully to keep from missing the tank and going on the ground. And then it looked like it wasn't pumping very fast at all. When Patte looked at the pump, she thought he had only pumped 2.2 liters--and it had taken awhile. Patte went up to the attendant and he very nicely explained that there wasn't a decimal point and Ken had already put in 22 liters. He was probably thinking "crazy Americans", but he was very nice and we were able to fill up. I'll leave out the part about smelling like diesel and tromping through the diesel spilled on the ground--just use your imagination.
The Cassiar Highway is incredible, but not a highway you take for time. Lots of streams and lakes everywhere. We kept seeing signs to watch for moose, but they were just there for our entertainment. We never did see any moose in Canada. We also saw a lot of "bumpy" road signs--and those bumps in the road were there--if they were marked with a flag they were worse than those without--and those with 2 flags you really had to watch! We were still getting used to kilometers versus miles. At one point Ken said "we still have that many miles to go!" and Patte yelled out "Kilowatts not miles!" It had been a long day--or was going to be a long day, don't remember which. We also learned later, that Stewart, BC is "9 klicks" from Hyder Alaska. Who knew?
The side trip to Stewart and Hyder was one of the highlights of the trip. We saw 9 black bears along the road in about a 20 mile stretch--mom's and babies. Two of them were in the middle of the road, luckily Ken was able to avoid them. Patte was looking at the Milepost book, but looked up when she heard Ken say "Oh No", or something to that effect, and he was hitting the brakes. They moved. (Still not as entertaining has him honking at the Raven and making the bird startle and veer off his path). In Hyder, we were able to watch a sow grizzly and her cub feeding on the salmon in Fish Creek. We were close enough to hear them crunch the bones!! Magnificent animals. The little one was trying to get the hang of fishing, but didn't quite have it down yet--it was fun to watch him splash around in the creek. Mama was quite adept at it and very protective of her baby and kept a keen eye on their surroundings. We have lots of pictures.
We ended up driving the last part of the Cassiar Highway through Kitwanga in the dark (and rain), but that's whole 'nother story.....especially the part where we ended up sleeping in a parking lot in New Hazelton! (This was after we tried sleeping in the front of the truck in a pullout)
We followed the Yellowhead Highway towards Prince George, stopping at some of the historic sites and visitor's centers. We saw the "World's Largest Fly Rod" in Houston and also a stuffed version of a very big grizzly--the Hungry Hill Grizzly--who weighed in at 975 lbs and was 11 feet tall when he stood upright. He had caused a lot of problems in the area and now he's on display. Ken also found his dream house on this stretch of road (see previous blogs for pictures)
From Prince George, we headed south on highway 97, going past 150 Mile House, 100 Mile House, 70 Mile House, etc. Those were marking the distance from Lillooet, which had been one of the major gold mining areas years ago. We stopped at a museum in Clinton and Ken was talking to the guy working there, who also gold mines, and he told us about the legend of the stolen gold that was never found out by Scotty Creek--and provided directions! Ken opted not to stop there, but did do some panning along the Fraser River--actually in a couple of spots, mostly further south.
Which brings us to the Fraser River Canyon--WOW!!! The canyon is spectacular! We stopped and panned along the banks of the river and heard rocks move on the other side. We couldn't see anything initially, but then we spotted a ram moving across the mountainside--he kept looking back like something was following him, but we couldn't see anything. We did get pictures though. We were also across from some of train tunnels that were built into the mountainside in the 1800's and are still in use today. What an engineering feat!
The last night of the road trip, we camped between Yale and Hope, BC at Emory Creek Provincial Park--they had flush toilets!! No running water, but flush toilets. It seemed a little odd, but we didn't mind. Panned by the river in the morning and headed to Hope--another place I really liked! Ken panned in the Fraser River and I hunted for gold and jade on the banks-- just knew I could turn up a big nugget! No luck there, but we did find a little gold and some jade. Then it was on the road again--and to customs.
This was another highlight-- entering back into the US from Canada. We crossed at Suma, Washington. When it was our turn, we handed the custom agent our passports. "Husband and wife?" she inquired. No, brother and sister. "Do you live in Washington?" Ken says he lives in Oregon and Patte tells her she lives in Montana. "What brought you to Alaska?" Ken explains that he went to go gold-panning and was driving the truck back for a friend. "Is this friend in Oregon?" No,he's in Colorado--and we're driving a truck with Alaska plates. It was about this time that she looked at the rest of the paperwork and saw that we were carrying 2 shotguns. She thought for a moment, asked a couple of other questions and waved us through---who could have made up that story!
After crossing the border we weren't sure of the best route to take to Sarah's--the road signs said one thing, Gertie (the GPS navigator) said another, and the map was different than both of them. So Patte called Sarah and tried to explain the situation, with Ken asking in the background "Which way do I go?" and the first thing Sarah asked was "Who's Gertie?" We finally got it figured out and did manage to arrive safe and sound at Sarah's that night.
We covered about 3300 miles from Kasilof, Alaska to Oregon--and Ken didn't let me drive once!! I did have a set of keys, so I could unlock my own door, but that was about it. May be just as well--he never has been a good passenger. I even reminded him that he was the one that taught me how to drive a stick shift, in an old pick-up. Do you suppose that had anything to do with it?
It's impossible to capture the trip in words, or even in pictures. If I get any "ah ha" moments I will be sure to share them with you.
As with all outstanding productions, I would like to thank the "academy," aka my family, for making this trip possible, especially Sarah, for without frequent flier miles we would have been "grounded" (pun intended). And I think I speak for all of us when I say a BIG THANK YOU to Ken's friend Cliff, who so graciously let us use his cabin and vehicle--and to his family in Alaska who made all of us feel welcome. (And provided some tasty salmon treats!) This definitely was an incredible Alaska Expedition! Now I just have to figure out how to get back there!
The story of the 2010 Doran family expedition to Alaska.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Post Trip Update
All members of the expedition are now home and back to their everyday routines--blah! Ken arrived home on Friday and Patte got home to Montana early Monday morning after an all-night train ride. It is now Wednesday, Sept. 8 and Patte wants to go back to Alaska!!!! As a way to relive the adventure, she and Ken are going to be adding info to the blog and sharing the stories that didn't get up here during the trip--remember, neither her or Ken are "techies." Patte did try to put info into word to cut and paste, but that's not working out so well either....So, over the next several days, or weeks, we will fill you in on our expedition and post more pictures, many, many pictures, if all goes well.
The last place we left off was Saturday, Aug. 29. After catching up the blog, Patte and Ken headed out of Tok and made it as far as Haines Junction--about 250 miles--and the most miles we had covered in 1 day! We got a late start that day and the road had a lot of "bumps" for about 100 miles. We learned that just before we started on the road after a stop at the visitor's center in Beaver Creek, YT. We crossed the border without a hitch after Ken finally filled out the paperwork for the shotguns when the border crossing was in site!
Along the drive, we stopped at Tetlin Wildlife refuge and checked out some of the Native history of the area. We also saw the Icefields Range of the St. Elias Mountains--the largest non-polar icefield in North America. And we also saw Mt. Logan--the highest peak in BC. It's a little over 19,000 feet, making it just a little smaller than Mt. McKinley. Spectacular scenery everywhere! We also stopped at Tachal Dahl, aka, Sheep Mountain, and managed to see a herd of Dall sheep waayyy up the mountain. Ken counted about 34 sheep; Patte managed to find about 12 of them! You can almost tell what they are in the picture! We cruised through Haines Junction and camped at Pine Lake Recreation Area, just a few miles outside of Haines Junction; the term "camping" is used lightly.
Sunday morning we got up early, so "we could put down some mile"--silly us. Our first destination was White Horse to re-stock some food. We went to a discount-type grocery store, because it was the first one we spotted. Patte went to grab a cart and they were locked--it was coin operated--you had to pay to use a shopping cart! Ken wished he had a picture of the expression on her face. Who knew?!?! We opted not to use a cart and found a couple of baskets that were free to use, but you had to pay for the plastic bags to put the food in. It was a new shopping experience for both of us. Hard to say who was more bewildered by it. After that is was a search for fuel, with a stop at McDonalds, which you all know is not a favorite of either Ken of Patte. But it was close and it was warm and they had flush toilets and running water, so Mickey Dee's it was!
While there, Ken started talking to a couple who were from Whitehorse and he found out where to get the best deal on fuel and some other local info. And then we were off again. Patte wanted to go through downtown, but Ken wasn't crazy about the idea. But that's the route "Gertie", our GPS Navagator took us. Made Patte happy! And we found the Klondike parked on the Yukon river--Yay!! From there we headed towards Watson Lake.
To be continued.........
The last place we left off was Saturday, Aug. 29. After catching up the blog, Patte and Ken headed out of Tok and made it as far as Haines Junction--about 250 miles--and the most miles we had covered in 1 day! We got a late start that day and the road had a lot of "bumps" for about 100 miles. We learned that just before we started on the road after a stop at the visitor's center in Beaver Creek, YT. We crossed the border without a hitch after Ken finally filled out the paperwork for the shotguns when the border crossing was in site!
Along the drive, we stopped at Tetlin Wildlife refuge and checked out some of the Native history of the area. We also saw the Icefields Range of the St. Elias Mountains--the largest non-polar icefield in North America. And we also saw Mt. Logan--the highest peak in BC. It's a little over 19,000 feet, making it just a little smaller than Mt. McKinley. Spectacular scenery everywhere! We also stopped at Tachal Dahl, aka, Sheep Mountain, and managed to see a herd of Dall sheep waayyy up the mountain. Ken counted about 34 sheep; Patte managed to find about 12 of them! You can almost tell what they are in the picture! We cruised through Haines Junction and camped at Pine Lake Recreation Area, just a few miles outside of Haines Junction; the term "camping" is used lightly.
Sunday morning we got up early, so "we could put down some mile"--silly us. Our first destination was White Horse to re-stock some food. We went to a discount-type grocery store, because it was the first one we spotted. Patte went to grab a cart and they were locked--it was coin operated--you had to pay to use a shopping cart! Ken wished he had a picture of the expression on her face. Who knew?!?! We opted not to use a cart and found a couple of baskets that were free to use, but you had to pay for the plastic bags to put the food in. It was a new shopping experience for both of us. Hard to say who was more bewildered by it. After that is was a search for fuel, with a stop at McDonalds, which you all know is not a favorite of either Ken of Patte. But it was close and it was warm and they had flush toilets and running water, so Mickey Dee's it was!
While there, Ken started talking to a couple who were from Whitehorse and he found out where to get the best deal on fuel and some other local info. And then we were off again. Patte wanted to go through downtown, but Ken wasn't crazy about the idea. But that's the route "Gertie", our GPS Navagator took us. Made Patte happy! And we found the Klondike parked on the Yukon river--Yay!! From there we headed towards Watson Lake.
To be continued.........
Friday, September 3, 2010
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Thursday, September 2, 2010
Update
The expedition is currently in the mountains near Hope, BC. No cell service. Planning for Seattle this evening.
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Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
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Sunday, August 29, 2010
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Saturday, August 28, 2010
Update
Good Morning!!! Patte and Ken are finally at a spot where we have wifi--and cell phone--service. We are currently in Tok--again. Anyway, here's what the crew has been up to the past several days.
Tuesday was "break camp" day for Ken. After having been in Kasilof for 2+ weeks it was time to load up and begin the next leg of the journey. Needless to say, he had lots of stuff all over the place...Patte on the other hand hadn't had a chance to get that settled in. The plan was to get on the road by noon and fish on the way to Anchorage, where the fish had to be shipped from, then head towards Denali. Things didn't quite go according to plan--it took longer to get loaded and ready to go; we got to Anchorage around 5:30. Got the fish shipped and we were off again. And we didn't stop to fish along the way and our licenses expired at 3:30--oh well, lots go shipped to Seattle.
It was a beautiful drive north--mountains everywhere! And we got a real treat, we could see Mount McKinley, clearly, in the distance. We felt very fortunate, since it's only visible about 30 % of the time, depending which report you read. We had to stop for road construction and Ken got to talking to the road guy (we were the first vehicle to be stopped) and --surprise--he was a gold miner too! They chatted for a while and he told Ken about a good spot, that was almost on our way. We went as far as Trapper Creek that evening and "camped" there; more like pulling in and throwing stuff around so we could sleep in the camper. But we did get showers the next morning!
Wednesday morning--beautiful and sunny--we decided to check out "the spot", since it was only 19 miles from where we were--just a little side trip. It took 2 hours to get there--Petersville road is rough and graveled, and goes up and down and around and around. But we had a view of Mount McKinley again! The gods were smiling!!! We got lots of pictures, but will deal with those later. We got back in there and Ken wanted to go to a different spot, so we got the gear together and headed towards the river. The gear included 2 loaded shot guns--now Patte hasn't shot a gun in years and Ken gave her a quick review. Quite a site--Patte hiking with a loaded gun!!!! And a camera. (It is recommended to carry a gun d/t bears) We panned for awhile and got some fine stuff. Ken then went to the "the spot" and someone else was there, so he went a little further downstream. Still just some fine stuff. Since it was getting a little late, we headed back to Trapper Creek campground again, taking more pictures along the way. We kept looking for critters, but didn't see any. The second night on camping went a little smoother, since Ken did some re-arranging while it was still day light. For those of you just beginning to follow this blog, the stuff Ken is re-arranging is all the prospecting equipment he shipped up there --including a high banker, sluice, plus other assorted items. At this point he is sleeping with the equipment on his bunk.
Thursday morning we head towards Denali and Fairbanks; it's little overcast, but sunny off and on. We are both amazed at the scenery and taking lots of pictures. We spent a little time at Denali and went to the visitors center,where they have an incredible 3-D panoramic display of the wildlife and lifecycle of the animals--it was incredible and we learned more about the eco-system. We opted not to do the 92 mile loop inside the park, since we had taken our little side trip the day before. Denali is a place where you could spend lots of time--which Patte plans to do in the future. So many trails, so little time........
From Denali, we continued north into and through Fairbanks. Both Patte and Ken were surprised by the Fairbanks area--it was much prettier than either of them expected. We continued on to the North Pole and did stop and look around and take some pictures. At this point, Patte is beginning to realize that her and Ken have a different idea about the word "roadtrip". Patte's idea is to travel a little, stop a little and enjoy the surroundings; Ken wants to get to where he's going----we've both had to do a little compromising--and demanding. After the North Pole, we're off again--heading towards Tok. We had decided we would stop earlier, i.e. before dark, that night, maybe around Delta Junction. We went through there around 8 and Ken thought it was too early to stop, because we still had lots of day light--so we kept going, thinking we'd pull over some where "soon". Well........we drove a little longer than we expected and had a near encounter with a moose. Ken spotted it running towards the road from the woods and slowed down, but wasn't sure he could stop in time, so he honked the horn--it spooked the moose enough that it veered away from the road--whew! He also honked at a crow and spooked it too--just for fun. It's going to be a long trip......And he hasn't let Patte drive yet.
We ended up "camping" at Moon Lake about 12 miles from Tok--very beautiful. It had lots of loons talking to each other and several sea planes parked along the shore. Did I mention that among all this stuff, Ken is trying to dry fish eggs??? Or that we forgot to put some frozen salmon in the cooler and we found it a few days later--we smell like a mobil bear magnet.
Friday morning--off to Tok to play tourist. Both Patte and Ken really like Tok and had fun poking around the shops and stuff. Then we headed off to Chicken, to check out the gold panning. Chicken is about 77 miles from Tok and it takes roughly 2 hours to get there--again up and down and around and around. We kept looking for Caribou, but didn't spot any. However, we did see a lot of caribou hunters, since opening day is Sunday. Our original plan was to travel the Top of the World Hiway to Dawson City, but the road was washed out a while back and they have been having to go through by convoys twice a day, except it was going to be closed the 27 and 28--we were going to get there before that. We were debating whether to wait until Sunday to go through with a convoy or to try to sneak through with the hunters they were supposedly going to let through Friday night. Ken panned a little, found a little and as all the hunters were pulling in, we decided to head back to Tok, instead. Hunters everywhere--all with quadra tracks. We opted to head back to Tok and we actually pulled in before dark last night!!!
We had showers this moring, Patte caught up on the blog and Ken is replacing the burnt out headlight. Today, after getting some souvenirs, we are headed across the border towards Whitehorse. From there we are planning to take the Cassier Highway through BC, but we may have some side trips. Off we go............
Tuesday was "break camp" day for Ken. After having been in Kasilof for 2+ weeks it was time to load up and begin the next leg of the journey. Needless to say, he had lots of stuff all over the place...Patte on the other hand hadn't had a chance to get that settled in. The plan was to get on the road by noon and fish on the way to Anchorage, where the fish had to be shipped from, then head towards Denali. Things didn't quite go according to plan--it took longer to get loaded and ready to go; we got to Anchorage around 5:30. Got the fish shipped and we were off again. And we didn't stop to fish along the way and our licenses expired at 3:30--oh well, lots go shipped to Seattle.
It was a beautiful drive north--mountains everywhere! And we got a real treat, we could see Mount McKinley, clearly, in the distance. We felt very fortunate, since it's only visible about 30 % of the time, depending which report you read. We had to stop for road construction and Ken got to talking to the road guy (we were the first vehicle to be stopped) and --surprise--he was a gold miner too! They chatted for a while and he told Ken about a good spot, that was almost on our way. We went as far as Trapper Creek that evening and "camped" there; more like pulling in and throwing stuff around so we could sleep in the camper. But we did get showers the next morning!
Wednesday morning--beautiful and sunny--we decided to check out "the spot", since it was only 19 miles from where we were--just a little side trip. It took 2 hours to get there--Petersville road is rough and graveled, and goes up and down and around and around. But we had a view of Mount McKinley again! The gods were smiling!!! We got lots of pictures, but will deal with those later. We got back in there and Ken wanted to go to a different spot, so we got the gear together and headed towards the river. The gear included 2 loaded shot guns--now Patte hasn't shot a gun in years and Ken gave her a quick review. Quite a site--Patte hiking with a loaded gun!!!! And a camera. (It is recommended to carry a gun d/t bears) We panned for awhile and got some fine stuff. Ken then went to the "the spot" and someone else was there, so he went a little further downstream. Still just some fine stuff. Since it was getting a little late, we headed back to Trapper Creek campground again, taking more pictures along the way. We kept looking for critters, but didn't see any. The second night on camping went a little smoother, since Ken did some re-arranging while it was still day light. For those of you just beginning to follow this blog, the stuff Ken is re-arranging is all the prospecting equipment he shipped up there --including a high banker, sluice, plus other assorted items. At this point he is sleeping with the equipment on his bunk.
Thursday morning we head towards Denali and Fairbanks; it's little overcast, but sunny off and on. We are both amazed at the scenery and taking lots of pictures. We spent a little time at Denali and went to the visitors center,where they have an incredible 3-D panoramic display of the wildlife and lifecycle of the animals--it was incredible and we learned more about the eco-system. We opted not to do the 92 mile loop inside the park, since we had taken our little side trip the day before. Denali is a place where you could spend lots of time--which Patte plans to do in the future. So many trails, so little time........
From Denali, we continued north into and through Fairbanks. Both Patte and Ken were surprised by the Fairbanks area--it was much prettier than either of them expected. We continued on to the North Pole and did stop and look around and take some pictures. At this point, Patte is beginning to realize that her and Ken have a different idea about the word "roadtrip". Patte's idea is to travel a little, stop a little and enjoy the surroundings; Ken wants to get to where he's going----we've both had to do a little compromising--and demanding. After the North Pole, we're off again--heading towards Tok. We had decided we would stop earlier, i.e. before dark, that night, maybe around Delta Junction. We went through there around 8 and Ken thought it was too early to stop, because we still had lots of day light--so we kept going, thinking we'd pull over some where "soon". Well........we drove a little longer than we expected and had a near encounter with a moose. Ken spotted it running towards the road from the woods and slowed down, but wasn't sure he could stop in time, so he honked the horn--it spooked the moose enough that it veered away from the road--whew! He also honked at a crow and spooked it too--just for fun. It's going to be a long trip......And he hasn't let Patte drive yet.
We ended up "camping" at Moon Lake about 12 miles from Tok--very beautiful. It had lots of loons talking to each other and several sea planes parked along the shore. Did I mention that among all this stuff, Ken is trying to dry fish eggs??? Or that we forgot to put some frozen salmon in the cooler and we found it a few days later--we smell like a mobil bear magnet.
Friday morning--off to Tok to play tourist. Both Patte and Ken really like Tok and had fun poking around the shops and stuff. Then we headed off to Chicken, to check out the gold panning. Chicken is about 77 miles from Tok and it takes roughly 2 hours to get there--again up and down and around and around. We kept looking for Caribou, but didn't spot any. However, we did see a lot of caribou hunters, since opening day is Sunday. Our original plan was to travel the Top of the World Hiway to Dawson City, but the road was washed out a while back and they have been having to go through by convoys twice a day, except it was going to be closed the 27 and 28--we were going to get there before that. We were debating whether to wait until Sunday to go through with a convoy or to try to sneak through with the hunters they were supposedly going to let through Friday night. Ken panned a little, found a little and as all the hunters were pulling in, we decided to head back to Tok, instead. Hunters everywhere--all with quadra tracks. We opted to head back to Tok and we actually pulled in before dark last night!!!
We had showers this moring, Patte caught up on the blog and Ken is replacing the burnt out headlight. Today, after getting some souvenirs, we are headed across the border towards Whitehorse. From there we are planning to take the Cassier Highway through BC, but we may have some side trips. Off we go............
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Fish!
70 or so pounds of fresh fish from Alaska arrived in Seattle today, to be safely stored in Sarah's freezer until the expedition reaches her house. The folks at the Alaska Airlines Cargo counter all seemed to know about the giant box of fish that had come in and offered to take some off our hands if needed! Some of it is going to get eaten tonight though! We tried to let Ken and Patte know it had arrived safely, but their cell phones are out of coverage area tonight.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Late Entry for Day 17
The time seemed to get away from us yesterday--we were having too much fun! Putting fish away got priority over blogging. We started out the day by heading south to Homer--Patte's new favorite place. It was a beautiful drive and we stopped and took lots of pictures--we will get them up eventually, but trust us it is amazing. WE kept looking for moose along the way, but none were spotted. We went to Homer Spit and checked out the Salty Dawg bar and the other "touristy" things and walked along the spit listening to the ocean. Having grown up in Oregon, Patte still misses the ocean. Ken showed her where him and Jeff went out on the halibut charter and we watched a couple of boats go out.
Upon heading out of Homer, came the big decision--how many days do we want to buy fishing licenses for? Patte isn't as much as a fisherman as Ken is, but she wanted to try her hand at catching some salmon. We opted for one day, so we could have time for prospecting--remember, we planto hit the motherlode!!!! So we got our licenses and headed back towards Kasilof; stopping to fish along the Anchor River--well Ken did, Patte was waiting to get to a little slower water. Ken had no luck there, so we headed to the Kasilof River. Ken managed to get his limit--3 salmon in a little under 2 hours--2 Humpy's and 1 Silver (we think). Patte wasn't quite as fortunate, although she did have a pretty good-sized one on that got away--no, really! By this time it was starting to get dark and we headed back towards "home".
On the way back, a baby moose ran across road; we stopped and watched while the mama moose followed, taking time to stand in the middle of the road, so we could get a good look at her. What an awesome animal! Unfortunately, by the time Patte got the camera out, the mama had sauntered off and her and baby disappeared into the woods. Patte did catch a glimpse of another one in the woods, but just briefly. We also saw 2 eagles while fishing and several bunnies today. No bears, but there was a report of fresh bear tracks close to where we were fishing, but we didn't find that out til we got back.
Once back, the work began--and another decision--what to do with the fish Ken just caught. That was easy for Patte--ship them to Montana!!!! So Ken proceeded to cut the fish, while Patte wrapped. Humpy's are hard to cut evenly, because they really are humpy! There were several "kodak" moments, but we were too fishy to take pictures--Ken with bright pink curing stuff all over his hands and Patte having issues with the fish not cooperating. And we were doing this about 11:30 pm, so it was a long day--no complaints! On Tuesday morning, or as close to morning as we can get, we are heading up to Anchorage to ship out the fish and hopefully do a little fishing on the way.
We will keep you posted as best we can--remember, 2 non-techy people at the helm---but we are alive and well in Alaska.
Upon heading out of Homer, came the big decision--how many days do we want to buy fishing licenses for? Patte isn't as much as a fisherman as Ken is, but she wanted to try her hand at catching some salmon. We opted for one day, so we could have time for prospecting--remember, we planto hit the motherlode!!!! So we got our licenses and headed back towards Kasilof; stopping to fish along the Anchor River--well Ken did, Patte was waiting to get to a little slower water. Ken had no luck there, so we headed to the Kasilof River. Ken managed to get his limit--3 salmon in a little under 2 hours--2 Humpy's and 1 Silver (we think). Patte wasn't quite as fortunate, although she did have a pretty good-sized one on that got away--no, really! By this time it was starting to get dark and we headed back towards "home".
On the way back, a baby moose ran across road; we stopped and watched while the mama moose followed, taking time to stand in the middle of the road, so we could get a good look at her. What an awesome animal! Unfortunately, by the time Patte got the camera out, the mama had sauntered off and her and baby disappeared into the woods. Patte did catch a glimpse of another one in the woods, but just briefly. We also saw 2 eagles while fishing and several bunnies today. No bears, but there was a report of fresh bear tracks close to where we were fishing, but we didn't find that out til we got back.
Once back, the work began--and another decision--what to do with the fish Ken just caught. That was easy for Patte--ship them to Montana!!!! So Ken proceeded to cut the fish, while Patte wrapped. Humpy's are hard to cut evenly, because they really are humpy! There were several "kodak" moments, but we were too fishy to take pictures--Ken with bright pink curing stuff all over his hands and Patte having issues with the fish not cooperating. And we were doing this about 11:30 pm, so it was a long day--no complaints! On Tuesday morning, or as close to morning as we can get, we are heading up to Anchorage to ship out the fish and hopefully do a little fishing on the way.
We will keep you posted as best we can--remember, 2 non-techy people at the helm---but we are alive and well in Alaska.
Monday, August 23, 2010
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Sunday, August 22, 2010
Day 16
Today was a busy day for the Doran Expedition. Patte arrived in Anchorage this morning and was met at the airport by Jana and they hung out at the Saturday/Sunday Market in Anchorage for a while and Jana showed Patte some of highlights around the city. The earlier entry was supposed to have a picture with it, but Patte accidentally erased it from the phone--oops! She's not as techy as some of the family. But she did manage to get some pictures with her regular camera. She is apparently having some problems getting them posted here--bear with her.
Patte in front of Ulu factory in Anchorage
Tribute to sled dogs in downtown AnchorageKen and Jeff traveled to Anchorage to rendezvous with Patte and so Jeff could catch his flight back to Seattle and then to Pasco. Ken was also planning to ship out some fish (yummy salmon and halibut) today, but after he got it all packaged and ready to go, found out they were closed today. Jeff was able to box his share up and take it home with him.
Patte and Ken connecting at airport
Ken and Jeff--Jeff getting ready to head out.After locating the truck in the parking lot, Ken and Patte proceeded to try to find their way out of the parking lot--the GPS wasn't helpful for this! But, it didn't take long and they were on their way back to the "cabin." The drive back was uneventful, but the scenery was outstanding. Patte was a little disappointed that no moose were spotted, but there's always tomorrow....
They stopped to check out some fishing spots along the way and made plans for the next few days. Once back, Ken unpacked and put the fish back into the freezer, while Patte cooked dinner--fresh salmon--yummmmm.
Tomorrow it's off to Homer......
I made it!
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Saturday, August 21, 2010
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Day 14
We lost our wifi connection for some reason, so we can't upload pictures or post things from the house. We're going in to Soldotna today to get packing boxes for the fish so we can ship them home tomorrow. It sounds like we can get them for free at Safeway, along with the gel packs we need to ship with them. They get them in incoming shipments and just give them away. We have to go to the laundromat so Jeff can wash his backpack. He's been carrying dead fish around in it all week, and he probably shouldn't take it on the plane smelling like it does. They've got free wifi at the Wash and Dry, so that's probably where we'll go. Then we can upload photos, respond to e-mail, etc.
We spent all day Friday fishing. We fished lots of places and didn't catch a single fish! We are going to ship fish back to Sarah's house via air cargo on Sunday and Jeff's going to take a whole box home with him on the plane on Sunday. We're still hoping to catch some fresh fish today (Saturday) so that we've got some to eat once Patte gets here.
Funny thing happened the other night. Jeff went out to use the privy about 11:30 at night. It was dark and so he didn't see the black tub of sand and water sitting on the group. He stepped in it. Sand and water went flying, mostly on to him. Luckily it was sand that had already been processed, so we didn't lose any gold or anything.
There are several moose around the house now. There's a bull (Bullwinkle) and we think two cows and three calves. A moose ran out in the road in front of us last night too. We saw him first though, so we didn't hit him.
Patte arrives tomorrow, but she's going to spend the afternoon with Jana since Jeff doesn't have to be to the airport until much later. Once I drop him off at the airport, I'll get Patte and we'll head back out to Kasilof. We'll probably visit Homer on Monday so she can see it, then start the long trek home on Tuesday. We'll be taking it slow, so it will be at least a week before we hit the Lower 48.
We spent all day Friday fishing. We fished lots of places and didn't catch a single fish! We are going to ship fish back to Sarah's house via air cargo on Sunday and Jeff's going to take a whole box home with him on the plane on Sunday. We're still hoping to catch some fresh fish today (Saturday) so that we've got some to eat once Patte gets here.
Funny thing happened the other night. Jeff went out to use the privy about 11:30 at night. It was dark and so he didn't see the black tub of sand and water sitting on the group. He stepped in it. Sand and water went flying, mostly on to him. Luckily it was sand that had already been processed, so we didn't lose any gold or anything.
There are several moose around the house now. There's a bull (Bullwinkle) and we think two cows and three calves. A moose ran out in the road in front of us last night too. We saw him first though, so we didn't hit him.
Patte arrives tomorrow, but she's going to spend the afternoon with Jana since Jeff doesn't have to be to the airport until much later. Once I drop him off at the airport, I'll get Patte and we'll head back out to Kasilof. We'll probably visit Homer on Monday so she can see it, then start the long trek home on Tuesday. We'll be taking it slow, so it will be at least a week before we hit the Lower 48.
Heading Out!
Today's the day Patte begins her journey North to Alaska. She flies from Missoula, MT to Seattle today and spends the night at Sarah's--suspect it's going to be a long night, she hasn't been able to go to sleep all week, thinking about the trip. In the morning, she leaves Seattle for Anchorage. Jana is going to meet her at the airport and they plan to hang out and catch up for awhile, since Jeff's flight out is later in the day. The plan is to rendezvous with Ken at the airport--at least Jana will know her way around.
Patte and Ken are going to travel back to the "cabin", probably fishing along the way, on Sunday and head down to Homer on Monday (Patte really wants to to there). On Tuesday, they plan to hit the road and head north to Denali Park and Fairbanks, then begin the trip back to Oregon, gold panning along the way. Patte's planning to hit the motherlode for all of us!!!! Maybe it will be beginner's luck....She also plans to take over the blogging, since it seems to be falling behind. Hopefully, she will be able to download pictures--she's been practicing on her laptop. We'll see how that goes. ......
Patte and Ken are going to travel back to the "cabin", probably fishing along the way, on Sunday and head down to Homer on Monday (Patte really wants to to there). On Tuesday, they plan to hit the road and head north to Denali Park and Fairbanks, then begin the trip back to Oregon, gold panning along the way. Patte's planning to hit the motherlode for all of us!!!! Maybe it will be beginner's luck....She also plans to take over the blogging, since it seems to be falling behind. Hopefully, she will be able to download pictures--she's been practicing on her laptop. We'll see how that goes. ......
Friday, August 20, 2010
Anticipation
Patte is so excited she can hardly contain herself!!! She keeps re-packing, trying to downsize, but it isn't happening--must be genetic.....One more day and it's NORTH TO ALASKA!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Day 13
We went halibut fishing today. We each got our 2 fish limit. We were about 23 miles off the coast. You put a 25 pound lead weight on the line and drop it 200 feet down. Pulling those things up is tiring! There were about 20 of us on the boat. Only one guy got sick - a soldier on leave. There were 10 foot seas the last couple of days, but things were much calmer today so we picked the right day to go. Between the two of us, we caught about 60 pounds of fish. After it's dressed out, there's probably 40 pounds or so left. We're going to ship it home tonight or tomorrow, along with some salmon.
There's a really nice view from Homer. There are mountains all around. We stopped at the Salty Dawg while we were there and took a picture. We took quite a few pictures today, so hopefully I can get them uploaded to Facebook.
There's a really nice view from Homer. There are mountains all around. We stopped at the Salty Dawg while we were there and took a picture. We took quite a few pictures today, so hopefully I can get them uploaded to Facebook.
Update to Day 12
Update for Wed blog. took me 35 minutes each to land the 2 humpys. Jeff caught 3 fish today and I caught 2(lost 3,one of which went so nuts that it beached itself about 25 ft away,flopped itself back into the water and made this mad run into the river and got away. I had one other large fish make such a strong run (after 15 minutes of battle) I could not stop it so we moved down the river bank as fast as we could to try and keep up,almost lost all of my line before he broke loose. Saw Bullwinkle and his family again tonight,him,ma and the little one. There were some folks taking pictures that were getting to close to the calf when we left (hope they didn't get trampled.Oh!! one other thing,we now have to keep our hip boots full of water just to make us heavy enough so the mosquitoes are not able to carry us off.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Day 12
In the end yesterday, I had hooked 10 fish and lost 7. I put sharper hooks on and then I quit losing them! One of the ones that got away was just about to land. It practically spit the lure out at Jeff's head. He ducked or it would have hooked him!
We saw a bull moose yesterday too. We got lots of pictures. There's a brown bear with two cubs running around in our neighborhood now too. We haven't seen it yet, but other people have.
I landed two humpy salmon yesterday. They each took 25 minutes to land. We spent about 5 hours fishing yesterday. Jeff landed one today. He was surprised at how hard they fought! The freezer is completely stuffed with salmon now. We've gathered close to $150 or $200 worth of eggs too. Most of them are curing in the fridge.
We never did manage to find any black sand yesterday. We didn't look today. We just spent the day fishing. Tomorrow we're going ocean fishing for halibut out of Homer.
We saw a bull moose yesterday too. We got lots of pictures. There's a brown bear with two cubs running around in our neighborhood now too. We haven't seen it yet, but other people have.
I landed two humpy salmon yesterday. They each took 25 minutes to land. We spent about 5 hours fishing yesterday. Jeff landed one today. He was surprised at how hard they fought! The freezer is completely stuffed with salmon now. We've gathered close to $150 or $200 worth of eggs too. Most of them are curing in the fridge.
We never did manage to find any black sand yesterday. We didn't look today. We just spent the day fishing. Tomorrow we're going ocean fishing for halibut out of Homer.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Day 11
We stuck pretty close to the house today. Went fishing this morning. I had four different fish hooked, but they all got away. They last one was pretty big and I had it on for a long time, but right as it got to the bank, the lure flew out of it's mouth and just about hit Jeff in the head.
This afternoon we went out to the beach and searched for blank sand.
This afternoon we went out to the beach and searched for blank sand.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Day 10
We went out to the mouth of the Kasilof to fish for halibut yesterday. I got Cliff's truck stuck in the sand with the tide coming in. That was exciting. There was a guy with a chain ready to pull us out if needed, but we got it out ourselves. No halibut, but at least it wasn't boring!
We're going to get some halibut though. Paul found somebody to take us halibut fishing out of Homer for a full day for a pretty good price (just a tip!). He also found somebody to take us down the Kenai for a fishing trip. We'll probably limit out there. Most people are getting their fill in just a few hours. We're going to get some smoked salmon from Paul as well. He's smoking 100 pounds or so right now and is going to share a bit with us.
Last night there was a big moose out by the privy. It was busy eating and really didn't care about us. We tried to get a picture but it was pretty dark outside.
The pump finally arrived today. Turns out it took a side trip to Homer, but it's finally here.
We went up to Colorado Creek today and took the pump back to Joe. Some guy from Homer was up at Colorado Creek about 3 weeks ago. He found a racing bike in a hole under a tarp, which was odd. He also found some rib bones, but nobody is sure what they were from.
We stopped by Crescent Creek today too. Joe was up at Crescent Creek Friday night after Sarah and I left. He had three brown bears run across the road in front of him about 1/2 mile from where we had been. They were younger bears, but still probably 400 pounds each. Glad we didn't run in to them!
Joe decided not to take any money for the pump when we took it back. He showed us the gold he got from the black sand on the beach. The black sand is elusive though and you pretty much have to hunt for it every day. He let me fill up a pan with black sand too, so maybe I'll get some gold out of that. We'll keep looking for the black sand though.
Jeff saw a bear cub along the banks of the Russian River.
I'm trying to get the photos uploaded, but Facebook isn't cooperating. I called Sarah tonight and she helped me, so hopefully I'll get them uploaded tonight after we eat our fresh halibut, courtesy of our nice neighbors.
Tomorrow more fishing and searching for gold.
We're going to get some halibut though. Paul found somebody to take us halibut fishing out of Homer for a full day for a pretty good price (just a tip!). He also found somebody to take us down the Kenai for a fishing trip. We'll probably limit out there. Most people are getting their fill in just a few hours. We're going to get some smoked salmon from Paul as well. He's smoking 100 pounds or so right now and is going to share a bit with us.
Last night there was a big moose out by the privy. It was busy eating and really didn't care about us. We tried to get a picture but it was pretty dark outside.
The pump finally arrived today. Turns out it took a side trip to Homer, but it's finally here.
We went up to Colorado Creek today and took the pump back to Joe. Some guy from Homer was up at Colorado Creek about 3 weeks ago. He found a racing bike in a hole under a tarp, which was odd. He also found some rib bones, but nobody is sure what they were from.
We stopped by Crescent Creek today too. Joe was up at Crescent Creek Friday night after Sarah and I left. He had three brown bears run across the road in front of him about 1/2 mile from where we had been. They were younger bears, but still probably 400 pounds each. Glad we didn't run in to them!
Joe decided not to take any money for the pump when we took it back. He showed us the gold he got from the black sand on the beach. The black sand is elusive though and you pretty much have to hunt for it every day. He let me fill up a pan with black sand too, so maybe I'll get some gold out of that. We'll keep looking for the black sand though.
Jeff saw a bear cub along the banks of the Russian River.
I'm trying to get the photos uploaded, but Facebook isn't cooperating. I called Sarah tonight and she helped me, so hopefully I'll get them uploaded tonight after we eat our fresh halibut, courtesy of our nice neighbors.
Tomorrow more fishing and searching for gold.
From the Home Front (Montana)
Patte is so excited--she's already packed!!!! It could be a long week, as she doesn't leave until Saturday.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Sarah's Epilogue to Day 8
I had an uneventful flight back to Seattle. We got back early in fact. I had my favorite window seat too, and really scored because there was an empty seat between me and the guy with the aisle seat. I can't remember the last time that happened!
I called Bridget as soon as the plane landed because the leaves just enough time to drive from our house to the airport and meet someone at the curb after they've retrieved their luggage. I got no answer though and left her a message. I retrieved my luggage and headed out to the curb. Still no word from Bridget, but damn it was hot! Quite the system shock to go from 45 degrees when I got up in Kasilof to 90 degrees when I got outside. I called Bridget again and she was just leaving the house. Seems that she put her cell phone in her lap and somehow blocked the service to it, so she didn't get any of the flight status updates or my phone message. No matter. I plopped down on a bench and turned my work phone on and started clearing about work e-mail. I hadn't turned the phone on since I left because there was no service for it in most of the places we traveled, so it just stayed off.
Another 30 minutes or so passed and Bridget called. Long story short, she went the wrong way on the freeway and was almost to Bellevue. I told her to turn around and go the other way on 405 and I continued to slog through e-mails. After another 30 minutes, I heard from Brian. Seems Bridget's car blew up as soon as she got off the freeway to turn around. He was now enroute to the airport to pick me up in the Tercel. It's a 1989 Tercel with no air conditioning. There were three other vehicles at his disposal all of which had AC and plenty of room, but he was bringing this one to get me and then we were going to go rescue Bridget.
I talked to Bridget and she thought maybe her car was out of oil and water. It had apparently been smoking earlier in the week, but the source of the smoke had never been examined. Brian got the airport and we loaded up, then headed for the Walmart in Renton, which was on the way to where Bridget was marooned. We picked up some radiator stop leak, a jug of oil, 1 gallon of antifreeze/coolant, 2 gallons of water, a bag of ice, a couple of root beers, and a Twix. The plan was to eat the Twix and drink the root beer enroute, and then on arrival, drop the bag of ice on the engine block (drag racing trick for rapid cool down), fill the oil, dump the radiator stop leak, the coolant, and the water in the radiator, see if it would run, and drive home. Nothing is ever simple though.
We got to Bridget and found she was parked in a nice big gravel lot, which was handy. A deputy sheriff had just been by to check on her too and left her with a couple bottles of water, so she was at least not completely dying in the heat. We checked the oil and it was fine. That's good too. We plopped the bag of ice on the block and dumped the stop leak in the radiator. So far, all according to plan. Started pouring the coolant in though and it started running on the ground. At first we thought (and hoped) that Brian had just spilled some. Upon further inspection however, it was clearly running out of the engine block. That's not good at all. It became rapidly obvious that we weren't going to be able to drive it home. Luckily, Bridget had towing service on her insurance and they sent a tow. It probably wasn't going to cover the whole cost, but it would cover most of it. I took Brian's car and went home, leaving them to wait for the tow. I finally got home about 8:30, hot, sweaty, sunburned, with a screaming headache. I was quite a change from how the morning started out.
I wanna go back to Alaska!!!
I called Bridget as soon as the plane landed because the leaves just enough time to drive from our house to the airport and meet someone at the curb after they've retrieved their luggage. I got no answer though and left her a message. I retrieved my luggage and headed out to the curb. Still no word from Bridget, but damn it was hot! Quite the system shock to go from 45 degrees when I got up in Kasilof to 90 degrees when I got outside. I called Bridget again and she was just leaving the house. Seems that she put her cell phone in her lap and somehow blocked the service to it, so she didn't get any of the flight status updates or my phone message. No matter. I plopped down on a bench and turned my work phone on and started clearing about work e-mail. I hadn't turned the phone on since I left because there was no service for it in most of the places we traveled, so it just stayed off.
Another 30 minutes or so passed and Bridget called. Long story short, she went the wrong way on the freeway and was almost to Bellevue. I told her to turn around and go the other way on 405 and I continued to slog through e-mails. After another 30 minutes, I heard from Brian. Seems Bridget's car blew up as soon as she got off the freeway to turn around. He was now enroute to the airport to pick me up in the Tercel. It's a 1989 Tercel with no air conditioning. There were three other vehicles at his disposal all of which had AC and plenty of room, but he was bringing this one to get me and then we were going to go rescue Bridget.
I talked to Bridget and she thought maybe her car was out of oil and water. It had apparently been smoking earlier in the week, but the source of the smoke had never been examined. Brian got the airport and we loaded up, then headed for the Walmart in Renton, which was on the way to where Bridget was marooned. We picked up some radiator stop leak, a jug of oil, 1 gallon of antifreeze/coolant, 2 gallons of water, a bag of ice, a couple of root beers, and a Twix. The plan was to eat the Twix and drink the root beer enroute, and then on arrival, drop the bag of ice on the engine block (drag racing trick for rapid cool down), fill the oil, dump the radiator stop leak, the coolant, and the water in the radiator, see if it would run, and drive home. Nothing is ever simple though.
We got to Bridget and found she was parked in a nice big gravel lot, which was handy. A deputy sheriff had just been by to check on her too and left her with a couple bottles of water, so she was at least not completely dying in the heat. We checked the oil and it was fine. That's good too. We plopped the bag of ice on the block and dumped the stop leak in the radiator. So far, all according to plan. Started pouring the coolant in though and it started running on the ground. At first we thought (and hoped) that Brian had just spilled some. Upon further inspection however, it was clearly running out of the engine block. That's not good at all. It became rapidly obvious that we weren't going to be able to drive it home. Luckily, Bridget had towing service on her insurance and they sent a tow. It probably wasn't going to cover the whole cost, but it would cover most of it. I took Brian's car and went home, leaving them to wait for the tow. I finally got home about 8:30, hot, sweaty, sunburned, with a screaming headache. I was quite a change from how the morning started out.
I wanna go back to Alaska!!!
Day 8
Ken and Sarah got up very early to get to the airport. 5:45 AM to be precise. We were mostly packed though, so we were on the road by 6:30. The sun was finally out and there was blue sky! Unfortunately, that sun and blue sky combination, along with the wet road, made driving rather difficult at times.
We got to the Anchorage airport safely though, after a stop at McDonald's, a stop for gas, and a stop for a potty break. We were there plenty early too, so Sarah got all checked in before Jeff arrived.
After greetings and goodbyes were exchanged, Ken and Jeff headed off to find Jeff's baggage and Sarah got in the security line for home.
So begins Phase 2 of the great adventure!
We got to the Anchorage airport safely though, after a stop at McDonald's, a stop for gas, and a stop for a potty break. We were there plenty early too, so Sarah got all checked in before Jeff arrived.
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| Jeff's arrival (he's the last person in the line). |
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| The changing of the guard! |
So begins Phase 2 of the great adventure!
Day 8 and 9
We had trouble finding Jeff's luggage, but we called Sarah and she helped us sort that out. We went to the wrong baggage claim terminal. Then we ended up in the wrong parking lot and couldn't find the truck. We finally figured that out and hiked to the truck and hit the road.
The temperature dropped 17 degrees from Anchorage to Girdwood. We stopped at Coal Creek Mine on the way back. A kid was giving a panning demo. He made me feel pretty inadequate! We might go back there. It would cost us $60 to setup the high-banker for the day. All the old mining buildings are still there and that would be interesting to see. That would cost us $15 each. There was a wedding going on there under the covered area and it was RAINING hard.
We got Jeff's stuff dropped off at the cabin and had some food, then we went fishing. We ran up to the Kasilof Mercantile and Jeff got his fishing license. Along the road we saw a moose cow and calf. I got a picture of the butt of the calf running away. Jeff got to see his first moose though.
We finally got t
o fishing on the Kasilof about 7 PM. Jeff caught a Dolly Varden first. The I hooked a big silver that took at least 25 minutes to land. It was about 2 feet long and weighed about 12 pounds. My scale stops at 8 pounds, so that's just a guess. Jeff has a bigger scale along though, so now we can go catch really big fish and be able to weigh them.
We met Paul this morning. He's Cliff's son-in-law, Laurie's husband. He's been fishing for halibut for a few weeks. He got home about 2:30 this morning. He told us where to go fishing for halibut and where to fish the lake for silvers. He's also going to check with a friend of his about a guided trip on the Kenai for us. It turns out that salmon heads are the best halibut bait, but we threw all those away. I guess we'll have to catch some more. Paul told us about getting robbed at the docks. They didn't get his money and he sent one to the hospital. Paul's got some pretty good scrapes on his head where they hit with a pipe, but he still came out the winner. It seems that the out of work fish processors like to rob the fisherman after they get paid. It's been a bad year for fishing, so there are a lot of out of work fish processors. He also told us there's a bear den 150 yards from the privy. I guess we'll keep an eye out for that bear!
The temperature dropped 17 degrees from Anchorage to Girdwood. We stopped at Coal Creek Mine on the way back. A kid was giving a panning demo. He made me feel pretty inadequate! We might go back there. It would cost us $60 to setup the high-banker for the day. All the old mining buildings are still there and that would be interesting to see. That would cost us $15 each. There was a wedding going on there under the covered area and it was RAINING hard.
We got Jeff's stuff dropped off at the cabin and had some food, then we went fishing. We ran up to the Kasilof Mercantile and Jeff got his fishing license. Along the road we saw a moose cow and calf. I got a picture of the butt of the calf running away. Jeff got to see his first moose though.
We finally got t
o fishing on the Kasilof about 7 PM. Jeff caught a Dolly Varden first. The I hooked a big silver that took at least 25 minutes to land. It was about 2 feet long and weighed about 12 pounds. My scale stops at 8 pounds, so that's just a guess. Jeff has a bigger scale along though, so now we can go catch really big fish and be able to weigh them.We met Paul this morning. He's Cliff's son-in-law, Laurie's husband. He's been fishing for halibut for a few weeks. He got home about 2:30 this morning. He told us where to go fishing for halibut and where to fish the lake for silvers. He's also going to check with a friend of his about a guided trip on the Kenai for us. It turns out that salmon heads are the best halibut bait, but we threw all those away. I guess we'll have to catch some more. Paul told us about getting robbed at the docks. They didn't get his money and he sent one to the hospital. Paul's got some pretty good scrapes on his head where they hit with a pipe, but he still came out the winner. It seems that the out of work fish processors like to rob the fisherman after they get paid. It's been a bad year for fishing, so there are a lot of out of work fish processors. He also told us there's a bear den 150 yards from the privy. I guess we'll keep an eye out for that bear!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Day 7
After heading out Thursday, we had to make three stops in Soldotna: first at the hardware store to buy 3 little pieces of PVC to fix the high-banker; second at McDonald's because we were hungry; and third at the gas station to get gas for the high-banker. We glued the new high-banker pieces together in the back of the campter in the parking lot. Funny thing about that hardware store, we didn't look the least bit out of place in dirty clothes and muddy boots. There were people with more dirt and mud than us in there! Once we got squared away in town, we were off to the Crescent Creek claim.
We scouted sites and picked one to setup on, then lugged the big gear out of the camper and to the site. We needed room in the camper to sleep and it would save us from lugging heavy stuff when we were sleepy in the morning. While we were lugging, Ken noticed a great big Chinook salmon headed upstream. It was really large. We watched it for a while, and then it was joined by a smaller red salmon and what was probably a very large rainbow trout. They were all headed upstream, the two salmon to spawn and the trout probably to eat their eggs. Ken took several photos with his phone and managed to get one uploaded to the blog for you all to see (scroll down to see it). There were a couple of other folks camped out at the claim site, so we said hi and chatted for a while. We dug into our rations for dinner. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches were the order of the night.
Then we set about to prepare the camper for sleeping. Sarah got the bunk, with it's 20 inch clearance. That was entertaining when it came time to close the bunk curtains. It involved a lot of belly crawling and scooching around to get from end to end. Once she was safely on the bunk, Ken set about to arrange things so he could lower the second bed. The camper is sort of a customized one and instead of a table, it has what appears to be an old sliding door attached with hinges along the bench seat. In non-sleeping mode, the door is upright against the wall, blocking the side window. When in sleeping mode, it is unlocked (and untaped since the lock doesn't hold) and opened downward over the bench seat, creating a bed. It even has a piece of carpet attached to it to make it more comfy. Luckily there was also an extra sleeping bag stowed away that Ken could use as padding under his own bag. We set the alarm for 6 and endeavored to sleep. Sarah went right to sleep and stayed that way. Ken didn't have so much luck, but he did get a bit of sleep.
6 AM came WAY too early. Ken staggered outside first, then came back looking for a coffee mug since one of our neighbors had offered him a cup. Sarah managed to get out a little after that, but before Ken was done with his coffee. There was more PB&J for breakfast, then it was off to setup the high-banker. As with all other aspects of this trip, things weren't quite right. It turns out the borrowed pump uses the same female hose connector as the high-banker, meaning we had to have a hose with two male ends. We had no such hose. Ken got a knife, cut the end off a hose, got an extra male connector out of his stash of stuff, and we clamped it on there. That cost us about 30 minutes or so. We got the pump turned on and the line pressurized and a geyser appeared half-way through one of the hoses. We shut off the pump and Sarah held her fingers over the holes (two of them) while Ken hoofed it back to the truck for Gorilla tape. Even with the pump off, there was a geyser and we didn't want the line to completely depressurize. It took a bit of doing to get the tape on the wet hose, but we finally got it on there and we were ready to go.
Remember those buckets of dirt Ken scooped up and took back to pan at the cabin earlier in the week? Well, they never got panned, so they got lugged back down and processed through the high-banker. We setup next to an existing hole that somebody had failed to fill back in (that's sort of a no-no on a shared claim). We switched off dumping dirt in the high-banker and shoveling out of the hole for a while, but then Ken ran the high-banker while Sarah got in the now much larger hole and shoveled. We ran about 8 or 9 buckets through, then took the results up to the truck to pan them (and have some lunch, yes, more PB&J). We found a few pieces of gold in the results. Those of you unfamiliar with gold panning may become excited by that statement. Don't be overly so. A "piece" is generally something too small to pickup with your fingers and requires a little squeeze bottle to suck it out of the pan (like a baby nose snarfer). If you can pick it up with your fingers, it's called a "picker" and those are a little more exciting. We didn't find any of those. It did however start to rain. We headed back down to the high-banker and began shoveling and processing again. We put another 7 or 8 buckets through, and had a random assortment of visitors come see what we were doing. Several of the folks working the claim (or staying there) had never seen a high-banker and were intrigued by it's operation. So they stood around talking and watching us shovel in the rain. We finally wrapped things up about mid-afternoon. Wrapping up is not simple, as the equipment has to be rinsed off and broken down, the now sizable hole has to be filled back up, and everything has to be hauled back to the truck. It was still raining and everything and everyone was soaked. We got everything packed back up in the truck and headed for home.
On the way back, we stopped at the Wash and Dry because they advertise having the cleanest showers in town. We tromped in along with all the other people, paid our $5 each and got our name on the waiting list for a hot shower. We had hot showers! And they had bathrooms with doors that closed and toilets that flushed. There were also smelly hippies, but they appeared to just be doing laundry and not bathing. They really should have been bathing. We also learned while we were there that this part of Alaska set a new record today: 27 consecutive days of rain. The locals are not happy about this weather. Even for Alaska it's bad. No matter. We got hot showers!
Once done, we headed back toward home, with a brief stop at the Kasilof Mercantile for some souvenirs. Once home, we unpacked the truck, got a fire going to try to dry out some of the clothes, and Sarah started packing. Ken got in a Skype call to Collin, Matthew, and Kelly (Jeff and Karen participated too), then learned how to download his photos from this camera and upload them to Facebook. Then it was off to sleep. We have to be up at 6 to get to the airport to deposit Sarah and retrieve Jeff.
Doran Family Trip Part 2 starts Saturday!
We scouted sites and picked one to setup on, then lugged the big gear out of the camper and to the site. We needed room in the camper to sleep and it would save us from lugging heavy stuff when we were sleepy in the morning. While we were lugging, Ken noticed a great big Chinook salmon headed upstream. It was really large. We watched it for a while, and then it was joined by a smaller red salmon and what was probably a very large rainbow trout. They were all headed upstream, the two salmon to spawn and the trout probably to eat their eggs. Ken took several photos with his phone and managed to get one uploaded to the blog for you all to see (scroll down to see it). There were a couple of other folks camped out at the claim site, so we said hi and chatted for a while. We dug into our rations for dinner. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches were the order of the night.
Then we set about to prepare the camper for sleeping. Sarah got the bunk, with it's 20 inch clearance. That was entertaining when it came time to close the bunk curtains. It involved a lot of belly crawling and scooching around to get from end to end. Once she was safely on the bunk, Ken set about to arrange things so he could lower the second bed. The camper is sort of a customized one and instead of a table, it has what appears to be an old sliding door attached with hinges along the bench seat. In non-sleeping mode, the door is upright against the wall, blocking the side window. When in sleeping mode, it is unlocked (and untaped since the lock doesn't hold) and opened downward over the bench seat, creating a bed. It even has a piece of carpet attached to it to make it more comfy. Luckily there was also an extra sleeping bag stowed away that Ken could use as padding under his own bag. We set the alarm for 6 and endeavored to sleep. Sarah went right to sleep and stayed that way. Ken didn't have so much luck, but he did get a bit of sleep.
6 AM came WAY too early. Ken staggered outside first, then came back looking for a coffee mug since one of our neighbors had offered him a cup. Sarah managed to get out a little after that, but before Ken was done with his coffee. There was more PB&J for breakfast, then it was off to setup the high-banker. As with all other aspects of this trip, things weren't quite right. It turns out the borrowed pump uses the same female hose connector as the high-banker, meaning we had to have a hose with two male ends. We had no such hose. Ken got a knife, cut the end off a hose, got an extra male connector out of his stash of stuff, and we clamped it on there. That cost us about 30 minutes or so. We got the pump turned on and the line pressurized and a geyser appeared half-way through one of the hoses. We shut off the pump and Sarah held her fingers over the holes (two of them) while Ken hoofed it back to the truck for Gorilla tape. Even with the pump off, there was a geyser and we didn't want the line to completely depressurize. It took a bit of doing to get the tape on the wet hose, but we finally got it on there and we were ready to go.
Remember those buckets of dirt Ken scooped up and took back to pan at the cabin earlier in the week? Well, they never got panned, so they got lugged back down and processed through the high-banker. We setup next to an existing hole that somebody had failed to fill back in (that's sort of a no-no on a shared claim). We switched off dumping dirt in the high-banker and shoveling out of the hole for a while, but then Ken ran the high-banker while Sarah got in the now much larger hole and shoveled. We ran about 8 or 9 buckets through, then took the results up to the truck to pan them (and have some lunch, yes, more PB&J). We found a few pieces of gold in the results. Those of you unfamiliar with gold panning may become excited by that statement. Don't be overly so. A "piece" is generally something too small to pickup with your fingers and requires a little squeeze bottle to suck it out of the pan (like a baby nose snarfer). If you can pick it up with your fingers, it's called a "picker" and those are a little more exciting. We didn't find any of those. It did however start to rain. We headed back down to the high-banker and began shoveling and processing again. We put another 7 or 8 buckets through, and had a random assortment of visitors come see what we were doing. Several of the folks working the claim (or staying there) had never seen a high-banker and were intrigued by it's operation. So they stood around talking and watching us shovel in the rain. We finally wrapped things up about mid-afternoon. Wrapping up is not simple, as the equipment has to be rinsed off and broken down, the now sizable hole has to be filled back up, and everything has to be hauled back to the truck. It was still raining and everything and everyone was soaked. We got everything packed back up in the truck and headed for home.
On the way back, we stopped at the Wash and Dry because they advertise having the cleanest showers in town. We tromped in along with all the other people, paid our $5 each and got our name on the waiting list for a hot shower. We had hot showers! And they had bathrooms with doors that closed and toilets that flushed. There were also smelly hippies, but they appeared to just be doing laundry and not bathing. They really should have been bathing. We also learned while we were there that this part of Alaska set a new record today: 27 consecutive days of rain. The locals are not happy about this weather. Even for Alaska it's bad. No matter. We got hot showers!
Once done, we headed back toward home, with a brief stop at the Kasilof Mercantile for some souvenirs. Once home, we unpacked the truck, got a fire going to try to dry out some of the clothes, and Sarah started packing. Ken got in a Skype call to Collin, Matthew, and Kelly (Jeff and Karen participated too), then learned how to download his photos from this camera and upload them to Facebook. Then it was off to sleep. We have to be up at 6 to get to the airport to deposit Sarah and retrieve Jeff.
Doran Family Trip Part 2 starts Saturday!
Friday, August 13, 2010
What really goes on.
In lieu of contributing anything useful, I decided to share an ongoing fantasy of how I imagine the trip to be going, thus perpetuating my desire to have attended. My original plan of making a poster prior to the expedition turned into a logo, as I had no epic pictures of Dad. Picture provided, I crafted this image. Granted, it has very little (nothing) to do with prospecting, but I felt that a story about shoveling dirt would be harder to pitch to a studio. Hence I decided to focus more on the demon hellbear encounters which I have heard are a regular occurrence in Alaska.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The end of a long journey
This was a really large chinook salmon nearing the end of his long journey.
Day 6 - Mid-Day Update
We finally went fishing this morning! We hit the Kasilof river just about 3 miles from the house. We had success! Sarah hooked a nice silver (Coho) salmon with her first cast. A bit of dithering ensued though, as we weren't exactly certain what type of fish it was. Ken held the fish in the water while Sarah hiked back (up the hill) to the truck to get the fishing guide which had descriptions. Upon confirmation that it was indeed a silver and not a steelhead, it got conked in the head with a rock, gutted, stuffed in the backpack, and fishing resumed. It should bed noted that it was caught on Ken's 1975 fishing rod, with a lure he got in high school!
Next to be caught by Ken was a steelhead, which are catch and release only in the Kasilof. It was caught, photographed, and released. Sarah was downstream when she saw Ken trying to land this one. She grabbed the gear and booked up the trail in case he needed help. Then she couldn't find him once she lost sight of the river. A couple of yells verified his location though and she got there in time for the landing and photograph.
Last up was Ken's pink, or humpy, salmon. It put up a bit of a fight, but finally was captured.
Other things discovered this morning: Sarah's rain pants were made for someone smaller, even though she bought ones larger than usual. At least Patte will have rain pants that fit! Ken's hip waders have a hole in them just above the knee, which was really important when he stepped in a hole that was deeper than that! Sarah's rubber boots have a drawstring at the top to keep "stuff" out. Turns out they do a pretty good job of keeping water out too, which she discovered when she hit a hole that was as deep as her boot was tall!
The fish are in the fridge and we're off to find gold now!
Next to be caught by Ken was a steelhead, which are catch and release only in the Kasilof. It was caught, photographed, and released. Sarah was downstream when she saw Ken trying to land this one. She grabbed the gear and booked up the trail in case he needed help. Then she couldn't find him once she lost sight of the river. A couple of yells verified his location though and she got there in time for the landing and photograph.
Last up was Ken's pink, or humpy, salmon. It put up a bit of a fight, but finally was captured.
Other things discovered this morning: Sarah's rain pants were made for someone smaller, even though she bought ones larger than usual. At least Patte will have rain pants that fit! Ken's hip waders have a hole in them just above the knee, which was really important when he stepped in a hole that was deeper than that! Sarah's rubber boots have a drawstring at the top to keep "stuff" out. Turns out they do a pretty good job of keeping water out too, which she discovered when she hit a hole that was as deep as her boot was tall!
The fish are in the fridge and we're off to find gold now!
Day 5: The Bore(ing) Tide
Day 5's recap will be a bit briefer than usual as there is sleep to be had. The highlights:
- The bore tide was more of a boring tide. We did see it, but it wasn't nearly as spectacular as it had been billed. This was supposed to be the largest of the year, but it fizzled. We did get video and photos, which are coming soon. The best video was captured after we left the prime viewing site and ended up getting ahead of the tide where we could see it much better.
- The official Doran family moose count stands at 10. They're not worth stopping for anymore, unless they're doing something special, like standing in the middle of the road in the dark, which #10 was.
- Other wildlife counts: coyote - 1. Bear - 2 (seen only by Ken through a large viewing scope). Dall Sheep - about 12. The bear and the sheep were what ended up redeeming the bore tide viewing, as they were visible via the spotting scope at Bird Point, which is where we were waiting for the tide.
- Another box arrived from the post office today. It was the high-banker. Hurrah! Unfortunately, it was also slightly broken. We need to pick up some small pieces of PVC before we can use it.
- We rented a pump from Joe. Then we went to the pipe fitting shop to make the pump compatible with our stuff. That was looking like it was going to be $50 or $60 so we went back and saw Joe again. He had another pump with compatible fittings, so that's solved. Unfortunately, the second trip to Joe's didn't leave us time to stop at Home Depot for PVC since we were trying to make it to the bore tide viewing. We identified a hardware store in Soldotna though, which is on our way to the claim on Thursday.
- After the bore tide, we checked out some other claims on our way back to Kasilof. More accurately we tried to check out some other claims. They weren't marked and one appears to either require a back country hike or a creek crossing. The creek crossing probably is the option of choice most of the time, but with the rivers as high as they are, it's not an option right now. So, Thursday we're going back to Crescent Creek to run the high-banker.
- You'll note that there was no fishing mentioned today. We're going to get that in first thing Thursday morning so Sarah's fishing license doesn't go completely unused. With all the fish we've seen jumping in creeks, rivers, and lakes, we really want a couple of our own!
- You'll also see no mention of showering. Ken is far less driven to shower on his wilderness outings than Sarah is and he has the car keys. So that's that!
- There likely won't be an full Day 6 update until Friday or so, as we're headed out to the claim on Thursday and spending the night. There's no wi-fi service among the trees, so no update will be forthcoming!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
A fishy story
This accidentally got left off of yesterday's blog. It turns out that the fish here seem to like just about anything red. The red eggs we used trout fishing were wildly popular. As we were packing up to leave Crescent Creek yesterday, Ken decided to see if they would go for cherry pie filling (from his prepackaged pie he was eating). He plopped a hunk of cherry in the creek and sure enough, a little trout came and gobbled it up. Followed promptly by a big ugly salmon. We promptly grabbed the fishing rules to see if it was legal to fish salmon in that particular creek. It wasn't, so we had to be content with watching him eat cherry filling!
And happy news this morning. Another box has arrived at the post office in Kasilof! Hopefully it's the highbanker and then we'll only have to rent a pump from Joe.
It also turned out that the bore tide schedule we had was wrong. The best bore tide was Tuesday, not Wednesday, but there are several good ones between now and Saturday, so Sarah is definitely going to see one before she leaves.
And happy news this morning. Another box has arrived at the post office in Kasilof! Hopefully it's the highbanker and then we'll only have to rent a pump from Joe.
It also turned out that the bore tide schedule we had was wrong. The best bore tide was Tuesday, not Wednesday, but there are several good ones between now and Saturday, so Sarah is definitely going to see one before she leaves.
Day 4 - Already!
Our happy news from the post office yesterday turned out to by not so happy. It was just a notice for the stuff we had already picked up. Turns out that the estimated 8 days shipping time for parcels from Scotts Mills to Kasilof doesn't include boat transport time, only ground transport time. So we have no idea when the rest of Ken's stuff will get here. The fact that we got two boxes seems to have been a fluke.
After much dithering, including calls to Garrett and Jeff, we finally talked to Joe again. He wanted to help us out and is willing to rent us a brand new highbanker and a used pump so the expedition can continue as planned.
We hunted around Kalifornsky Beach for the elusive black sand, which is rumored to contain much gold. It turns out it really is elusive too. Mostly all we did was get wet in the rain! After talking to Joe, we learned that the black sand can come and go on a daily basis depending on what the tides are doing. There one day, gone the next! We may check back again, depending on how things go. We do have to go back and visit Joe after noon on Wednesday, with all of our pieces and parts so we can match everything up and create a complete setup.
We did finally remember to stop and pick up ammo for the new shotgun as well. That turned out to be slightly annoying. The guy at the Walmart gun counter couldn't get it through his head what we wanted. Sarah must have said "20 gauge" about six times, and yet still, he continued to ask. Finally got what we needed though (plus some oil for the truck) and got the heck out of there!
After our visit with Joe, we cheated and stopped at McDonald's. It just seemed like the thing to do on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. Then it was off to the Crescent Creek claim near Cooper Landing. Joe had made us a little map on the back of a piece of scratch paper to try to explain where he thought the best site to operate on the claim would be. We tromped around in the bushes for a while trying to locate "the spot". We clearly identified the old creek bed (which apparently shifted dramatically as a result of a flood in 1953 caused by an ice dam break), but never really found where the great place was supposed to be. We decided to set the sluice in the creek and work some existing holes near the creek. That worked out pretty well. Ken filled buckets of direct from the hole and lugged them to the creek, where Sarah ran them through the sluice. Then Ken filled up 4 buckets of dirt from the hole to take back to the house with us, along with our tiny amount of concentrate that was left from the sluice operation.
Once home, Ken started to setup the kitchen based panning operation while Sarah cooked up the halibut given to us by the friendly neighbors. She managed an annoying burn on her hand from the hot pan where she didn't get the pot holder on correctly. The fish was worth it though. Quite tasty! After dinner, Ken set about to pan through the concentrates so we can figure out if it's worth going back to Crescent Creek. We officially found our first gold in the kitchen!
If you look at the very bottom tip of the dirt streak in the pan, you'll see a sparkly piece of gold. You can also catch the sparkles of some very fine gold in the rest of the pan. It's really tiny though! It turns out it's really hard to convince the camera to focus on that one little piece of gold when there's so much lovely green to look at! It took about 6 tries before we got this one. The results of the concentrate panning have thus far been underwhelming, but we still have a lot more to go through.
Wednesday is still a bit up in the air. Looks like either fishing or concentrate panning in the morning (or both), followed by another trip to Joe's for the highbanker and the pump. Then either back to Crescent Creek or up to Colorado Creek depending on how the concentrate panning turns out. Or pans out! We do have one specific item on the agenda for Wednesday though: a trip to Bird Point or Hope to witness the bore tide at 7:08 PM. It's supposed to be one of the largest of the year and since we'll be so close, we might as well see it. That should be pretty cool and we'll try to take pictures and shoot video.
After much dithering, including calls to Garrett and Jeff, we finally talked to Joe again. He wanted to help us out and is willing to rent us a brand new highbanker and a used pump so the expedition can continue as planned.
We hunted around Kalifornsky Beach for the elusive black sand, which is rumored to contain much gold. It turns out it really is elusive too. Mostly all we did was get wet in the rain! After talking to Joe, we learned that the black sand can come and go on a daily basis depending on what the tides are doing. There one day, gone the next! We may check back again, depending on how things go. We do have to go back and visit Joe after noon on Wednesday, with all of our pieces and parts so we can match everything up and create a complete setup.
We did finally remember to stop and pick up ammo for the new shotgun as well. That turned out to be slightly annoying. The guy at the Walmart gun counter couldn't get it through his head what we wanted. Sarah must have said "20 gauge" about six times, and yet still, he continued to ask. Finally got what we needed though (plus some oil for the truck) and got the heck out of there!
After our visit with Joe, we cheated and stopped at McDonald's. It just seemed like the thing to do on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. Then it was off to the Crescent Creek claim near Cooper Landing. Joe had made us a little map on the back of a piece of scratch paper to try to explain where he thought the best site to operate on the claim would be. We tromped around in the bushes for a while trying to locate "the spot". We clearly identified the old creek bed (which apparently shifted dramatically as a result of a flood in 1953 caused by an ice dam break), but never really found where the great place was supposed to be. We decided to set the sluice in the creek and work some existing holes near the creek. That worked out pretty well. Ken filled buckets of direct from the hole and lugged them to the creek, where Sarah ran them through the sluice. Then Ken filled up 4 buckets of dirt from the hole to take back to the house with us, along with our tiny amount of concentrate that was left from the sluice operation.
Once home, Ken started to setup the kitchen based panning operation while Sarah cooked up the halibut given to us by the friendly neighbors. She managed an annoying burn on her hand from the hot pan where she didn't get the pot holder on correctly. The fish was worth it though. Quite tasty! After dinner, Ken set about to pan through the concentrates so we can figure out if it's worth going back to Crescent Creek. We officially found our first gold in the kitchen!
If you look at the very bottom tip of the dirt streak in the pan, you'll see a sparkly piece of gold. You can also catch the sparkles of some very fine gold in the rest of the pan. It's really tiny though! It turns out it's really hard to convince the camera to focus on that one little piece of gold when there's so much lovely green to look at! It took about 6 tries before we got this one. The results of the concentrate panning have thus far been underwhelming, but we still have a lot more to go through.
Wednesday is still a bit up in the air. Looks like either fishing or concentrate panning in the morning (or both), followed by another trip to Joe's for the highbanker and the pump. Then either back to Crescent Creek or up to Colorado Creek depending on how the concentrate panning turns out. Or pans out! We do have one specific item on the agenda for Wednesday though: a trip to Bird Point or Hope to witness the bore tide at 7:08 PM. It's supposed to be one of the largest of the year and since we'll be so close, we might as well see it. That should be pretty cool and we'll try to take pictures and shoot video.
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