Hunting 2009

I was lucky enough to take two more trips up to the Brooks Range this August. Both trips were walk-in backpack hunts for Dall Sheep and both trips provided me with memories and lessons learned. I must say that the weather was less than desirable but the quality of the company and the sheep meat in the freezer will be tough to trump.


Luke and I walked in during a blizzard on August 9th. Once we made camp we were tent bound for the next 30 hours due to crappy conditions.

Once we started sheep hunting we realized that finding white sheep on snow covered mountains might be a bit challenging.

We ended up moving camp to get us in a more huntable location. It was a great valley but the sunshine did not melt the snow quick enough for our liking.

The bright sun and fresh snow was creating concerns for Luke and I. Neither of us had brought sunglasses and feared snow blindness. We created these sweet mesh masks from the ventilation panels from his hat. We also used a little duct tape for sun screen. I'm pretty sure we are not going to get accused of having too much extra gear on this trip.

We could not find any legal rams on that trip, but we certainly had some good laughs and a good time overall.

My buddy Shawn Verhulst came up from Wisconsin a couple of weeks later to chase caribou and I was still looking for sheep. We walked into the same place and found very similar weather...cold, windy, and mixed precip.

Shawn and I were enjoying a little down time on the tundra before we glassed some nice rams a couple miles away. From where we were sitting in this picture, we began a stalk that ultimately yielded a nice legal ram.

A nice 9 year old full curl ram.

I shot the ram almost ten miles from the road. We were able to get the field dressed animal back to camp at around 1:30 in the morning...it was not too late to have a few celebratory sips of whiskey. The next day we packed the ram and camp to the rest of the way out to the road. It was a heavy load on the way out. It was a good heavy though!

After giving up most of our elevation we were able to enjoy some of the colors of the late season tundra.

After Shawn and I got back from the Brooks Range we teamed up with Luke to do some trout and salmon fishing on the Kenai River. The weather was fantastic and the fish kept us very busy.

Luke had us totally outfitted. Here we are on our way back to camp after a day of floating and fishing. His rig looked pretty sweet stacked up with the camper and the boat.

We had a grizzly follow us for a few hundred yards one day. It was a pretty cool experience. He was just out for a nice swim and some salmon fishing too.

Luke hooks up.

This deformed catch really should have won fish of the trip but Shawn ended up with the title by landing a chubby 24+ inch Rainbow trout. (pictured below)

Our last day on the Kenai we took a little time to pursue Silver salmon. We had a couple on the stringer at the end of the day but several other fish showed us up by denying final capture after we set hooks into them.

When all was said and done Shawn got to go home with some fresh salmon fillets and a few prime cuts of sheep meat as well as a few memories I would suppose.

Doin' the Hulahula...A Packrafting Trip Through ANWR

Ed's planning, great weather and some of Alaska's finest country made our 140 mile arctic traverse one that I won't forget soon. The traverse began in the upper Sheenjek River drainage on the south side of the Brooks Range and took us up and over the continental divide and down into the headwaters of the Hulahula drainage. We walked along the Hulahula until we thought that we could put our boats in the water...which proved to be a bit premature. Once we reached the confluence of the Itkilik and the Hulahula we had an eventful float into the arctic coastal plain. From there we hiked across some open tundra to position ourselves for a paddle across a small stretch of the Arctic Ocean and over to Barter Island for one last hike into the Native Village of Kaktovik. Enjoy the pictures...I know I enjoyed the adventure and the company!

many of these photos are taken by Ed Plumb

I am feeling really good about the week ahead of me...nothing but hiking, paddling and enjoying the north for 8 days. Big medicine.

The hiking was really nice for the most part but we had a few challenging river crossings once we started to gain elevation.

This one of the nameless glaciers in the upper Sheenjek Valley.

This is my attempt at Arctic Art...I call it "Sheep Turds on Purple Rocks"

Descending off the back of the continental divide.

Ann gets a good stretch in in the morning before we break camp and head down to see the Hulahula for the first time.

Robin looks mighty happy while she enjoys the blue skies and nice hiking.

We saw this big old bruin while we were enjoying a break. Once he came across our scent he spun around a headed in the other direction.

A couple of caribou antlers in a great valley.

Once we reached confluence of the Hulahula and the Itkilik it was time to inflate the boats again start the paddle towards the coast. We had attempted to float ealier but the water was really fast and we ended up pulling out.

Ed's having a good time.

I'm enjoying some quite water on the river.

Ann powers through a big hole.

Chris and Robin dry off some cloths after a day on the river.

A Dall Sheep lamb and ewe.

Chris rides a wave.

We took a few hours and went on a day hike to see if we could get some better views of Mt. Mikelson. We did not get quite high enough to see the big mountain but the hiking was great and it was nice to break up the paddling.

Ed enters the supposed canyon.

Ann and I scout out a rapid toward the end of the canyon.

A good looking red sun.

Some cotton grass on the tundra.

I think this was the first time that any of us had ever paddled in the Arctic Ocean.

The Brooks Range loomed behind us as we walked along the Barter Island coast.

We walked into the Village of Kaktovic ready to find the diner and enjoy a greasy breakfast made to order.

The two white blobs in the middle of this picture are Polar Bears. They had been napping and cleaning up the bones from a recent Buluga whale harvest.

Here is a beautiful shot looking south at the North American continent. The last night of the trip was spent on Barter Island. Although it always feels good to accomplish the goal that was set back in the planning process, it is always hard to leave the carefree nature of a pack trip behind.

Road Trippin' with Magan

Magan and I had a couple of great three day weekends in July. It started with some hiking on Donelly Dome, rafting on the Gulkana River, fishing on the Klutina River and camping all along the way. A few weekends later we were able to sneak out of the country for some good times in Dawson City, Yukon at the annual music festival.



On the way down to the Gulkana we stopped at Donelly Dome and hiked up to the top of the booblike feature. It was a really nice evening and paved the way for an excellent trip.


We blew up the packrafts and enjoyed a nice paddle down the Gulkana River.




We ultimately paddled across the Klutina River to a super secret spot in search of King Salmon. It was another beautiful evening but the Kings did not cooperate. We did avoid being skunked by landing a grayling on the last cast of the night.


Two weekends later we landed in Dawson City. Dawson is one of my favorite places in the circumpolar region...and it did not disappoint on this visit.

This is one of the many sweet venues offered at the festival.

Magan and I went for a hike along Moosehide Slide and up to the top of the dome. We ultimately had to hitch a ride back to town after we took a wrong turn somewhere.

The fireweed along the Top of the World Highway was in full bloom and the berry picking was not too shabby either. All in all those were two of the best weekends of this quick summer for me.

Mother Nature Flexes Her Muscles

The small town Eagle was hit hard by an ice jam and subsequent flooding from the Yukon River. Ice bergs backed up against fast ice in front of town and the water levels continued to jump until the jam finally broke loose. But not before the old native village of Eagle was totally destroyed and many other homes and businesses in the newer town of Eagle met the same disastrous fate.

The second story picture window of Charlie House's B&B was smashed out by this ice berg. All of Charlie's handcrafted buildings were displaced and ruined. He plans on cutting them up with a chainsaw and burning them in place.

A displaced cabin in amongst the jumble ice.

The folks that put up this memorial lost their home and all of their vehicles.

This was were first street used to be. It was totally covered in ice and had pushed all of the homes up and off of their foundations.

The Eagle school wore many hats...it acted as a homeless shelter, chow hall, supply exchange, Op's office and the meeting hall. I was very impressed by the quality of leadership in the school and the way the community hung in there.

The scope of work that I dealt with was spill response and tank recovery. Here we were extracting an over turned fuel truck tanker.

My co-worker looks on as Great Northwest contractors begin to work their way through the jumble ice on their way the the Holland-America Cruise ship.

The multimillion dollar ship was jammed into a precarious position. Holland-America is spending a ton of money to get the ship dislodged and ready for the tourist season.

Our contractors work at extracting a tank that was located out in the ice field.

I found this poem nailed to an old cabin and thought that it was fairly fitting for the current situation.