Alaska pics 2009

[NightTrain]

Here's a few pics from this summer from our cabin, accessible only by jetboat or snowmachine on the Talkeetna river, about 80 miles north of Wasilla.

I can post more if there's interest, I have gigs of these photos.

This is my 10 year old daughter, Samantha.




This is Samantha and my 6 year old son, Tanner... eggs and bacon on the deck.




This is Sammie showing everyone a nifty trick that my dog, Truffles, doesn't really care for... bacon is for eating, not for looking at cross-eyed.




My buddy Bill watches as Samantha and I fix the American Flag that the bears tore down while we were gone. The possibility was raised that the bears must have been Democrats. We're planning on killing a few of them (bears, not democrats) next summer, they're getting way too plentiful.




Bill watches as my 12 year old son, Ricky, touches off a 12 guage, 3" mag. I took this just as he fired it, trying to get the stab of flame from the barrel but no cigar. Look how he's rocked back on his heels.





My Uncle Mike flew up and I took him King Salmon fishing at Montana Creek, he's got a 50# King on. My 4-wheeler and truck in background - this isn't at the cabin but about 40 miles north of Wasilla.




My son, Ricky, with a nice Red (Sockeye) Salmon at Disappointment Creek about 7 miles upriver from the cabin.




My son Tanner with his first Silver Salmon, also at Disappointment Creek.






Me holding Samantha's first Rainbow Trout, about a mile downriver from the cabin.

[NightTrain]

A bear across the river from the cabin.




Bill and I taking the kids fishing. The boat is a 20' RiverRunner, 300 HP 350 Kodiak with a 3 stage jet. She really steps out.

[-Cp]

Beautiful! Looks like you all had an amazing time!

[NightTrain]

Beautiful! Looks like you all had an amazing time!

Thanks! Yep, we always have a good time up there. The kids absolutely love it up there, since they get to burn up ammo by the box and they can get as dirty as they want without anyone bitching at them for it. They're all becoming talented anglers as well.

As a side note, see how murky the water is? That's due to the glaciers draining into the river with their silt. That's why I always crack up when I see some company advertising their bottled water on the national channels with bullshit like "Pure Glacial Water!".

No one in their right mind would drink glacier water, but apparently the marketing types are betting that 99% of the population has no idea what glacial water consists of.

[crin63]

Thats awesome! I love the pics and the outdoor life.

[Jeff]

Wow beautiful pics and a great looking family

If ya got more pics I would enjoy seeing them

[NightTrain]

This is at Jim Creek, about 15 miles from my house. This is me, stuck in my designated thrasher 4x4 Dakota. I blew the right hub out as I was crossing, and promptly got stuck... nothing like having your little brother pull you out in his Toyota, I'm still hearing about it.



As my brother took his sweet ass time getting a strap hooked between our rigs, my truck was settling in the soft sand. Of course, water was leaking in through the doors at an alarming rate, and finally was over the bench seat. I had to keep the truck running, so had to sit there in that icy water. Me showing my soaked ass.



Me with a King at Montana Creek.



Putting the canvas up on my buddy Bill's boat at the Talkeetna landing.



Unloading the boat at our cabin.



Something that happens to the best of us - a jetboat high-n-dry. This is in a small slough off the confluence of the Susitna and Yentna rivers. It's a 22' Duckworth, and these guys were on the radio with the Coast Guard trying to get someone to come rescue them. We tried for 4 hours to get them off with winches and finally gave up and gave them a ride back to the landing.



A group of Caribou out of Red Dog Mine, about 5 miles away from the Arctic Ocean (Chukchi Sea), roughly 200 miles above the Arctic Circle.



The start / finish line (it alternates with Wasilla every year) for the Iron Dog snowmachine race at Pike's Landing in Fairbanks. This is the race that Todd Palin runs.



The Trans-Alaska Pipeline in Fairbanks.

[Jeff]

Beautiful Pics , but I see ya had boats there why try to make the pick up one, LOL

[chloe]

Great Pictures !!! Alaska looks like a wonderful place to hide, I wish my family wanted to escape there, thanks for sharing your family fun in beautiful Alaska

[NightTrain]

I had a bunch more posted... Jim, your board ate them!

Beautiful Pics , but I see ya had boats there why try to make the pick up one, LOL

Not sure what you're saying, bud... are you talking about the Duckworth we tried to get afloat again? We were on our way to a buddy of mine's cabin up this slough to retrieve a canoe & came around the corner and saw these guys, their boat was stuck on a sand bar. Between the weight of that big inboard and the vacuum from the sand against the hull, we couldn't get them off so we left it there and gave them a ride back to civilization about 30 miles away. The water level came up a couple of days later and they got their boat back... the poor bastards were mighty glad to see us when we happened by - they'd been stuck there all day and didn't see anyone else and were facing a miserable night in prime bear infested backcountry.

The dirty water combined with how sluggish it moves in this particular slough makes it impossible to "read" the water to navigate your jet boat to keep it in deeper water. Kim, my friend that was driving his boat we were in, knows this slough like the back of his hand and was zig-zagging from side to side for no reason that you could see. He knows where the sand bars are from trial-and-error. He told me later how he does it : "Okay... 20' after that broken stump, hard left to the bank. 50' before that overhanging tree, hard right to the middle and angle to the corner. Stay inside the next corner..."

The guys that were stuck were foolish for taking such a big, heavy boat up that slough and they paid the price for it. We were in a lightweight 18' Alumacraft flatbottom with a 150 Mercury jet that the 3 of us could have easily pushed it off.

Great Pictures !!! Alaska looks like a wonderful place to hide, I wish my family wanted to escape there, thanks for sharing your family fun in beautiful Alaska

Welcome! Glad you enjoyed.

[NightTrain]

This is a 'pig' that they send down the pipeline to remove sludge buildup from inside the pipeline. It weighs 2,600 pounds.



Another shot of the pipeline. After 9/11 they began patrolling the pipeline in these trucks and with helicopters in the more remote areas. The pipeline is raised like this in areas to allow egress to wildlife like migrating caribou, moose, predators, etc. The radiators on top of the supports prevent the steel from melting the permafrost underground - otherwise it would be impossible to support the massive weight of the structure and oil.



Downtown in North Pole, AK. This is Santa Claus Lane, naturally. Note the candy cane light poles.



The Santa Claus House in North Pole. One hell of a tourist trap, they do quite well.



My Uncle with the Big Guy himself, inside Santa Claus House.



This was very interesting. Check out the screws that propel this tractor.



This is the story behind the bizarre tractor shown above.



Also in Fairbanks. If you ever go to Fairbanks, be sure to check Alaskaland out, there is a lot of history there.



The S.S. Nenana, the pic above gives info. It's a big sucker.

President Warren G. Harding, the first chief executive to visit the territory, came to Fairbanks to celebrate the completion of the Alaska Railroad.
Although Harding was dead within two weeks, his reputation marred by scandal, that day Fairbanks was excited by what the Daily News-Miner called "the Glory of the Coming.''
He spoke first to a crowd at Week's Field on July 23, 1923. Among other things he said, "I wonder if you know what has most impressed us on our ... trip to Alaska. You have a sample of it here in Fairbanks....While Alaska is majestic and boundless and mighty.....it is also strikingly a home land, and that is the finest thing that may be said of any section of any nation in the world."

The rail car 'Denali' is in the background, this was built for Harding on his trip.

[NightTrain]

Highway scenery about halfway between Fairbanks and Anchorage.



We did a job for the FAA on a remote island out of Juneau this summer. About 6 hours by boat from Juneau out in the Gulf of Alaska.




My co-workers were fooling around on one of the 6x6 wheelers, and buried it in the loose gravel. Note the Landing Craft coming in to pick us up coming around the island - the tide was going out and there would have been hell to pay if the captain had to wait 12 hours because we missed high tide to load.




I'm on the big forklift, I was sweating this because if I got this big boy stuck it would have been a bitch getting it out and we didn't have time. It turned out okay though, we got our shit together right as the Landing Craft dropped his bow plate on the beach.




Glaciers flowing into a lake, you can see the icebergs. About 40 miles out of Juneau.




One of the huge cruise ships taking tourists on a glacier cruise about 30 miles out of Juneau. Look how dirty the water is from the glaciers.




Outskirts of Juneau, that's Mendenhall Glacier in the background.




One of the harbors in Juneau, this is where we launched from on that job.




Porpoises chasing fish about 2 hours out of Juneau.




A humpback whale blows - this was harder to get a shot of than I had anticipated... the lag time with my digital camera made it almost impossible. It's a good excuse to upgrade cameras.

[Jeff]

I was kidding with ya, I was under the impression it was your pick up stuck in the water, any how these pictures are beautiful, I would love to see that part of the world, most of the pics look more like a post card, thank you for posting them I enjoyed them

[NightTrain]

I was kidding with ya, I was under the impression it was your pick up stuck in the water, any how these pictures are beautiful, I would love to see that part of the world, most of the pics look more like a post card, thank you for posting them I enjoyed them

Oh, now I understand! I need more coffee, STAT! Yeah, that really sucked and it took a couple weeks for that damn Dakota to dry out.

Glad you enjoyed!

Had another 20 pics uploaded but I think the board glitched and they're gone... I'll repost later on.

[jimnyc]

Me with a King at Montana Creek.

King what? That's an awesome looking catch!

I had a bunch more posted... Jim, your board ate them!

All of your pictures are awesome! Sorry about the "hiccup". Apparently the board was up and down while they are migrating to the new server, and I'm sure a few posts were lost that were made right around the same time. I know I updated the announcements section and it was gone after the migration.

But keep posting your pics! Love the wildlife and you have a beautiful family. I honestly don't think I could survive in Alaska, but I would sure as hell love to take a vacation there!