Alaska pics 2009

[Kathianne]

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.

Rick, you have real fine looking children! Umm, I wouldn't approach without intro if a fish or person, which is probably a good thing. Great pics!

[NightTrain]

Rick, you have real fine looking children! Umm, I wouldn't approach without intro if a fish or person, which is probably a good thing. Great pics!

Thanks, Kathi

[NightTrain]

King what? That's an awesome looking catch!

That's a King Salmon. For some reason, we all call the salmon by nicknames, the King's proper name is Chinook.

King = Chinook
Red = Sockeye
Silver = Coho
Humpy = Pink
Dog = Chum

It has a red color because it had already begun the spawning process, and we didn't keep it... we were fishing for them because my Uncle Mike from Wisconsin had never caught a King before so we went King fishing! He got ahold of one that took him about an hour to land, and he still calls me up every weekend to talk about that fight. I guess we landed about 15 Kings that day, and he was grinning ear-to-ear the whole time.

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!

Thanks! I already told you years ago that I'd take you fishing, all you have to do is get your ass on the plane! Two of my Uncles from WI will be coming up the last week of July & first week of August and I'll be taking the time off to run around the state again so that timeframe would be ideal - another person would be just fine. That's when the fishing is best, and I'm thinking about killing a few bears around the cabin during that timeframe as well. I can take a picture of you skinning a Grizzly, arms covered in blood so you can post it for the next hippie that wanders in here. And wouldn't your wife be proud of a 9' bearskin rug?

No worries, I knew the board was acting flaky yesterday and I should have saved the text to a file here just in case. They're uploaded to photobucket already, just gotta type it out is all.

[NightTrain]

About 3 hours out of Juneau on the boat, we cruised past an island with hundreds of Sea Lions basking in the sun, it was pretty cool to see. Some of those bulls were gigantic beasts.



The first day, a grizzled old pilot got out of the chopper to unload materials and gear. The next day, pictured here, a stunning hardbody brunette bounced out of the driver's seat... we all fell in love immediately. She set this down light as a feather, she had the right stuff!



The trip back to Juneau. The pvc contraption you see there is a kickass air-powered potato gun that the captain amuses himself with as the boat drives itself on autopilot. I should have gotten a pic of it, on the side of the gun it says "Say hello to my leetle friend!"



Juneau small boat harbor.



One of Princess Tours' monstrous cruise ships, docked at downtown Juneau. Check out the fake jet engines on top, we all got a chuckle out of it.




Downtown Juneau.




The Governor's Mansion in Juneau. This is where Sarah Palin lived, and the job before this one that my co-workers were on they saw Todd out working in the yard. Looks like he did a mighty fine job to me.

[NightTrain]

The next job I did this summer was out in King Salmon. The map here shows you where it is in relation to Anchorage (top right).



I'm somewhat used to price gouging out in remote Alaska villages, but King Salmon was a cut above. Yup, I did buy the fifth of Crown, but I wasn't happy about it. Other prices I saw include : $9 gallon of milk, $5 gallon of water in a milk jug, $8 for a pound of cheap bacon, $11 for a pack of cheap hotdog sausages. How anyone can raise a family out there is beyond me.



The view across the street from my hotel, this is a slough off the Naknek river.



Doing my part to defrost the chopper. This is a Bell 407, truly a beautiful bird.



View of King Salmon and the Naknek river as we took off.



Mountains as we fly east.



There are hundreds of active volcanos in this region, not sure what's in that water but it really was a brilliant green.



One of the volcanos blowing steam. The sulfur fumes in this area had all of us choking.. it was bad.



General scenery.



This is Shelikof Strait, it separates Kodiak Island from the Alaska Peninsula. You can see the volcanic impurities seeping off the beach into the ocean.

[NightTrain]

Facing north at our site, about 80 miles from King Salmon and 50 miles from Kodiak. None of us brought a rifle for protection, assuming someone else would and failing that, the pilot would certainly have one in case he had to set down somewhere. Nope. So the pilot kept a lookout for bears while we worked on the radio repeater.



Facing east, you can see Kodiak Island in the distance under the clouds.



A dormant volcano, the old lava flow still visible.



I'm sure most of you have seen those pictures of a waterfall with salmon jumping up them, with a half dozen bears standing at the top catching them in their mouths... this is where McNeil is, on the other side of the lake.



Another shot of the lake.

[chloe]

I keep checking this thread as you add more pics, they are breathtaking. I didn't realize that Cruise Ships were that big geez!!!! The nature the is so pretty. But isn't it snowy most of the year there?

[NightTrain]

I keep checking this thread as you add more pics, they are breathtaking. I didn't realize that Cruise Ships were that big geez!!!! The nature the is so pretty. But isn't it snowy most of the year there?

No, not in this area. Juneau is not far from Seattle and it shares many of the weather traits of the Pacific Northwest like lots of rain.

Here in Wasilla we got our first snowfall a few days ago, and it'll be here until March or April, off and on. We usually get 3 or 4 chinooks (eskimo word for warm wind) during the winter and we'll lose the snow cover. As far as temperatures go, it's rarely under 20 degrees farenheit in this neck of the woods.

Now Fairbanks is another story altogether, I lived there in '99 and we saw it 65 below zero for a week straight, and both weeks on either end of that week were minus 40. But extreme cold snaps like that don't happen very often, and if you live in Fairbanks you deserve it! I didn't like it up there, neither did my wife.

[Mr. P]

I'd love to fly that 407 for a few months then come back to warm weather.

Some of those flying jobs in Alaska pay enough in 3-4 months to allow you to take the rest of the yr off. The pay does reflect the risk though.

I'll be that "grizzled old pilot", NT.

[NightTrain]

I'd love to fly that 407 for a few months then come back to warm weather.

Funny you should say that. The pilot, pictured to the left of the frosty helicopter photo, had just relocated from flying them in Hawaii. I suspect he'll begin carrying a firearm with him as he hears of hairy situations of a pilot forced down in no man's land.

Some of those flying jobs in Alaska pay enough in 3-4 months to allow you to take the rest of the yr off. The pay does reflect the risk though.

Yeah, he was making pretty good coin. The pilot was retired Air Force SAR and he could really fly that baby. The bill for that helo and pilot was $5,000 per day as we were weathered in and couldn't fly. So that's where the Crown came in handy... it's traditional to get the pilot drunk, as you know. He rewarded us with some kickass flying on our last day there by flying 160 MPH right off the deck, laying that beautiful machine on it's side coming around hills. God, it was fun... I was in heaven. I have video clips of that ride that I can post.

He told us that there's only two helicopters faster than that Bell 407 : the Chinook and the Blackhawk. I believe him, we were really hauling ass.

See the floats on the skids? I asked him about those and he said he'd never had to use them before. I'm not sure, but I'd wager that helo would turn turtle in that situation. Have you ever seen or used those?

I'll be that "grizzled old pilot", NT.

Can you bring the brunette hardbody as the stewardess? Wish I would have got a pic of her.

[Mr. P]

Funny you should say that. The pilot, pictured to the left of the frosty helicopter photo, had just relocated from flying them in Hawaii. I suspect he'll begin carrying a firearm with him as he hears of hairy situations of a pilot forced down in no man's land.



Yeah, he was making pretty good coin. The pilot was retired Air Force SAR and he could really fly that baby. The bill for that helo and pilot was $5,000 per day as we were weathered in and couldn't fly. So that's where the Crown came in handy... it's traditional to get the pilot drunk, as you know. He rewarded us with some kickass flying on our last day there by flying 160 MPH right off the deck, laying that beautiful machine on it's side coming around hills. God, it was fun... I was in heaven. I have video clips of that ride that I can post.

He told us that there's only two helicopters faster than that Bell 407 : the Chinook and the Blackhawk. I believe him, we were really hauling ass.

See the floats on the skids? I asked him about those and he said he'd never had to use them before. I'm not sure, but I'd wager that helo would turn turtle in that situation. Have you ever seen or used those?



Can you bring the brunette hardbody as the stewardess? Wish I would have got a pic of her.

I'm not familiar with the tradition of getting the pilot drunk.

I noticed the floats. They are common on helicopters that fly over or operate around large bodies of water like the Gulf of Mexico. I've never used them but I know they will keep an aircraft upright unless the water is rough, even then they will keep it buoyant long enough for recovery. Under the worst conditions they provide a bit more time to exit the aircraft before it does become a turtle.

About the hardbody...if she already drives it would be near impossible to convince her to be the stew, she might buy co-pilot though.

Post that video I'd love to see it.

[stephanie]

Great pictures NT..you were near my old stomping grounds when you were in Nenana..27 miles south from there Clear-Anderson my old home for 18years..
the Clear Sky Lodge on the parks hwy up the road from where I lived was pretty famous during the days of building the pipeline..you should stop in there if you're up around that way again.

now you went and made me homesick..

[Kathianne]

Wow, I feel like I've been on a tour. Makes me want to go see that land 'up there!'

You should try for a job as tourism booster!

[NightTrain]

Great pictures NT..you were near my old stomping grounds when you were in Nenana..27 miles south from there Clear-Anderson my old home for 18years..
the Clear Sky Lodge on the parks hwy up the road from where I lived was pretty famous during the days of building the pipeline..you should stop in there if you're up around that way again.

now you went and made me homesick..

Yep, I thought of you as we rolled through Clear, Steph. Incidently, there was one hell of a forest fire raging at the time, and there's a lot of burned country there now. We were down to 10 MPH at times because I could barely see the lines on the highway, much less see if anyone was stopped ahead of me. I guess that was about August 5th of this year.

Wow, I feel like I've been on a tour. Makes me want to go see that land 'up there!'

You should try for a job as tourism booster!

I don't think my wife would appreciate the severe pay decrease! lol

Post that video I'd love to see it.

I'm re-uploading the first half of it now to youtube... there was a problem with the audio on that clip and I think it was because I was impatient with youtube as it was finishing processing. Takes a while to upload 90 megs but I'll have it posted here in an hour or so.

[NightTrain]

Here are the video clips. The quality isn't the best, but it's not terrible either. I was using my digital camera in movie mode for this so it's a tad shaky.

There's still a problem with the audio on the first clip, but the second one works fine. It must have been a bad conversion from my original 20 minute clip and I'll have to redo it sometime. In the meantime, turn your sound down because there's an annoying little chirp until the sound cuts out completely.

At 2:34 in this first one, we cleared the last of the mountains and the pilot dumped the collective to shed some altitude real fast. I suspect I was the only one (being in the back by myself) that didn't know it was about to happen. The first thought through my startled mind was, "Oh shit, the rotors just came off!" Then I heard both of them chuckling over the intercom, the bastards.


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The second one works fine. About 1:30 he gets frisky going around hills right off the deck, then again a couple of times more before we land at King Salmon.

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