4th of July cabin trip

[NightTrain]

Just a few pics of what we were up to this last weekend. There were 5 adults and 4 kids along on this trip, unfortunately my honey had to work and couldn't go.

I'm teaching my buddy Lee how to run the river in his boat, so he accompanied me whenever I made a run anywhere... there's a learning curve involved in knowing where to steer your boat so you don't end up high-n-dry on a gravel bar in the middle of the river that was covered by an inch of water. It's very hard on boats & jet units, not to mention a major effort to get your boat back into deeper water that usually involves several hours of back breaking work.

[NightTrain]

The girls came up the next day, so I went down to the boat launch in Talkeetna and waited for them. We spotted this knucklehead walking on top of the railroad bridge, and while he was doing it a train went past... I can only imagine how much that bridge swayed and somehow the idiot didn't fall off. I hated watching because I was sure he was going to fall and kill himself, but he made it back down.

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My brother Jim. Put a few beers down him and he turns into a lumberjack... grabs the wheeler and the chainsaw and goes to work.

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This is Frost, Sharon's German Shepard, waiting for me to throw a stick for her. She's a great dog and is hell on wheels when it comes to chasing off bears. But she's getting old now, and her hips are really slowing her down... I have to lift her into the truck and into the boat these days.

My buddy Lee in the background fishing.

[NightTrain]

Our 4th of July crew fishing. The King Salmon weren't thick up here through the canyon yet, but they're close.

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The river follows the left bank there, and right around that corner is Class IV whitewater that we run through to get here. It's pretty cool listening to the water roar down below, and even more cool scaring the hell out of new people that haven't been in a riverboat running next to standing 15' waves, getting bounced around, hearing the engine roar and occasionally cavitate, while the water spray off the bow rains down. It's kind of like a roller coaster and I like hearing the screams... but my passengers almost always are ready to do it again - it's a lot of fun.

[Gunny]

This is Frost, Sharon's German Shepard, waiting for me to throw a stick for her. She's a great dog and is hell on wheels when it comes to chasing off bears. But she's getting old now, and her hips are really slowing her down... I have to lift her into the truck and into the boat these days.

My buddy Lee in the background fishing.

I like the dog. Who's that ugly guy though?

[NightTrain]

I like the dog. Who's that ugly guy though?

That's Lee, a friend of mine. He went to high school with my little brother... pretty solid guy, has done quite a bit of hunt Guiding around the State and he knows what he's doing. His only shortcoming as an outdoorsman that I can see is his lack of river running expertise... I've taught him the basics, now he just needs to get out there and beat up his boat to complete his education - the hardest lessons are the best ones, you know. After he spends a few miserable hours dragging his boat inch by inch back to the deeper water to float it, he'll become much more cautious about gravel / sand bars.

Not to mention buying a new impeller and sleeve for his jet unit, those pricey little items reinforce those lessons nicely! Everyone has to go through it though, just part of the drill.