My Alaska trip in pictures

[jimnyc]

This is my Alaska adventure. I have a shit ton of pictures and I'll do my best in uploading them as quick as possible. I think there's nearly 5gig worth though.

We went to "L5" and the red hat you see me wearing in many pictures was my new hat that Rick had made for folks visiting L5. My hat was a wall decoration with another blue one, until my fat head showed up!!

L5 is just heaven, 25 miles up the Talkeetna River from the launch. I read an article yesterday where they stated that the river is "impassible" after about 10 miles - but not when you have Rick riding the Duckworth! I couldn't even tell what was shallow and what was deep. And she was less than a foot in some areas! But not once did Rick hit bottom, VERY impressive! That's years and years of experience on a river that even the guides don't mess with, due to it's speed I suppose and what it could do if you EFF up!

We started here, just leaving the boat launch and that's the Alaska Railroad tracks

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[jimnyc]

Going to the cabin, with Rick, myself, Patrick & Teddy onboard - and all of the things we all packed. She was fully loaded and HEAVY, in the rain!

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[jimnyc]

This is Psycho, aka Riley aka Muffins. She sure knows how to get comfy!

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[jimnyc]

I know I've seen dogs before, but couldn't help myself, just LOVE all them little buggers!! This was Odin, this is Patrick's dog, and also a very smart one! He was using blanks to send a scented duck way ion the air and land somewhere in the river, and Odin brought it back each and every time.

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[jimnyc]

This is Frost aka Noodles. She is simply beautiful. She is older and her better days behind her, but she is a love bug, and follows Rick and Sharon everywhere!!

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[jimnyc]

So the first morning I woke up on NY time and everyone else slept a few more hours. I figured, COOL, time to go cruising the quad!! So I remembered what I was told and I went and found the creek. This is where you go to get fresh water. While there with 4 of us a day later, Cass was overwatching us with a rifle. That's when Rick told me that it was an area to be on alert, where you can maybe see a bear. That was the last time I adventured into the woods by myself!!

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[jimnyc]

Cruising up the Talkeetna on a much brighter day. Just non-stop beauty at every turn.

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[jimnyc]

On the shores of the Talkeetna. I think this is where we saw something red stuck in the shallow trees. I watched the boat while Rick went to retrieve. I was praying it was a bank bag. Rick was hoping for a .44, but turned out to be a lifejacket. But hell, was a nice one for free!!

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[jimnyc]

Looking across the river where we stopped.

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[jimnyc]

While Rick was gone, Riley protected me by biting back the bad water!!

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[jimnyc]

There were a few times where I got scared for no reason. Riley would walk all the way out and the current would start to yank on her, but she would either easily walk back or swim it. This dog has no fear at all!

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[jimnyc]

After you park the boat, you get to have fun riding a 4 wheeler back to the cabin. This is somewhere right after getting on the 4wheeler, not far from the cabin at all.

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[jimnyc]

We went downstream on day 2 to pickup Sharon as she worked one more day. This is back to the launch and the Alaska Railroad.

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[jimnyc]

This is Rick and Sharon in the boat. I was up on the hill with the anchor, having absolutely no clue what I was doing and just praying the boat didn't float away.

Sharon had that awesome smile the entire trip, even when cooking and cleaning!! Folks like that, the fun and smiles were contagious!

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[jimnyc]

There she is, my first sighting of Mt. McKinley. Man that was one hell of a view. Rick made a special trip for me to where the tourists go.

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