JeffA , Morning . . Good story and you did what any real outdoorsman would do - be prepared to ''help yourself'' .
This guy in his second hand homemade yurt likely has hundreds of hours of experience with a selfy stick aimed at his beardy face showing the www.facetwittrgram.com world his spectacular skills and adventurous nature . He should join the ''Van-Life'' movement - you park your survival vehicle in a remotish spot and play with your survival toys while blogging multiple times per day - then call your parents and inform them you need more money to live your dream .
I LMAO watching his type on youtube - drag all of their deep wilderness survival gear play toys 200 yards into the wilderness show off all their firemaking skills with their fire sparker rod - batoning fatwood , making french press coffee , gourmet meals with the camera getting near constant close ups of their face . One guy brought a neighbors dog to add another dimension to his videos -LAF- never not funny watching the starved for attetion gang get'ner done .
PRESIDENT TRUMP 2024/2028 !!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Bristoe The people wringing their hands over Trump's rhetoric don't know what time it is in America.
Being it was a typical Alaska welfare check and initiated by someone other than himself, he wouldn't be billed for it. LE has a legal obligation to respond to welfare check requests, it just gets more complex and spendy in many cases in Alaska but the Troopers are use to it.
It can be different if you are using them as an ambulance service but unsure if your use is due to need of rescue only.
I have some numbers on that, which may parallel a simple rescue mission. Better have your insurance paid up and it'd better not have a low cap for such services..
Calling for air ambulance to get from Dillingham to an Anchorage hospital..now I am speaking of "airport to airport" not from some odd ball remote location.....this comes in the form of a medically staffed Lear jet, price as of a few short years ago was $27K.
And just so you know, if you become injured in a outlaying area of Alaska lets say from a fall, and need to get to a Anchorage hospital asap but feel you can handle a commercial flight, Don't tell the airlines what you are up to. They won't take you if a possible air emergency could occur due to your "unknown and yet un-diagnosed condition". They will make you call the air ambulance service.
It's been a few years since I was working the boats but when at sea, back about 10 years ago, ambulance service came in the form of a Coast Guard helicopter. The Coast Guard bills for this service, I know of one instance where the bill was $45K when they had to pluck a guy off a boat bobbin around in the Bering Sea that had broken his leg and nose in a fight. There was more than a little hell raised over that one by the owner of the boat that had received the bill.
If I was in charge....anyone that got themselves in a jam and had to use ANY rescue services for ANY reason brought on solely by choices they had made were to eventually receive royalties from related book or movie deals....They would be billed in full for all services rendered if such charges had not already occurred.
On another note:
In the lower 48, Two Bear Air in Whitefish Montana operates one of the most advanced rescue services in the country, it's privately owned and all for free..
They are now covering Montana, Idaho and Eastern Washington with some amazing rescue technology. If you are an avid outdoors type in the area they cover I'd be looking into getting some recco rescue reflectors. They make you searchable from the air with the helicopter moving at 60 mph. You can probably find a little lead case to hide it in when you slip into one of your "they are watching me" schizo paranoid modes.
If this 2 bear air is so advanced they should advance that dude standing out on the landing skid some coin so he could buy some shoes, he's flippin' wearing crocs while standing out there in flight.
Padded VA Hospital Rooms for $1000 Alex
Originally Posted by renegade50
My ignoree,s will never be Rock Stars on 24 hr campfire.....Like me!!!!
The survivor could have made snowshoes fairly easily, but staying in place was absolutely the right move for him.
Key words, "for him"......
So we're all a little different, this guy knew his limits and was lucky enough help showed up before he ran out of food.. Can't let yourself get all ran down and weak from not eating before you decide to break and run for it.
I really don't get why people put themselves in such situations if rescuing themselves isn't a given. But then, I don't understand why people go out on dingy little fishing boats if they don't know how to swim either.
I was in my 40's and found myself running up the ice on the Kulukak River in SW Alaska on a brand new Polaris Trans-Sport . It had less than 600 miles on it and I was feeling bullet proof when I'd decided to make the run over to Togiak from Alegnagik by myself. I'd been running a trapline in the Wood-Tikchik State Park all winter and that was better than 100 miles every time I checked the traps. 95% of the time I was alone, it just wasn't a big deal.
I was on my way back to Alegnagik and had just put some pretty good hills behind me and hit the river. It was cold, (10's), sunny and nice. The ice was smooth and I was making time, the entire run is around 80 miles, getting over the hills had been what I guess you'd call "technical" and somewhat slow, my speed on the smooth river ice was making up for lost time.
Suddenly, just outta the blue, my nice new Polaris went into neutral, it was as if I'd thrown a belt, but you'd typically hear that and I'd heard nothing.. As the machine coasted to a stop I unlatched the hood and opened it up, yep, the belt was intact and that wasn't what I wanted to see. I pulled the dipstick from the chain case and found the culprit, little bits and pieces of my chain were clinging to the magnet on the end of the dipstick.
The machine was done for, no on the trail macgyver fix for that.
I pulled out my Garmin 45 GPS and made a waypoint where I was going to leave the machine. No fancy mapping GPS's back then, just numbers and an electronic compass. I'm a good boy scout and always carried my topos and a regular compass along with your basic survival gear in a dry bag that was lashed to the machine.
Just as I'd figured I was pretty much smack dab in between Togiak and Aleknagik, 35 to 40 miles either direction. If I were to make my way back to the top of the hills toward Togiak I'd probably be able to roust someone up on my handheld VHF and maybe get some help. That would be around 12 to 15 miles but Togiak kinda sucks, just not the best of Native villages and I'd have to hang out until I could get a flight out of there back to Aleknagik or Dillingham.
I decided to just head for Aleknagik, it was home at the time and I wasn't in a big hurry or anything.
I pushed the Polaris into the brush beside the river and buried it with snow the best I could. I didn't want to have it stolen or parted out before I could get back to retrieve it. Of course the tracks lead right to it, if I were lucky it'd snow in the next day or two and cover them up.
I had all the right clothing from my bunny boots to my spotted seal hat, there would be no problem there. There was a fist full of candy bars, some dried meat and a unopened bottle of blackberry brandy in the dry bag. Sugar and protein, all was well there. Being a smoker at the time there was never a shortage of bic lighters around.
I put what I figured I'd need in my day pack, tied my snowshoes on to the pack and started hiking. The cold temperatures made for great snow conditions, staying on top wasn't a problem.
I got to see some country I never would have if I hadn't been a foot, it was turning out to be an OK adventure. I just walked until I needed rest and then either slept or rested for an hour or so and then take off walking again....around the clock.
It wasn't like there were alternatives, nobody was going to be looking for me around there or anything like that. I think it's all in what you wrap your head around and how you approach the situations you find yourself in.
I never did use the snow shoes, the snow conditions held up really well. I'm glad it did, I had a few hills to cross. Going up was a chore but heading down the other side made up for that, I mostly stayed on flat ground where I could which added a couple miles but dodged some climbs.
It took around 50 hours total time including rest stops. I guess that made for around 3/4 of a MPH average.
I never considered it to be a big thing, it was just one of those deals you get into and gotta get yourself out of.
I had a bite or two of those candy bars left when I got home along with a couple chunks the dried meat.
The Brandy was gone.....
Lessons learned from that adventure were by far, never buy a snow machine that has reverse and you won't have a chain to deal with and always buy Brandy in the flat plastic bottles, you might have room for two....
Home sweet home Aleknagik and that fu_ckin Polaris Trans-Port
Thanks for sharing that. I enjoyed your story. Sorry for your ordeal but very informative.
Thanks, it takes a little bit to put the thoughts stories like these bring to mind into text.
I just find it hard to relate to this guy...
Originally Posted by ironbender
"Homesteader"? Not so much.
Sounds like he went "Into the wild".
Exactly, except it always seemed to me that McCandless was suicidal, he set off knowing he wasn't going to make it.
This guy wasn't as prepared or as capable as he may have thought, but he didn't intend on dying, not that it couldn't have easily happened.
From his interview that's posted on Scribd he states....
"I knew I didn’t have enough knowledge of the whereabouts....I’ve heard there’s someone at Donkey Creek Lake 5 miles away."
Says he was raising Jalapenos and had some small peppers on his plants. Jalapeno plants take a long time to produce in the warm climates they are typically raised in.
This guy had been there for months and hadn't taken the time to get familiar with his surroundings or possible neighbors. He may have benefited largely from getting to know others that lived nearby...
"I’m not exactly trained. I’ve just always been in the outdoors. And in the outdoor industry. My first job back in high school for five years I worked at a gear shop, so I was familiar with all the technical, you know, fire starting equipment.....I’ve just always liked to interface with the environment directly to survive. I challenge myself to make fire all the time."
So we got a techie type, loaded with the latest in Mountain Hardware® micro fleece gear, doing the one thing he was good at, starting fires, burning all his schit up and then being at a loss for what to do.
Sorry about his dog and glad he made it out.. He'll probably write the next "Surviving Alaska" best seller......
For some it can be a life or death struggle, for others it's just another day in the neighborhood.
Fantastic video! Really an interesting perspective.
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
I thought the weirdest part of this story is that he was so desperate he ate canned pineapple, even though he was allergic to pineapple. Then why did he take pineapple in the first place? Whatever, glad he is OK.
Fantastic video! Really an interesting perspective.
I just wanted to show how traversing the bush of Alaska can be done when I posted that. That tundra is more forgiving in the winter months than the summers for foot travel.
You and I both know that guy could have walked out of there after he burned down his place. I say that because of your comment about how he could have built snowshoes...
I'd snowshoe a lot of miles just to be snowshoeing before I was introduced to cross country skis, then winter foot travel became limitless.
It gets so old hearing these dreadful stories, much like "into the wild", how the hell did that ever become a best seller then a movie even?
It's like, if you make it look to easy, you don't have a story to tell.
People want to hear about heartache and grief, pain and suffering, exposed blood and guts, they get off on it. If you can spin your adventures into a life or death situation and spill some blood you'll land a movie deal.
Every major news paper in the country as well as a few in the UK are headlining this guys story today. If you are really bad at how you handle situations in the outdoors, your name might well become a household word.
Timothy Treadwell is a prime example...............
The survivor could have made snowshoes fairly easily, but staying in place was absolutely the right move for him.
Key words, "for him"......
So we're all a little different, this guy knew his limits and was lucky enough help showed up before he ran out of food.. Can't let yourself get all ran down and weak from not eating before you decide to break and run for it.
I really don't get why people put themselves in such situations if rescuing themselves isn't a given. But then, I don't understand why people go out on dingy little fishing boats if they don't know how to swim either.
I was in my 40's and found myself running up the ice on the Kulukak River in SW Alaska on a brand new Polaris Trans-Sport . It had less than 600 miles on it and I was feeling bullet proof when I'd decided to make the run over to Togiak from Alegnagik by myself. I'd been running a trapline in the Wood-Tikchik State Park all winter and that was better than 100 miles every time I checked the traps. 95% of the time I was alone, it just wasn't a big deal.
I was on my way back to Alegnagik and had just put some pretty good hills behind me and hit the river. It was cold, (10's), sunny and nice. The ice was smooth and I was making time, the entire run is around 80 miles, getting over the hills had been what I guess you'd call "technical" and somewhat slow, my speed on the smooth river ice was making up for lost time.
Suddenly, just outta the blue, my nice new Polaris went into neutral, it was as if I'd thrown a belt, but you'd typically hear that and I'd heard nothing.. As the machine coasted to a stop I unlatched the hood and opened it up, yep, the belt was intact and that wasn't what I wanted to see. I pulled the dipstick from the chain case and found the culprit, little bits and pieces of my chain were clinging to the magnet on the end of the dipstick.
The machine was done for, no on the trail macgyver fix for that.
I pulled out my Garmin 45 GPS and made a waypoint where I was going to leave the machine. No fancy mapping GPS's back then, just numbers and an electronic compass. I'm a good boy scout and always carried my topos and a regular compass along with your basic survival gear in a dry bag that was lashed to the machine.
Just as I'd figured I was pretty much smack dab in between Togiak and Aleknagik, 35 to 40 miles either direction. If I were to make my way back to the top of the hills toward Togiak I'd probably be able to roust someone up on my handheld VHF and maybe get some help. That would be around 12 to 15 miles but Togiak kinda sucks, just not the best of Native villages and I'd have to hang out until I could get a flight out of there back to Aleknagik or Dillingham.
I decided to just head for Aleknagik, it was home at the time and I wasn't in a big hurry or anything.
I pushed the Polaris into the brush beside the river and buried it with snow the best I could. I didn't want to have it stolen or parted out before I could get back to retrieve it. Of course the tracks lead right to it, if I were lucky it'd snow in the next day or two and cover them up.
I had all the right clothing from my bunny boots to my spotted seal hat, there would be no problem there. There was a fist full of candy bars, some dried meat and a unopened bottle of blackberry brandy in the dry bag. Sugar and protein, all was well there. Being a smoker at the time there was never a shortage of bic lighters around.
I put what I figured I'd need in my day pack, tied my snowshoes on to the pack and started hiking. The cold temperatures made for great snow conditions, staying on top wasn't a problem.
I got to see some country I never would have if I hadn't been a foot, it was turning out to be an OK adventure. I just walked until I needed rest and then either slept or rested for an hour or so and then take off walking again....around the clock.
It wasn't like there were alternatives, nobody was going to be looking for me around there or anything like that. I think it's all in what you wrap your head around and how you approach the situations you find yourself in.
I never did use the snow shoes, the snow conditions held up really well. I'm glad it did, I had a few hills to cross. Going up was a chore but heading down the other side made up for that, I mostly stayed on flat ground where I could which added a couple miles but dodged some climbs.
It took around 50 hours total time including rest stops. I guess that made for around 3/4 of a MPH average.
I never considered it to be a big thing, it was just one of those deals you get into and gotta get yourself out of.
I had a bite or two of those candy bars left when I got home along with a couple chunks the dried meat.
The Brandy was gone.....
Lessons learned from that adventure were by far, never buy a snow machine that has reverse and you won't have a chain to deal with and always buy Brandy in the flat plastic bottles, you might have room for two....
Home sweet home Aleknagik and that fu_ckin Polaris Trans-Port
At nearly 1.6 million acres, Wood-Tikchik State Park is the largest and most remote state park in the nation. This one park encompasses nearly half of the State Park land in Alaska and 15 percent of all state park land in the United States. The primary purposes of creating Wood-Tikchik State Park are to protect the area's fish and wildlife breeding and support systems and to preserve the continued use of the area for subsistence and recreational activities. The land and water in this region are traditional grounds for subsistence fishing, hunting and gathering. These activities are an integral part of the culture in this region and provide not only food, but a cultural tie to the land and between generations.
When I looked at your map I saw Manokotak. I took a job offer there in 99, but it fell through three weeks before school started because the married housing did not end up available. So I ended up in Bethel for a few years before going to South Central. Bethel did not have the views you had...
If I was younger and in better health I would like to give Dillingham or maybe up in Kotz some time. I am guessing a lot of guys on here similar thoughts!
The never-ending flight Of future days. Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 221
Great story and video Jeff, thanks for posting. Guys like you and Luc Mehl and friends bring to life the difference between living the life and just playing at it. Alaskans know how to have fun in the winter.
mike r
Don't wish it were easier Wish you were better
Stab them in the taint, you can't put a tourniquet on that. Craig Douglas ECQC
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