Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska White Privileged in Remote Alaska

Not many get the opportunity, what inspired you to go there?
I used a 18 foot Lowe with a 40 jet..

Cabin at the top of the Wind River


Lake Beverly looking toward the bottom of the Peace River


I had to haul my lumber up those rivers a boat load at a time.

Jeff:

I went on my first AK trip in 1987, climbing MT. McKinley. I fell in love with AK and have returned on ten trips. A couple more climbing trips and some hunting trips.

We were after caribou on that canoe trip and came back empty handed. But we had a great adventure.

I would have moved to AK after I retired but my children and grandchildren live here and my wife won't leave. I love Alaska but I love my wife and family more.

Great photos. I wish I could say that I recognised the scenery but that was a long time ago and it was a long trip.

KC

I never saw many Caribou along the shores of those rivers and lakes but the jet outboards were so loud.
Moose were more common and the bears could be thick at times.

The Caribou were more likely to be found in the open tundra east of the lakes.

Tag

Solar Inflatable Jet Boats would be great for that country. My 470 will carry 2K and stay on step at 12 MPH with a quiet 50 HP 4strk burning 2.2 GPH.

Good video showing what they can do and affordable so you don't have to be White Privileged may ruffle some feathers running on there river though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFCDQHvJcYA&feature=youtu.be

Great pics and stories thanks Jeff

Enjoying the stories, Jeff.

Great pics of white privilege in action.

Love the skandic shots too. I'm running a pair of V800 SWTs. I'll pass on making them fly, but they are haulin SOBs.

I drive my jet boat on the agulawok and agulapak river all the time up to this lakes. Not a big deal when you know the channel.

Exactly...but I doubt you have a whole lot of company once you get passed the top of the Agulowak.. It's been a few years for me but I doubt that's changed a lot. There are a few more guide services than there use to be and whatever traffic GCI's people create.....

I ran that river pretty much daily....year round.

Other than guiding there, I was building some of the structures at first lake lodge back in the early 90s before GCI bought it.
The lodge crew would leave at the end of season and I stayed there for 8 months alone until they'd return the following summer doing interior finish work and building furniture.

I had the whole lodge to myself and I kept a boat in the water all winter.
If I ran it every day, it seemed to help keep from freezing the water pump. After there would be enough light to see, I'd fire up the outboard and run to the bottom of the river, and back up to the lodge every day.

The true channel became well defined as the water level dropped through the winter months. It'd get so skinny in some spots you'd literally have a two to three foot wide channel that would be deep enough to accommodate the jet shoe and you'd better be onstep to keep the hull up outta the water.

Due to those low water level runs everyday of the winter, I deemed myself the "River Master", nobody knew that channel as well as I did...or at least I though...

It was about 1 in the morning in the late fall, I heard a boat coming down the lake.
A week prior, some locals I knew came rippin passed heading up the lakes camping, it was them coming back down, I recognized the sound of their boat, it was V8 inboard jet.

I figured they were going to stop, they must have a problem or something, no way they were going to run that river in the dark.

They shot right by full tilt and headed down the river. It bruised my ego, I'd never considered a night run.
I wasn't set up with the lights you'd need but neither were they.

It'd been a full moon, that must be it.....I let it grind on me, next full moon I'd be prepared and go run it.

A full cycle of the moon went by and I was ready, I headed into Dillingham later in the day than usual and bought some odds and ends then went back to Aleknagik and partied a little with some folks.

Long about midnight I fired up the boat and headed back up the lake, it's a 12-15 mile run to the bottom of the river.
The moon was up up pretty high and I could see a bit on the lake, at least enough to keep from hitting an island or anything.
The shore line was just flat black, no definition at all, just black.

I kept my eye on the ridge, I knew where the mountains sloped down would be the where the river spilled into the lake.
It wasn't as easy as I'd thought it'd be to just find the mouth of the river but I made my way and headed up.

The first couple of turns were easy, the moon lit things up fairly well out close to the lake and it was familiar to me anyway.
It didn't take long until it wasn't so cool..the moon was in the southern sky and so were the mountains next to me.

It started going from the moon creating a blinding silver streak up the middle of the river which was like a magnet wanting you to follow it, which sure as hell wasn't the channel, to rounding a corner to find it completely black dark due to the terrain blocking the moonlight.
My eyes couldn't adjust fast enough going from blinding bright to total black dark in just a flash like that.

It was starting to really suck, I had to keep my eyes squinted to avoid too much light and I was doing everything I could just to keep up with a close idea of exactly where I was at.
Having a "close idea" really isn't good enough when it comes to running that river, there were parts that were completely azz puckering..
I chilled and pretty much just followed the map in my head and made my way to the top of the river...without hitting...

I WOULD NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!

I was really butt hurt over the whole entire event, how was it those guys ran that river in the dark and I struggled so hard?

Next trip to town I went and saw the guy that owned the boat and ask him how they'd done it., He started laughing hard and told me "man we were so drunk that night I like to tore the bottom out of the boat a few times", said he couldn't even count the amount of times they'd hit....

My ego felt better but now I just felt stupid.......

Shhhhhhh....you'll give away the secret meaning of the thread title......



When traveling that country in late season those rivers and lakes could begin to open. We'd always make a last hellmary run up those lakes to get Whitefish and Caribou.
You had to be capable of skipping open water while pulling a sled, at least for a short distance or you'd die.

It just happened too often, you'd be ripping along and suddenly there would be open water in front of you.

We crossed a few completely open rivers by jumping off a high bank to cross a deep channel if you could land on a shallow gravel bar once you cleared the channel. You only have to do that if you can't get down on the level of the river and just skip across a deep spot. Drain plugs on the lower block are a dream when all the BS don't work out and your draining a couple gallons of river outta the cylinders. Pretty quick fix if you've done it a few times.< hint....

Thanks, I'm just bored. There are so many tales that could be told but I find it very difficult to paint a understandable picture while keeping it as short as possible...the attention span of the multitudes can be quite limiting, if you've been there, done that and understand the descriptions, you may enjoy every word.

Jeff:

I'm one who has not BTDT but I enjoy the stories anyway.

My brother and I floated past Golden Horn years ago, we had been dropped off at the top of Kulik by Freshwater Adventures. We totally missed the salmon but caught some nice dollies and my best-ever grayling, I think it was 21 inches long. We ran across Justin Johns on the river, interesting guy.

Saw a wolverine at the lower end of Kulik, and had moose eyeballing our camp the first morning.

How old is that picture of the Otter it looks like GCIs That buzzed us all the time at the top of the river and the one Stevens died in.

You are correct.

That took longer than I thought...
Only reason I posted that shot was to get a response about it...

When I was working with the Lodge (Wood River) prior to GCI buying it that Otter was purchased.
If I recall it came from the India Air Force, sent it to Canada for restoration, that's where those monster Wipline amphibious floats were installed, then straight to the Float Plane Nationals in Minnesota where it took best of show.
From there, it was flown into the lodge.

First few years we used it at the lodge is wasn't turbo.
They did convert it prior to handing it over to GCI in the sale of the lodge.

I was all over the place in that plane before GCI used it to kill Stevens.
It really sucked, we have plenty of politicians to last us but we're running out of vintage DeHavilland Otters.



R.I.P.

That is a fact there is getting to be less beavers as well. They are a very cool plane before and after the turbine conversion

I've followed your posts about this boat...
I have one concern, the bears, for some reason, in that area love to chew on soft mushy stuff.

I never got by just one night of leaving my seat on my 4 wheeler without it getting eaten.
Put a put a piece of stuffed furniture or a cushioned lawn chair outside, eaten all but immediately.

I've been in plenty of other areas in Alaska with large populations of bears, even over around Katmai and that never happens.
I just don't get it.

Right now, I am in the preliminary stages of putting together another trip into the Tik Chiks.
There is a young guy I have been giving up all my outdoor hunting and fishing areas to.
Just want to pass things on before I get old and die.

We did five weeks in Montana this summer going over hunting and fishing locations and that was our second trip for the same reason.

I could use a boat such as this for the trip.
We both have some resources and don't mind spending a little money but damn if that thing were to get chewed up during our trip we'd be screwed....

We're going to go to Europe for a few months this summer so I'm thinking summer after next.
I may be able to revive some old resources in the area to produce something but that's not a given.

I'd like to borrow a hull from someone and fly in a new outboard but if that don't happen we've been talking inflatables.

If you flew up there prior to 2013 you may have been in their Widgeon, there is a story about that plane that may interest you. That bad boy is still on the bottom of Tikchik Lake.

It's always cool to get to see a Wolverine in the wild, it's not a common occurrence. I think they see a lot more of us than we see of them, they're pretty wiley.

I've seen a few and trapped a few.

I was going up the east side of the Agulapak River one morning and one came darting out from around that cabin by the top of the river. He ran down and started across lake Beverly, I couldn't believe it, what a fool.
I had my AR with me and was always on the prowl for predators, getting a good hide here and there helped with the fuel budget.
This sucker was mine, it's a long ways across that lake and his little short legs were going like crazy but he was no match for my snow machine, he was gonna die, he was all mine.

I decided to screw with him a little bit and got up behind him as he scampered across the ice. I don't know what I was trying to do but at some point I was going to have to stop and shoot him, it wasn't like he was going to just turn around and throw his hands in the air and give himself up to me.
I think he'd have kept running til he just ran himself out, no way he was making it to the other side of the lake.

We were moving along at about 25 or 30 mph and I closed the gap and had him between my skis..
He didn't like that and it wasn't long til that sucker made a right hand turn and I hit him with one ski, my snow machine went azz over teakettle, it was on it's side with my leg under it and hadn't a clue as to where my AR had landed.

I got to my feet pretty quick, shutting the machine off while looking for my AR and the now pizzed off Wolverine all at the same time.
Once I got my schit together and had the AR back in my hands I was spinning in circles looking for the damn Wolverine.
I never saw him again, Idunno how he got away so quickly as far out on the ice as we were but he was sure as hell gone.

He could have had me for dinner if he wanted to.

They say to never tease a Weasel, well don't tease Wolverines either, might as well add Wolves to the list, it's all those "W" animals...don't tease um.......

Yes, it was the same Widgeon we took up to Kulik. We were up there over 20 years ago, time gets away. Hate to hear about the crash, I have heard float and amphib pilots talk about how hard a glassy water landing can be. I remember well our young pilot taxiing on the lake for long minutes looking for the gravel bar to drop us off. Pretty soon I told him I believed the landing bar was about 3 feet under, and it actually was! Normal May water conditions. We stayed in the fisheries cabin above Mikchalk one night, with about 200 rats. spent a night on the raft across from GH Lodge, and finished out on Beverly Lake.

Good stuff keep going ! I have to add ...try running a air boat for a week then hop in a river boat (lite hull 150jetted) oh boy i can go there do that ! Lol 1st Wolverine i came across ..i didnt know what it was, and it didnt know what i was either we landed the canoe i hopped out a grabed a 24" beaver chew/ club ..it was right there like 6' away, i moved toward it it just stared at me then trotted off .me to, right behind close enough to darn near grab its tail , but not close enough to take a swing , this went on for like 50yrds after a few more stops abd stare downs ...i gave up ..the face /look .... it had enough and was going to kick my azz . I thougth the same ....lol