In past posts and facebooking status’, I’ve briefly mentioned a cabin that is being built for the fishing gear for guides and guests. In years past, they have always used a wall tent which doesn’t block any UV, which fishing line and wader material are susceptible to. Right now, everything is in an unused staff cabin. So this week being work week, the guides have been charged with the task of building a gear cabin. Last year, there were two guides who were also construction workers, this year there are none. Everyone has a great sense of humor about there carpentry skills of lack thereof, so it has been quite entertaining to watch and occasionally be a part of. The title of “chief of the project” has changed hands several times, and no one really wants to claim responsibility, which leaves us with a bunch of misguided little indians running into each other carrying hammers. We started putting on the siding today….
After getting two sheets of T-111 on (grooved plywood), everyone started cursing and throwing things. Upon further inspection with measuring tapes and a level, the thing isn’t even CLOSE to square…its a rhombus. To make it square, two guys pull this way, three guys push that way, until the guy with the level says STOP!! THATS IT! NAIL IT! NAIL IT! QUICK!!! At one point, with everyone straining, to push it, and another guy with a come along attached to a tree, the whole thing gave, and looked like it was going to come down on top of us!! So we nailed the living piss out of it, and it is still standing!! Even with all the small lakes and swift rivers and weather we fly around with, I’m finally realizing that Alistair McPherson was right!….flying is the easy part.

 

ummm....what do we do now?

 

Looks pretty good right now! Starting to feel confident about our carpentry skills!

 

oop...nevermind...its a freaking rhombus!

Ok, so it’s a corny title, but anyone who had to take 5th grade choir probably knows the song.
ANYWAYS… Early in the season, a pregnant moose was spotted evading her bear pursuers right near camp before most of us showed up. She apparently got away the first time, but about a week later, we saw her lying dead in the shallows of a pond maybe a half mile from the lodge. She has been floating there ever since with her back mauled and ripped apart from the fatal bear attack. We were all getting a little perturbed that the moose was going to go to waste, and it should at least feed SOMEthing! Well now someone is finally eating it. It has been drug to shore, and there is already not much left. When I flew over it an hour or so ago there was a bear laying on its stomach, with back legs spread eagle (kinda like a dog on a tile floor on a hot day!) with its whole face inside the remains of the moose. When I flew over, it pulled its red head out, gave a lazy contented look up at the airplane, and went back to munching.  
I tried to get a picture, but it’s pretty windy, and I couldn’t get one worth posting, so here is a slightly less blurry pic of the moose from a couple days ago.  The pic of the bear is the one I think is eating it.  I took it two days ago not too far from where the grizzly scene is taking place.
REALLY cool to see nature in action like this!

 

Bloating, floating, dead pregnant moose. YUMMY!

 

 

The hungry bear!

Patrick (maintenance guy) and I hauling empty AVGAS jugs

Doing a lot of hauling this week with no guests that need to go places, so here’s a couple pics…

Actually from last year, but I didn't get a picture when we did it this year. Everything over 8 feet goes on the float.

Plywood loaded, 2x6's to go.

Plywood on the spreader bars

...and a diesel tank

Back home at Kenmore, some of the mountain lakes are effectively closed to seaplane traffic during loon nesting season.  I always just kinda blindly followed the rules and didn’t go in there, not really knowing how a seaplane could possibly affect a nesting bird aside from bird strike.  (Which would suck by the way, because loons are freaking huge!!)  I now know that it is because their nests are so close to water level, that the wake from a plane during the plow (during takeoff or landing) will definitely swamp the nest.  The loons on our “small lake” are back this year.  Last year was reportedly the first time in 5 years that the loons eggs hatched before the bears got to them.  Brown bears will walk along the shoreline, and when the momma loon darts out, they know right where the nest, and a nice omelet is waiting for them.  The chicks survived by literally hours last year, as the bears got to the nest the same day the chicks first could climb on their mother’s back in the lake.  Hopefully they will have the same success this year.  The bears in camp may not be hungry though, as they killed a pregnant cow moose less than a mile from the lodge.  Hopefully that will keep them full for a little while.

 

Momma loon in the nest guarding the eggs.

Just got a care package from my loverly wife with my camera in it!! ( and cookies and other goodies, too. THANKS KATE!)  So now I can post pictures!   I have also rigged up my gorilla pod on the GPS mount on the dash to get video of takeoffs and landings.  I’ll have to try posting them later, because I think it will take all day to post video with this internet speed if it’s possible to do so at all.  

 

Who's watching the road?

Beaver 9RW and Helio 29R on the shore of the Kvichak at Igiugig

So, we’ve been living a violent life full of brutal attacks from both sides, and bloody murders…the mosquitoes are ridiculous! Everyone agrees that this last week has been way worse for bugs than any time last year, or in recent memory for those who have been here longer. The flavor of the week has been the mosquitoes who swarm you after being outside for 5 seconds or more. Even the rough and tough “I love bugs” Alaskan fishing guides are whining about it and a couple of them even wear headnets!! (kind of a fau-pa in the fish guiding world). Since everything we do is done more or less outdoors, we have resorted to combat showers, combat laundry, combat peeing, combat #2, combat fueling, and just about everything else we do. Everything must be done one handed, because the other is needed to swat away the enemy, although it is a losing battle, because one hand is just not enough. 100% deet doesn’t seem to do a thing, and they have even figured out how to bite through a headnet, or even a layer of clothing!!!

Although we’ve been here for a week, it’s all just been in anticipation and getting the lodge ready for today; the opening day of fishing season. Unfortunately for some, there are several lodges not operating this year, and others are way down on bookings due to the economy. Fortunately for us, and a few others still in business, there is little to no competition on the river for the good fishing holes. One of our groups today had the WHOLE RIVER to themselves, and all groups had a great day of fishing.
And slightly less exciting…I did two flights to Igiugig today hauling diesel (which powers our generator) because we were almost out. We should now be set for a couple months. The highlight came after waiting at the airport for 2 hours when a Super DC-3 came in with a load of gear, and a VIP delivery for a part for our walk-in freezer. MAN that’s a cool plane! It belongs to Trans Northern, and I think that a DC-3 carries more oil on the outside of its cowlings than most other planes carry inside the engine. What a beautiful thing. I’d post pictures, but the care package from my loverly wife containing my camera hasn’t arrived yet. All our mail has to go through King Salmon first, and Anchorage before that, so it’s a long road. Soon though!…

Well, here I am again, back in Anchorage getting ready for another season at the lodge.  This time, I’ll only be here for half the season (2 months), and Kate couldn’t come.  She’s back in Seattle with her business, Seasonal Palate working farmers markets, doing some catering, and doing really well! It was hard enough to leave a budding successful business last year, and then come back to start it all back up again.  So, this year we’ve put a little more investment into it, and it’s going well so far, so Kate is staying committed to keeping the ball rolling!

I’ve been putting updates on Facebook as well, so for those of you who are on there, this blog may be a little redundant (if I have the self-discipline to keep it up!).  I showed up on Thursday, and started doing test flights on Friday in the beaver.  It had a handful of things done to it over the winter including a new carburetor, new oil cooler, balanced the prop, put spray rails on the floats, and a couple other odds and ends.  Friday and Saturday were spent test flying, tinkering, cursing, and blaming, which has now lead to a beautifully smooth running, strong airplane! What a great machine!!!  

We’ve got a load of cargo at the hangar ready to go to the lodge, and now that the beaver is ready, we’re just waiting on the weather.  Unfortunately, we may be waiting a while.  This time last year, we were delayed a couple days because of high winds, and this year is following suit.  It’s nothing too excessive, but there are gusts over 40 along most of the route to the lodge forecast for the next 5 days.  We may try an AM flight sometime before wind picks up for the day, but we’ll pretty much just have to wait.

Not much staff here yet, just me and Mike the maintenance guy/mechanic/souper.  He has a blog too, at http://mikeymichigan.wordpress.com.  Todd (fishing guide), and his girlfriend Jane (housekeeping/waitstaff) are arriving tonight, and after that almost a steady flow of flights arriving with staff.

We’ll be here at least in and out for the next week, as our first lodge guests don’t arrive until the 7th. So if you have the means, get yer butts up here, and we’ll harrass Anchorage!

don’t forget to leave comments!!

 

Teardrop at Alder Lake Campground near Mt. Rainier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, our Alaska adventure has come to a close, and we are beginning our next big adventure of roadtripping around the lower 48 with our homebuilt teardrop trailer.  We have started a new blog at http://tinyteardrop.wordpress.com

Click the link or the picture to go to the new site!

Wow- this is a happening place, I forgot how busy Seattle is.  The red-eye flight took any energy and sense I had and we looked rough!  Kevin’s mom, Sharon picked us up and then Scott, Kevin’s brother, joined to catch up.  We sat at a Starbucks, while waiting for our bags, and they chatted while I starred at people and tried to not look overwhelmed… it was pitiful.  

anywho, we are staying with friends, the Lind’s, this week.  We ran errands and started catching up with friends here and there.  I got in with my fab hairdresser, Joevir, and got a seriously cute bob!  Kevin has work to do on the trailer and plans to have it painted.  We are going to CA for a little vacation.  Then we’ll be back in Seattle for a week or so before we head out on yet another Great Kevin and Kate Adventure!  

So this will be our last Alaska entry, I don’t know about you, but I am ready for a new book!  We’ll start a new blog when we hit the road.  Thanks for reading and all the comments!  Check in again around mid-end of October!

P.S.I wrote this post a week ago, so Hello from Palm Springs!