R&V Alaskan Adventure 2008 - Alaska
Rock filled tent bags holding the plane down!
Ralph's split lip
The beauty of Alaska.
Vicki and her bear.
Big Paws
North America's Favorite Hunting Couple
September 10
Vicki & I loaded up our gear and headed to the airport. We took off around 7:00 p.m. CST and landed in Anchorage Alaska at 11:30 p.m. (3 hour time difference). We got a hotel for 5 hours to get some much needed sleep before we took off again at 7:30 a.m. on September 11 for Bethel, Alaska. We met up with Terry Mangold, our guide, and we got things ready and flew out to our area via a float plane to a large lake, then we met up with Randy, who flew us in one-at-a-time with the Piper Cub. Our camp is on the head of the Chukawan River and is in the center of a large valley floor surrounded by mountains on the south-west, and to the far north, we can see tree line, but there’s nothing here…the river is to our west. We set up camp and by 10:00 p.m. we were sleeping.
September 12
It rained all night and it has rained all day. We had Randy fly into camp because of weather and he stayed all day. We are locked in our tents once again! We can only hope tomorrow brings a better day.
September 13
All night long the wind and rain just pounded down. I woke several times due to the winds. Randy had to sleep in the plane to add more weight to keep it from flipping over. We had 30+ mph wind gusts, rain non-stop for the 2nd day in. Randy is stuck for the 2nd day with the cub. This morning, we took the tent bags and filled them with rocks and tied them to the wings—it’s crazy! We spotted our 1st brown bear today. I spotted a good bear feeding up across the river. If the weather was better, we would go after him, but the cameras dictate what we can do and this weather would shut them down in a hurry.
September 14
It rained most of the night with some real strong winds. A heavy fog with mist was around all morning. Around noon, Wade flew over and Randy knew the pass was clear so he took off. About 1:15 p.m., Vicki spotted a bear up the valley—we all took off and what a climb it turned out to be. Close, but no shot on an 8 ft grizzly. It was rough and steep! The bear continued feeding away so we kept trying to close the distance. At one point, he was above us, but way too far to take a shot, so we went straight up (ROUGH)…we all got on top but the bear must have went back down the other side—we did get a little footage of him. We also saw a wolverine, 3 caribou cows, a calf, one lone caribou bull, ptarmigan, and ground squirrels. A good day excluding all the rain!
September 15
Ok, last night—rain and wind, and this morning was no different. Between the fog, wind, and rain, we can barely see the valley at times. When it breaks, Terry, Vicki, and I start to glass—we spotted a bear way down on one of the farthest mountains to the north, about 4-5 miles away. We also saw the 3 cow caribou and calf again right above our valley. We saw two ravens fly over camp between rains. With this weather, we will have to hold up and wait to see what happens. Well, it rained all day long and right before dark, it stopped for almost 30 minutes. Earlier, Terry and I were messing around and I spun my binoculars around and they swung around and split my lower lip wide open—BAD! I probably could have used a stitch, but what the heck! If something is going to go wrong, with me it will…
September 16
We woke to our first clear morning—we had some fog, but we were able to see some distance. Most all of our winds and weather are coming from the south and a little east. For sure we saw three different grizzlies, our same four caribou; Terry spotted three other bears, but way too far to count them, and a bald eagle. We hiked over a mile across the river and up on a real nice saddle! Throughout the day we saw for sure, three different grizzlies. The one on the west slope climbed right over the top—we don’t know if the other got our wind, but we watched him run due east through the flat and up and over the east mountains, then we spotted another to the north up the river, but we were afraid we would run out of light before we got to him. We covered some ground today.
September 17
It rained pretty good in the night, but we woke to a good morning. We had our oatmeal and started hiking. As we crossed the river, we saw some red sockeye salmon headed up stream, that was cool! We crossed the river again and got to a good lookout. It wasn’t long and Vicki spotted the first bear—he was almost at the top of the mountain two miles away. A little later I spotted a sow & three two-year olds. They too fed to the top of the mountain about 1-3/4 miles away. We saw two wolverines, a bald eagle, falcon, and then we spotted a good bear, low and to the south. We quickly climbed down, crossed the river and tried to keep an eye on him. It started raining again as it did all day, but we lost sight of him as he went into the alders. Although it was cold and rainy, we did have a good day—saw six bears. Called home and checked in with the sat phone—everything is OK and we got to talk to RJ! Terry built another wind break rock wall. Tonight the temperature is dropping—it is going to be a cold night…wish we had some heat. Thanks Cabela’s for these GREAT sleeping bags.
September 18
We woke to rain and wind which blew all night long and most of the day. When it did break, we would go out and glass. Terry built another windbreak on the south end of the landing strip. I ended up getting another bad headache mid-morning, but Vicki & Terry kept glassing. At around 6:00 p.m., we all glassed and we spotted a sow & two cubs on the NE slope above camp, and then spotted our sow & three cubs in our basin. They worked their way closer to us but we lost them in the alders. Vicki spotted our wolverines on the western slopes again today and we saw a falcon, bald eagle, ptarmigan, and snow geese heading southeast. The weather is bad…
September 19
We woke to another good a.m. Right out of the nest, we spotted the sow & three cubs. It wasn’t long and we spotted the other sow & two cubs. We hiked across the river and spotted the high altitude bear, but then we lost him. Today is real cold and damp—our new Team Realtree Diablo rain gear is the ticket…both Vicki & I really like the Sherpa fleece. We spotted another sow & two cubs, wolverines, bald eagle, and falcon at about 6:00 p.m.. Vicki spotted two bears way to the south in a far valley. They were not together, but traveling about 1000 yards apart. We watched the silvertipped one and he was heading to the river—we quickly climbed down and followed the river, then crossed it and got to the high side. The wind was out of the west and we needed to make a decision. We got to the high bank and it wasn’t long, we spotted movement—here he came—Vicki had no time. She got steady and squeezed the trigger. Her TC Icon 300 win mag nailed the boar. He stood up both shoulders scrunching inwards. Her next shot was over and Terry, Vicki, and I went CRAZY!!!
September 20
The best day this whole trip…we woke to a good frost with snow on some of the mountain tops. We located the sow & two yearlings as well as to the far west, the sow & three yearlings. Actually, all the young bears are 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 year olds. We spent today fleshing Vicki’s bear and cleaning out the skull, turning lips, ears, and salting. We noticed a good bear just west of camp, but there was work to be done. Sounds like Wade is picking us up around noon tomorrow, so we have to break down camp—if weather permits.
September 21
We woke to our coldest morning yet with snow on most mountain tops. We watched the sow & two year olds feed down to almost level ground to our east, and at 700 yards, we watched her get our scent and they all took off up and over the mountain—700 yards away, they smelled us…..We were suppose to fly back to Bethel today between 12:00 – 2:00 p.m., but at 6:00 p.m., we called on the sat phone and found out the weather is bad there, so maybe—hopefully tomorrow.
September 22
Wade flew in this morning but the weather is rough. He ended up staying with us most of the day and around 5:30 p.m., the weather broke and he flew us all into an old mining camp where the maul could land, but then the weather shut down again and we had to stay overnight in an old wood cabin. We met Zack, another guide for Wade, and two guys from Michigan.
September 23
Randy flew in today and loaded Vicki & I, and we made it out! It was a great trip, we saw lots of game and you can bet we will be back.
Thanks Wade, Randy, and our great guide Terrance Gerard Mangold.