5 guys, two boats vs interior Alaska, and 1100 river miles!

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Orion94us

Orion94us

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Well it looks like vehicle number one, towing the NR was the right choice, how about the dead one on the side of the road?


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The dead one got towed to a friends place in Wasilla and we took a different pickup to haul that boat.

Made it to Fairbanks at 630 this morning. Hanging out in the walmart parking lot surrounded by rape vans. Things are kinda sketchy here... Lol


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Stid2677

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The dead one got towed to a friends place in Wasilla and we took a different pickup to haul that boat.

Made it to Fairbanks at 630 this morning. Hanging out in the walmart parking lot surrounded by rape vans. Things are kinda sketchy here... Lol


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If you ned any help while in Squarebanks give me a shout,, good luck!!!

Steve
 
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Orion94us

Orion94us

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If you ned any help while in Squarebanks give me a shout,, good luck!!!

Steve

Thank you. Currently setting up the in Reach because I forgot to do it at home... Lol


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907to406

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Did these guys make it or should we send a search party? I want to hear about the adventure...
 
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Orion94us

Orion94us

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Sorry about the delay in updating the string. Been slammed since I got back from being on leave. I am hoping to get the story wrote with pictures this weekend.


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Orion94us

Orion94us

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Rough. I really need to force myself to take the time and do this write up and post the pictures. It was filled with highs and lows and plenty of lessons learned. Some, I'm sure that many of you that have taken this kind of expedition have learned years ago, but maybe a "saving grace" lesson or two for those that have yet to do it....
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I'll lead off with this photo of sunset at the Arctic Circle for now... As I'm currently sitting in a cabin on the Susitna River near Talkeetna with the wife for the holiday weekend.

Chris


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Sure! I was just thinking since all the prehunt chatter about this hunt being an epic trip, I'd love to hear how it went. I too would like to do it, or something like it soon!
 

Merc

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I don't know I'll ever get the opportunity to do something like it, but I'd love to hear how this one went or one of yours AK Troutbum

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I don't know I'll ever get the opportunity to do something like it, but I'd love to hear how this one went or one of yours AK Troutbum

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Sure! I was just thinking since all the prehunt chatter about this hunt being an epic trip, I'd love to hear how it went. I too would like to do it, or something like it soon!

I was actually just making a joke Nick but I'll go ahead and do a quick synapsis from one of my moose hunts that probably, more less, mimicked this one. Several years ago a buddy of mine drew a, pretty tough to draw, KCUA moose tag. He asked me if I would be interested in taking him up there and he would foot the bill for all the fuel etc. I didn't have a tag but as a resident, once we got into the area, I was able to pick up a registration tag which allowed me to kill an any bull moose, I just had to destroy the antlers/trophy value. So we loaded up at my place in Chugiak at 2 AM, drove to Fairbanks where we filled up about 175 gallons of gas in 15, 20, and 30 gallon barrels, then continued on to Manley Hot Springs. FYI that 90 miles of gravel road to Manly is one of the shittiest roads I've never driven on and I would not recommend it, especially towing a 21' boat. We got to Manly at around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, put the boat in the water, loaded all of our gear and fuel, and headed out.
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We ran the 60 miles or so, down the Tanana to the Yukon, then ran another couple hundred miles down the Yukon to the Koyukuk. Prior to getting to the Koyukuk we stopped and made camp at around 9 o'clock that night a few miles down river from Ruby. We got up the next morning, ran down to Galena and filled up all of our barrels for a total of 210 gallons plus the 40 gallon in dwelling tank and continued on to the Koyukuk and up the Koyukuk roughly another 200 miles then up a tributary to the Koyukuk another 30 or 40 miles. When we left Galena with all the fuel, we would burn 30 gallons, then cache 30 gallons and mark with the GPS, burn 20 or 30 gallons and cache 20 or 30 gallons. We did this all the way up so we wouldn't have to carry all of our fuel all the time and so, on our return trip, we would stop at our fuel cache's and refill the indwelling tank until we got back down to Galena. We ended up getting our two moose, then it took another 3 days boat ride back to the truck.
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We got back to the truck, loaded up and started our drive out at about midnight, halfway down the road we had a blowout. By the time we got the tire changed and got to a hotel in Fairbanks, it was about four in the morning. We crashed out for a few hours and then got back up to make the final 6 hour drive back home. I think that trip, if I remember right, was about 14 days total.


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Merc

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Sounds like a great trip to me haha. Thanks for sharing

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Sounds like a very good trip if you ask me! Way to pull that off as logistically, it had to have been tough!
 
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Here are a few more pictures from both that trip and another trip, in the same area, several years prior to that.
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It's a great trip for sure and I'll definitely do it again, it's just that I enjoy mountain hunting so much, and I feel like I need to do it as much as possible, because I'm not getting any younger. This is the kind of trip you can do when you can no longer do anything else. Kind of like a gentleman's trip, drink good beer, eat steak, baked potatoes, and fresh veggies for dinner, then hang out around a nice fire while sipping good bourbon. After waking up late, having slept for 10 hours, make a few grunts through the moose magnet, and shoot the first bull that walks into camp. Actually, it's not exactly that easy, but it's not too far from it.

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