1stimestar

Oh, see what I was doing today. One of these dogs ran in the Yukon Quest twice and the Iditerod once.

If I can get my hands on it, I can get it on the next one. And the Yukon Quest too.

This year the start was in Willow, about 30 miles from Wasilla. There wasn't enough snow.

I work in the rural dept. of Big Brothers Big Sisters. I go to Alaska Native bush villages and set up our program then continue with support. Here's my last plane ride. It was pretty crowded lol. Riding to the airport on the back of a sled being pulled by a snow machine.

Duct tape. I bring it every where with me. I don't bring the whole roll but wrap several layers around the outside of my water bottles. You can use it instead of ace bandage for sprains, use it for splints for broken bones, use it for moleskin if you get blisters, you can even use it turned around backwards and kind of wrapped up on itself to make a pony tail catcher! I also always bring a lighter AND waterproof matches. A lighter will not work if it, the lighter, has gotten wet. Also they don't work if it is too cold out as the butane freezes up. Most of you probably wont be out in temps that cold but just so you know, keep your bic in your inside pocket lol.

Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you get screwed. Can I say that word here? A coworker of mine's husband got mauled by a grizzly. He was at his hunting camp and came over a rise and surprised a momma and her cubs. This was an experienced, Alaskan hunter. Along with punctures through a lung, he also had his scalped peeled back with one of his ears, the muscles from his calf stripped off the bone when she had a hold of his leg and shook. He actually got a cell phone signal out of there and guided helicopter rescuers to him, using his cell phone. How he did all that was a pure miricle. After 2 years he is walking again though still has to use a cane. But at least he is alive, which they highly doubted for a long time. They flew him to Anchorage to get him stabalized then sent him on to Seattle. It's scary because he says that it was like she wasn't even mad or anything but more like she was showing her cubs how to do it. They just sat there and watched. Edited to say using his cell phone not gps. Must have had gps on my mind lol.

Good looking page guys. Yea, will there be a forum? You can have a powerboard for free that is really handy and has no pop ups.

Oh that would be so much fun! Guess now that the weather has turned nice again I better get my hiney out there and find some more caches lol. I've been so busy with my job along with my doula business that I don't have time to breath. But the travel to the villages should be slowing down now as we just hired two more people for the rural dept. And we don't travel in the summer as all our people are out of school and/or at fish camps. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-QmIfJpw2fql...0xfhNGIOLhaTAM-

That was: Always, no wait, NEVER go out in a snow storm. Monsters Inc.

Wow, what a deal!

Wanna tell us about the Griz encounter? Not much to it. We were in Glacier on our honeymoon, hiking. My wife had never been in grizzly bear country, so I briefed her about what to do if we had an encounter. I had pepper spray, we were wearing bells. We were back to the car, putting our stuff in the trunk and changing footwear when a big sow bear came through the woods and onto the road about 15 feet in front of us while we were getting things back in the trunk. She stopped, looked at us for what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, then continued on to the lake she was headed for breaking branches along the way. All I could think about was whether there was any food in the car that she was going to smell and come to find before we could get in. The worst part was my wife - after a few seconds - ran after where the bear had went down to get a better look. Sheesh. I grabbed the pepper spray, ran after her, grabbed her and got in the car. The excitement of seeing the bear just trumped her better judgment. I always joke about how she was trying to make me a widower three days into our marriage. It funny how the mind works sometimes. I was in a homestead cabin on Takahula Lake in the Brooks Range of Alaska. My son was renting it. He had left in his supercub on floats and was flying a National Geographic Photographer around. Before he left we had cut some poles into about 15 to 20 foot lengths and threw them in the lake. While he was gone my job was to raft them up and tow them back to the cabin and cut and split them for firewood. The cabin was on a noll about 20 feet above the lake. One day I was carrying up some poles and as I got to the top of the hill and turned the corner, there was a black bear probably about 200 lbs. He looks like 400 lbs to me so usually if I divide by two it about right. He was only about five feet from me. I looked at him and he looked at me and turned and took off at a fast rate. As I laid down the poles, I thought "Boy you sure are taking this well". About that time one of the little squirrels that liked to throw pine cones down on the metal roof at 4 in the morning, barked at me. I jumped about three feet in the air. I think I was in shock. I went in the cabin and checked all the guns and hung the washtub near the top of the hill so I could bang on it to let bears know I was around. I have seen a few blacks down in Mason County when I was steelheading but nothing this close. Dick, W7WT Heh, bet that got your adrenaline rushing!

Hmmm quote function seems to be funky. Come on up. We have been having wonderful weather this last week. It's got above zero several times lol.

People did, for many years. He would have none of it.

Too bad he wasn't going to the Yukon Quest. Well, I couldn't get him here but could take pictures. Sorry.

Heh, THAT'S what I was trying to say!

Haha I just noticed you are from Headlton. My parents lived there. I'm from Duncan.

You should contact Skagway's Chamber of Commerce http://www.skagwaychamber.org/ Or make a post on Trip Advisor. We have a lot of people there who know about their specific locations and a lot of people who travel. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g28923-i349-Alaska.html

Thanks. I knew you two had some but didn't know where they were and hadn't gotten around to reasearching them much yet. I'm going like on the 10th but will be flying down.

I agree with nobby. But if it isn't well taken then don't feel too bad. If I had gotten that email as a newer cacher I would have been a bit embaressed for making a faux pas and run to change my description. Then I would have sent you an email thanking you for helping me aviod such a mistake and helping to get it changed before EVERYONE saw it lol! For some reason, some people think they should know everything right away. Heck, even after studiously going through the rules and guidelines there are still things that I missed.

Anyone have a list of their favorites? I'm going in April for training and will be able to go the weekend before to spend with friends and caching.

Oh oh oh! Can you post about this when you do it? I'd love to hear what he comes up with. Probably something along the lines of "oh no if you get any help then it wouldn't be legit" LOL.

My son is an Alaskan fisherman out of Pelican, Ak. Has his own boat and that's how he makes his living. He called the other day and said it was 10 degrees. He had been out fishing that day. Man, you have to be tough to do that. It must of been all the backbacking trips I took him on when he was a kid. Made him take baths in that glacial water. Yikes! Oh well he's a tough guy now! Ah the coastal tropics lol. Still, they have wind down there. Does he cache?

Since he is flapping about it at work so much, I would probably sent a nice email to the cache owners giving them a heads up. I don't care if people think I'm putting my nose where it doesn't belong. That crap would get old. As a cache owner I would appriciate it. Then again, I only have two caches and have time to make sure they are as accurate as I reasonably can.

I know what you mean. It's been dang near -50F here. I'm just not up to caching if it is colder then -10. Oh well, spring is coming (in another 5 months...)

Even if something is in a metal ammo can, bears can certainly chew through that.