+1stimestar Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 I recently started a new job that will have me traveling to remote bush villages here in Alaska on a fairly regular basis. These are communities that still survive on subsitance hunting and are not on the road system so must be flown into. I looked and found no caches near the first one. I'm leaving tomorrow for Allakaket for 3 days. After my first trips to each village I think I'll place some simple caches at each one. They might not get much traffic but they will be there for others who do get to fly in. Quote Link to comment
+W7WT Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 (edited) Nearly every village has a airstrip and is on a river. Placing them near the airstrip or river would make them very accessable. My son, Tom lives in Fairbanks and at the end of working on the pipeline lived in the bush on Takahula Lake for a couple of years. We took a kayak trip down the Noatak River from the headwaters to the Village of Noatak. There is a lot of river traffic during the summer floating the river. I have thought it would be great to have some caches along the river. Best of Luck. Dick, W7WT Edited December 12, 2005 by W7WT Quote Link to comment
+1stimestar Posted December 14, 2005 Author Share Posted December 14, 2005 I live in Fairbanks too. I think this last town I visited, Allakaket, will be a great place for a cache. They have both an airstirp and a river! Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 The Airstrip would be accessable but since walking to the airport and back is about the only entrtainment to be had, it's prime muggle bait. Now river caches, near old trappers caches would be cool... Quote Link to comment
+W7WT Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 (edited) I live in Fairbanks too. I think this last town I visited, Allakaket, will be a great place for a cache. They have both an airstirp and a river! I looked on a map and see that Allakaket is just down river from Bettles. When my son lived on Takahula Lake, I would leave my Piper Archer at Bettles and he would fly in his Super Cub float plane and land on the river and pick me up. Takahula Lake is now in the Gates of the Artic National Park, and is about 60 air miles from Bettles I am sure you will be going into Bettles. A very busy and nice airport as well as all the boats and floatplanes on the river. Been about 25 years since I have been there but at that time across the runway was an area where it would be ideal place to put a cache. And yes, the trail down to most rivers are very busy with village kids going fishing and people going either to their boats or float planes. I assume the aircraft you are flying in have skis as well as wheels this time of year. The people in the bush will appreciate what you are doing. Dick, W7WT Edited December 14, 2005 by W7WT Quote Link to comment
+1stimestar Posted December 14, 2005 Author Share Posted December 14, 2005 Yes we stopped in Bettles. On the trip in we got off to use the bathroom real quick. One person got on. It was still dark so couldn't see much. The lady at the lodge was very friendly. On the way back I just stayed in the plane as we were just dropping off some mail and letting a couple of people off. So while it was still light out, I didn't get to see much other then what I could see out my window. But I'll be making this same trip periodically so will have more time to check things out. This trip my supervisor was with me as I am still training so didn't want to rock the boat lol. Quote Link to comment
+W7WT Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 At some of the airports like Bettles, you might consider dropping by the Flight Service Station office and alert them that you are placing a cache and explain Geocaching to them. Many of the FAA operators and technicians would love to do some Geocaching. Just a thought. Dick, W7WT Quote Link to comment
+1stimestar Posted December 15, 2005 Author Share Posted December 15, 2005 Here are the pictures! http://www.cloud9doula.com/allakaket.htm Quote Link to comment
+W7WT Posted December 15, 2005 Share Posted December 15, 2005 (edited) Thanks for all the great pictures. I forwarded them to my son and daughter. I also asked my son Tom if he flew that plane when he was a bush pilot. He has worked his self from Bush Pilot and at the present time is Captain of a 747-400 flying cargo on a trip around the world going from West to East. The Alatna River runs only about a mile from Takahula Lake, and we would follow it as we flew in from Bettles. Good to see that you are enjoying your work. Dick, W7WT Got a e-mail back from my son and he says the plane is a Turboprop Cessna Caravan and he has never flown one, but a friend of his is flying one on floats. Next summer you will probably be using float planes to get into some of your villages. Edited December 15, 2005 by W7WT Quote Link to comment
+1stimestar Posted December 16, 2005 Author Share Posted December 16, 2005 Thanks Dick. I was waiting for my dad to tell me what kind of plane it was. Isn't it fun that it is such a small world. So, does your son geocache? Quote Link to comment
+W7WT Posted December 16, 2005 Share Posted December 16, 2005 Thanks Dick. I was waiting for my dad to tell me what kind of plane it was. Isn't it fun that it is such a small world. So, does your son geocache? He has a Magellan Map 330 and a Garmin GPS 18 and has been Geocaching with me but doesn't get excited about it. He uses the 330 to navigate when flying in the Super Cub. Both of my Grandkids have the Foretrex 101 but only use them for Mt. biking, skiing and river rafting. I have been to the village of Kobuk and also Nootak and have found the storekeepers are very friendly. Dick Quote Link to comment
+1stimestar Posted December 17, 2005 Author Share Posted December 17, 2005 At some of the airports like Bettles, you might consider dropping by the Flight Service Station office and alert them that you are placing a cache and explain Geocaching to them. Many of the FAA operators and technicians would love todo some Geocaching. Just a thought. Dick, W7WT Good idea. I'll do that. Quote Link to comment
+Ladybug Kids Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 You could do the first stage of Toothy Travel Bug Cache on your next stop through Bettles . Quote Link to comment
+1stimestar Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 Just got back from Galena and Kaltag. Ohhh but it was cold. I had a snowmachine ride to the airport in Kaltag. Brrrr. -42 on the back of a snowmachine is not fun! Quote Link to comment
+1stimestar Posted January 21, 2006 Author Share Posted January 21, 2006 (edited) You could do the first stage of Toothy Travel Bug Cache on your next stop through Bettles . Unfortunatly the time spent there at the airport is about 15 minutes. Only long enough for the people going there to get off and get their boxes or vise verse, and/or to un/load the mail, or for anyone to run in to go to the bathroom. But if I manage to get a program set up there sometime in the future, I would certainly go for it in my spare time (like I get a lot of that.) Edited January 21, 2006 by 1stimestar Quote Link to comment
+Ladybug Kids Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 You just have to catch the "4-wheeler" airlift flight. I got over an hour on the ground once when someone showed up with a 4-wheeler ATV to ship back to Fairbanks. They'd disassembled it some, but not enough to get the biggest parts and pieces through the cargo door. The pilot and copilot jumped right into breaking down the ATV into more pieces and I got to walk around town. Quote Link to comment
+1stimestar Posted January 23, 2006 Author Share Posted January 23, 2006 Hahaha. We'll see what I can do once I have all my villages "down". Quote Link to comment
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