Vince wrote:

keetoowah wrote: sounds like mesquite style bbq would be a place i want to visit in the very near future. Take heed Tracks old mate......you're booked for a date by the sounds of things. Cheers, Vince

has been, but we are looking at visiting Scotland first before the Alaskan adventure.

If you go to the less traveled areas it would prbably be a good idea to bring along a firearm of some sort. I took my .40 with me when I went up to Togiak about 12 years ago. And I was glad I did, not that I needed it but I had just in case. And as soon as you get back and put together the pictures make sure you label the pictures. Because time will let you forget things and having the notes right there on the page will help bring it all back. Good luck with the flies if you are not yet, gone north.

Well Hi Arron...Where ya been. Glad to see ya are still around...

Sorry but a hi-jack here.
I have been doing some other stuff lately and work has been a real pain
100-110 degrees(F) with 95-100% humidity, and running ten hour days kind of takes it out of ya'. Wish they would put in better air circulation and get the humidity out. I can take the heat it is the God forsaken humidity that get's to me. Speaking of humidity, and kind of back on topic, one when we were out on the Togiak River we had the pleasure of hearing and seeing but did not see the lightning of a thunderstorm. There were THREE(#) peels of thunder and it was over. Where I am is what you could call the absolute northern end of tornado alley(if there really is such a place) and we get the massive super-cells that will give you F-5's which thankfully is very rare. Last one I know of locally was back in 1975 over in Omaha. I was two or three at the time. So hearing a thunderstorm with only three thunder claps was un-settleling to me. But we did catch fish that is for sure.
The strangest thing was when we were on the bank and I looked down into the river and noticed a brass case. I thought that looks like a .40? I asked my cousin and guide, "Hey, where were you when you shot that fish?" About a week before I was there he hooked into a 51 pound King, that was giving him all he could take and when he got the fish to the side of the Zodiac near the bank he "double-tapped" it; one in the gills and one in the head with his USP which is a .40. He kind of looked around, "You know I think was right around here somewhere." I leaned over and reached down into the cold water and grabbed that case and said back to him, " Here is your case!" and handed it to him. I hope he still has that case today. I wish I could have the money to get the XYL up ther and let her tie into one of those monsters. Never fear I am around though I may not post. Most of the time I just forget my passwords and user names,and I do not feel like looking them up sometimes as it just too close to bed time. Which I need to find NOW it is 3:30 am. I am going ot feel this at work tomorrow. 1:30-10:00PM.

Well, I got back on Friday from 2 great weeks in Alaska. On the 1st day there Mom and Dad took us to Big Daddy's BBQ - as promised it was great! Thanks for the tip. We ended up going down to Valdez for a couple days and laid into the Pink (Humpie) and Silver Salmon (caught our limit fairly quick). I was too cheap to get a King stamp, besides, I bearly brought the right tackle for the others, no way I would have been able to work on a 35# or bigger fish. Having never been to Alaska, I wasn't quite sure what to expect but it was awesome and I would go back again, however, I would like to go hunting up there instead of fishing. I will post a couple photos as soon as I shrink them down a bit. Thanks for all the pointers from everyone.

Sounds like you had a ball....Incidently. If you were able to catch Pinks and Silvers with the tackle you had you could have just as easily tangled with a King (Chinook) salmon. I caught a 35 pounder on a 6 ounce steelhead rod and 12 lbs test line on a spinning reel. It just takes longer...(Took me 1 hour of FUN hard work). That was in the American River in Central USSR of C.

Glad ya had a safe and fun trip. Sounds like ya had a blast. I have always wanted to go to Alaska, maybe one of these days
Joe

While I am waiting for my photos to be approved so I can post them, I will give you an update on my cheap bastarditis - so I thought I would only have to pay the $9 or so for my rental car, well they tried to charge me the whole thing of $60, I countered with my voucher, they backed off the charges and it cost me a whopping $0.85, I thought it was a fluke, but they didn't give me a hastle on the return trip for the seperate rental and they only charged me the $0.85 again. Yeah, I paid cash! You should have heard my wallet creak, sounded like a large oil tanker hitting rocks.

The first picture does not allow me to vouch for the theory of Bears defacating in the Woods. Or, she is a "Bird Bear" and is on point for ptarmigan!

The 2nd is my son and I, you can see a dark spot above my son's right shoulder which is the brown bear in the other photo.

The last photo is self explainatory.

There aproved bud .
Joe

Sounds like you had a great time with not a lot of cost, glad you enjoyed Big Daddys. I have never been to Valdez, must take a trip down there sometime, I hear it is beautiful.

Here are a couple more photos.

The first photo is a moose track near Chena Hot Springs, for those who may not be familiar with the snuff can I am using as a size reference, it is 2-1/2" dia (6.5cm) - I did not see the critter that left this and I am not sure if it was a bull or a cow - but it is definately bigger than the elk tracks I am familiar with.

The second photo is a black bear that was right in town about a block away from our hotel and about 400ft away from a day care center with kids playing outside.

awesome pics, Wiley. I'm glad you had such a good time, too bad you had to blow all that money on the car rental though

Last time I was in Valdez was 1989-90. I was there working the Exxon Valdez spill. I got there in time to see the frozen water fall just outside of town that ice climbers climb on. There was 8 feet of snow at the time too. I worked the spill clear into the summer. Beautiful area, especially the Prince William Sound and it's islands.

Did you go to Chena Hot Springs? I notice the one photo was taken near there. It seems to be a big attraction in the wintertime, was not sure how much buisness they did in the summertime. I spent last new years eve at Chena Hot Springs. It was -25 F that night and hair would instantly freeze as soon as your head would come out of the water.