Paxson, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Once we said our goodbye's to Chris and Joe at Tangle Lakes we continued East for the remaining 20 miles of the Denali Highway. Joe left right before us but we realized about 2 hours later that we never saw or heard Chris pass us with his loud diesel pick up truck (which I learned that he actually won with a $100 raffle ticket). He later emailed us that his battery had died because he left the dome light on all weekend and had to wait hours for a jump. The remainder of the Denali Highway is an amazing stretch of road with beautiful scenery in every direction. After about 10 miles of climbing we could see a massive glacier directly ahead of us. This is the first glacier that we have seen in Alaska and needless to say it was an incredible sight. Once we finished the Denali we headed south on the Richardson Highway for about a day and a half until we got to the Tok Cutoff.

The Tok Cutoff (130 mile stretch from Gakona to Tok) turned out to be a very interesting and eventful little trip. About 15 miles passed Gakona we met a couple (Diana and Jon) that had traveled across the US and Canada from upstate New York to Alaska on their motorcycles. She states on her blog, “I just raised four kids and two step-kids -- PHEW! -- and I am about to live in an empty nest. So, to celebrate the next part of my life, I am taking off on a motorcycle with my husband on his motorcycle from New York all the way to Alaska!” Diana is an author that has also written articles for the New York Times and when we asked her husband what her books are about he answered, “You know...Women stuff.” She actually mentions our ride and cause in her blog which as you can imagine is written just a tad bit better than ours. She is the mom who took off on her motorcycle and coincidentally you can find her blog at themomwhotookoffonhermotorcycle.com. After getting an excellent report on the road conditions ahead from Diana and Jon we said farewell and pushed forward.

That night we made it to Slana and stopped in the general store for supplies and to do a much needed and far overdue load of laundry. We asked the owner if there were any good spots to camp nearby and she kindly suggested the lawn on the side of the store. She said we could stay for free and she would inform her tenants that rent the house behind the store. We graciously accepted this offer and sat down to wait for our clothes to dry. As we were waiting a local man came in to buy some smokes and to tell the owner that he just caught a couple tourists gearing up to fish the creek running through his property. He said he approached them and asked them what the hell they were doing to which they replied that the fishing book they had purchased said they could fish this creek. His response was that even if Fish and Game would not show up to give them a ticket, that does not mean that he would not go get his 12 gauge and shoot them if they did not leave “his” creek. Seth and I quickly decided that we had done plenty of fishing over the past week and that it was probably in our best interest to take a day off as to not overextend ourselves so early in the trip. After our clothes were dry the store owner locked up and headed for the night. As we were folding our clothes (stuffing them in our bags) at a lunch table on the side lawn we noticed that the man who had been telling the story about threatening the fishermen was still hanging out behind the store. We soon realized that he was the tenant that lived out back and also realized that the owner never informed him that we would be camping in his back yard. About 10 minutes later we saw him approaching us in his ATV drinking from a bottle of wine with an axe strapped across the front rack. When he got to where we were setting up camp he reached into a grocery bag and grabbed 4 beers which he threw over to us and said, “Figured you boys could use a few beers.” Turns out he spent a good amount of time traveling in South America and informed us of some great spots that we should visit. After a couple beers he offered us some food and let us know that we are more than welcome to fish his creek, and if we needed anything at all we could come knock on his door. He even came back and brought us 2 more beers before we went to bed. I am not exactly sure why he was so incredibly kind to us just hours after threatening a group of tourists with lethal force, but I think it has something to do with the amount of street credit that Seth's enormous red beard has given us throughout Alaska.

The next morning Seth went ahead as I had to make a bunch of phone calls to deal with a landlord that is trying to evict me from a house I no longer live in. Once all that was settled I got back on the road to put in another 60 miles or so towards Tok. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was about 20 miles into my ride listening to music when I heard a truck coming up behind me going much faster than most passing traffic (which is usually about one car every 10 minutes or so). I heard someone yelling and from the corner of my eye I saw the passenger hanging outside the window hurling something in my direction. A full beer whizzed past my head and exploded on the rocks to my right. The car sped off while the passenger continued to yell obscenities. When I later met up with Seth he told me that he had also been yelled at by someone in a white pickup truck but did not have the pleasure of receiving the cold beer shower. He also informed me of a half hour argument he had gotten into with the bartender at a roadside bar and motel called Mentatsta Lodge. As Seth was far ahead of me he decided to stop into the bar to ask the bartender what kind of services we could expect for the rest of the highway to Tok. When the bartender saw the “No Pebble Mine” on Seth's shirt sleeve the fight was on. The argument started by the bartender calling Seth a hypocrite (because our bikes are made of steel) and naïve for thinking that there is anything he can do to stop the mine. He also told Seth to take his “liberal shit” back to San Francisco. I do not have the time to debate the bartender's comments at this time but please refer to my next post which will cover these points and many more. After seeing that he was not going to have a civilized debate with this gentlemen, Seth decided to move on. When leaving, the bartender asked him if he was heading south through the Yukon and BC. Seth informed him that we were in fact heading South, to which he replied, “My condolences.”
About 5 miles past Mentasta Lodge, I finally spotted Seth about 1 mile ahead of me so I decided to skip stopping for lunch and started pushing to catch up. It took me about 5 miles to catch him and just in time to hit a 2 mile stretch of road with freshly laid tar to repair all the cracks in the road. After completing this stretch we had to stop and pick tar out of our tires for the next hour as we could barely ride with the all the buildup.

When cleaning his rear tire Seth noticed that his rear wheel was wobbling and had to remove the wheel to temporarily fix the problem. We knew we must monitor the problem closely as the next bike shop with a mechanic and the tools needed to fix the hub was over 300 miles away. We completed a long 70 mile day and camped at a beautiful spot along the Little Tok River.

The next day we had a short 30 mile day into Tok where we had a package waiting for us at the post office. Included in the package was my camera that Cannon replaced because of water damage, some freeze dried food, beef jerky, more Gu2o (Electrolyte Replacement Mix) and a memory stick with 12 audio books. A HUGE thank you goes out to Angie for the beef jerky and to Helen for the audiobooks. As we are on the road cycling for about 5-8 hours a day we can go through a book every 2 days or so. We have both found that a day of climbing is much more enjoyable with a good story in the background. Seth also wanted me to make sure to plug Angie's hair studio, Focus Hair Studio, on Sacramento Street in San Francisco. However, for Angie's sake, it is important to note that she is not responsible for Seth's current hair style. As always we would also like to thank our wonderful mother for sending us all of these supplies and her continued help from home.

After packing our new supplies we found a restaurant with internet and an all you can eat salad bar which sustained serious casualties from our visit. While eating desert a girl (Elizabeth from Belgium) pulled up on a touring bike that we saw earlier in town and she joined us to use the internet. She informed us of a great place that she and the guy she was riding with, Stephen, had found to camp for free and said we could follow her there. As we were planning on spending $10 to camp at the RV park in town we happily agreed to follow her to the site. We decided we better leave the diner as soon as possible when a disgruntled construction worker and his buddy, who were the only other people in the restaurant, started getting belligerent on a variety of issues that he apparently felt very strongly about. He started by telling his friend, who never said a single word the entire time we were there, that he just got back from the doctor and found out that his hand had been broker for 2 weeks. He also stated that he had 2 cracked ribs, a bad knee, herniated disk in his back, and had recently driven a nail through his hand with a nail gun but all in all he exlaimed “I'm feelin pretty good.” He then started going off on how angry he was with the law and that he wished someone would just walk up to him and try to hit him with a baseball bat. Raising the bar even further, he challenged anybody in town to try to stab or shoot him. He then went on about how the USA is the best damn country in the world and that all the people from New Zealand and Venezuela (pronounced Venzuela) should stay in their own goddamn countries. I find it fascinating that he chose these two countries as posing the biggest threat to US immigration problems. At one point he went outside to his truck which was parked directly in front of our window at the diner. He had an enormous dog tied down in the bed of his truck and a lever action rifle hanging on a gun rack in his rear window. Considering we were the only other people in sight we thought it best to evacuate the premises as quickly as possible when he started betting his buddy how long it would take for him to “Cut down the entire town.”

We followed Elizabeth to the secret camping spot which turned out to be a dilapidated and abandoned high school which had been partially demolished and all the windows and doors had been boarded up.

Her and Stephen had found a way in earlier and when we returned Stephen was fast asleep in the corner of one of the class rooms. It was very dark inside but we could see that the floors were covered in broken glass and there was a very strong scent of mold in the air. The scene was something directly out of a horror film and I remembered asking myself why the hell were we going sleep inside of this disastrous building? Considering how tired we were and that we were not in the mood to duel our friend from the diner, we conceded to our surroundings and and tried to get some sleep. I remember Seth telling me the next morning that he would have spent much more than $10 to sleep anywhere other than that school. Neither Seth nor I got more than a couple hours of sleep and as the sun began to rise we could see that the walls were covered in black mold and that we were sleeping next to the old chemistry lab. We quickly packed up and thanked Elizabeth and Stephen for sharing their camp spot with and started heading South for the Canadian border.

About 30 miles outside of Tok we hit a strong headwind and got slammed by rain showers. As we approached the Nenana River crossing we saw that traffic had stopped abruptly as a small prop plan had to emergency land on the highway. The plane had hit the two lane highway and bounced off the road landing upside down in a ditch alongside the forest line. Incredibly the pilot walked away from the crash unharmed but the plane itself looked pretty beat up.

A day later or so we made it to the Canadian border where the customs agent was not going to let Seth pass without some serious interrogation. The agent must have seen Seth's long hair, huge beard, and mobile home sized bike and thought that he was hopping the border for Canada's excellent welfare programs and universal health care. Among many other questions he asked Seth how he planned on supporting himself financially while in Canada. Seth answered that his bank account would be supporting him and the agent asked exactly how much money he had and to produce statements for all of his savings and checking accounts. You know our economy is in the shitter when you have this much trouble trying to LEAVE the US! Seth eventually talked his way passed the border inspection and I followed with ease by simply saying, “I'm with him.”

We were quickly greeted by a French couple at the tourist attraction down the road where they have the line with Alaska on one and side and Canada on the other. They offered us a couple of Busch's and a diet coke which we happily accepted. They have been traveling around the US and Canada for 3 years in an RV that they purchased in Louisiana. They had been EVERYWHERE and they said that their favorite place was actually Louisiana because of its strong Cajun influence. They said that it is the one place that they could dance every night and dance “close” like the French and not all “proper like” the Americans do.

We made it to Beaver Creek, Yukon by evening and decided to grab a burger in town before finishing the final 15 miles where we planned to camp at a small lake. To our joy, a couple in the diner told us that they just spotted two large blonde grizzlies at the lake we planned to camp at.

The wife then proceeded to inform us that they had traveled through Central and South America on a tour bus and that she did not care for the time they had spent there. Her favorite story was about a young girl that was begging her for money and trying to sell her some small trinkets which she said that she did not buy. She was explaining how satisfied she was that she had not given the girl any money as she saw her talking on a Blackberry as they were pulling away. She enlightened us that the whole poverty thing in Central and South America is more a facade because in reality they all have blackberries that they use when you are not looking.

The next day we hit some mild headwinds but made it to the Donjeck River by early evening. We could see that the Donjeck must be an enormous river in the Spring during high water but there were huge areas of dried river bed while we were there.

That night the mild headwind turned into 70MPH gusts that caused huge dust clouds around our tent. Not taking the wind into account I had pitched my tent in what turned out to be a natural wind tunnel while Seth had sought the shelter of the trees about 50 yards away. He said at one point during the night he looked over and could not even see my tent in the dust storm which was doubled over on top of me for the most of the night. These winds lasted the next 2 days without any relief and we struggled immensely to make it the full 60 miles per day that we had planned. Fortunately we met a guy named Kjell who is cycling from Anchorage to Southern California right up the hill from the Donjeck River who we invited to fall in line with us as we took turns drafting off one another in 1 mile increments. We were all nearly knocked off our bikes multiple times when the wind would shift from what seemed to be a perfect headwind to a powerful crosswind. Kjell was just discharged from the Army where he was a Captain and was in charge of a unit of very skilled mechanics that could fix any equipment that the army used. He was stationed in Achorage for the last 3 years and also was deployed to Iraq for a year. We had an excellent time with Kjell who brought some great energy to the trip and has an inspiring passion for all types of cycling. The day that we had the worst headwinds Kjell had stopped about 10 miles from our destination to grab a few beers and candy bars. He asked me to leave a rock on the road or some sort of marker wherever we decided to camp. Once we found a spot that was not visible to the road I constructed a massive stone arrow pointing towards where we had pitched out tents. I thought that he would either see my arrow while riding or would kill himself by blowing out his tires on it. Either way he would find us. When he arrived I asked him if he liked my artwork on the road and he informed me that he had not even seen it. We asked him how he had found us as we had intentionally set camp out of view of the road. He simply answered, “Come on man, I was in the Army.” We parted ways with Kjell right before Haines Junction as he had planned to get to Whitehorse a day ahead of us.

We arrived in Haines Junction and hit the general store for supplies and a cold drink. Once we were all stocked up we headed over to the liquor store to grab a few beers before heading out of town to camp (In Canada you must buy booze from the state run liquor stores or out sale from bars). Unfortunately, it turns out that it was Monday and the liquor store was closed on Mondays. I say “that it turned out it was Monday,” because most of the time we have no clue what day of the week it is. We decided instead to grab a few beers at a bar down the street then headed towards Pine Lake. When we were about half way there we saw a white pickup truck pull over that was heading the opposite direction and a guy running across the street towards us holding up 2 beers. He said they were his last 2 beers but it looked like we could use them more than he could. He also told us where he had just dropped off a couple from New Zealand up the road at the lake. He said that they were hitchhiking from Destruction Bay and I knew we had passed them earlier that morning. I had thought of the last time a guy in a white pickup truck had offered me a beer and I was relieved that these were being handed to me and not thrown at my head. We found the couple at the lake which turned out to be an incredible camping spot with a beautiful backdrop. The couple, Dave and his soon to be wife, have a 6 month work visa and are hitching around Canada and Alaska before they start work. They were both very interested in our cause and were involved in some environmental causes of their own as well. We are hoping they can meet us in Seattle for the Bumpershoot Festival in September.

The next day we put in another 70 miles and were just 25 miles from Whitehorse but decided to camp at a bridge on the Takhini River so we would not have to pay to camp within the city limits. It turned out to be a great spot as the heat had reached close to 100 degrees and the river was deep enough to go swimming. After swimming we both passed out in the shade under the bridge for a couple hours. We were awoken by multiple cars of teenagers that immediately turned away when they saw that we had already set camp. It appeared that we had set camp in the high school kids local drinking spot. Our deepest apologies to hooligans of suburban Whitehorse.

The next day we arrived in Whitehorse and our first stop was Wal-Mart to resupply where we ran into Kjell. He told us that he had gotten a motel room and that we could crash with him that night so we followed him back and dropped off our gear then headed out for some R&R. Spirits are still very high and our next big destination is Smithers where we hope we are not too early for the steelhead run.

Posted By Parker Berling

Brief Update from Tok, Alaska

We've uploaded new photos to the picture set "Fairbanks to Paxson" including this jem of Sir Jolio in his finest mesh attire. He actually has pants to match the top but we suggested he leave those back at the campsite.




We are currently in Tok, Alaska and will be departing tomorrow to make our way towards the Canadian border.

Spirits are high and appetites are HUGE.

Fairbanks to Paxson, Alaska (via the Denali Hwy)

On day three of our journey from Fairbanks we stopped for lunch just past the Denali Park entrance at the Creekside Inn, a beautiful little restaurant with a phenomenal backdrop of mountains. A server at the restaurant took an interest in our loaded bicycles. Leila (the server), approached us as Parker and I were taking a nap next to the creek. Leila then introduced us to her boyfriend the pastry chef. The two have ridden their bikes around the country and were able to immediately relate to our current lifestyle. After trading stories for about an hour, the two invited us back to their house which sits high above the banks of the Nenana River. After bathing in the brisk water we enjoyed an awesome dinner with Leila and Nick which was followed by desert and coffee back at the restaurant. Needless to say, we didn't arrive to our campsite on the Denali until about 1am. We split the Denali Hwy up into 3 short days of riding in order to kill some time before our Thursday rendezvous with Joe (Anchorage Jolio) and Chris at Tangle Lakes at MP 20.

Overall the Denali is a much rougher road than Dalton. Lots of washboard and loose gravel in the corners; however, the scenery and lack of traffic make up for the numb hands and ass. We spent the first real night on the Denali at Brushkana River Campground on the banks of the river. The river is packed with 6-8” grayling and we took a few hours to fish and explore the water. Excellent campsite just feet from the river. First night that we had difficulty consuming our monstrous dinner. Likely a result of the short day of riding. The highway is absolutely gorgeous and every pass and every bend produce awesome views of the surrounding mountains, lakes and rivers.
 
Nick from the Creekside Inn had mentioned that he was planning to meet us at Burshkana River Campground; however, when dinner rolled around and he was no where to be seen we figured he was not going to make it. It was an awesome surprise to see him stick his head in the rain flap of my tent around 9pm. It actually kind of scared the crap out of me. In the morning we parted ways when he headed back west towards Cantwell and we continued down the road towards Tangle Lakes.

We stopped at the Tangle River Inn where we picked up a six pack of Budweiser and sat in the sun on the porch until Joe showed up at around noon. When Joe stepped out of his truck he announced that Chris was only a few hours behind him. This was an awesome surprise because we weren't sure if Chris was going to be able to sneak away from his work long enough to relax and fish for a few days. We can't say enough about the generosity of these two guys.

Joe went ahead of us and starting setting up camp at his secret spot which he discovered by driving down the road until he found a flat spot then off-roading through an embankment of bushes and large rocks. By the time we showed up he had bratwursts cooking in the massive “bug palace” that he set up. We lounged around eating and drinking beers for the rest of the day before catching the evening hatch on Tangle River. That evening Joe served his seafood pasta which included 6 pounds of halibut, scallops, and shrimp. Joe's wife, Robin, cooked us about 10 pounds of the best cookies we have ever tasted of which we ate half of in the first night (Yes, we ate 5 pounds of cookies in one evening). The following nights included filet mignon and cuts of sheep shoulder from Chris's precious supply which he packs off the mountain on his own back every year during hunting season (As you can see we put a great deal of importance on our food and these guys brought nothing but the best).

On Saturday we hiked up to a lake at Landmark Gap where we fished and enjoyed some incredible scenery. Chris was sick as a dog but made the hike anyway and fished all day taking short naps in the bushes. We knew there were lake trout up there but it took us while to figure out how to fish this new terrain. Luckily, Parker went to the opposite side of the lake as Joe, Seth, and Chris because he it proved to be much better water. We both got into some very nice Lake Trout while Joe and Chris were sticking the rising grayling. We were also entertained for most of the day by a couple that was backpacking up the mountain that would stop and yell, “HEY BEAR” every 10 feet before advancing and repeating this tedious ritual. The best part about this was that the terrain was very flat with excellent visibility for miles in every direction. They covered a distance of about 1 mile over 4 hours. Better safe than sorry!!
Our 3 days at Tangle Lakes can be summarized by absolutely gorging ourselves on awesome food, catching hundreds of fish (probably an underestimation), traded some great stories, and taking a couple beautiful hikes.

Note: Out of respect to Sir Jolio, the names and locations of certain fishing spots were left out of this blog entry. Special thanks once again to Joe, Chris and Robin for feeding us and sending us off full of supplies for the road ahead.

New Lunch: Nutella, Peanut Butter, Strawberry Jelly, Almonds, sliced bananas, Craisens, chocolate chips, mashed brownies and honey...all wrapped in a tortilla or two tortillas depending on the aggressiveness of the serving.

Total Snickers Bars Consumed: 42
We climbed 41,010 vertical feet on the Dalton Highway.

Due to our current connection speed at a remote Lodge on the Tok Cut Off Hwy we are unable upload our photos to Flickr. We should have a new set up in the next few days. We have some great shots worth checking out. The scenery around these parts is AMAZING.

Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks, Alaska

Due to a slight rework in our schedule we landed in Prudhoe Bay three days earlier than we originally expected. Arriving in Deadhorse is a surreal experience which must be comparable to landing on a different planet. Frozen tundra, caribou and sporadic bodies of fresh water are all that dot the landscape. During the summer it stays light 24 hours a day and the sun literally just circles overhead.

After assembling our bikes in the small baggage claim, we changed into our biking clothes in the parking lot, made a quick stop at the general store to pick up some last minute supplies and started down the gravel road in the only direction that we will be traveling for the next 18+ months...South. We would rely on these supplies and the 40lbs of food we had strapped to our bikes for the next 9 days / 500+ miles to Fairbanks.

Despite the amount of research I did about routes and terrain there were only a few things I knew about the Dalton. I knew it would be around 32 degrees in Prudhoe, the road would be gravel, there would be one 5000 ft pass, numerous mountains and there would be no supplies. What neither of us were mentally prepared for were the mosquitoes. The locals tell us that this is one of the worst years in history. Words can't even do this phenomenon justice.

In the 200 mile stretch from Deadhorse to Antigun Pass a swarm of literally millions of bugs surrounded our heads at all times. Normally you look forward to tailwinds but this only allowed the mosquitoes to keep up with us while going downhill at 20+mph. We would get absolutely devoured on the uphills. Both of us resorted to riding in our mosquito nets which would provide temporary relief until they were able to find a breech in the armor. We will post some video shortly to confirm our stories.

The Dalton provided us with some awesome challenges. Lots of sweat was left on the mountains and hills of that highway. We have been logging about 50 to 60 miles a day and we are both adjusting to our bikes and the life of touring cyclists and all the intricacies that entails (saddle sores, pooping in the woods, etc). Hundreds of streams and rivers cross under the highway and we took opportunities to hook into some beautiful grayling.

So far we have run into four other cyclists, two of whom have the same final destination as us. Baptiste (http://frenchguyonabike.blogspot.com/) broke his derailleur hanger on his second day into the ride and had to be shuttled to Coldfoot where he could use the payphone to call around for a replacement. We ran into him while devouring hamburgers at the Coldfoot Truck Stop. Unfortunately he ended up having to hitch a ride down to Fairbanks where he has been working on locating this “one off ” item. Bruce, a fellow bicycling nut who will complete a 5000 mile tour in just 2 months met us as we crossed the first intersection in Fairbanks with ice cold Budweisers in hand. Bruce..who is 56 years young took off from his home in Munsie, Indiana and made his way all the way up to the Arctic Circle in record time. We've spent the last couple of days with Bruce and are both vibing off of his positive energy.

Through our new friends Steve and Joe from Brooks Falls we made a connection with their buddy Chris in Fairbanks. We arrived at Chris' place late this afternoon. After spilling our gear into his garage, we did a good portion of our laundry and sat outside next to the BBQ consuming every piece of meat that came off the grill. Highlights include...salmon, moose burger and sheep. Chris is one of the most accomplished hunting guides in northern Alaska and our stomachs are currently reaping the benefits of his skills. Parker entered a food coma shortly after the meal and I am lying on my side in pain because my stomach is so full. Everywhere we go we seem to find the best people.

It's exciting and unbelievable to think that we are just two weeks into this trip. So many more adventures, stories and fish to come.
So far...2 flat tires (Parker), Top Speed: 51mph and 50mph (on gravel..nbd), Highest Pass: Antigun @ 4800ft
Parker and I both hit the 2mph mark while climbing a couple of the 12% + grade gravel hills on the Dalton.

MAN ON FIRE American Creek, Alaska

Allow me to cut any suspense about whether the fishing at American Creek was any good. The fishing was not good at all, it was hands down the best fishing of our lives. After a late fly-out from Brooks we arrived at Hamersly Lake at about 7:00PM. We were happily reunited with the rest of our gear and food and after a brief feast of trail mix, peanut butter and honey, we started assembling and packing the raft. Just as we were loading the last of the gear into the raft Jeff decided to take a few casts in the lake before we started heading down the creek. On his very first cast he hooked up on a lake trout and from that point forward we knew the fishing would be great. We decided to row around the lake for a bit and caught a good number of lake trout before heading downstream.

Once we finally left Hamersly and started floating down the creek the weather began to turn and we found ourselves in freezing temperatures with no viable camping spots in sight. We eventually settled for an uneven patch of soaking wet tundra and set camp. While Seth and I were prepared dinner, Jeff and Marco were determined to build a campfire undeterred by the fact that trees could not grow at the altitude and climate we were in. Without such luxuries as wood or any sort of dry tinder, Jeff did what any true outdoorsman would do and decided to pour white gasoline (premium cooking fuel) on an open flame and hope for the best. The fire immediately shot up the stream of gasoline causing Jeff to jump back and drop the fuel tank while covering himself in the highly flammable liquid. Jeff ignited like a human torch and was running around the campsite flailing his arms while Marco was screaming what sounded like “STOP DROP AND ROLL MAN” but was difficult to comprehend through his uncontrollable laughter. Jeff finally dove into some nearby bushes and extinguished the flames. I then noticed that the still mostly full 30oz bottle of gas was still on fire and I yelled for someone to smother it. Jeff, unaffected by his recent near death experience, sprints towards the canister and punts it causing a smoldering fireball to shoot towards the river just missing the raft by inches. We then proceeded eat our dinner and retreat to our nearly torched tents on our very first night on American Creek, hundreds of miles from civilization with half of our cooking gas gone and Jeff suffering from 3rd degree gasoline burns. A truly epic and magical evening.

The rest of the trip really wasn't much to brag about except some meager 100+ fish days with 25+ fish a day being over 20 inches and multiple quadruple hook-ups. Joking aside this was an incredible trip and one that I know we will never forget.

We must also thank Seth for rowing us down some pretty technical water while we did our best to stay in the raft. While Jeff almost got ejected out of the boat on the largest rapid section of the float, I successfully fell out of the boat twice in much less exciting circumstances. The first time I slipped of the side of the boat in Hamersly Lake and the second time I was clotheslined out the back of the boat by a fallen tree that stretched the entire length of the creek about 3 feet above the water. I had a fish in one hand, my rod in the other and my camera in my pocket. The other three guys got low enough in the boat to clear the tree while I did not.

We only saw a few big brown bears on the American which was lucky because our bear fence was a real POS which only seemed to electrocute us whenever we were trying to set it up, but never worked when we needed it. On the final day we were late for our fly-out so we were forced to back-row downstream to the pick-up spot which we overshot by about a mile. Because the planes actually land right in a small section of the creek itself, Jeff, Marco and I were forced to drag the boat back upstream with a 50 yard length of rope. We finally got the boat out of the water and caught our flight back to King Salmon then Anchorage where we spent one final day together and Jeff and Marco caught the red-eye back to LA. Another thanks to Joe and Robin for their generous hospitality at their home in Anchorage. Robin is an AMAZING cook!

Brooks Falls, Alaska

Marco arrived in King Salmon on June 16th on the last flight into town. On the morning of the 17th we made our way to the airport in order to figure out whether or not we could get a flight to Brooks Falls. We worked through the logistics with Branch River Air and determined that we would fly out to Brooks and after three days of fishing and camping they would collect our raft from the airport in King Salmon and fly it to meet us for our trip out to American Creek. After collectively weighing in at a cool 800lbs the 4 of us were told we were only going to be able take a total of 50lbs of gear onto the plane. 50Lbs of gear for four 200lb guys including camping gear is nothing! Our food seemed like the most convenient place to cut weight so we started eliminating our bags of tuna, chicken, granola etc...a decision we would come to regret over the next 4 days.

In the late afternoon we found ourselves and our gear at the Brooks River bridge crossing waiting for a bear to make its way through the river. Apparently the bears have the right of way in Alaska.

After setting camp we decided to make our first meal. Dumping our food out of the dry bag we all had a reality check when we realized that we hadn't brought enough to sustain us for our stay. We figured the best solution was to create a menu in order to assure that we properly rationed what little food we brought. Lunch our second day included one power bar sectioned into 4 pieces and 1 piece of beef jerky.

I'd heard stories and seen pictures of Brooks neither of which do it justice. We had an amazing stay at the campground and met some absolutely phenomenal people. The fishing was everything I had dreamed it would be. I'll let the pictures do the talking. We all have to give HUGE thanks to Steve and Joe and Jeremy who we met in the campground and who provided us with the perfect flies and the food that helped to fill our stomachs. Steve and Joe continued to blow our minds with their generosity when they invited us back to their place in Anchorage and fed us and helped us run errands for three days. Another big thanks to the staff and especially the manager, Jim Albert, who hooked us up with some crucial last second supplies before we left for American Creek. We highly recommend this spot to anyone thinking of traveling to Katmai National Park.

After four days at Brooks we didn't think Alaska could get much better, little did we know the best was yet to come.