Bush Trip: Part 3

Our last full day :(

Looking upriver...no significant changes in a couple of days.

The snow bridge.

Downstream view

Not the most beautiful weather day for it but we decided to hike up on the mountain right behind their place.

Bright enough for sunglasses though, even though I wasn't wearing any.

Great rocky ridgelines.

Upriver view

Fun, fun, fun! :)

Looking up at the mountain...that's not even the summit!  But we decided it was a good point to turn around, so we could go pack and have a relaxing evening.

Going down.

~

The next day...we are headed out.  Our friend went with us so he could get another load of supplies to freight in.  

Checking that same snowbridge that we had previously.

Good to go!  He is taking one of their dog sleds out, since they aren't running dogs anymore.

Andrew crossing the snowbridge.

Taking a final look.

Looking downstream from that snowbridge.

Looking upstream.

Stopped for a quick break.

Back to the other 60 mile section...not as exciting when compared to the river travel.  But what started out as an overcast day turned into a beautiful blue sky day.

Moose on the trail.  This was the fourth moose we saw on the trail.  Mostly they ran off and disappeared so quickly we couldn't ever get any pictures, but not this one.  It wasn't sure if it wanted to leave the trail until we got close.

We also saw a hawk owl, we think anyways, in a previously burned area.

River Snowmachine Trip

Some friends of ours have a bush cabin nearly one hundred miles off the road system.  For the second year in a row, Andrew has been able to help make the first run to put in the trail.  Andrew and our friend take sleds full of food, fuel, and supplies, so that our friend and his wife can go right back out and have everything they need to stay for the next six weeks.

After sixty miles of trail through the woods, they follow a frozen river channel the rest of the way.  The river is a normal Alaskan river, with a braided channel system.  The river bed is sometimes 200 yards or more across, but the main channel is only 10 or 20 yards across, and maybe a foot or two deep.  In the photo above the entire braided channel is filled with overflow ice, and has been windswept of snow.

In wind protected places, ice crystals form some amazing feather and wing shapes that may be two inches across! 

Headed up river.

The ice is so smooth, you never know when to expect it...

To fall in underneath you!!!!  Our friend was in the lead and crossed what appeared to be a safe snowbridge (you can see open water RIGHT there beside it!!!), but it was weaker than it looked!  Luckily forward momentum carried him out the other side, and Andrew found another bridge to cross.

As the river channel meanders from bank to bank, you must cross it many times, and this was the first of two very close calls.

More overflow ice coming down from a feeder creek.  This formation appeared to be at least ten feet thick!

In the photo above you can see fresh overflow ice, and the damp spot in the foreground where our friend's machine hit some slush.

Crossing a dubious snowbridge.  Typically if it will hold a human, it will hold a snowmachine and sled.

This one appears to be safe!

Well formed overflow ice, smoother than any ice rink!

Close call number two!  Andrew was riding close behind our friend on what appeared to be good solid ice, when suddenly our friend punched through and once again a miracle carried him up and out the other side, and Andrew was able to swing around the hole at the last second.  He said his left ski was in the air over the hole as he barely missed falling right into the river!  Notice the snowmachine track in the now floating ice in the above picture....yikes!

It happens in an instant, and can take HOURS to recover from if the machine's skis had gone under the lip of the ice instead of over, and had gotten stuck in the river.  SO lucky on both occasions that all was o.k.

Down in the jumble of broken river ice, Andrew found the most amazing formations!  A recent warm spell brought temps in the upper 30's melting the ice blocks on the top side.  In the shadows under the blocks it was still below freezing, helping the most wonderful icicles develop!

The contrast made for a difficult photo, but these icicles are the diameter of straws, and some are over two feet in length!