4 wheeling on a remote Alaskan island

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

Damn, what an interesting job. Curious how the winter turns out.BTW, three words; Karelian Bear Dog.Herb

It was just anounced that we will be shutting down for three weeks at Xmas. My hope is that it snow's like hell starting about Nov 1st so we get shut down till Feb. Three weeks won't be enough to make the Baja 1000 and I really want to see the race. As for dogs, I enjoy the ones in camp since I get to have a good buddy, but I don't have to clean up after them. The biggest problem with dogs is that you have to run the dog food through the dog instead of putting it directly in the trash. A bear dog would be great, but there is enough fire power in this camp to take down every bear in Alaska. I'm the only one in the entire crew that doesn't have or carry several guns. I'm such a lousy shot, a gun would be nearly useless, so I'm relying on bearspray.

[gcvt]

Cool pics and update Jeff. Love the dogs. Sounds like we'll be seeing you fairly soon then?

[rallypanam]

Man, you might have to work all year? I'm not sure you can handle it!

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by gcvt

Cool pics and update Jeff. Love the dogs. Sounds like we'll be seeing you fairly soon then?

Three weeks over Xmas won't be enough to make a trip South sadly. If that's all I get, I'll burn up a week of it driving my van back to Alaska, but I'm hoping if I'm good enough, Santa might reward me with a couple extra weeks. If so, it's Baja 1000 time. You going to make it this year? If it doesn't work out, I'm going to demand time to make the planting of Ramsey's memorial on the beach, when ever that happens.

[gcvt]

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

Three weeks over Xmas won't be enough to make a trip South sadly. If that's all I get, I'll burn up a week of it driving my van back to Alaska, but I'm hoping if I'm good enough, Santa might reward me with a couple extra weeks. If so, it's Baja 1000 time. You going to make it this year? If it doesn't work out, I'm going to demand time to make the planting of Ramsey's memorial on the beach, when ever that happens.

Not sure, but I hope so. We can't wait to get our van down there. Hope it works out that we can hook up for a beer sometime

[Annie O]

Great to see you post, October is turning into a good month for 'trip' reports (not that yours is a trip- you are living the dream, right?) Glad you got to meet up with your wife too!

The bear visit sounds similar to one I had in Yosemite... Had broken my ankle and after going to clinic I was sleeping in a friend's VW van with door open and the cooler -doh- I woke up to the sound of bear breathe and saw his head in the van. All I could think was 'I can't escape through the back hatch' so I reached up to close the sliding door but it bounced back open a few times. The bear just backed up and looked confused until I got I got closed. OF COURSE that was a park bear and you got yourself the real live backwoods bears on your hands!

What a place to learn equipment op too! Looking forward to reading more.

[gcvt]

Hey Jeff, I know you're not around Juneau anymore, but do you know what they're doing to the port there? Seems like a huge project going on. Cranes everywhere and new large structures going up??

[arctictraveller]

Juneau is continuing to expand the cruise ship docks as the ships keep getting bigger and bigger. In the past, when all dock spaces were full, then then had to anchor out and shuttle guests back and forth to shore. They added a large section of pier last year, but ran out of time to finish, so now that the season is over they are continuing. Otherwise, life here in the Alaskan wilderness continues to get more interesting. Last week we lost our foreman ("your fired............. you can't fire me cuz I quit!") Suddenly, like a rudderless ship we were drifting. Fortunately, the CEO of the company flew in and did the dirty work. For the time being, I got elected to be the captain, assisted by our road foreman. A formal anouncement is coming on Monday regarding the future direction of the project. Meanwhile, with a ton of different balls in the air, I found time to spend a few hours in the landing craft and take our 3000 gallon fuel truck to town tfor a fill up. My next marine priority is to build a bridge to our dock with logs, the photo shows some of the ones I'm using. Sadly, with my new responsibilitys, I don't know if I'll ever get time to pick up my van. What the hell did I get myself into? Life without my van is pretty darn sad.....

[larrie]

3000 gallons would be a pretty big hit on the credit card.

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by larrie

3000 gallons would be a pretty big hit on the credit card.

I'd love to put the fuel on my credit card, that would be nearly enough for a free airline ticket..............