BeaV comes to the Koyukuk River after the Tundra Portage and makes it to his old cabin and finally connects back to the Yukon River

This segment is 45;46

password

Koyukuk

all letters, no numbers or symbols

Have fun!

Paddle To, Through and Around Alaska - Part 10 - The Koyukuk River

I was so sorry and sad to see that your cabin was gone. It must have been hard for you especially after all the extra work you did to see it again.

I think I know the secret to catching a salmon without nets or fishing tackle. This was an easy go, with the exception of finding your cabin burned, hunger, flu, and fighting fickle winds.

I liked the stories of the 1989 cabin years and the raid of the griz. Did that SOB get those nice berry pies....... I'd still be gunning for him.

The footage of the ice lensing in the permafrost was of interest to me......... thanks for the tour down the Koyukuk

BeaV, Your stroke rate going down river is close to one stroke per second. Wow, do you maintain that rate all day? Rick

Your cabin was awesome in the day, sad to see it now. Loved the berry pies and baked goods. Much easier traveling on this video clip. I also liked pictures of the river bank going by showing the permafrost.

If you wouldn't have become ill in the Fall of 1989-- would you have spent the entire winter at your cabin??

Everyone knows now your hardcore BeaV-- but if you planned on wintering over in your cabin-- that- at least to me is as about as hardcore as it gets. That's a whole lot more then meets the eye.

High Plains Drifter--- give me a jingle at Jrooster26@aol.com. For some reason-- I can't pull up your email on here.

As BeaV is talking about how all he can think about is food, since he barely has any, I'm noshing on a big bowl of buttery popcorn. :)

Those bugs are insane.

High Plains Drifter, If I was hungry and had a whole river full of fish with no traditional fishing tackle I would probably just do what Clint Eastwood would do and use that fancy "marine shotgun". Rick

quote DMT: "I was so sorry and sad to see that your cabin was gone. It must have been hard for you especially after all the extra work you did to see it again."

Thank you, yes it was a little hard to see it gone. For 24 years I'd hoped to someday show someone what I had done here or at the very least reconcile my regrets of leaving this place too soon.

This was not my land, or my beaver pond, or my mountains...but when I built this and lived here it seemed like things were mine, or at least I was a part of them.

With the cabin burned and gone, my false claim of ownership was gone too. The land, beaver pond, and mountains will do just fine without me.

quote drrick: "BeaV, Your stroke rate going down river is close to one stroke per second. Wow, do you maintain that rate all day? Rick"

Yes I think on flat water I was paddling on average 50-55 strokes per minute and faster when going with a current. All day.

quote WhiteWolf: "If you wouldn't have become ill in the Fall of 1989-- would you have spent the entire winter at your cabin??"

Nope, my plan was to be home by Christmas. Although, I cut enough firewood to last a lot longer than that just in case- it's good to be prepared.

quote drrick: "High Plains Drifter, If I was hungry and had a whole river full of fish with no traditional fishing tackle I would probably just do what Clint Eastwood would do and use that fancy "marine shotgun". Rick"

;)

It's gonna be hard to see these segments end. So fascinating, even the comments and BeaV's replies are great to read through.

Clearly this was such a personal trip and must have affected you, BeaV, in ways we'll never understand or comprehend. Sure is nice though, to see another layer of the story after following the blog.

quote paddlefamily: "Clearly this was such a personal trip and must have affected you, BeaV, in ways we'll never understand or comprehend."

I have been pondering a response to this for awhile. I'll just say that yes it became deeply personal as time went on and experiences piled up. I am myself still trying to understand and comprehend it. I know I am better for it. Thanks.

BeaV, some curiosity questions not particularly related to this segment:
Did you use your big bowie knife much? Obviously you didn't engage in hand-to-hand combat with a grizzly but was it of practical use? Blade length?
In preplanning stage of this awesome trek, did you scout any for a traveling partner or was this something you preferred to venture solo?

quote mjmkjun: "BeaV, some curiosity questions not particularly related to this segment:
Did you use your big bowie knife much? Obviously you didn't engage in hand-to-hand combat with a grizzly but was it of practical use? Blade length?
In preplanning stage of this awesome trek, did you scout any for a traveling partner or was this something you preferred to venture solo?
"

Traveling partner- In ways I would have preferred a partner and others I prefer to be solo. Solo's sound fun but they're not. Short solo trips can be very personally rewarding, long solo trips are mentally taxing (by long I mean after the sense of total freedom fades followed by the period of homesickness...after this phase it gets tough). The answer is "yes, I did want a tripping partner." But when I thought about all the friends and family I know wondering if someone was both capable AND able to walk away from their life for 8 months, I came up blank.

Knife- My "bear-poking knife" is about 9" long +/- and was the most practical emergency tool I had! If I had to choose between life jacket or knife, it'd be a tough choice. Did I use it much? Probably every day for cutting food-saver plastic. Of course any sharp object would work for this, it was just that this knife was always handy. The purpose of this large blade was for self defense against any critter big enough to threaten me. Call it a confidence booster. You won't see it in the videos but I had 4 situations with man and beast.

quote BeaV: " You won't see it in the videos but I had 4 situations with man and beast."

Oh,no! You can't just make the above statement without some clarification! What happened? C'mon now!

quote OneMatch: "

quote BeaV: " You won't see it in the videos but I had 4 situations with man and beast."

Oh,no! You can't just make the above statement without some clarification! What happened? C'mon now!"

LOL! I do agree, OneMatch. Fuels the imagination big time, don't it? Perhaps reserved for campfire circles tales. ;-)

quote mjmkjun: "

quote OneMatch: "

quote BeaV: " You won't see it in the videos but I had 4 situations with man and beast."

Oh,no! You can't just make the above statement without some clarification! What happened? C'mon now!"

LOL! I do agree, OneMatch. Fuels the imagination big time, don't it? Perhaps reserved for campfire circles tales. ;-) "

OK, OK, I guess everybody likes bear stories...but first a little background on my take on bears. As you can probably tell from the videos, I kind of make fun of peoples' fear of bears:) I poke fun at my Dad too cuz he doesn't like spiders. I am not afraid of bears but I do respect their power and what they could do if they wanted to.

Brown bears (grizzly and Kodiak) can be of giant size but generally don't like to eat us. Black bears living in remote areas (Alaska as an example) sometimes never learned that humans should be feared and occasionally will decide to eat one of us! So, up there, both species of bear needed my respect.

Chilkoot Trail Bear Story:
Late May on the trail and I just portaged my third load of gear to my Lake Lindeman camp. I was sitting down taking a breather when I see a average sized black bear approaching my camp walking on or near where I had just walked- red flag #1. It gets within 40 feet of me and I tell it "that's close enough, get out of here!" Bear stops and looks at me- red flag #2. I continue my arguments with the bear as I realize my shotgun is halfway between us. I stand up and slowly walk toward the bear and my gun, knife on my side. I'm thinking "oh man, this ain't good". I reach my gun and bear still looking at me now only 20 feet away- red flag #3. Now with the power of the gun in my hands, I began loudly yelling at the bear probably throwing in some curses for good measure. It turns and grudgingly starts to walk away. Not satisfied with it's effort, I pursue it with increasing speed until it runs faster than I could. Returning to camp, I begin simmering my soon to be rehydrated meal and thinking to myself that maybe I should have shot that bear and had some fresh meat for supper.

1/2 hour after our confrontation, here it comes again now with it's nose in the air sniffing at the scents of my soon to be supper- red flag #4. As it walks straight toward me, I'm yelling my displeasure at it once again. Does not slow down it's approach- I'm out of red flags now:) It veers slightly and begins to circle me at 30 feet away. I am ready to shoot if it gives me the slightest reason to. It walks through a patch of spring grass shoots and grabs a couple mouthfuls, lowering the tension of the moment. I take my finger off the trigger. A truce is called.

Cook Inlet Bear Story:
"Kodiak bears are the largest bears in the world. A large male can stand over 10' tall when on his hind legs, and 5' when on all four legs. They weigh up to 1,500 pounds." source Alaska Fish & Game

The experts advice with brown bears is to not show aggression towards them and never threaten their cubs. WWBD, though?

September on the Cook Inlet. After a long days paddle, I approach a fresh water stream dumping into the Inlet. I need water but usually avoid camping near a river such as this (salmon running) for respect of these big bears that crowd to the rivers to feast. But tonight I'm hankering for a fresh salmon for supper so figure I'll risk it tonight and I'll be gone by tomorrow morning anyhow. I set camp about 200 feet from the stream, hurry to the stream, and fail to catch one of them delicious looking fish schooled just out reach. Next day finds the winds blowing way to hard to attempt a launch- windbound. Scout around the area and find bear paths beaten into the earth. Spend the whole day attempting various methods to secure a fish. No luck but I do see the first bears here- a sow with 2 cubs walk 80 feet from camp. Next day- windbound again! More failed attempts to get the salmon and more bears and some big boars too. No problems but I don't like how the bears are becoming less concerned of my presence here. Late afternoon finds me standing in the freezing cold stream waiting for a fish to approach too close when I see a sow brownie with 2 cubs heading for my tent and food. In a reaction to protect my tent and food, I charge the bears and successfully scare her away. I decide I better stay in camp and let the bears have the stream. Just before dark and bedtime, a big boar comes out and looks for salmon in the shallows. It's closer than I want so I again use poor brown bear etiquette and threaten said bear. It didn't work. He comes my direction, I grab the gun, and continue my verbal assault. His reaction to my attempt to "get away from me" argument was nonexistent. He walked past camp at 40 feet never listening to my protest and didn't even acknowledge my existence as if to say "you don't impress me at all BeaV". Humbled by this, I climbed into the tent with gun and flashlight close by and fell to sleep hoping for less wind tomorrow. Food packs tethered to the tent, as was normal procedure, I don't remember how I slept.

Thank you for those. You definitely had the firepower if needed but yes, all very up-close for bruins. OK. I'm gonna say it. Those bears were definitely displaying a natural curiosity but it was also SMART of 'em not to mess with da BeaV. Nine slugs fully loaded, if I recall correctly. I watched a youtube video of someone test-firing that particular shotgun and it kicks!