Noatak- What a place to be!!

HELLO from NOATAK (from Russ)-  We had another awesome day here in Noatak which is day 4  of an 11 day stay in town.  Kayla and Brett can't go anywhere in town without having a parade of kids follow them.  The kids in town look to them for attention and approval all the time.  Oren is certainly a hit in the village as well.  Grandpa, Paul and I have never seen anything like this place.  We have about all the fish we are allowed to take back in the freezer already.  I never thought I would see a place where you would say to yourself "not another one" when you catch a fish.  The river is like an aquarium on top of the gravel bars and in the crystal clear deep pools.  We have caught chum salmon, humpback salmon, dolly varden, a few arctic grayling, and a few whitefish.   The one fish I want to catch before we leave is an arctic char.  The salmon run is ending and the trout "run" is starting according to the locals.  It's an adjustment to get used to the remoteness and awesome scenery.  Word of 3 grizzlies hanging around had me on edge at first but after awhile you get used to  seeing tracks and not giving it a second thought-  probably because the fishing is so good you think of nothing but fishing.  Of course we are packing guns too.  

Kayla with Orin in the front pack fishing with the crew.

Paul's Dollie Varden

We were going for the little trout, but kept catching the big salmon.

The locals are very friendly, especially when they know we are visiting Kayla, Brett and Oren.  We traveled 3800 miles as the planes fly and it felt like it when we got here.  The last 40 miles by bush plane was the coolest flying from the sea across tundra to the tree line to Noatak with mountains in the background.  

This is an experience of a lifetime for me and to see it is even more than I thought it would be.  Kayla, Bret and Oren are lucky to get to live part of their lifetime here.  I have a new respect for what it takes to live here with the planning required just on daily living.  They plan ahead for everything as you have to.  The Noatak store ran a special on hip boots here for $15 which is the lowest price in the U.S. I'm sure.  Kayla, Brett, Grandpa and Paul all bought them.  They were priced at $60 but were not selling so they wanted to get rid of them.  On the other hand,  I bought a small box of french fries and small box of onion rings for fish dinner.  That cost $16!!  

The parts of the river I have seen is a gravel bar everywhere.  There are salmon spawning everywhere.  The dolly varden are behind the salmon.  I took Troy's light spinning rod up here and use a 1/8 ounce pixey for the dollys.  The problem is the big salmon hit that as much as the big spoons.  It makes it a challange to get the salmon on that light gear.  Grandpa ripped his $9 waders from Walmart on the 4th day so it's good the store had a sale on hip boots.  We hope to be able to get up river in a boat soon.  The village is into caribou hunting this weekend many miles up river so maybe it will happen by next week.  This is a great adventure for Grandpa, Paul and is one we will never forget.   

        Chum Salmon

Grandpa's waders in action.