Brenden's Visit
"Oren, Who's coming to visit?"
"Uncle Brenden!?"
Oren was pretty excited that Brenden was coming to visit. He told stories about how he was going to go out and catch fish, and see moose, caribou when Brenden gets here. Oren was just fired up when he saw the "Big Airplane" that Brenden came on. He couldn't stop talking about the big airplane and then "neeeuuum!" Brenden got here on Wednesday and we went out first thing in the evening to go fishing. I had a whitefish hotspot lined up that I knew we would be able to get a lot of fish right away. Sure enough we got a pile of them.
On Thursday after work we headed up the river a ways to try by Quesooks and Willies we found whitefish and grayling there but no trout. The sun is up until almost 11 so we took full advantage of that.
Friday we went on a bear hunt. I wanted to try to get a spring bear to eat. I have heard that they are a lot better eating now than in the fall. We left Noatak about 10:30 and head for the hills on the Kivalina Trail. It was about 10 miles out of town that we saw our first set of tracks. We turned off the trail to follow them, but quickly realized that the track were not very fresh. I thought about backtracking them, instead we worked our way back to the trail to keep going.
A few minutes later we came across a small flock of ptarmigan. We chased them around for a little while and got a couple. I was thinking we should eat lunch on the mountain top, but then I could see the shelter cabin from where we were so we decided to get out of the wind and go eat down there.
Just as we were getting to the shelter cabin we saw the skiers that were skiing from Noatak to Kivalina way up the mountain. I went in the start a fire for them, and it wasn't 5 minutes later and they were there. They took 2 and a half hours from Noatak to the shelter cabin, a distance of about 25 miles. We had coffee and ate lunch at the shelter cabin. From the shelter cabin we left the trail and headed up the mountain to the south. When we go to the top I was looking off the the west when I saw a big semi tractor trailer. For a split second I was thinking, "what the heck!" Then I remembered that we must be close to Red Dog Road and that trailer must be hauling ore. We glassed around for a little while and then way off in the distance I could just barely make out a line of caribou.
They must have been close to 5 miles away. We figured we would go check them out. As we were coming down the mountain there were a couple snowmachines following the trail. We met up with them. It was Mike and his wife Alice following the skiers and bringing the skiis for all the students to Kivalina. We stopped at the road to look around and Mike's brother Virgil pulled up and said he saw a bear about 8 miles up the road. With out missing a beat we took off up the road. We kept passing herds of 10 to 100 caribou. There must have been about five different herds that we saw. Every couple miles we stopped to glass around. At 8 and half miles out we stopped and sat and glassed for a half hour. Nothing. On the way back we cut through the mountains to shortcut to the shelter cabin. There was a small herd of caribou so we shot a couple to have meat for the fall. The ride back to town was uneventful. I felt like I was zoning out most of the way. I had 80 miles on my odometer when we got back.
On Saturday we went out fishing. We tried downriver this time. A spot called 45 near to where we had set a net for salmon in the fall. We didn't catch trout in any of the spots that we tried, just whitefish and grayling. We fished hard for most of the day Saturday, but we went in about 6 so we could eat dinner and then cut up the caribou. At about 5 pm Velma came to where we were fishing and said she just saw a bear on the trail. I started up the machine and we headed that way. There were a lot of tracks in the little creek channel but no bear. We looped around to the other side of the island of willows to see if it would come out there. We waited there for about a half hour but the bear never did come out on our side of the island. Later I heard that people caught trout at Quesooks (rigth where we fished Thursday) and then just a little ways farther down river from where we fished.
Sunday we went out early for a short morning fish. Lots of whitefish, but still no trout. In the afternoon we went with Stan and Doris to make a fire and roast hot dogs up on the mountains. It was a beautiful evening with the sun shining and not too much wind.
On Monday we went up to Quesooks again, fished there for a while and caught a few whitefish. Then we drove up past Robbie's to try to find a spot. Just up from Robbies we left the trail and cut over to the main channel. We found a spot to fish that looked good. As we were sitting there having coffee I saw an otter playing on the bank. We went over to where I saw the otter to see if it would come back out. It never did. People always tell me when there was an otter around to fish in shallow water. Looking back on this I wish I would have thought to try that at this spot. We didn't stay at this spot too long. The weather was really picking up and I knew it would take us a little while to get back to Quesooks, especially if we had to backtrack because of open water. We fished Quesooks until 11 and caught a few more whitefish but no trout. We saw a moose on the ride back. It just sat there and looked at us from about 75 yards away.
On Tuesday morning Zach told me that he got about 15 trout downriver below 45. I told Brenden to see if he could find that spot, but he wasn't sure that he found the right spot. We got skunked on trout, but certainly not for lack of effort. In hindsight I should have thought of a way that I wanted to go fish and then went in the exact opposite direction. Then we might have caught trout. It was awesome to have Brenden visit here. I was really hoping that I would be able to shoot a bear and that we would get some trout too. I knew neither one was a sure thing but I thought we had a better than even chance of making it happen. Even without getting the bear we managed to get a couple of caribou, and although we couldn't manage be be at the same spot in the river at the same time the trout were the whitefish fishing was nothing short of ridiculous. The weather was the perfect spring weather. Sunny everyday, warming up maybe to highs of 30, Perfect. We had one day of crappy weather on Monday. I told Brenden that it wasn't bad to get one day of cloudy and wind just so he knew how nice those nice days really were. I enjoy when we have company here. It gives me a good excuse to go out every night and I don't have to feel too guilty about it.
This past Saturday Kayla, Oren, and I went with Mike and Alice up to Pingalurek, the bluffs about 20 mile upriver, to fish. On the way up near Willie's I saw the tail end of a bear scrambling into the willows. The first spot we started out was two extensions thick of ice. Close to 6 feet. We fished there for almost an hour. We caught some big Grayling and a whitefish. When we were packing up here I noticed that I had some brown colored snow in my rack. I figured I didn't tighten the lid on the coffee all the way and it was leaking a little bit. I opened up the bag and the thermos cup. I had forgotten to put the cap on at all. Just the cup was on there. We packed up and headed down river a little ways to Eveline's. As we rounded the bend Mike stopped and pointed. A wolverine just playing on the bank. It was rolling around and climbing up the bank, and then back down. It was close to a steep bank where it couldn't get up quick. We cruised up to it to try to get some close up pictures. When we started to get close it scrambled to try to climb the bank. It was its third or fourth try before it made it up the bank. We were probably about 30 yards from it when it climbed up the bank. I think that is the first live wolverine that I have seen even counting the zoo. We went a little farther downriver and drilled some more holes. Just when we finished drilling the holes we saw an otter playing a little ways upriver. We fished here for about an hour but then Oren started getting crabby like he was ready for a nap. We ate some snacks and then enjoyed a nice sunny ride home. It was an awesome day to be out.
Oren and Mike
"Uncle Brenden!?"
Oren was pretty excited that Brenden was coming to visit. He told stories about how he was going to go out and catch fish, and see moose, caribou when Brenden gets here. Oren was just fired up when he saw the "Big Airplane" that Brenden came on. He couldn't stop talking about the big airplane and then "neeeuuum!" Brenden got here on Wednesday and we went out first thing in the evening to go fishing. I had a whitefish hotspot lined up that I knew we would be able to get a lot of fish right away. Sure enough we got a pile of them.
On Thursday after work we headed up the river a ways to try by Quesooks and Willies we found whitefish and grayling there but no trout. The sun is up until almost 11 so we took full advantage of that.
Trying to See Fish
Going Up
A few minutes later we came across a small flock of ptarmigan. We chased them around for a little while and got a couple. I was thinking we should eat lunch on the mountain top, but then I could see the shelter cabin from where we were so we decided to get out of the wind and go eat down there.
Ptarmigan
Caribou
Another
They must have been close to 5 miles away. We figured we would go check them out. As we were coming down the mountain there were a couple snowmachines following the trail. We met up with them. It was Mike and his wife Alice following the skiers and bringing the skiis for all the students to Kivalina. We stopped at the road to look around and Mike's brother Virgil pulled up and said he saw a bear about 8 miles up the road. With out missing a beat we took off up the road. We kept passing herds of 10 to 100 caribou. There must have been about five different herds that we saw. Every couple miles we stopped to glass around. At 8 and half miles out we stopped and sat and glassed for a half hour. Nothing. On the way back we cut through the mountains to shortcut to the shelter cabin. There was a small herd of caribou so we shot a couple to have meat for the fall. The ride back to town was uneventful. I felt like I was zoning out most of the way. I had 80 miles on my odometer when we got back.
On Saturday we went out fishing. We tried downriver this time. A spot called 45 near to where we had set a net for salmon in the fall. We didn't catch trout in any of the spots that we tried, just whitefish and grayling. We fished hard for most of the day Saturday, but we went in about 6 so we could eat dinner and then cut up the caribou. At about 5 pm Velma came to where we were fishing and said she just saw a bear on the trail. I started up the machine and we headed that way. There were a lot of tracks in the little creek channel but no bear. We looped around to the other side of the island of willows to see if it would come out there. We waited there for about a half hour but the bear never did come out on our side of the island. Later I heard that people caught trout at Quesooks (rigth where we fished Thursday) and then just a little ways farther down river from where we fished.
Sunday we went out early for a short morning fish. Lots of whitefish, but still no trout. In the afternoon we went with Stan and Doris to make a fire and roast hot dogs up on the mountains. It was a beautiful evening with the sun shining and not too much wind.
Getting Started
One Hour Later
On Monday we went up to Quesooks again, fished there for a while and caught a few whitefish. Then we drove up past Robbie's to try to find a spot. Just up from Robbies we left the trail and cut over to the main channel. We found a spot to fish that looked good. As we were sitting there having coffee I saw an otter playing on the bank. We went over to where I saw the otter to see if it would come back out. It never did. People always tell me when there was an otter around to fish in shallow water. Looking back on this I wish I would have thought to try that at this spot. We didn't stay at this spot too long. The weather was really picking up and I knew it would take us a little while to get back to Quesooks, especially if we had to backtrack because of open water. We fished Quesooks until 11 and caught a few more whitefish but no trout. We saw a moose on the ride back. It just sat there and looked at us from about 75 yards away.
Picnic
Up In the Mountains
Trying to Slide
This past Saturday Kayla, Oren, and I went with Mike and Alice up to Pingalurek, the bluffs about 20 mile upriver, to fish. On the way up near Willie's I saw the tail end of a bear scrambling into the willows. The first spot we started out was two extensions thick of ice. Close to 6 feet. We fished there for almost an hour. We caught some big Grayling and a whitefish. When we were packing up here I noticed that I had some brown colored snow in my rack. I figured I didn't tighten the lid on the coffee all the way and it was leaking a little bit. I opened up the bag and the thermos cup. I had forgotten to put the cap on at all. Just the cup was on there. We packed up and headed down river a little ways to Eveline's. As we rounded the bend Mike stopped and pointed. A wolverine just playing on the bank. It was rolling around and climbing up the bank, and then back down. It was close to a steep bank where it couldn't get up quick. We cruised up to it to try to get some close up pictures. When we started to get close it scrambled to try to climb the bank. It was its third or fourth try before it made it up the bank. We were probably about 30 yards from it when it climbed up the bank. I think that is the first live wolverine that I have seen even counting the zoo. We went a little farther downriver and drilled some more holes. Just when we finished drilling the holes we saw an otter playing a little ways upriver. We fished here for about an hour but then Oren started getting crabby like he was ready for a nap. We ate some snacks and then enjoyed a nice sunny ride home. It was an awesome day to be out.
Before We Got Close
Zoom
Up The Bank
Oren and Mike
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