Earning our sea legs - part 1

When we woke up on Saturday morning, I checked the news to see how the fire was doing.  It had burned about 800 acres and they had it partially contained.  It wasn't coming this way and the smoke had died down so we decided to go ahead and take the boat out.

Our destination for the day was to go up the Salcha River.  This meant we would drive about 40 miles to the boat ramp, put the boat in and then head up the river as far as we had time to go.  Since it doesn't get dark here any more, that meant we could go until we'd used half our gas, maybe do some fishing and then head back home.

We got a little bit of a late start and then had to stop and fill up the boat and a spare 30 gallon tank that JW had sitting on the boat.  We found we had used 25 gallons last weekend for 108 miles so about 4 miles to the gallon. Yucky - good thing gas has dropped a bit - plus I had over 300 reward points from Fred Meyers so we got 30 cents a gallon off on a fill up.

We got down to the boat ramp and took off the tie downs on the boat.  Then JW spent some time rolling up various parts of the top to let the gorgeous daylight in.  I saw that we had to  register so  went over to do that.  Uh oh - big problem - JW never has cash, I had left my purse at home and my cash in the pockets of my pants that I had thrown into the laundry.  It cost $10 to register so our only option was to drive the 20 miles back to North Pole and get some cash.  $$$$ is the new thing to make sure we have in the boat. (or at least in the truck).

We got back to the boat ramp and finally were able to put it in the water.  My job is to park the truck while JW gets the boat wet and drives it into the bank.  This took me a little extra time at the Salcha boat dock as the instructions were to back into the parking lot.  And there were already about 20 trucks and trailers there.  A very popular river.apparently and we've heard it is really pretty when you get up in it.

5 minutes after starting up the river, JW saw it was 12 o'clock and just like my Dad, that means lunch time.  So I pulled out some sandwiches and chips and we ate while we were moving.  The river was running fast and it was filled with debris.  Whoever was driving definitely had to drive not just cruise along and we spent quite a bit of time stomping on the grate to clean out the jet. 

The scenery had changed a lot from the previous week because the trees had all leafed out.  But the warm temperatures must have melted a lot of snow as the river was extremely muddy and brown. 

The cut down this hill is where the pipeline runs.  There are no bridges nor is there a pipe across the river so it has to be buried under the water near here.There was a lot of wood and debris in the water and we could see where the beavers have already cut  down a number of trees and have begun the work they have to do to prepare for the next Alaskan winter.

Both banks of the river are covered with trees - mostly black spruce and birch.  The trees are so thick that you cannot see very far through them. About 20 miles out from the boat ramp, the boat slowed way down.  With all of the debris in the river, JW had had to stomp on the grate a number of times to clean out the jet but this time when he stomped on it, it went down and did not come back up. 

Time to learn how to get the boat up out of the water when you aren't near the ramp and trailer.  We got the boat up on the gravel.

Well at least you can see it is sitting on the gravel and we are both out of the boat.  We tied off the front and then using a rope-a-long, we tried to pull the rear of the boat over to and up on the bank.  Unfortunately while the rope-a-long worked great, we didn't have anything great to tie off to so the logs that we were tied to started to pull into the river. 

We cut a stronger piece of  tree and tried putting that into the water for JW to drive up on.  The water was coming down the river so swiftly and with so little power from the engine, he found he was pushed downstream and couldn't get back to this point.  I picked up the tools, rope and chain saw and headed down to where he was able to get the boat into the bank.  He met me and helped carry everything back to the boat.

With the water moving so quickly, we found that while we couldn't go back upstream, even with the jet clogged, we could head down stream back to the truck at about 9 miles an hour.

At that rate it was going to take us a couple of hours getting back to the truck but at least it could be done.

It was actuallly kind of nice and peaceful just putting along the river.  There were a few cabins. 

This cabin must have been quite sturdy as even when the bank fell into the river, it stayed together.

It was nice to get back to the boat ramp.  JW drove the boat up on the bank and went to get the truck while I kept my eye on the boat.

Knowing that he might have problems getting back upstream if he got pushed past the trailer, he hit the trailer hard and planted right where it needed to be.  Woo hoo - he locked the winch and I pulled him and the boat out of the water to where we could stop and see what was clogging the jet.  He pulled out a couple of sticks - one about 1 1/2" in diameter - these sticks are what were holding the grate open.  Once they were out, the grate closed and he said he needed to look at it further when we got home to see if he could see anything else in there.

I drove us home and on the way, we decided that we would get cleaned up and go to the Salmon Bake for dinner.  Since it's their opening week, they had a special $14 deal which included one serving of salmon, fried cod, crag legs or prime rib plus the salad bar.  Plenty to fill us up that is for sure.  We got there about 6:45 and it was packed.  They have plenty of seating though it didn't take us long to pay, pick out our food and find a table to enjoy our meal.

We learned a lot on Saturday - what to do, what not to do.  We had a good time and I donated a little blood to feed the skeeters.  Please pass the calamine.