2nd trip up the Salcha River - May 29, 2011

After our muddy / dusty trip up the Quartz Creek trail on the 28th, we decided to spend the 29th on the river.  It had been a week since we'd been up the Salcha so we thought maybe all the debris would have flushed down.  We got up a little early on Sunday morning and headed to the river.  This time we were more prepared and I had my $10 in hand to register at the boat ramp.

The rriver was down so we had to back the trailer into the water a little further than last week.  Once JW got the boat off the trailer, I got to go park the truck and trailer in a very crowded parking lot.  It took me about 15 minutes but I did getit parked nice and straight next to another truck and close enough that someone else could park on the other side of me.  I might get this trailer parking through my thick head before I know it.

The river was nice, wide and free from all the junk of last week.  So it was a great trip up the river.  Because of the holiday weekend there were a lot of other boats on the water and most of them were air boats.

Apparently this is a great moose hunting area and as summer goes on the river gets more and more shallow so an air boat is the best way to get around. 

We had taken some hamburgers so JW stopped on a "deserted island" or a sandbar to cook lunch.  It wasn't in the trees but since it was in the center of the river and there was a slight breeze blowing, it was perfect to keep the mosquitos away.  I set up the mini-tripod and we took a picture or two.

It was when I got back to the boat that I found I had the full size tripod still in there.  I thought it had been taken out.

JW cooked hamburgers and we ate.  Then we got back into the boat and pulled up into one of the many sloughs going off the river.  As he was turning he saw some fish so decided that would be a good place to drop anchor.  We pulled out the fishing gear and started fishing.  It wasn't long before JW caught a very nice arctic grayling.  I got the net and was trying to help him land it but it jumped off the hook and swam for safety.  I caught a few little ones from the back of the boat and JW caught a few - nothing worth keeping.

I threw my line out and got it hung up.  So we pulled anchor and pulled over the top of where my line was snagged and I got it untangled.  He drove the boat back to where we were and again we dropped anchor to spend some more time fishing.  With in just a minutes, he caught a fish, a keeper.  We put it on the stringer and dropped it back into the water.  He cast his line in again and pulled out a 2nd keeper.  Then while I was videoing him he threw out the line again and got his 3rd keeper.

I went back to fishing and I caught one to keep.  We knew that like trout, arctic grayling are a very delicate fish and do not freeze well.  Since 4 fish was all we could possibly eat that night, we did a little catch and release fishing for a while.

We snapped some pictures. 

JW cleaned the fish and we headed back down river to the truck.  On the way back the river was totally jammed with people.  There was one girl on a ski-doo who was all over the place.  Plus a couple other boats in a hurry to get back to the ramp. So we averaged about 29 MPH all the way back.

We went by this one sandbar where it looked like they were having an airboat reunion.

We were amazed at the number of cabins along the river.  Especially because we know that everything used to build the house either had to be cut from the forest or carried in on boat as there are no road to this part of the river.

Some of these places had solar panels and dishes to receive tv signals.

We got back to the ramp and I went and got the truck.  We loaded up the boat and headed for home.  Once we got here, we pulled out the corrn meal, olive oil and frying and had fresh arctic grayling for dinner.  It was absolutely delicious.

After 2 full days of fun, I was kind of glad that JW was going to have to work on Memorial Day as I needed some time to just veg.  Course I guess that's what winter is for.